TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (UK 2016)

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

the_girl_with_all_the_gifts_posterTHE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (UK 2016) **
Directed by Colm MCarthy

Starring: Gemma Arterton, Glenn Close, Paddy Considine

Review by Gilbert Seah

The film begins with the scene of the cell belonging to who apparently is a polite, smart little girl, Melanie (Sennia Nanua) who likes school, loves books, and adores her teacher, Ms. Justineau (Gemma Arterton). But things are not it seems as the Melanie and other kids are chained and forced to wear restrictive masks. It turns out that they are in a high-security military cell whenever not in class.

That’s because just catching a whiff of human flesh turns them into ravenous monsters. Melanie and company live in a military compound under the watchful eye of the Sergeant (Paddy Considine), his soldiers, and a cold-hearted scientist, Dr. Caldwell (Glenn Close).

Once the film goes to the outside, the sci-fi film degrades into yet another tired version of the zombie genre. A few differences do not hide the fact that the hungries, as the zombies are called are just plain zombies that eat human flesh and walk in slow motion.

The script ties in a ridiculous twist about Melanie who (believe it or not) has feelings and wants to save the world. The film when not boring gets sillier especially towards the end.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=HjGkB_oWTe0

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: FIRE AT SEA (Fuocoammare) (France/Italy 2016) ***

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

fire_at_sea_poster.jpg
FIRE AT SEA (Fuocoammare) (France/Italy 2016) ***
Directed by Gianfranco Rosi

Starring: Samuele Pucillo, Maria Costa, Giuseppe Fragapane

Review by Gilbert Seah

This winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, takes a look at the shocking the European migrant crisis. The film is set in the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, which has become a destination for tens of thousands of refugees fleeing wars, violence, and drought in Africa.

Director Rosi iwas obviously given almost unlimited access to film there. Hi documentary makes no judgement and has been described as observational filmmaking. His camera looks and records while the audience observes and make their own judgement.

Rosi selects a couple of characters including a 12-year-old boy with a slingshot, a radio host and the only doctor on Lampedusa. (who gives the boy an eye patch) among others. A moving and occasionally powerful film.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=f8Kc5wy0Rxg

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: SAND STORM (Israel 2016) ***

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

sand_storm_poster.jpgSAND STORM (Israel 2016) ***
Directed by Elite Zexer

Starring: Lamis Ammar, Ruba Blal, Hitham Omari

Review by Gilbert Seah

SAND STORM is the Grand Jury Prize Winner at Sundance in the Contemporary World section. The film details a little known culture in a Bedouin village. Jalila is preparing to host an awkward celebration: the marriage of her husband to a second (and noticeably younger) wife – something unheard of n western society.

To make matters worse, her eldest, Layla, is involved in a clandestine relationship with a boy at school, all her suppressed emotion finds an outlet. Emotions run high and very member of the family feels the pressure.

Zexer moves her efficient film covering all the details and tying her film up neatly towards the end with a classy ending.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: SAMI BLOOD (SAME BLOD) (Sweden/Denmark/Norway 2016) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

sami_blood_poster.jpgSAMI BLOOD (SAME BLOD) (Sweden/Denmark/Norway 2016) ****
Directed by Amanda Kernell

Review by Gilbert Seah

An impressive and totally compelling coming-of-age passage film of a teenage Sami girl Elle Marja (wonderfully portrayed by Lene Cecilia Sparrok). At the same time, it is a look of prejudice that was prevalent in the 30’s when the film is set.

Elle Marja is of Lapps descent and forced into an educational system that taught them that their customs and lifestyles were inferior at best. She runs away and finally gains entry to Swede education but only after overcoming surmounting odds. This is a story that needs to be told for enlightening of what occurred in the past.

The film also celebrates Lapps culture with lots of scenes with reindeer.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FFyRuwkZ94

 

 

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: IXCANUL (VOLCANO) (Guatemala, France 2015) ***1/2

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

ixcanul_.jpgIXCANUL (VOLCANO) (Guatemala, France 2015) ***1/2
Directed by Jayro Bustamante

Starring: María Mercedes Coroy, María Telón, Manuel Antún

Review by Gilbert Seah

It i the age old story of a human being’s quest for a better life despite mounting odds. Here is Maria’s desire to marry the one she loves and to escape to a better place, where the grass is greener. But she is betroth to someone else, while she gets pregnant in the meantime by her jilted lover. This story has been told many times in many films before but never in this new and mesmerizing and dreamlike fashion.

Maria is the daughter born into a poor family that work the plantations under a stern landlord who is never seen. Maria is match-made to Ignacio, the boss’s favourite. But Maria has someone else she desires – Pepe. But Pep is fond of drinking and not the chivalrous hero one would imagine. After getting drunk one night and impregnating poor maria, he abandons her while he takes off illegally to cross the border to the U.S. Maria’s mother attempts to, but fails to abort the baby.

The occasionally brilliant debut by Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante is a mesmerizing fusion of fact and fable, a dreamlike depiction of the daily lives of Kaqchikel speaking Mayans on a coffee plantation at the base of an active volcano. The title of the film IXCANUL means volcano, which the family prays to and give offerings, hoping to begat wealth, happiness and if not, at least a decent living.

Bustamante immerses his audience into its characters’ customs and beliefs. IXCANUL chronicles with unblinking realism, a disappearing tradition and a disappearing people.

IXCANUL emerges an impressive chronicle of the lives of a people as seen by the observation of the hardships o a single family. This kind of film seldom earns a commercial release. Shot in the languages of Kaqchikel and Spanish. Entertaining and mesmerizing!

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: ZOOLOGY (Russia/France/Germany 2016) ****

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

zoology_.jpgZOOLOGY (Russia/France/Germany 2016) ****
Directed by Ivan I. Tverdovsky

Starring: Masha Tokareva, Natalya Pavlenkova, Aleksandr Gorchilin

Review by Gilbert Seah

My personal favourite of the festival so far, ZOOLOGY which won the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival is part comedy of errors, part social satire, and part tender love story.

The film follows Natasha (an excellent low keyed performance by Natalia Pavlenkova), a lonely middle-aged woman who still lives at home with her mother, unfolds in an ordinary, uneventful manner at first. Stuck behind a desk at the local zoo, ignored by her malicious, clucking colleagues, Natasha lives her solitary existence in withdrawn defeat.

That is, until something unexpected turns her life upside down: one day she discovers that she has grown a tail. The comedy comes from how she reacts with the tail. She tucks it in her panties and dances with it. It is hilarious how it does not bother her though rumours are going on about the town of a demon human with a tail.

The satire comes from the runarounds she is given when she gets X-Rays for her tail as well as her work at the zoo. Her love arrives unexpectedly from a hospital staff who has a tail fetish. Funny, intelligent and totally unpredictable, this surreal comedy is a total delight from start to finish.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Review: CHRISTINE (USA 2016) *** Directed by Antonio Campos

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

christineCHRISTINE (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Antonio Campos

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts

Review by Gilbert Seah

Based on real life on the suicide of Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) a Sarasota (Florida) news reporter, this realistic but grim account of events leading to her death is a hard watch. “If it bleeds, it leads.” – is is the newsroom’s unofficial motto for successful news ratings.

What begins as an ordinary person’s struggle for recognition leads to her downfall after many failures. Director Campos also shows failures in Christine’s personal life with her inability to get a date, her lost love with anchorman, George (Michael C. Hall), her virginity and her relationship with her mother, Peggy.

It turns out that she lets out all her troubles to work, finally coming head to head with her boss, Michael (Tracy Letts, delivering another winning performance after playing the Dean in INDIGNATION). Hall delivers a knock-out performance especially in the confrontation segment with Letts. Credit also should be given to the creation of the outstanding period atmosphere of the 70’s.

But one does go away with the feeling that the film has been over-dramatized in an otherwise humourless film. It would be interesting also to watch the documentary on Christine Chubbuck called KATE DOES CHRISTINE, also released this year.

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com

TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews: ELLE, Director Paul Verhoeven

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Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2016. Go to TIFF 2016 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

elle.jpgELLE (France/Germany 2016) ***1/2
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny

Review by Gilbert Seah

Paul Verhoeven is known for both his Dutch foreign films (SPETTERS, THE FOURTH MAN, SOLDIER OF ORANGE) and Hollywood blockbusters (TOTAL RECALL, ROBOCOP, SHOWGIRLS).

His first feature film in 10 years proves to be a critical success as already celebrated at Cannes. Based on the novel Oh… by Philippe Djian, and written by David Birke, the film trails the life of a businesswoman, Michèle (brilliantly portrayed by Isabelle Huppert), who is raped in her home by an unknown assailant and stalks him back.

Michèle rules her company like a tyrant but faces personal problems like her failed marriage to Richard (Charles Berling), her slacker son (Jonas Bloquet) and a lacklustre affair with Robert (Christian Berkel). But she has not come to terms with her father’s crime.

Her father is a serial killer who is still in prison without parole. Her mother is getting re-married to a young buck makes matters worse. Verhoeven plays his film slick and efficient, but the films slags a bit before picking up again. All of Michèle’s problems eventually come together in the solid narrative with a bang-on message. The rape scene is played several times, each time just as (but necessarily) gruesome. The film is Verhoeven at his twisted and perverted best.

Trailer: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=OVBEV1w7too