April 20, 2018

Welcome to TFCA Friday, a weekly round-up of film reviews and articles by TFCA critics.

Opening this Week

Beuys (dir. Andres Veiel)

“The most beautiful thing was seeing Beuys smile so much — and remember the charming and funny but surely provocative figure, who was West Germany’s great artistic prophet” — Marc Glassman, POV Magazine

Cinema Through the Eye of the Magnum (dir. Sophie Bassaler)

“Bassaler’s doc covers The Misfits and Capa with great aplomb: the film is nicely divided between still and moving images, propelled by interviews with photographers and others involved with the great productions that were documented… For lovers of great visual art, whether in film or photography” — Marc Glassman, POV Magazine

Eye on Juliet (dir. Kim Nguyen)

“Cole and El Arabi are appealing, engaging leads, and the premise, with its nods to every surveillance thriller ever made (and especially The Conversation), is dramatic enough to pull us over the rougher spots” — Norm Wilner, NOW Magazine

“Never feels credible as a sincere-to-a-fault cross-cultural drama” — Liam Lacey, Original-Cin.ca

“Succeeds in not only having the audience believe what is occurring on screen could happen, but also have them root for the protagonists” — Gilbert Seah, Festival Reviews

I Feel Pretty (dir. Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein)

“Schumer redeems I Feel Pretty by completely and fearlessly buying into the premise, and delivering a few good lines that slice into the shallow idiocy of valuing beauty over brains and celebrities over common folk” — Peter Howell, The Toronto Star

“Takes some really interesting ideas about insecurity and empowerment and buries them in a high-concept, low-yield comedy with a constant, unavoidable buzz of wrongness” — Norm Wilner, NOW Magazine

“Schumer’s actual chutzpah, so boldly showcased in her stand-up and sketch comedy, is not enough to carry this offensive conceit” — Kate Taylor, The Globe and Mail

“Feels like a throwback to a certain kind of ’90s rom-com, with its unhurried pace and occasional musical montage. But the sweet message couldn’t be more current: success isn’t about becoming the pretty girl; it’s about realizing you already are” — Chris Knight, The National Post

“Uses jokes that are stretched too long for its own good, like the entire film” — Gilbert Seah, Festival Reviews

Kodachrome (dir. Mark Raso)

“Demonstrates that the right creative team can do an awful lot with a very familiar story – specifically, the One Last Road Trip genre. You’ve seen this sort of movie before. But it’s rarely been this good” — Norm Wilner, NOW Magazine

Mobile Homes (dir. Vladimir de Fontenay)

“Poots gives it her best shot, playing Ali as a woman who’s spent far too long staying one step ahead of the consequences she knows are coming, but there’s nothing to Mobile Homes that merits the effort” — Norm Wilner, NOW Magazine

“While Poots and Turner deliver exceptional performances, … the result, however, is still a film the audience is detached from” — Gilbert Seah, Festival Reviews

The Scent of Rain and Lightning (dir. Blake Robbins)

“A Midwestern murder mystery steeped in atmosphere and deliberate character reveals that hint at revelations to come” — Peter Howell, The Toronto Star

“Though [its] double time-line can be confusing, it provides a welcome immediacy to both periods, which converge with a satisfying symmetry” — Liam Lacey, Original-Cin.ca

“An atmospheric thriller that looks stunning, courtesy of cinematographer Lyn Moncrief” — Gilbert Seah, Afro Toronto

Submergence (dir. Wim Wenders)

“If you’ve ever wondered what Wim Wenders would do with a Bond movie, here’s your answer: not a hell of a lot” — Norm Wilner, NOW Magazine

Super Troopers 2 (dir. Jay Chandrasekhar)

“The movie would rather ignore any progress since 2002; it’s so firmly entrenched in that period and its gags that it opens with an asinine bit featuring American Pie’s Seann William Scott and Damon Wayans Jr” — Radheyan Simonpillai, NOW Magazine

“Inspired stupidity” — Gilbert Seah, Afro Toronto

Timon of Athens (dir. Barry Avrich)

“For all of you who want to try a deeper cut of Shakespeare oeuvre without the bourgeois Stratford Festival price tag, a movie ticket is a good proletariat solution” — Liam Lacey, Original-Cin.ca

Zama (dir. Lucrecia Martel)

“Seeking to plunge us into the hell of a supposed conqueror shattered by his own hubris, [Zama] scratches at the mind like a hairshirt chafes the body” — Peter Howell, The Toronto Star

José Teodoro interviews the filmmaker on her “new frontier”

“Both confounding and brilliant, [reaffirming Martel’s] status on the shortlist of essential art-house filmmakers of the new millennium” — Liam Lacey, Original-Cin.ca

The News at TIFF

Peter Howell and Barry Hertz both spoke with TIFF’s Cameron Bailey on his new role as co-head

Unaltered 2001 Print Coming to Toronto

Peter Howell geeks out over his favourite film’s return to the city