2019 TIFF Movie Review: THE GIANT (USA 2019)

The Giant Poster
A teenager’s small town life is changed forever when a series of murders begin on the same night that her missing boyfriend suddenly reappears.

Director:

David Raboy

Writer:

David Raboy

Writer/director David Raboy tackles for his debut feature after shorts THE GIANT and BEACH WEEK an ambitious dark suspense thriller.  Charlotte’s (Odessa Young) life is changed forever when the teenager’s small Georgia town is shaken by the beginning of a series of murders on the same night that her missing boyfriend coincidentally reappears.  

As an unknown killer on the loose preys on young women over the course of a summer, Charlotte has to navigate this new danger while also struggling to recover from the trauma of her mother’s recent suicide.  With his cinematographer Eric Yue, Raboy creates an eerie atmosphere with stunning visuals aided with a solid soundtrack.  

But Raboy’s choppy narrative, often inane dialogue and fondness of  beginning each segment vaguely lends to a film that is both difficult to understand or make sense.  The introduction of the supernatural element only near the film’s end adds to the confusion.  A good-looking disappointment!

2019 TIFF Movie Review: NOBADI (NOBODY) (Austria 2019) ***

Nobadi Poster
The story of two people who have nothing in common but share everything for just a few hours.

Director:

Karl Markovics

An elderly citizen aids a refugee migrant.  The premise was used in Aki Kaurismaki’s THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE and re-visited again in this Austrian version entitled NOBADI.  Here, a grumpy old white man enlists the help of an Afghani migrant to bury his dead dog.   

As expected, the two dredge through prejudices to find common ground, their day taking an unexpected turn.  Robert (Heinz Trixner) is a 91-year-old, set-in-his-ways pensioner, living on a small allotment in Vienna while the migrant is Adib (Borhanulddin Hassan Zadeh), from Afghanistan. It is the gaping, unattended wound on Adib’s foot that the situation suddenly becomes life-or-death.  NOBADI is a leaner, more serious version but still not without its humour.  

Though no match for Kaurismaki, Makovic’s film still has its moments, many of which are provided by the candid performances by both Trixner and Zadeh.  Watch out for the film’s last 15 minutes that will knock you off your seat!

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

2019 TIFF Movie Review: THE VIGIL (USA 2019) ***

The Vigil Poster
A man providing overnight watch to a deceased member of his former Orthodox Jewish community finds himself opposite a malevolent entity, in writer-director Keith Thomas’ electrifying feature debut.

Director:

Keith Thomas

Writer:

Keith Thomas

This Jewish horror seems ripe for terrorizing audiences with plenty of opportunities.  A shomer is a family member or paid person if the family member is unavailable to sit the night through with a corpse before burial to chant the evil spirits away.  The young shomer (Dave Davis) is guilty for letting a young boy under his watch bullied and die.  

 

The house where he is shoming is kept by the deceased widow who has Alzheimer’s and who expresses cryptic reservations as to the man’s ability to carry out the task.  The man begins to imagine things or are the things really happening?  Director Thomas in his debut feature takes 30 minutes to set up his film before scaring the audience with the usual  

 

THE VIGIL is a straight forward scary tale with noises in the dark, shadows in dark space etc. The Orthodox Jewish setting is a welcome one.

2019 TIFF Movie Review: COMETS (Georgia 2019)

Comets Poster
Three decades after their separation, Irina and Nana remain mesmerized by memories of earlier days, but when Irina returns to the small community she left to reconcile with the past and their complex feelings.
This is a rare film from the Republic of Georgia and one is advised to find out where the country is before watching the movie.  It is three decades after their separation and 55-year olds Irina and Nana remain mesmerized by memories of earlier days. But when Irina returns to the small community she left — where Nana stayed to start a traditional family — the women must reconcile with the past and their complex feelings, in director Tamar Shavgulidze’s emotive drama.  
Be forewarned that the film is extremely talky and nothing much is going on except emotions being verbalized.  More often than not, director Shavgulidze leaves her camera steady with her actors moving into the frame, facing the camera and talking their hearts out. 
 They talk about their past, lost opportunities and such.  Super-boring unless you really get into it!

2019 TIFF Movie Review: LINA DE LIMA (Lina From Lima) (Chile/Peru/Argentina 2019) ***

Lina from Lima Poster
A woman travels from Peru to work as a housekeeper in Chile.

A South American musical about a domestic servant makes an interesting premise which hopefully will attract audiences wishing for something different.  Documentarian María Paz González tackles the tale of a Peruvian woman working as a domestic helper for a wealthy Chilean family. 

 

 She is preparing for a trip home to visit the son she left behind.  She loves her son but as young people go, they seldom appreciate the love and care given by their parents.  Junior seems more concerned about getting an authentic soccer jersey than reuniting with his mother.  Things are not going to well with her employment either.  

 

LINA DE LIMA is an entertaining enough film with a look at life in Peru.  The film works as a whimsical musical but no one is really concerned about how the future of Lina will turn out.

2019 TIFF Movie Review: KNIVES OUT (USA 2019) ***1/2

Knives Out Poster
Trailer

A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.

Director:

Rian Johnson

Writer:

Rian Johnson

Director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Looper) assembles an all-star cast (Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, and LaKeith Stanfield) in a brilliantly conceived whodunit Agatha Christie style that brings back good memories of films like CLUE, MURDER BY DEATH and THE LAST OF SHEILA.  A wealthy author, Harlan Thrombrey (Christopher Plummer) is apparently murdered and detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is being paid a stack of cash by an unknown family member to solve the case.  

Every member of the family household is suspect as each one has been denied the inheritance and has a motive for killing.  The maid/nurse is also suspect as she is the last one to see Harlan.  The film moves fast just as these kind of whodunits go and one can never figure out who did it, though good guesses could be made. 

 Craig is great speaking in what a family member calls a ridiculous southern Texan leghorn accent.  Johnson directs in good fun and his film is totally entertaining as a super whodunit with a few unexpected plot twists in the end.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi-1NchUqMA

2019 TIFF Movie Review: JOJO RABBIT (USA 2019) ***1/2

Jojo Rabbit Poster
Trailer

A young boy in Hitler’s army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.

Director:

Taika Waititi

Writers:

Christine Leunens (novel), Taika Waititi (screenplay)

JOJO RABBIT follows the protagonist, a German boy, a Nazi fanatic given the nickname of JoJo Rabbit (Roman Griffin Davis) during a Nazi training camp for failure to kill a rabbit in order to prove his loyalty to the Führer. 

 It is not an easy task to make a tasteful film with Nazi Germany in the setting and a fanatic Führer young boy as the lead.  But director Waititi’s film succeeds due to is clever brand of humour.  The film contains many laugh-out loud moments demonstrating director Waititi’s keen sense of humour.  

Roman Griffin Davis is a real find as the 10-year old boy while Australian comedienne Rebel Wilson keeps popping up multiple points in the film as different characters ranging from Nazi trainer to Nazi secretary to Nazi masseuse providing additional laughs.  All the actors appear to speak english with the perfect German accent. 

 JOJO RABBIT turns out to be a harmless really funny comedy with a message to boot.

Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2584384/videoplayer/vi2663366425?ref_=tt_ov_vi

2019 TIFF Movie Review: SAINT MAUD (UK 2019) ***

Saint Maud Poster
This psychological horror film from first-time director Rose Glass follows a pious nurse who becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.

Director:

Rose Glass

Writer:

Rose Glass

A psychological horror in which the protagonist descends into madness is  an occasionally recurring theme since  Roman Polanski’s REPULSION.  In SAINT MAUD, the film is appropriately titled as the protagonist, Maud figures she is a saint as she gives palatial care to a dying old woman (Jennifer Erle). 
 She figures that her seemingness meaningless job would have more meaning if he saves her patient’s soul  Trouble is  that the dying woman plays around pretending to be saved.  As the nurse, Maud slowly grows crazier, the film’s  terror increases, towards it expected climax.  
 The trouble with SAINT MAUD is that it is a straight forward story straight forwardly told with the expected ending.  But director Glass shows promise in creating an excellent imagined claustrophobic atmosphere, delivering some genuine scares at the same time.  
Morfydd Clark who plays Maud is to be commended for her bravura performance (including some sex scenes) displaying vulnerability and outright obsessive craziness.  The film is set in the North Sea British seaside town of Scarborough.

2019 TIFF Movie Review: ENDINGS, BEGINNINGS (USA 2019)

Endings, Beginnings Poster
Clip

A 30-something woman navigating through love and heartbreak over the course of one year. During that time, she will unlock the secrets to her life in a sudden turn of events and in the most surprising of places.

Director:

Drake Doremus

ENDINGS charts disappointments in relationships from a female point of view.  An idealistic woman (Shailene Woodley) attempts to get her life on track financially and romantically, but gets caught in a love triangle with a free-spirited bad boy (Sebastian Stan) and his more stable, scholarly best friend (Jamie Dornan).  

With little money, she lives in her sister’s guesthouse, she regularly witnesses her sibling and her brother-in-law fighting, which only exacerbates the once-idealistic Daphne’s growing despair regarding long-term love.  One can tell that she is going to pay for playing the two men, which she does.  But the way she gets everything back in focus is questionable especially when there are no catalyst put into by the script.  Worst is director Doremus’ fondest for closeups with the background often blurry.  

The trouble is that most of the film’s images are generally more blurry than usual making the production values look cheap.  The film is aimed at demonstrating how one can still come out strong despite total hopelessness all round.  Woodley plays the part despite the unconvincing script.

Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9147456/videoplayer/vi1420214041?ref_=tt_ov_vi

2019 TIFF Movie Review: THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE WATER (Canada 2019) ****

There's Something in the Water Poster
The injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in her home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.

Directors:

Ian DanielEllen Page

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, JUNO star Ellen Page does right to bring audiences to the awareness of environmental racism in her home province in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to project their communities, their land, and their futures. Based on Ingrid Waldron’s incendiary study, the film follows Page as she travels to rural areas of the province that are plagued by toxic fallout from industrial development.

  She interviews Ingrid, Louise Shelburne and Michele, other activists in Nova Scotia.  The devastation of places such as Boat Harbour, once a sanctuary for Indigenous people, now plagued by toxins spewed by a pulp and paper mill is recorded in images and on drawings on screen.  Page tackles the problem head on but simply and effectively.  

The film includes segments where the government and companies talk but do nothing.  There is a clip of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just saying: “Thank you for telling us your problem.”  A remarkable simple and extremely powerful documentary.  I did not expect not expect to be moved to tears.

Trailer: (unavailable)