TIFF 2017 Movie Review: BLACK KITE (Canada/Afghanistan 2017)

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

Against oppression, change, and seismic political shifts, a father and his daughter find solace in the seemingly clandestine act of kite flying, in the latest by Afghan filmmaker Tarique Qayumi.

Director: Tarique Qayumi
Writer: Tarique Qayumi

Review by Gilbert Seah

When Taique Oayunmi’s film, BLACK KITE opens, the audience witnesses a a political judgment/verdict of the violent chopping off of his hands of Arian (Haji Gul) which is then expanded to an execution the next morning.

In the prison that night, Arian almost dies of thirst but offers to tell his story in exchange for a drink of water from his fellow inmate. But the story that unfolds is a different one. The next scene is one with a little boy fascinating with kite flying.

The boy is Arian who learns both how to make and fly kites from his uneducated father. It is never clear exactly the reason Arian is to be executed in the morning. The only hint is that the enemy suspects him of sending messages to the resistance by his kites, but then why offer him pardon at the end of the film instead of execution.

The film incorporates some animation that appear at various points throughout the film for no apparent reason. As a result the animation appears out of place and totally unnecessary. It also tends to become a distraction of the events that are taking place.

Instead of a political tale, Qayumi’s film ends up trivializing the events to the story of a man in love of the flying of kites.

Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8odaf9TqC8

TIFF 2017 Movie Review: HAPPY END (France/Germany/Austria 2017) ****

August 29, 2017 festreviews 2017 movies, movie, Movie Review, TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized gilbert seah, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz, Michael Haneke, tiff 2017, TIFF movie reviews

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

HAPPY END.jpg A drama about a family set in Calais with the European refugee crisis as the backdrop.

Director: Michael Haneke
Writer: Michael Haneke
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Mathieu Kassovitz

Review by Gilbert Seah

HAPPY END can be seen as a film that infuses many of the traits of Haneke’s previous films. When the film opens, the audience sees what is happening though the recording on a cell phone, the routine of a 12-year old (Fantine Harduin) similar to the video surveillance in Haneke’s film CACHE (HIDDEN).

This 12-year old is not one to be tampered with. She has a mean streak, spying on her father’s (Matthieu Kassovitz) computer and discovering his affair. This is reminiscent of the power of children in Haneke’s THE WHITE RIBBON. The family is held together by Anne Laurent (Isabelle Huppert), the father’s sister. But suicide is in the mind of Anne’s father, Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant).

In Hanake’s first film, THE SEVENTH CONTINENT, the whole family committed mass suicide after a banquet meal. The dysfunctional family is all reminiscent of FUNNY GAMES in which a family is disrupted by a home invasion. All the events are seen from the point of view of the 12-year old, which brings the film to a good focus.

The ending is just as funny and shows that life goes on, happy or not. What constitutes a HAPPY END, is the question Haneke poses.

Trailer (en Francais): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0hv8I9YbDk

TIFF 2017 Movie Review: SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOT TO BE ME (USA 2017) ****

August 28, 2017 festreviews 2017 movies, movie, Movie Review, TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized gilbert seah, Laurence Maslon, Sammy Davis Jr., Samuel D. Pollard, tiff 2017, TIFF movie reviews

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.
A star-studded roster of interviewees (including Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal) pay tribute to the legendary, multi-talented song-and-dance man.

As in the words of Sammy Davis, Jr. himself, “I am coloured, Jewish and Puerto Rican. When I move into a neighbourhood, I wipe it out.”

The same might be said for this exhaustive documentary, courtesy of director Sam Pollard, notable for having worked with Spike Lee. Davis’ talent and gift are so immense, that his presence takes over the entire movie. The doc does not contain a whole list of interviewees but just the most important ones – all being comedians including the recently deceased Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal.

All pay tribute to the legendary, multi-talented song-and-dance man, in this exhilarating documentary which is part of the American Masters series. Davis is shown here as dancer, singer (including a full rendering of the songs ‘I’ve Got to be Me’ and ‘Mr. Bojangles’), impressionist, and actor of unparalleled charisma.

He broke racial barriers (including marrying a white wife) but paid a heavy price for it. Pollard’s documentary of the legend ends up both an insightful and entertaining piece. I am sure many like me, could watch Sammy Davis, Jr. for hours.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu8AV81ANTw

TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE SQUARE (Norway 2017) ***** Top 10

August 26, 2017 festreviews 2017 movies, movie, Movie Review, TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized Claes Bang, Dominic West, Elisabeth Moss, gilbert seah, Ruben Östlund, THE SQUARE, tiff 2017

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

The Square is a poignant satirical drama reflecting our times – about the sense of community, moral courage and the affluent person’s need for egocentricity in an increasingly uncertain world.

Director:

Ruben Östlund

Writer:

Ruben Östlund

Stars:

Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West

In director Östlund’s (FORCE MAJEURE) film, the square is a place of trust and caring where everyone shares equality and obligations. It is also the name of the newest project of curator Christian (Claes Bang) which he hopes will bring in money for the cutting edge art museum in Sweden he represents.

Christian hires two young TV publicists to spread the word on social media. The film is made of a number of cinematic set-pieces. Though these set-pieces appear unconnected on the surface, they upon close examination all tie into the great scheme of Östlund’s universe.

The film is also not without arresting images, courtesy of cinematographer Fredrik Wenzel. The two most striking ones include the shot of Christian building with escalators and star is rising above him like a maze (see trailer in link below) and the other with Christian in a heap of garbage as he searches for the piece of paper containing an important address.

The film deservedly won this year’s Palme d’or Prize. The film is as wicked a wicked satire can be as well as sexy, brilliant, complex and bitingly hilarious. It is a cruel, absurd and unforgiving world we live in and Östlund has captured it masterfully in his minor-masterpiece. Clearly the best film I have seen this year – hands down.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u77vsmBya2w

TIFF 2017 Movie Review: PYEWACKET (Canada 2017) ***

August 24, 2017 festreviews 2017 movies, movie, Movie Review, TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews, Uncategorized Adam MacDonald, Laurie Holden, Missy Peregrym, Nicole Muñoz, PYEWACKET movie, tiff 2017

Movie Reviews of films that will be playing at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in 2017. Go to TIFF 2017 Movie Reviews and read reviews of films showing at the festival.

A frustrated, angst-ridden teenage girl awakens something in the woods when she naively performs an occult ritual to evoke a witch to kill her mother.