Clifton Hill is a psychological thriller that strangely enough also serves as a love letter of sorts to the city of Niagara Falls (Canada). Memory can be an interesting thing. When Abby (Tuppence Middleton) returns to Niagara Falls after her mother’s death, it leads to some stressful relations with sister Laure (Hannah Gross). It’s already bad enough that their mom’s hotel, The Rainbow Inn, is likely to be closed. Neither Abby nor her sister, Laure…
"Toronto 2019: Clifton Hill"Category: Film Festival
Amy Jo Johnson’s sophomore feature, Tammy’s Always Dying, follows a working-class daughter as she cares for her alcoholic mother. Catherine “Cathy” MacDonald (Anastasia Phillips) works at a hotel bar to make ends meet. When she isn’t doing this, she is taking care of her alcoholic mother, Tammy (Felicity Huffman). It isn’t the best way to go about life but Cathy does her best. At the bar, Cathy has the freedom to be whoever she wants…
"Toronto 2019: Tammy’s Always Dying"
Antonio Banderas delivers a stand-out performance as filmmaker Salvador Mallo in Pain and Glory as the film hits up the fall film festivals. A winner of Best Actor at Cannes, Pain and Glory hits both Telluride and Toronto on its way to a theatrical release in October. Pedro Almodóvar turns in a bold script here. Put it this way–hours after watching the film, I still struggled with what to say about it. On the one…
"Toronto 2019: Pain and Glory"
The Father is about as dark and comedic as a film could possibly be when it comes to a husband suffering from the loss of his wife. I watched a number of films going into the festival but what struck me the most is the number of films dealing with death. Everyone responds to death differently. While one family member can go into a depression, another will go about their life acting as if nothing…
"Toronto 2019: The Father"
Love Me Tender follows the point of view of a woman suffering from agoraphobia and the film doesn’t make light of mental health. Some forms of one’s mental health are visibile while others are not. In Seconda’s (Barbara Giordano) case, she suffers from acute agoraphobia. This means that she suffers from panic attacks and anxiety in large open spaces. It is important that writer-director Klaudia Reynicke doesn’t make fun of those who are suffering. While…
"Toronto 2019: Love Me Tender"
Alexander Nanau’s documentary, Collective, shows the importance of the media especially when it comes to exposing corruption. No matter what country you live in, the freedom of press is important. Certainly, the man living in the White House would beg to differ. But we’re not talking about him, are we? No, the topic at hand is the fire that took place at the Colectiv club in Bucharest on October 30, 2015. What happened on that…
"Toronto 2019: Collective"
Richard Raymond‘s newest short film, A Million Eyes, is a beautiful film that speaks to the idea of what goes into creating art. When we first meet Leroy (Elijah M. Cooper), the teenager is taking photos across town with a banged up 35mm camera. He also recites the title line but not in a cliche way. Leroy lives with his mother, Amber (Katie Lowes), a struggling alcoholic. When an older photographer, Fern (Joe Morton), takes…
"A Million Eyes: A Beautiful Short"
Lake Michigan Monster, a small Wisconsin-made indie adventure comedy, is destined to be one of the weirdest films that anybody will see this year. Captain Seafield (Ryland Tews) is putting together a “team of the century.” Their mission is to find the Lake Michigan Monster. Team members include Nedge Pepsi (Beulah Peters), Sean Shaughnessy (Erick West), and Dick Flynn (Daniel Long). Along the way, Seafield comes up with various operation names including Annihilation, Nauty Lady,…
"Fantasia 2019: Lake Michigan Monster"
Straight Up is an outright character study with regards to one person dealing with their internalized homophobia while finding their soulmate. The gist of the film is that Todd (James Sweeney) has found his soulmate in aspiring actress Rory (Katie Findlay). Once these two meet, they’re very quick to get along with each other. It’s mostly comfort for the sake of being intellectual. Even though Todd is seeing therapist Dr. Larson (Tracie Thoms), he seems…
"Frameline 2019: Straight Up"
Nicole Maines delivers a commanding presence in Bit as the film becomes the queer feminist vampire movie that we’ve been needing for so long. A brief prologue introduces V-Squad, led by Duke (Diana Hopper), before cutting to Laurel’s (Nicole Maines) Central Oregon High graduation. Laurel’s still figuring out who she is in terms of what she wants to do with her life. Before embarking on her future, she’s off on a road trip to visit…
"Frameline 2019: Bit: An Instant Feminist Vampire Classic"