Interview: Chatting 'Hotel Mumbai' with Director Anthony Maras and Actors Anupam Kher, Nazanin Boniadi, and Jason Isaacs

Anupam Kher stars as Chef Oberoi in Hotel Mumbai
VVS Films

More on Hotel Mumbai! After last week's chat with Armie Hammer comes more insight on the film from director Anthony Maras and actors Anupam Kher, Nazanin Boniadi, and Jason Isaacs. The cast and director discuss their exceptionally powerful film and honouring the true heroes behind their characters and seeing the tragedy of the attacks in Mumbai as a call for unity in divisive times.

"Something from the belly": Philippe Lesage's 'Genesis'

Genesis (Genèse)

(Canada, 129 min.)

Written and directed by Philippe Lesage

Starring: Théodore Pellerin, Noée Abita, Jules Roy Sicotte, Emilie Bierre, Édouard Tremblay-Grenier, Paul Ahmarani

Genesis is arguably the one truly great dramatic film in this year’s Canada’s Top Ten. It is an excitingly unfortunate reminder that the best of Canadian cinema remains largely invisible. See it if and whenever you can. Lesage jokes that it could be a sequel to his 2015 film The Demons, but he says there’s no point making a sequel to a movie that nobody saw. It’s a shame that there isn’t wider recognition for Lesage’s work in the Canadian circuit, so hopefully his new film Genesis will mobilize cinephiles to champion one of the emerging filmmakers in Canada doing new and exciting things with film form.

Interview: Chatting with 'Level 16' Director Danishka Esterhazy

Sara Canning in Daniska Esterhazy's Level 16

New interview! Chatting about Level 16, feminist dystopia, fandom, Handmaid's Tale, femme fatales and Sara Canning's great Veronica Lake look with director Danishka Esterhazy at That Shelf. The film is now playing in Toronto!

Read the full interview here.

Vives les fantômes!

Ghost Town Anthology (Répertoire des villes disparues)

(Canada, 97 min.)

Written and directed by Denis Côté

Starring: Robert Naylor, Larissa Corriveau, Josée Deschênes, Diane Lavallée, Jocelyne Zucco, Normand Carrière, Hubert Proulx, Rachel Graton

Snow drifts are scary, but nobody has quite captured the foreboding nature of snow billowing across the road like Denis Côté does in Ghost Town Anthology. The new and (expectedly) peculiar film from Côté’s mind proves the director to be one of the most distinct voices in Canadian film today, although that trait was already proved with A Skin so Soft, Bestiaire, Carcasses, and Vic + Flo Sawa Bear. Whatever goes on inside his head is the stuff that psychologists dream about, but for those of us who prefer to probe the mind while sitting in a darkened movie theatre, Côté’s movies never cease to fascinate. Ghost Town Anthology might be Côté’s best film yet, and I say this as a passionate fan. It’s a stripped down horror flick that sends shivers to the bone like a winter chill on a February day.

Interview: Chatting with 'Hotel Mumbai' Star Armie Hammer!

Armie Hammer in Hotel Mumbai
VVS Films

I'm very excited to make my debut at Sharp with an interview with Armie Hammer! I got to chat with Hammer at the Toronto International Film Festival in September where we looked at his excellent new film Hotel Mumbai, and touched upon his first time playing a father, his bromance with Timothée Chalamet, and the challenges of bringing such an intense story to the screen.

Read the full interview here at Sharp!

Interview: Chatting with 'Through Black Spruce' Star Tanaya Beatty

The TIFF coverage keeps on coming!

First up in this month's coverage to drop is a chat with Tanaya Beatty, who gives a powerful breakout performance as Annie Bird in the adaptation of Through Black Spruce. (She really should have landed a Screenie nom, IMO.) The film hits theatres March 29. Pick up a copy of BeatRoute in BC and Alberta to read!

 

Contest! Win Tickets to See 'Gloria Bell'!

Put the gin in the freezer and get out your heels, Gloria Bell is ready to hit the dance floor! Julianne Moore brings new life to the title role of Gloria Bell playing a woman discovering the thrill and comfort of enjoying independence in the prime of her life. The film, a hit at last year's Toronto International Film Festival (read the TIFF review here) casts Moore in an English-language remake of Sebastián Lelio's acclaimed film Gloria with the Oscar winning director back at the helm. Gloria Bell opens on Friday, March 15 from VVS Films and Cinemablographer has a tickets to give away for sneak peeks in Toronto and Vancouver. Answer the trivia below to win!