TIFF 2018 Review: GRETA (Ireland/USA 2018) ***

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Greta Poster
A young woman befriends a lonely widow.

Director:

Neil Jordan

Writers:

Ray Wright (screenplay by), Neil Jordan (screenplay by)| 1 more credit »

Some films are best if seen without any prior knowledge of the plot.  Neil Jordan’s GRETA is one of them.  As in Jordan’s THE CRYING GAME, the shock occurs when the girl the protagonist is having sex with suddenly is shown with a penis.  The big surprise secret comes literally out of the closet at the 30-minus mark of Jordan’s latest psychological thriller GRETA.  

Set in NYC, Isabelle Huppert plays a widow developing a friendship with a naïve young woman, Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz).  Frances returns the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner, Greta (Huppert).  Frances recently lost her mother and feels alienated by her father; Greta has lost her husband, and her daughter lives far away.   The two become fast friends much to the consternation of her best friend (Maika Monroe).  

Unfortunately, the film ends with a totally unlikely twist in the plot that could only happen in a one in a million chance.  This spoils an otherwise excellent thriller.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7SUePnsxWo

TIFF 2018 Review: THE STANDOFF AT SPARROW CREEK (USA 2018) **1/2

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Poster
A former cop-turned-militia man investigates a shooting at a police funeral.

Director:

Henry Dunham

Writer:

Henry Dunham

Writer/director Henry Dunham’s debut feature tackles a series of current issues – gun control; violence; loyalty among others.  The film begins with the announcement of a mass shooting, not shown on screen, an incident unfortunately too common these days.  The cops are all out to find those responsible, being under great pressure from everyone.  

The story centres of a neighbourhood militia that have an assortment of weaponry.  It is discovered that the recent mass shooting was apparently carried out by one of its own members as one of the AR-15 rifles (reportedly used in the shooting) stored in a lumberyard warehouse is missing.  Fearing that the authorities have already connected the weapon to their collective and will soon descend, they resolve to determine who among them has broken ranks, so that they can deliver the perpetrator to the police and not risk jeopardizing their operation. 

The film has little action and lots of talk.  Most of the excitement comes in the revelation of the dialogue.  Of course, if the whole film relies on the dialogue, it should be flawless.  But there are a few loop holes.  The audience is also required to be 100% attentive to the dialogue while expecting a few plot twists.  A few bouts of humour are inserted (there should be more), but all the talk seems too much for a Midnight Madness movie.

TIFF 2018 Review: THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS (USA 20018) ***

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

The Land of Steady Habits Poster
Trailer

Feeling trapped in the stifling, wealthy enclave of Westport, Connecticut, Anders Hill (Ben Mendelsohn) retires from his job in finance and leaves his wife (Edie Falco) in the hopes that it… See full summary »

Writers:

Nicole HolofcenerTed Thompson (based on the novel by)

THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS is another NETFLIX original and not a bad one at that.  The film is set in Westport, Connecticut.  One can only speculate the reason this one did not get made through the normal channels.  This is a story of a middle-aged man who has left metaphorically the land of steady habits. 

Anders Hill (Ben Mendelsohn) has quit his well paying job and divorced his life – the protagonist, like the film going against the natural flow of things.  He figures life will be more rewarding but things get worse.  When the film opens, he has just picked up a woman and having sex.  Besides not being able to get it up, his adult son Preston (Thomas Mann) rejects him.  Oddly enough, he bonds and smokes up with the neighbours drug-culled son Charlie (Charlie Tahan).  

When Charlie commits suicide, Anders is blamed.  Holofcener (ENOUGH SAID) is good at this kind of films.  She gets into her characters and keeps her film well paced, intelligent and smart.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbKDFMW8hGE

TIFF 2018 Review: HOLD THE DARK (USA 2018) ***

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Hold the Dark Poster
Trailer

After the deaths of three children suspected to be by wolves, writer Russell Core is hired by the parents of a missing six-year-old boy to track down and locate their son in the Alaskan wilderness.

Director:

Jeremy Saulnier

Writers:

Macon Blair (screenplay by), William Giraldi (based on the book by)

HOLD THE DARK is the latest film from director Jeremy Saulnier (GREEN ROOM, BLUE RUIN) whose specialty appears to be moody thrillers.  In HOLD THE DARK, written by Macon Blair adapted from the novel by William Giraldi, the film begins with a child playing outside in the winter snow when he sees a pack of wolves.  The child goes missing.   His home is one of a handful of trailers on the edge of the wilderness in Alaska.   His father (Alexander Skarsgård) is serving in the Middle East and his mother (Riley Keough) seems to be succumbing to cabin fever.  

She calls in Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright), a writer and expert on wolves; she believes the creatures took her boy and hopes Core can find him.  The film is quite different for a number of reasons that enable it to stand out.  The first is the wilderness setting.  The second is an unlikely older unattractive looking hero who disappears for a length of the film.  Anyone can be killed off in the story.  

The film is also a bit over the top in violence that undermines the authenticity of the story.  Still, HOLD THE DARK is an apt thriller.

TIFF 2018 Review: HER JOB (Greece/France/Serbia 2018) ***1/2

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Her Job Poster
 Director:

Writers:

Katerina Kleitsioti (screenwriter), Nikos Labôt(screenwriter)

Direct from current times as heard on the Greek radio about the country’s dire unemployment woes, a husband has been put out of work for far too long.  The wife, as a result takes employment as a cleaner at the newly opened shopping mall.  They have two children, the elder daughter being spoilt and uncontrollable. 

 Panayiota (Marisha Triantafyllidou) works hard but has a hard time at work, especially driving the new vacuum cleaner as well as a hard time at home, having to cook and have the family complain when she is not around to do chores for them.  Things look as if it is reaching boiling point but director Labot takes his film to a higher level.  Things improve.  After taking driving lessons, Panayiota masters the vacuum.  Her supervisor and colleagues appreciate her hard work and dedication.  Her daughter starts cooking for her and husband cleaning for her.  

Director takes his film even one step further.  To reveal more would spoil the film’s twist and enjoyment.  The film works wonders, thanks to actress Triantafyllidou’s performance and the director’s frequent use of closeups that show every expression of joy and regret of her face.  Marvellous too, is the way Labot connects the audiences to the protagonist, family and story.

Trailer: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/her-job-trailer-1137998

TIFF 2018 Review: DIAMANTINO (Portugal/Fance/Barzil 2018) **

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Diamantino Poster
Diamantino, the world’s premiere soccer star loses his special touch and ends his career in disgrace. Searching for a new purpose, the international icon sets on a delirious odyssey where …See full summary »

The film centres on the not too bright but gorgeous soccer hunk DIAMANTINO (parodying Cristiano Ronaldo) losing the final match for Portugal in the World Cup held in Russia 2018.  Reason was his imagination of hush puppies during the game.  Too bad Portugal did not enter the finals or semi-finals.  

But this does not matter for director Gabriel Abrantes, whose film contains a totally outrageous plot involving lesbian detaches infiltrating his home, wicked twin sisters and a Dr. Lambourghini pumping the soccer player full of hormones.  This could be something right out of a Pedro Almodovar or an Alex de la Iglesias movie, but Abrantes does not know what to do with his material.  

The result is  a very bland film despite some great sets and wardrobe.  This film was chosen to close the Midnight Madness series.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDU389lozvo

TIFF 2018 Review: ANGELO (Austria/Lux 2018) ***

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Angelo Poster
In early 18th century an African slave boy is chosen by a European Comtesse to be baptized and educated. Reaching adulthood, Angelo achieves prominence and becomes the Viennese court mascot until he decides to secretly marry a white woman.
ANGELO is true-story drama based on documents, of a young African boy is abducted, sold, and forced into 18th-century Viennese court life where he must wrestle with the restrictions placed upon him by society.  The film begins with him as a young innocent boy and ends with him educated as a full black man and a lady’s man at that.  This is director Markus Schleinzer’s grandiose and elaborate period drama but there are personal lessons to be learnt as well.  
The audience  sees the contradictions faced by the by and the subtle rebellion he bears as he obeys his Masters.  The film is also stunning in its locations and also parodies the clashing of the different cultures.

TIFF 2018 Review: THE INNOCENT (Der Unschuldige) (Switzerland/Germany 2018) ****

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

The Innocent Poster
Ruth is committed to her work, her family, and her faith, but when an ex-lover is released from prison and comes back into her life, her convictions are threatened.

Director:

Simon Jaquemet

Director Simon Jaquemet’s surreal, horrific, imaginative and indescribable THE INNOCENT tells the story of a emotionally disturbed Ruth.  The audience can tell something is definitely amiss when Ruth collapses during a religious meeting and after recovering on a patient bed, the camera catches a glimpse of the pastor zipping up his trousers.  

 Ruth is devoted to her work conducting clinical trials for spinal-cord research, and to the monkeys her lab uses for experiments. With the reappearance of a former lover, who was imprisoned for murdering his aunt decades earlier, the ground starts to shift under Ruth’s feet. As she enters an increasingly dark and troubled world, Jaquemet casts a mesmerizing web of uncertainty around his narrative. Ruth’s husband and daughter turn to religion for help against the forces that threaten to unravel their lives. 

 The film contains some really scary segments like the one Ruth experiences, a sort of take-off of Stanley Kubrick’s EYES WIDE SHUT when Ruth enters a worshipping cult.  This film has to be seen to be believed.  In Swiss German.

TIFF 2018 Review: KILLING (Japan 2018) ***

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Killing Poster
Set during the tumultuous mid-19th century Edo period of Japan Killing is the story of a masterless samurai or ronin named Ikematsu Sosuke. As the prevalent peace and tranquility are sure … See full summary »

Director:

Shin’ya Tsukamoto

Writer:

Shin’ya Tsukamoto (screenplay)

KILLING is a samurai action flick set in the era when samurais were roaming the land seeking for Masters to serve and to pay them for fighting (for them).  Samurais were still highly respected and many men wanted to become one.  Killing tells this familiar story but with more drama and authenticity. 

 The film looks like Akira Kurosawa’s RASHOMON where a large part of the action takes place within a forest with the sun shining through the trees  Director Mokunoshin Tsuzuki (Sosuke Ikematsu) is one such samurai, a warrior without a war to fight. Impoverished by the long-lasting peace of mid-19th-century Japan, he makes a living by helping farmers in a small village.  Life in the countryside flows uneventfully, between farming chores and playful daily sparring with Ichisuke (Ryusei Maeda), the hot-blooded farmer’s son who dreams of one day becoming a valiant samurai played by director Tsukamoto himself.  But the peaceful surface of the days belies hidden passions, an unspoken attraction for Ichisuke’s sister Yu (Yu Aoi), a looming sense of danger, and many doubts.  

The swords fights are edited too fast for one to really discern what is going on, but the excitement is still present.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Ev53MlEVIIU

TIFF 2018 Review: SKIN (USA 2018) ***

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2018. Go to TIFF 2018 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Skin Poster
A destitute young man, raised by racist skinheads and notorious among white supremacists, turns his back on hatred and violence to transform his life, with the help of a black activist and the woman he loves.

Director:

Guy Nattiv

Writer:

Guy Nattiv

Nothing about the KKK on film and all of a sudden two films about infiltration of the Kuklaxklan, though SKIN does not specifically refer to this clan but a general neo-Nazi group.  The other difference is that the infiltrator in this one is white, and goes by the name of Byron Widner (Jamie Bell).  

He is caught on camera brutally attacking a black by the feds and forced into snitching or face jail time and losing everything he has.  At the same time he falls for a single mother, Julie (Danielle Macdonald) with three kids.  Nattiv’s film follows Byron as he slowly but surely gives up his racism.  His neo_Nazi mother and father go all to to prevent him from doing so.  Every time he disposes of one aspect of racism, he has a particular part of a tattoo on his face removed, a very painful process.  

Though based on a true story, the relationship between Byron and Julie is just not believable that he would give up all for her, for obvious reasons as seen on the screen.

Trailer: (unavailable)