2018 in Review: The Best Films of the Year

From top: Won't You Be My Neighbor?, A Star is Born, The Favourite, American Animals, Roma,
Isle of Dogs, Suspira, BlacKkKlansman, and Destroyer are the year's best films

It pretty much sums up 2018 in a nutshell by saying that my two favourite films of the year are the Mr. Rogers documentary about the value of kindness and the movie where Nicole Kidman mercilessly beats the shit out of everyone. What a mood.

2018 in Review: The Best Performances of the Year

Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Tilda Swinton, Carmina Martínez, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz,
Rosamund Pike and Nicole Kidman are among 2018's top stars.

2018 might not have been a so-so year for movies, but it’s hard to find a year with a stronger list of acting credits. The films of 2018 excelled in large part by the quality of the performances that fuelled them. I could easily have limited the list of the top lead performances of 2018 to Best Actress contenders and still omitted worthy names if I capped it at 10. Not even Meryl Streep made the lists this year, the acting was so good!

Interview: Chatting with 'Birds of Passage' Director Cristina Gallego at 'That Shelf'

Embed from Getty Images

The team behind Embrace of the Serpent is back! After the 2015 arthouse hit and Oscar nominee comes Birds of Passage, an electrifying Colombian cartel drama directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra. The film is Colombia's Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film and recently made the shortlist.

Birds of Passage gives drug wars a tribal spin by setting the drama in the land of the Wayuu clans in northern Colombia. “Since Embrace went well, it was very easy to finance this film,” said Gallego, speaking Gallego, speaking ahead of the film’s Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. “It let us take the next step in the scale of film we could make. In Colombia, movies are usually pretty small because of financing.” 

Read the interview at That Shelf!

'The Favourite' Leads Online Film Critics Society Awards Nominations

Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman star in The Favourite
Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures

Yorgos Lanthimos's period satire The Favourite leads the nominations for the 22nd annual Online Film Critics Society Awards. The organization, of which I am a member, is the oldest and longest running international group supporting film culture in the online sphere.

The RBG Origin Story

On the Basis of Sex

(USA, 120 min.)

Dir. Mimi Leder, Writ. Daniel Stiepleman

Starring: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Sam Waterston, Kathy Bates, Jack Raynor  

Every good superhero deserves an origin story. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the cloaked crusader of 2018, gets her turn in the biopic On the Basis of Sex with a spunky performance by Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) charting her journey towards becoming a Supreme Court Justice and the meme-able “The Notorious RBG.” On the Basis of Sex is the second entry in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg cinematic universe of 2018 and while it’s a perfectly decent and timely film, it’s neither great nor essential viewing for anyone who saw Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s documentary RBG. The doc is not cinematic masterpiece, either, so an RBG reboot seems inevitable.

2018 in Review: The Best Canadian Films of the Year

Meditation Park, Anthropocene, Mary Goes Round, Kingsway, The Fall of the American Empire and Cardinals are some of 2018's best Canadian films

It is harder and harder to see a Canadian film in a Canadian theatre these days. And I hate to say it, but many of the Canadian movies that actually find space on big screens are not good. However, there are some real gems in between the schlocky horror flicks, lo-fi comedies about thirtysomething males, and cheap Canadian movies four-walling a theatre simply to meet their funding requirements.

Vox Lux: A Tale of Pop Music, Tragedy, and Violence

Vox Lux

(USA, 110 min.)

Written and directed by Brady Corbet

Starring: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Raffey Cassidy, Jennifer Ehle, Stacy Martin, Willem Dafoe

Natalie Portman stars in Vox Lux
Courtesy of Elevation Pictures

1999. A year of pop music, tragedy, and violence.

"Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?"

Vice

(USA, 132 min.)

Written and directed by Adam McKay

Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Jesse Plemons, Alison Pill, Tyler Perry, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Lily Rabe  

Christian Bale stars as Dick Cheney and Amy Adams plays Lynne Cheney in Vice
Courtesy eOne Films

"Out, vile jelly! Where is thy lustre now?"
-King Lear

Dick Cheney is a villain worthy of Shakespeare. The Bard deftly blended tragedy and comedy to comment upon the rulers of today and while Adam McKay might not be William Shakespeare, he certainly knows how to craft a bad guy. After skewering Wall Street, the man behind The Big Short takes aim on the White House and sends audiences back to the dark ages of the now- second worst administration in the history of the USA. George “Dubya” Bush is too easy a target though, and has already been picked apart by movies like the incendiary Fahrenheit 9/11 and the Bush-league Oliver Stone biopic W. Instead, McKay sets his sights on the junior Bush’s wingman, Vice President Dick Cheney, played in a deadpan performance by Christian Bale in a furiously funny film. Cheney is a man of many vices and McKay’s flick portrays him as a crafty, Machiavellian politician who was really pulling the strings throughout Bush’s reign of terror. Vice is an all too relevant satire when yet another idiot is running the show in 2018.

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps 2018 Go Down

Mary Poppins Returns

(USA, 130 min.)

Dir. Rob Marshall, Writ. David Magee

Starring: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke

If there’s one silver lining to be found in Donald Trump’s administration, or the likes of Doug Ford and whatever other terrible people happen to be in power now, it’s that they make a film critic’s job too easy. One could have easily made a drinking game out of the number of films deemed balm for divisive times in 2018. Many films received praise for their relevance, while others got a passing grade for showing up at the right time. However, the holidays are here and everyone needs some Christmas cheer. If there’s a film to warm the heart and make the yuletide gay, it’s Mary Poppins Returns. The film is a welcome homecoming for the magical nanny who touched generations of children. Mary Poppins Returns is the grand finale to the “movie we need right now” festival of 2018!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary Queen of Scots

(UK, 124 min.)

Dir. Josie Rourke, Writ. Beau Willamon

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Joe Alwyn, Adrian Lester, Guy Pearce, Adam Bond, Jack Lowden

Saoirse Ronan stars as Mary, Queen of Scots

400 years before Nancy and Tonya, there was the rivalry of Mary and Elizabeth. One of history’s biggest grudge matches receives a hot-blooded and contemporary adaptation in Mary Queen of Scots. The film pulses with regal tension as Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie face off as the royal rivals in two powerhouse performances.

'Ben is Back' and Roberts Returns

Ben is Back

(USA, 103 min.)

Written and directed by Peter Hedges

Starring: Julia Roberts, Lucas Hedges, Courtney B. Vance, Kathryn Newton

Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges star in Ben is Back
Courtesy Elevation Pictures

Ben is Back might be the most depressing Christmas movie since It’s a Wonderful Life. But if there is a Jimmy Stewart in Hollywood today, his spirit endures in Julia Roberts’ infectious smile. Roberts is heartbreakingly good in Ben is Back playing Holly Burns, the devoted mother fighting to save her family with the same indefatigable goodwill that makes audiences cheer for George Bailey year after year. She gives one of her best and most surprising performances opposite Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased) in this engaging, emotionally draining, and ultimately rewarding portrait of addiction’s ability to tear families apart.

The Most Amazing Spider-Man Yet!

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

(USA, 117 min.)

Dir. Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman; Writ. Phil Lord, Rodney Rothman

Starring: Shameik Moore, Jake B. Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Kathryn Hahn, Kimiko Glenn, John Mulaney, Nicolas Cage 

Courtesy Sony Pictures Animation

A few years ago, two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field described her experience playing Aunt May in one of the Spider-Man reboots, saying, “You can’t put ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag.” Unfortunately, that’s what far too many of these superhero movies try to do. Between putting lipstick on a pig and cramming poop into a sack, comic book movies often take themselves too seriously and forget why people are drawn to superheroes and crazy villains. Comics are great entertainment. They’re escapism and opportunities for anyone to dive behind the mask of a hero and have some fun while saving the world—and there’s nothing wrong with that.

'Roma' Tops Toronto Film Critics Association Awards

Alfonso Cuarón's Roma was named the year's best film by the Toronto Film Critics Association
Photo by Carlos Somonto / Netflix

Alfonso Cuarón's Roma is the best film of 2018 according to the Toronto Film Critics Association! The acclaimed Netflix drama won Best Picture and Best Director from the TFCA in a live vote held yesterday by film critics in the city of Toronto. Roma marks a deeply personal film for Cuarón following his special effects extravaganza Gravity, which won seven Oscars. The film is a portrait of two women in Mexico's Roma neighbourhood, a wealthy mother and her Mixtec housekeeper who cares for her children. Cuarón has called it a love-letter to the two women who raised him.

'The Go-Getters' and the Pigs of Hogtown

The Go-Getters

(Canada, 84 min.)

Dir. Jeremy LaLonde, Writ. Aaron Abrams, Brendan Gall

Starring: Aaron Abrams, Tommie-Amber Pirie, Kristian Bruun, James Cade, Christine Horne

Tommie-Amber Pirie and Aaron Abrams star in The Go-Getters

People say Canadians are nice, but I say fuck that nonsense.

We’re not “nice.” We’re just nicer than people from the USA are, and they aren’t very nice to begin with. Like, really—have you ever been to Toronto? It’s colder than an outhouse in Whitehorse!

The Favourite: The Mother of all Catfights

The Favourite

(UK/Ireland/USA, 120 min.)

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, Writ. Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara

Starring: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn  

Rachel Wesiz and Olivia Colman in The Favourite
Photo by Yorgos Lanthimos / Fox Searchlight Pictures

The Favourite is a saucy delight. Buoyed by a trio of courtly wenches in award-calibre performances, this spirited portrait of the affairs of Queen Anne in 1700ish Britain is a darkly funny romp. It’s the cleverest take on All About Eve since Working Girl as social climbing strumpet Abigail (Emma Stone) seeks to dethrone her cousin, Lady Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Malborough (Rachel Weisz) as the Queen’s BFF. Both ladies cozy up to Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and assure her that she’s the bee’s knees when all evidence points to the contrary. These mean girls have cruel intentions.

Oscar Predictions: Round 2 - Golden Globe Predix

A Star is Born- if there was ever a "Globes movie", this is it!

I completely forgot that the Golden Globe nominations come out this week so here’s a quick crack at them along with updated Oscar predictions. I’ve had a chance to see nearly all the contenders so far with Vice, Mary Poppins Returns, and Ben is Back rounding out screenings before the end of the week and the upcoming TFCA vote, so I’ve been a bit busy…stay tuned for reviews of The Favourite, Mary Queen of Scots, On the Basis of Sex, Stan & Ollie, Vox Lux and more!

Science and Serendipity: Akash Sherman Talks 'Clara'

Patrick J. Adams and Troian Bellisario star in Akash Sherman's Clara
Courtesy D Films

Clara will make audiences gaze up at the stars with wonder. It’s science fiction done right with big, thoughtful questions about the great beyond. The film intertwines questions of love and loss as melancholy scientist Dr. Isaac Bruno (Patrick J. Adams) feverishly dives into a search for life beyond our galaxy. His research gets a boost when an ethereal stranger named Clara (Troian Bellisario) comes into his life and shifts the cosmos, putting unquantifiable variables like love into the equation and deepening his quest. Isaac’s sense of the universe expands as his longing to know more about the galaxy, life, the afterlife, and that grey zone between scientific evidence and heartfelt belief all become intimately connected the deeper he probes the cosmos.

'The Drawer Boy': From Stage to Screen

The Drawer Boy

(Canada, 98 min.)

Dir. Arturo Pérez Torres, Aviva Armour-Ostroff; Writ. Michael Healey, Arturo Pérez Torres

Starring: Richard Clarkin, Stuart Hughes, Jakob Ehman  

The Drawer Boy is a contemporary classic of Canadian theatre and the film adaptation could enjoy similar esteem. This stage-to-screen take on Michael Healey’s acclaimed play is a refreshingly vibrant drama. Some audiences might find the adaptation a bit too talky and a bit too stagey, but stick with it. The Drawer Boy is a sparse, small-scale affair smartly told that takes the bare essences of good filmmaking—a good story, strong actors, and a sense of cinematic space—and bundles them together like a sturdy bale of wheat. It’s nice to have a Canadian film to get excited about again.

'At Eternity's Gate': The Art of Madness

At Eternity’s Gate

(USA/France/Switzerland, 110 min.)

Dir. Julian Schnabel, Writ. Jean-Claude Carrière, Louise Kugelberg, Julian Schnabel

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Emmanuelle Seigner, Mads Mikkelsen

Willem Dafoe stars as Vincent van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate
Photo by Lily Gavin

Julian Schnabel is a master of visual poetry. The Oscar-nominated director of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly returns with another original and impeccably realized dive into the artistic process. Schnabel, a painter as well as a filmmaker, daubs a canvas of dreams and madness while bringing to the screen the brilliant yet troubled mind of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, played masterfully by Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project). The film is not a cradle to grave biography of the artist who is as famous for his Starry Night painting as he is for cutting off his ear. Instead, it’s an impressionistic interpretation of a genius both fuelled and plagued by demons. At Eternity’s Gate feels the evocative portrait Van Gogh would have wanted.

Portrait of a War Hero

A Private War

(USA/UK, 110 min.)

Dir. Matthew Heineman, Writ. Arash Amel

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan, Tom Hollander, Stanley Tucci  

Rosamund Pike stars as Marie Colvin in A Private War

There is a war going on. It doesn’t have bullets. It doesn’t have bombs. It doesn’t have drones. Instead, this war is one of words, access, and angles.

Touched by Mediocrity

Touched 
(Canada, 78 min.)
Written and directed by Karl R. Hearne
Starring: Hugh Thompson, Lola Flanery, John MacLaren

Director Karl R. Hearne really seems to like the colour blue. It’s everywhere in his new feature Touched. It’s in the lighting (so cold!), the clothing (so sad!), and the mood (so dreary!).

EUFF Review: 'I Am Not a Witch'

I Am Not a Witch

(UK/France, 92 min.)

Written and directed by Rungano Nyoni

Starring: Margaret Mulubwa, Henry Phir, Nancy Murilo 

The inciting event of I am not a Witch could easily be a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A woman fetches a bucket of water and drops it when she encounters a young girl on the path home. Her explanation for being startled? The little kid’s a witch.

Boy Erased: Every Parent Needs to See this Movie

Boy Erased

(USA, 114 min.)

Written and directed by Joel Edgerton

Starring: Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Joel Edgerton, Xavier Dolan, Joe Alwyn, Troye Sivan

Theo Pellerin and Lucas Hedges in a scene from Boy Erased

There’s a moment in Boy Erased in which Nicole Kidman brought the house down at the Princess of Wales Theatre when the film premiered at TIFF earlier this fall. Kidman’s character Nancy rescues her son, Jared (Lucas Hedges), from a gay conversion therapy camp that she’d enlisted him in with hopes to straighten him out. As they escape, the camp’s leader and self-certified “therapist” (Joel Edgerton) comes running after them, convincing them to stop and correct their sins. Nancy, a devout Baptist, realizes that she can reconcile her faith with her love for her son. Nancy turns protectively and fiercely admonishes her foe with the sassiest “Shame on you!” decreed in cinema. The line comes straight from the heart as love gives Nancy a reality check and Boy Erased provides a pure, heart-breaking portrait of the bond between parents and their children.

EUFF Review: 'Omnipresent'

Omnipresent

(Bulgaria, 120 min.)

Written and directed by Ilian Djevelekov

Starring: Velislav Pavlov, Teodora Duhovnikova, Vesela Babinova, Anastassia Liutova, Mihail Mutafov 

How many cameras does a person walk by every day? The fear of Big Brother watching over us is a reality that people take for granted. Government spying might be one thing, since they can only monitor so many people, but the threat of surveillance is everywhere, as are the inherent elements of power and control that come with the information gleaned by the voyeur. Omnipresent, the opening night film of Toronto’s European Union Film Festival and Bulgaria’s official entry in this year’s Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film, explores the destructive role of the panopticon as one man takes the all-seeing eye of the camera too far. It’s a chilling morality play on the power of media.

Burning: A Grin without a Cat

Burning

(South Korea, 148 min.)

Dir. Lee Chang-dong, Writ. Lee Chang-dong, Jungmi Oh

Starring: Ah-In Yoo, Steven Yeun, Jong-seo Jeon

Ah-In Yoo, Jong-Seo Jeon and Steven Yeun star in Burning

Burning is a slow and difficult film. South Korea's Oscar bid is lethargic even by the standard with which one approaches a film by auteur Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine, Poetry). Lee has mastered the art of slow cinema, rarely making a movie that clocks in under two hours and twenty minutes, so what Burning lacks in immediate payoff it enjoys in long-term gain. See it in a theatre and leave your phone behind—or, if watching Burning at home, turn the phone off, remove the battery, and leave both parts in different rooms. This is the kind of movie from which one can easily be distracted, since the action happens almost imperceptibly in Lee’s carefully measured frames. Miss not a beat, lest ye be lost forever. The film is a slow burn with a sting that creeps up a day later.

"It's Time to Break the Noses of All Beautiful Things"

Suspiria

(Italy/USA, 152 min.)

Dir. Luca Guadagnino, Writ. David Kajganich

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Chloë Moretz, Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven, Jessica Harper

“It’s time to break the noses of all beautiful things,” declares Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton) to Susie (Dakota Johnson) during a devilish dance in Suspiria. There are many broken bones and bloodied beauties in Luca Guadagnino’s gorgeously macabre Suspiria, and many a horror fan is bound to be tickled pink by the cries of pain and pleasure that echo throughout the film. One major difference between this Suspiria and the 1977 Dario Argento original is the sheer amount of dancing as sequences punctuate the film with violent, staccato rhythms. Both films take place in a dance studio/coven in divided Berlin, but the dancing in the classic is almost incidental whereas the stylish moves of the new film are essential to the spell it casts. This wild dance party is even better than the original Suspiria.

Mid90s: Hill Flips the 'Bird

Mid90s

(USA, 84 min.)

Written and directed by Jonah Hill

Starring: Sunny Suljic, Na-Kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, Ryder McLaughlin, Lucas Hedges, Katherine Waterston

Sunny Suljic and Na-Kel Smith star in Jonah Hill's Mid90s
VVS Films

Bradley Cooper isn’t the only actor who can direct! Superbad and Wolf of Wall Street star Jonah Hill makes a respectable feature debut as a director with Mid90s. While Mid90s isn’t the out of the park grand slam of Cooper’s A Star is Born, complete with fireworks and somersaulting cheerleaders, Hill’s flick bats a solid triple and lands a hot dog on the side. Hill crafts a goofy, tough, and surprisingly sweet coming of age story in Mid90s.

'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' a Feat of Tragicomedy

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

(USA, 106 min.)

Dir. Marielle Heller, Writ. Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Lee Israel is pathetic. When we meet the writer circa 1991, she’s a 51-year-old has been, clinging to her fifteen minutes of fame while churning out entry level work during the graveyard shift. Israel achieved some measure of repute thanks to her literary biographies on Tallulah Bankhead, Estée Lauder, and reporter/game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen, the latter of which was a New York Times bestseller. Israel thinks this modest success entitles her to more out of life, but as a bitterly depressed and resentful alcoholic, she squanders her talent far more than she uses it.

Room for Rent: Awkwardness Included

Room for Rent

(Canada, 89 min.)

Written and directed by Matthew Atkinson

Starring: Mark Little, Brett Gelman, Mark McKinney, Carla Gallo, Stephnie Weir

Living with random roommates is an experience that everyone should face at least once, if only to appreciate how normal and kind one’s friends and family are. For example, when I moved to Toronto, I answered a Craig’s List ad for a house that was led by someone who seemed perfectly chill and relatable. She turned out to be a batshit crazy hoarder who cleaned the shower for an hour every week (usually at midnight) and ran an amateur massage studio out of our messy living room—an expected everybody to vamoosh when her clients arrived. Not the most pleasant year, but it gave some perspective.

Oscar Predictions: Round 1 - Getting Back in the Game

Clockwise: Roma, The Favourite, BlacKkKlansman, A Star is Born, First Man, If Beale Street Could Talk

And we are back in the game with Oscar predictions! I apologize that this has been such a quiet year on Cinemablographer. I hope that things pick up here heading into the end of the year. It’s been a crazy year at POV and I’ve been doing some other freelancing, so I’ve simply been a bit busy elsewhere. (Thanks to everyone for sticking around!)

Chalamet a Star to Stay

Beautiful Boy

(USA, 120 min.)

Dir. Felix van Groeningen, Writ. Luke Davies, Felix van Groeningen

Starring: Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan, Kaitlyn Dever

VVS Films

Steve Carell wants an Oscar. Timothée Chalamet deserves one.

Knuckleball: Kids Slay the Darnedest Things

Knuckleball

(Canada, 89 min.)

Dir. Michael Peterson, Writ. Michael Peterson, Kevin Cockle

Starring: Luca Villacis, Michael Ironside, Munro Chambers, Kathleen Munroe, Chenier Mundal

The appeal of children generally eludes me, but the little hellions seem to be awfully good tools to have whilst trapped in a creepy home with a maniac. Video games and movies have taught kids to be resourceful, and as the new horror-comedy Knuckleball shows, there’s at least one practical benefit to having children.  Kids slay the darnedest things—at least they’re good for something.

First Man: From the Space Race to the Oscar Race

First Man

(USA, 142 min.)

Dir. Damien Chazelle, Writ. Josh Singer

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Jason Clarke, Patrick Fugit, Lukas Haas, Olivia Hamilton

Neil Armstrong might have been the first man to walk on the moon, but we’ll all feel like we’ve been there after seeing First Man. La La Land director Damien Chazelle takes audiences to the moon with such heart-pounding skill that one could swear he shot the film in space. This technically accomplished achievement chronicles the landmark Space Race that culminated with the Apollo 11 landing on the moon with Armstrong (played by La La Land leading man Ryan Gosling) taking a major leap for all of humanity.

Close Rewrites 'The Wife' Role

The Wife

(Sweden/UK/USA, 100 min.)

Dir. Björn Runge, Writ. Jane Anderson

Starring: Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Max Irons, Annie Stark, Harry Lloyd

Glenn Close stars in The Wife
Photo by Graeme Hunter / Sony Pictures Classics

It’s hard to imagine a better showcase for Glenn Close’s talents than The Big Chill, Fatal Attraction, The World According to Garp, Dangerous Liaisons, or Damages, but The Wife might be the finest example of her strength as an actress. That might be the case because The Big Chill, Fatal Attraction, The World According to Garp, Dangerous Liaisons, or Damages are all great pieces of film and television. The Wife, unfortunately, is not a good film, but Glenn Close is great in it. She’s reason alone to see the film as she elevates every scene in which she appears with subdued, repressed rage. Close’s performance in The Wife is a masterclass in subtle, nuanced acting.

Chien de garde: Canada's Stray Oscar Bid

Chien de garde (Family First)

(Canada, 87 min.)

Written and directed by Sophie Dupuis

Starring: Jean-Simon Leduc, Théodore Pellerin, Maude Guérin, Paul Ahmarani

Telefilm Canada threw us all for a loop Wednesday when they announced, without the usual warning or fanfare, the completely random selection of Sophie Dupuis’ Chien de garde as our official submission in the Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s a random choice because Chien de garde marks the first time in a very long while that the pan-Canadian committee has put forward a film that had virtually no boost, platform, or exposure outside of Quebec. The film, which opened theatrically in La Belle Province in March and was dumped unceremoniously onto VOD for the rest of Canada sometime between then and now, actually drew some stellar reviews and garnered three of Quebec’s Iris Awards in the categories of Best Actress (Maude Guérin), Best Film Editing, and Best Breakthrough Performer. (The film has a full-throttle performance by Théodore Pellerin). 

TIFF 2018: Festival Wrap-Up and Picks for 'Best of the Fest'

Destroyer, Blind Spot, Birds of Passage, A Star is Born, Roma, and Hotel Mumbai were some of TIFF's best

That’s a wrap for another year at the Toronto International Film Festival! TIFF had its best and arguably most exhausting year yet in 2018. There were some great movies and moments of TIFF, but the highlight might have been the Saturday of the first weekend when I came home and stress ate an entire bag of Kettle Chips with a bottle of prosecco. After spending nearly the entire day on email coordinating or conducting interviews that consumed the first few days of TIFF, it was a great way to unwind after missing several movies. Check out more coverage at POV and stay tuned to BeatRoute for the work fuelled by greasy chips and bubbly.

Architecture of Vision: Matthew Hannam and Sarah Gadon's 'Paseo'

Sarah Gadon in Paseo
Courtesy of TIFF

Director Matthew Hannam describes having an a-ha moment one day in Barcelona. While other tourists were taking photos and selfies, a picture formed in his mind. “The fucked up part is that most people aren't there, they're just trying to get enough pictures to prove that they were,” says Hannam. “At a certain point you don't even know where you are.”

TIFF Review: 'Retrospekt'

Retrospekt

(Netherland/Belgium, 101 min.)

Written and directed by Esther Rots

Starring: Circé Lethem, Lien Wildemeersch (Miller, Lee), Martijn van der Veen (Simon)

Programme: Contemporary World Cinema (World Premiere)

Courtesy of TIFF

Audiences seeking a healthy dose of WTF needn’t look any further than Retrospekt. This Dutch oddity is a true original. One might classify it as the first arthouse domestic violence musical, but that doesn’t really fit the bill since nobody belts a tune onscreen in Retrospekt even though the soundtrack is layered with peculiar original songs that twist the story in myriad ways. It might sound disrespectful; it might sound stupid; it might sound awful, yet Retrospekt somehow works thanks to the fearless audacity with which writer/director Esther Rots pulls it off.

TIFF Review: 'The Fall of the American Empire'

The Fall of the American Empire (La chute de l'empire américain)

(Canada, 128)

Written and directed by Denys Arcand

Starring: Aléxandre Landry, Maripier Morin, Rémy Girard, Louis Morissette, Maxim Roy, Pierre Curzi, Vincent Leclerc

Programme: Special Presentations (Toronto Premiere)

TIFF

Denys Arcand is back with a vengeance! The Quebecois master returns with The Fall of the American Empire, a Robin Hood fable for the Trump era that resonates strongly with the anxieties, tensions, and unrest of the time. It's a perceptive punch in the face to capitalism and a damning satire of these days of darkness.  

TIFF Review: 'Angel'

Angel (Un ange)

(Belgium/Netherlands/Senegal, 105 min.)

Written and directed by Koen Mortier

Starring: Vincent Rottiers, Fatou N’Diaye  

Programme: Contemporary World Cinema (International Premiere)

Courtesy TIFF

Twelve years ago, Fatou N’Diaye gave a heartbreaking performance as Gentille, a young Rwandan waitress at the Hôtel des Mille Collines in Robert Favreau’s drama A Sunday in Kigali. Audiences who saw this touching story of the 1994 Rwanda genocide at TIFF 2006 (or in release later) will recall N’Diaye’s touching innocence as the better half of A Sunday in Kigali’s love story about a Hutu waitress and a Canadian journalist who fell in love in the wrong place at the wrong time. Cut to TIFF’18 and N’Diaye is the star attraction of another ill-fated love story, and she steals the film as Fae, a doe-eyed prostitute in Senegal who strikes the fancy of a Belgian cyclist named Thierry (Vincent Rottiers). Viewers who slept on her performance in A Sunday in Kigali won’t want to close their eyes this time around.

TIFF Review: 'Climax'

Climax.

(France, 96 minutes - about half of which are just insufferable)

Dir. Gaspar Noé

Starring: Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smile

Programme: Midnight Madness (North American premiere)

Courtesy of TIFF

Master provocateur Gaspar Noé has well earned his status as a love-him-or-hate-him director. He wears his notoriety like a badge of honour after 2002’s Irréversible polarized cinephiles with its real-time rape scene, 2009’s Enter the Void had folks laughing in the aisles with a grand finale that imagined conception seen from the inside of a character’s cervix, and 2015’s 3D sexapalooza Love shot a bit too much pleasure in audiences’ faces. Noé’s latest romp Climax is arguably his best film—if only because it isn’t complete insufferable trash. I actually loved nearly 30 minutes of it, which is more than I can say for the rest of Noé's filmography combined.

TIFF Review: 'Freaks'

Freaks

(Canada/USA, 104 min.)

Written and directed by Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stern

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Lexy Kolker, Bruce Dern

Programme: Discovery (World Premiere)

Courtesy of TIFF

Room meets X-Men in the tense sci-fi family drama Freaks. This feature collaboration from Vancouver-born directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein is a smart exercise in small-scale science fiction. Freaks takes a simple conceit, namely that an unnamed father (Emile Hirsch) shelters his daughter, Chloe (Lexy Kolker), from the outside world. Chloe has never left their house. Her dad knows that she is unwelcome in the world because, like him, Chloe has unique powers. The outside world is not a friendly place—and it’s uncomfortably familiar to the world we live in today with its hostility to outsiders and fear of difference.

TIFF Review: 'Phoenix'

Phoenix (Føniks)

(Norway/Sweden, 86 min.)

Written and directed by Camilla Strøm Henriksen

Starring: Yiva Thedia Bjørkaas, Maria Bonnevie, Sverrir Gudnason, Casper Falck-Løvås

Programme: Discovery (World Premiere)

Courtesy of TIFF

A phoenix is a symbol of renewal and resilience. The mythical bird rises from ashes to be born again, and its flame-lit image suggests light after darkness. There is little to lightness to be found in Camilla Strøm Henriksen’s feature directorial debut Phoenix, though, but after nearly an hour and a half of sombre melancholy, one can only leave the film with a sense of hope for its young protagonist.

TIFF Review: 'Blind Spot'

Blind Spot (Blindsone)

(Norway, 98 min.)

Written and directed by Tuva Novotny

Starring: Pia Tjelta, Nora Mathea Øien, Oddgeir Thune, Anders Baasmo Christiansen

Programme: Discovery (International  Premiere)

Courtesy TIFF

The power of the long take finds one of its best examples in Blind Spot. This outstanding Norwegian drama from actor-turned-director Tuva Novotny gives Birdman and Victoria a run for their money as the one-take wonder. A single 98-minute unbroken shot provides one of the most emotionally absorbing case studies in family dynamics and mental illness one could see at the festival this year. (TIFF’s programme guide incorrectly notes that Blind Spot is a series of long takes. The film doesn’t even credit an editor.) Even more impressive is the fact that Blind Spot marks Novotny’s first feature as a director, so the sheer difficulty of orchestrating all this camerawork and human drama into one perfect shot only makes the coup more noteworthy. Blind Spot is an outstanding technical and artistic achievement

TIFF Review: 'Float Like a Butterfly'

Float Like a Butterfly

(Ireland, 101 min.)

Written and directed by Carmel Winters

Starring: Hazel Doupe, Dara Devaney, Johnny Collins, Hilda Foy

Programme: Discovery (World Premiere)

Courtesy TIFF

TIFF throws a crowd-pleasing punch in its line-up of girl power. Audiences willing to overlook the many boxing movie clichés in Float Like a Butterfly may find an empowering tale of a young girl’s fight for freedom. Whatever its shortcomings, Float Like a Butterfly has a lot to admire in the representational aspects, which inevitably tipped the crowd in its favour.

TIFF Review: 'Manto'

Manto

(India, 112 min.)

Written and directed by Nandita Das

Starring: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal, Tahir Raj Bhasin  

Programme: Special Presentations (North American Premiere)

Courtesy TIFF

Great voices in literature often reveal truths the public doesn’t want to hear. Particularly in times of social change and political uncertainty, the pen is the mightiest tool to give voice to the disenfranchised. Writer/director Nandita Das provides a biographical rendering of Pakistani author Saadat Hasan Manto with a stark and sobering eye for the late writer’s significance in capturing the social inequities of Partition-era India and Pakistan. Manto is a thoughtful biopic that honours the writer’s courage and his ability to capture the cultural pulse with a voice ahead of its time.

Kicking Off TIFF with Previews of 'The Stone Speakers' and Shorts at POV

The Stone Speakers
Courtesy Time Lapse Pictures

TIFF starts this week! I'll be covering the festival at POV, BeatRoute, and odds and ends here. Stuff is quite heavily embargoed this year (understandably so - it's fair for us to be asked to hold coverage), so reviews and whatnot won't appear as quickly as they normally would. Stay tuned for things as they appear before, during, and after the festival.

'Cardinals' a Brilliant Simmering Puzzler

Cardinals

(Canada, 84 min.)

Dir. Aidan Shipley, Grayson Moore; Writ. Grayson Moore

Starring: Sheila McCarthy, Noah Reid, Katie Boland, Grace Glowicki, Peter MacNeill, Peter Spence

Sheila McCarthy stars in Cardinals
D Films

Sheila McCarthy gives the performance of her career in Cardinals. Is this really the same woman who was so effervescent and full of life in I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing? If McCarthy made audiences soar with Mermaids, she lets them feel the sharp pain of hitting rock bottom in Cardinals. Playing Valerie Walker, a suburban mother who returns home from prison after serving time for killing her neighbour in an alleged drunk driving incident, her subdued performance is a master class in restraint. I am in awe of her intensity and focus.

Riding the Waves

Breath

(Australia, 115 min.)

Dir. Simon Baker, Writ. Gerard Lee, Simon Baker, Tim Winton

Starring: Samson Coulter, Ben Spence, Simon Baker, Elizabeth Debicki, Richard Roxburgh

Adolescence feels a lot like being underwater. It has a certain murkiness and it takes a lot of feeling one’s way around to find direction. Add the feeling that time works against you while struggling to navigate this uncharted territory: there’s only so long before going up for air. This sense of suffocation, of life closing in on you the deeper you get, becomes more turbulent as the waves crash down and send you tumbling.

Eggs Splattered on the Floor

Never Saw It Coming

(Canada, 83 min.)

Dir. Gail Harvey, Writ. Linwood Barclay

Starring: Emily Hampshire, Eric Roberts, Tamara Podemski, Shaun Benson, Katie Boland, Nick Serino

Emily Hampshire and Eric Roberts star in Never Saw It Coming

Keisha Ceylon is a small town charlatan. She moonlights as a psychic, helping families of the small snowy town of Sorrow Bay find their missing loved ones, but only after she gets their cash. Five grand nets a few easily plucked clues and everyone generally leaves the transaction happy.

Marky Mark and the Bloody Bunch

Mile 22

(USA, 95 min.)

Dir. Peter Berg; Writ. Lea Carpenter, Graham Roland (story)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, John Malkovich, Iwo Uwais, Rhonda Rousey, Peter Berg

Mark Wahlberg stars in Mile 22
VVS Films

Mile 22 opens with a bang and doesn’t let up. Mark Wahlberg and company deliver high octane, heavy calibre entertainment playing a group of covert operatives on a dangerous mission to transport and protect a key witness. Mile 22 is a slick, swift, and energetic thrill ride. It is also relentlessly, savagely, and exhaustingly violent. The flick’s going to please its target audience, but I just don’t have the stomach for this kind of movie anymore.