REVIEW: Shiva Baby (TIFF 2020)
Emma Seligman’s feature debut, which is based on her college short film project of the same name, is awkwardly claustrophobic and ridiculous in all the right ways. Shiva Baby confronts relevant fears that come with growing up along with the missteps that occur when trying…
REVIEW: The Best is Yet to Come (TIFF 2020)
Jin Wang’s directorial debut is an exploration of existential themes regarding stigmas and success. Set in 2003 Beijing, the film looks at various social barriers that stand in the way of dreams and the impact that mass media has in creating change. The Best is…
REVIEW: Beans (TIFF 2020)
A violent moment in history stands as the backdrop of Tracey Deer’s film, Beans. The infamous dispute over Mohawk land was an extreme moment for those in Canada, especially Indigenous communities, as police brutality and racial hate became a reality captured by cameras and headlines….
REVIEW: Shadow in the Cloud (TIFF 2020)
Shadow in the Cloud was initially overshadowed by controversy after its association with a script by industry-renowned alleged abuser Max Landis, but writer-director Roseanne Liang eventually rewrote the film with other female crewmembers — therefore downplaying his involvement in the project. At the risk of…
REVIEW: Concrete Cowboy (TIFF 2020)
As adolescents, we’re hard pressed to believe that we’re any stretch of the imagination away from adulthood. Stubbornly, we deny ourselves any admittance that we lack the scope and depth of understanding of what it actually means to be an adult. We push ourselves into…
REVIEW: Inconvenient Indian (TIFF 2020)
Inconvenient Indian, a new documentary from Michelle Latimer, is a celebration of all that Indigenous people in so-called North America have survived. Based on the dense text with the same name by Thomas King, the 90 minute runtime commemorates the resiliency of Indigenous people after…
REVIEW: New Order (TIFF 2020)
It is very tempting to compare New Order to the current various uprisings and movements of class and race unrest, but to do so would be irresponsible. This thriller is promising enough, directed by Michael Franco, former Palme d’Or competitor and Cannes Screenplay Award winner,…
REVIEW: Pieces of a Woman (TIFF 2020)
What is it that brings two people together, tautly stringing their hearts with a passion that feels irreversible? And when is that binding agent of seemingly irrevocable love not strong enough to halt the forces that pull them apart? Pieces of a Woman is a…
REVIEW: Summer of 85 (TIFF 2020)
Falling in love for the first time is a right of passage. There’s no correct way to know it’s happening and no way to prepare — it’s just a part of growing up. Summer of 85, François Ozon’s newest feature, looks at two young men’s…
REVIEW: 40 Years a Prisoner (TIFF 2020)
In present-day discussions about rioting, looting and peaceful protest, there is an underlying understanding that no matter what the means of protest and survival, Black people will always be assigned violence regardless. 40 Years a Prisoner is a lyrical conversation between archival footage of the…
REVIEW: Get the Hell Out (TIFF 2020)
Especially in recent years, the behavior and practices of government officials seem to align more with a circus of shameless idiocy than a dignified system. However, the word idiocy is too forgiving — suggesting an act done without the capability of better understanding — and…
REVIEW: The Inheritance (TIFF 2020)
The release of The Inheritance is preceded by the recent freedom of the remaining MOVE 9 political prisoners within the last two years. The MOVE Bombing in Philadelphia in 1985 is a lasting scar in the memory of the diaspora of Black people, and a…
REVIEW: Night of the Kings (TIFF 2020)
Flying overhead, all there is to see is green: the canopy of dense forest glowing from the unrelenting heat of the sun. We finally stumble upon an interruption, a block amongst the brush — pale, concrete, and sharply, contrastingly geometric – this is MACA prison….
