Christian Petzold’s film Phoenix and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence are both about the need to face and make peace with the painful past that would seemingly be easier to ignore. Earlier this year, the Art Gallery of Ontario held an exhibit of Henryk Ross’s photos from the Lodz Ghetto. It was hidden in […]
Film Reviews
Here you will find every film review we've written. These include: festival films, new releases, and older films.
Review: Long-distance lovers struggle in 10000 km
Long distance relationships have a tendency to expose and magnify existing problems in romantic relationships. Such is the case for the lovers at the centre of Carlos Marques-Marcet’s impressive, sensitive, and heartbreaking debut 10000 km. Bookended by two sex scenes, the film charts how a deeply in love and committed couple go from connected and planning […]
What Happened, Miss Simone? is all about the passion
Liz Garbus’ new documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?, consists mainly of rousing historical footage of Simone’s concerts and interviews, while paying tribute to Simone’s achievements and illuminating the struggles in her life. Nina Simone wanted to become the first black female classical pianist to perform at Carnegie Hall. She had to settle for becoming a […]
‘A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence’: Andersson’s dark humour and humanist touch are a rare delight
Roy Andersson’s final installment in his trilogy about being a human being (You, The Living and Songs from the Second Floor), A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, begins with a comedic bang of twisted humour: a series of three vignettes that detail “meetings with death.” In my favourite one, we find two […]
Review: Love & Mercy reveals the real Brian Wilson
Photo credit: Francois Duhamel Early on in Love & Mercy, the middle-aged Brian Wilson of the 1980s phones up a car saleswoman he’s just met, Melinda (a luminous Elizabeth Banks), and says, “Hi, it’s Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys.” It’s a fact he was coy about acknowledging when they first met, but it works […]
Bujalski whips the rom-com into new shape with Results
Results, Andrew Bujalski has reinvented and rejuvenated the romantic comedy, dispensing with the formulaic boy meets girl, boys loses girl, boy gets girl back trajectory. Beginning in the middle of the love story, the opening credits play over a moving, striped sheet that fills the screen while moans can be heard in the background. Bujalski […]