August 30, 2024

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

In release this week

1992 (dir. Ariel Vroman)

“1992 is an example of a singular idea for a film split off two ways where only one of them really works, thusly bringing down the grade of the whole,” writes Andrew Parker at The Gate. “Set against the aftermath of the April 29, 1992 verdict in the trial of LAPD officers captured on camera beating Rodney King, this latest film from director and co-writer Ariel Vroman (The Iceman, Criminal) has a really well done, emotionally impactful, and wonderfully acted thread and another that just kinda sucks the air and life out of everything around it no matter how much effort is expended. Yes, eventually these threads meet up and inform each other, but even at the point of overlapping one of the stories remains vastly better than the other.”

Charlie Tango (dir. Simon Boisvert)

“To director Boisvert’s credit, the incredible story is a good yarn touting the strength of an honest relationship while putting down companies, like ponzi companies that cheat honest folk out of their life savings,” writes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

Out Come the Wolves (dir. Adam MacDonald)

“MacDonald wastes no time setting up the triangle,” says Chris Knight at Original Cin. “Kyle and Sophie are both very outdoorsy, and expert hunters. Nolan is a journalist working on a piece about learning to hunt. Sophie could teach him, but she wants Kyle to do it. And so, after an awkward evening featuring too much wine and whine, the two men head off into the woods to shoot a deer.”

“MacDonald is very good at crafting simple, meaningful thrillers,” notes Andrew Parker at The Gate. “There’s plenty to think about, but his films aren’t all that fussy. Here are the people. Here is their situation. Here is the problem they’re going to have to deal with. It’s basic, but smart and effective, with MacDonald always striving to approach horror from a grounded, personal perspective, without always giving into genre traditions.”

Reagan (dir. Sean McNamara)

“So much fascinating information emerges about Reagan’s character, actions, and political savvy sometimes disguised as upbeat, wonky optimism,” writes Anne Brodie at What She Said. “The larger-than-life, outlandish but true story of Reagan and the Reds is nothing short of astounding – and entertaining.”

“No life, certainly not one so monumental and complicated as Reagan’s, can be satisfyingly condensed into a single feature film, of course. But this is a Coles Notes level of biography that is convinced it’s The Greatest Story Ever Told,” groans Barry Hertz at The Globe and Mail. “This sense of deluded bravado also fuels Dennis Quaid’s central performance, which oscillates between ultra-righteous conviction and deeply silly shtick.”

“Depending on your political leanings and opinions on one of the most divisive presidents in American history, the biopic Reagan is either better or worse than you’re likely expecting, and neither is necessarily a good thing,” admits Andrew Parker at The Gate. “The best that can be said about this right leaning, faith indebted effort is that – for the most part – Reagan is a classically made, hokey, crowd pleasing biography that plays the legend, but still highlights some of his struggles, shortcomings, and controversies. That’s also the worst that can be said about it, because its adherence to the standard biopic playbook is so strong that it has little identity of its own as a film beyond the figurehead it’s depicting.”

“Dennis Quaid stars as Ronnie, although two other actors portray the future president as a young boy and as an adolescent. It still makes for some odd moments, as there’s no way today’s Quaid can pass as a young movie-star playing a football-star,” says Chris Knight at Original Cin. “Other performers include Mena Suvari as Reagan’s first wife Jane Wyman and Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy, Reagan’s First Lady. But give scene-chewing howlingly-bad-accent pride of place to Jon Voight as Viktor Petrovich, a (fictional) retired KGB agent who spends the movie narrating the story of Reagan’s life to a (fictional) up-and-coming Russian politician (Alex Sparrow) in the present day.”

(Un)Lucky Sisters (dir. Fabiana Tucornia)

“The comedy is not overtly hilarious nor are there many laugh-out-loud laughs,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “But the humour is amusing and non-offensive and reflective daily lives of hard-working Argentinians.  There are a few inspired comedic setups, like the one where Jesi first enters her over-crowded flat, her mother conducting pre-natal classes for already pregnant women.”

Untamed Royals (dir. Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz)

“But as teen drama goes, this is a well-thought-out crime drama. The film has the feel more of an adult feature rather than having a target audience of teens with substance abuse, lots of sex, smoking and violence,” writes Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

#Untruth: The Psychology of Trumpism (dir. Dan Partland; Sept. 3)

“The film is alarming, thorough, frightening, informative and in many ways powerful, all making it compulsive viewing,” says Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto.

You Gotta Believe (dir. Ty Roberts)

“Scenes of the kids playing baseball in You Gotta Believe are fun and chaotic, but the movie soon veers into family suffering porn with dad’s cancer. As Ratliff, Luke Wilson gets tasked with scenes of post-chemo barfing, hair and weight loss, and looking glum when he has to ask his lawyer friend to make him up a will,” says Liz Braun at Original Cin. “The movie ricochets between cute baseball material and uplifting young male bonding scenes, to depressing bits with the kids asking if dad is going to die and Ratliff coughing up blood.”

“You Gotta Believe is best suited for families obsessed with baseball,” adds Gilbert Seah at Afro Toronto. “Nothing special, but formulaic a feel-good sports movie.”

A Festival of Festival Coverage: TIFF Previews!

At The Globe and Mail, several members offer their picks for their most anticipated films of the festival. Johanna Schneller is cautiously keen for Queer: “Guadagnino claims it’s his most personal work yet, and that the sex scenes are ‘numerous and scandalous.’ Good or less, it promises to be a ride.” For Barry Hertz, it’s Joseph Kahn’s Ick: “The director’s first film since 2017′s provocative hip-hop comedy Bodied…Ick promises all manner of outré chaos as it follows a high-school science teacher (Brandon Routh) battling a parasitic alien entity.” Kate Taylor, meanwhile, is praying for Conclave tickets: “After the success of The Two Popes in 2019, who can say no to another papal drama with a top-draw cast?”

At the Toronto Star, Peter Howell shares ten reasons why Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis might be the weirdest film at the festival: “Midway through the film’s Cannes world premiere, in a scene where Cesar is answering questions at a press conference, a person in the theatre — possibly an usher or an actor — approached the screen with a microphone and asked a question that Cesar [Adam Driver] answered,” writes Howell. “This is supposed to be part of the Megalopolis screening experience but there’s been no word on how Coppola plans to make it happen elsewhere.”

At What She Said, Anne Brodie previews some TIFF picks including Shook, Village Keeper, and Bonjour Tristesse: “Sevigny is magnificent and Chew-Bose’s debut confirms her talent.”

At That Shelf, Rachel West and Pat Mullen share some of their top picks for the fest. For West, it’s We Live in Time: “The trailer already has audiences swooning, leaving no doubt that this will be a tearful screening.” For Mullen, it’s The End: “Do we have the next anti-musical à la Dancer in the Dark or A Woman Is a Woman, or is this cast going full Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia?”

At Variety, Jennie Punter speaks with Measures for a Funeral director Sofia Bohdanowicz about her ambitious new project on the music of Kathleen Parlow: “Right away I went to the library to look at the manuscript,” Bohdanowicz said. “Eventually, after (the piece) was finally performed in Norway by the Malmo Symphony, I heard a recording and was stunned by the piece. As I was studying the archive, I kept asking if it was going to be performed in Canada anytime soon. The ambiguity around it — or, I guess, the lack of interest in the piece of music — kind of made me want to pursue the performance of it.”

At The Globe and Mail, Barry Hertz profiles Sook Yin Lee’s latest project, Paying for It, which adapts Chester Brown’s comic book. “It’s a double act of portraiture. There are some people who can just dream up scenarios, but even when I write fiction, like my last film Octavio Is Dead!, that’s still partly based on real experiences,” Lee explains. “It’s a little strange, living in this house and it sometimes being a set. It gets blurred. Those dishes are real, but those pots were brought in by the art department. After a while, it doesn’t matter. They are just items in our lives that float around.”

File Under Miscellaneous

At POV Magazine, Jennie Punter speaks with impact producers to learn about the role of documentary in community engagement. Among the interviewees is The Kablona Keepers director Tamo Campos: “The Klabona Keepers is a collaboration between the non-Indigenous filmmakers Campos and Jasper Snow Rosen and the group of Tahltan elders and Klabona Keepers, including the film’s producer/advisor Rhoda Quock, who invited the filmmakers to make a documentary about the Keepers in 2015,” writes Punter. “Campos and Snow Rosen had previously filmed blockades to support the community’s land-protection work. ‘This film is an interesting model in that the main elders who are part of the story own the intellectual property, Campos [says]. ‘They decided all proceeds should go towards bringing their youth to the land and to screenings.’”

At The Globe and Mail, Barry Hertz speaks with Jeremy Saunier about his upcoming Netflix work Rebel Ridge: “The thesis of this movie was how can you play dialogue like action set pieces. How can you build that tension and light that fuse and let it burn?” Saunier tells Hertz. “Cutting those scenes was so much fun because if you ground it and humanize it all, that charge is created. We created the energy of live theatre sometimes.”

TV Talk/Series Stuff

At What She Said, Anne Brodie calls English Teacher a “groundbreaking” series: “The series is refreshingly modern and inclusive, it’s well-written and funny – check the mother looking for the kids she believes are playing Stoneface – and a breath of fresh air in the tired sitcom universe.”

At Original Cin, Liam Lacey checks out season four of Only Murders in the Building: “Although Only Murders was created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, the continuing appeal of the series, to my mind, is Martin Short’s character, one of his favourite types going back to his SCTV days, a flamboyant, passive-aggressive performer, insistently pronouncing his genius against contrary evidence. (In the show, Oliver is described by one of the Hollywood writers as someone everyone wants to ‘strangle and cuddle at the same time.’)”

At The Gate, Andrew Parker looks at the return of Only Murders in the Building: “The mystery in this season of Only Murders in the Building comes with a knowing sense of formula, but Martin, Hoffman, and their team of writers, directors, and performers know precisely how to lean into the material,” notes Parker. “Four seasons into a show predicated on our heroes always stumbling backwards into murder plots, Only Murders in the Building knows what viewers will be looking for and expecting. There’s a knowing sense that viewers will pick up on the clues along the way and assign them a certain degree of significance, but the show always finds a way to upend those expectations. It’s a show that rewards viewers for paying attention, even if the assumptions made along the way turn out to be wrong. It’s a trifle of a show, sure, but there’s also a distinctive and substantial arc to the storytelling that goes down easy and leaves viewers satisfied.” He also checks out Kaos: “Covell (The End of the F***ing World) seems to subscribe to that old adage that all the best stories have been told already, with the series creator gleefully doing everything in their power to subvert expectations in service of the most bonkers retellings ever mounted. It’s as if a really smart, hyperactive, pop culture savvy nerd adapted random chapters of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology with the style, pacing, and soundtrack stacking chops of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. It’s a heck of a ride for both the well versed and unfamiliar alike.”

At Original Cin, Karen Gordon agrees that Kaos reigns: “Kaos is beautifully realized, and gets so much right in terms of casting, character, pacing and tone, that it’s a feast from the design to art direction, to the costumes to the music choices.  It’s modern in all the right ways.”