2019 TIFF Movie Review

2019 TIFF Movie Review: 1982 (USA/Lebanon/Norway/Qatar 2019)

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1982 Poster
During the 1982 invasion of Lebanon at a private school on the outskirts of Beirut, 11-year-old Wissam tries to tell a classmate about his crush on her, while his teachers on different …See full summary »

Director:

Oualid Mouaness

Writer:

Oualid Mouaness

Stars:

Nadine Labaki, Mohamad Dalli, Ghassan Maalouf

This war drama is set during the Israeli 1982 invasion of Lebanon at a private school on the outskirts of Beirut.  The protagonist is 11-year-old Wissam (bright eyed Mohamad Dalli) who  tells a classmate about his crush on a girl, while his teachers — on different sides of the political divide — try to mask their fears, in this poignant debut feature from Oualid Mouaness.  

The film will attract audiences for its main actress Nadine Labaki (she directed CAPERNAUM) who plays a schoolteacher Yesmine.  Mouaness occasionally captures the urgency of the evacuation of the school children, some fearing that their parents will not pick them up while others are just glad school might be closed for the next few days.  

Mouaness  provides little insight on the events nor on the history of the war.  Nothing transpired on screen is unexpected in a situation like this resulting in a  mediocre and often boring film.

2019 TIFF Movie Review: I AM WOMAN (Australia 2019)

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I Am Woman Poster
The story of 1970s musician and activist Helen Reddy.

Director:

Unjoo Moon

Writer:

Emma Jensen

Stars:

Evan Peters, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Matty Cardarople

I AM WOMAN is the famous female anthem that stands for woman’s rights and also Australian singer Helen Reddy’s most popular hit.  Moon’s film is part biopic part feminist movement set in NYC of 1966.  

It traces the difficult climb to fame of the talented singer at a time when women were fighting for their rights of equal pay, voice and employment.  Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays the 24-year old singer who starts making headway with the fiercely ambitious Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) who sweeps Helen off her feet and rapidly becomes both her husband and her manager.  

 Jeff’s dogged insistence ensures that Helen’s golden voice gets heard.  Every famous person has his or her downfall and Reddy’s takes the form of her coke snorting husband.  Wald is an easy target since the film promotes women and puts down men.  The film also stereotypes coke users and Wall is portrayed as a totally bad husband with no redeeming qualities.  

The film plays to the popular audience with lots of her popular hots (Delta Dawn, Angie Baby, I Don’t Know How to Love Him) and offers little new insight on the female movement.  Reddy can do no fault in the entire film.

Trailer: (unavailable)

2019 TIFF Movie Review: LA BELLE EPOQUE (France 2019) ***

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La belle époque Poster
Trailer

A couple in crisis. He, disillusioned, sees his life upset the day an entrepreneur offers him to plunge back into the time of his choice.

Director:

Nicolas Bedos

Writer:

Nicolas Bedos

Stars:

Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet, Doria Tillier

A high concept comedy that turns out to smart for its execution, This French comedy follows an old fashioned cartoonist, Victor (Daniel Auteuil) no out of work as print makes way to  websites that do not favour cartoons.  To make matters worse, his wife, Marianne (Fanny Ardant) is totally modern with her self driving Tesla, virtual reality and artificial intelligence and bored with him.  Victor engages in a service called ‘Time Travellers’ that take client their past historical moments.

  Victor hicks 1974 where he meets and falls in love with his wife when they first met.  Writer/director Bedos (MR. & MRS ADELMAN) creates an original premise blending modern technology with old-fashioned French romance.  Bedos edits his film really  quickly at quite the manic pace so that the audience has hardly any time to breathe, often forgetting the simplicity of comedy.  

Still this is Bedos’ unique style that is still entertaining with this film demanding a Hollywood remake int he future.  Auteuil and Ardant are a delight to watch on screen,

Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9172422/videoplayer/vi3889675289?ref_=tt_ov_vi