A Good Man is yet another example of transface casting gunning for awards with cisgender actress Noémie Merlant in a transgender role. It would be one thing for a cisgender filmmaker to bring a trans story to the screen if they actually had a transgender actor in the trans role. However, this certainly isn’t the case here. Not by a long shot. What’s even more insulting is that the film’s co-writer, Christian Sonderegger, has a…
"Toronto 2020: A Good Man Is Another Transface Film"Category: Film Festival
While 76 Days certainly takes a look at Wuhan during the 76-day lockdown, it isn’t really explosive in terms of what we see on camera. As most of the film industry spent the last weekend of January attending the Sundance Film Festival and kicking off a new year for film, something else was happening in China. On January 23, 2020, China made the decision to lock down Wuhan. This city has some 11 million residents. …
"Toronto 2020: 76 Days"
In her first turn as a feature film director, Oscar-winning actress Regina King hits a home run on the first try with One Night In Miami… A more than brief prologue sets the tone of the film before we ever see the title on screen. One by one, we’re introduced to the major players Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.). The main action…
"Toronto 2020: One Night In Miami…"
David Byrne’s American Utopia is an absolute joy to watch no matter how familiar you are with Byrne or the Talking Heads. Before I go any further with my review, please make sure to watch the concert film to the very end. Thanks to the joys of technology, it took three attempts to watch this concert film. After crashing twice on Thursday morning, I decided to make another attempt in the evening. Rather than continue…
"Toronto 2020: David Byrne’s American Utopia"
J Blakeson’s I Care A Lot blends a mix of comedy and thrills to deliver a satire with another strong performance from actress Rosamund Pike. Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is a legal guardian and is the type who will take advantage of any loophole in the system. If it means paying doctors off to have another ward of the state, so be it. Marla is the type of woman who will rob her clients and…
"Toronto 2020: I Care A Lot"
Akilla’s Escape weaves together two different timelines in Brooklyn and Toronto while tackling social issues that remain in the limelight. During a drug trade-gone-bad, Akilla Brown (Saul Williams) captures a teenage and mute Jamaican boy, Sheppard (Thamela Mpulmwana). His youth comes back to him when Akilla learns that Sheppard is a affiliated with the Garrison Army. It just so happens that Akilla’s grandfather founded the Jamaican crime syndicate. Akilla left the life some time ago…
"Toronto 2020: Akilla’s Escape"
No Ordinary Man isn’t so much a documentary of musician Billy Tipton but a major contribution to the history of trans-masculinity. For me, the most important moment in the film came when activist Jamison Green meets Billy Tipton Jr. It’s during this meeting that Green tells the musician’s son that nobody is alone in going through this. For a long time, Tipton Jr. thought he was the only one with such a history. But again,…
"Toronto 2020: No Ordinary Man"
The Way I See It goes behind the scenes through White House photographer Pete Souza’s eyes during the Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama administrations. How many people can say they worked at the White House for both Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Not many, I would assume. However, Pete Souza could very well be the only one. Souza comments in the film that if you thought he would work for both the most iconic…
"Toronto 2020: The Way I See It"
The SXSW award-winning Topside made its world premiere during the 2020 Venice International Film Critics Week after not premiering in March. Many international film festivals have come to the rescue for the SXSW orphans still wanting an official world premiere with an audience. In this instance, it is Venice coming to the rescue for Topside. The feature debut from Celine Held and Logan George won a special jury award for directing at SXSW in March. …
"Venice 2020: Topside"
Holler, starring Jessica Barden, marks an impressive feature debut for writer-director Nicole Riegel in the Southern Ohio-set production. It’s no lie that manufacturing towns are among the first towns to take a hit when the economy takes a downturn. Jackson, Ohio is certainly no exception. For Ruth Avery (Jessica Barden), she’s willing to do whatever it takes to go to college and have a better future. Working with her brother Blaze (Gus Halper), Ruth soon…
"Holler: Jessica Barden Shines In Nicole Riegel’s Feature Debut"