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.
Director:
Writer:
Stars:
Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek,Syuleyman Alilov Letifov
Likely called WESTERN because the characters in this Cannes hit travel to new frontiers like the classic John Ford and Howard Hawks westerns. A group of German construction workers labouring in the Bulgarian countryside to earn more money but trouble arrives in unexpected ways.
They raise their German flag proudly at the site. One of the workers tease the local girls swimming in the river. The locals take offence and old war resentment arises.
The workers and the locals have a problem of communication because of language The film is a bit hard to follow as one wonders which language is actual spoken and who can communicate. Nothing much happens.
Europeans particularly Germans would be able to appreciate this difficult diim more than North Americans.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: BPM (120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE) (France 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.
Director:
Writers:
Stars:
Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel
BPM, 120 battements par minute (beats per minute) centres on the French chapter of the protest organization ACT UP, and the dynamics, personal and public, amongst this disparate group of men and women affected by AIDS.
The film begins with one of its protests followed by a meeting that analyzes its effectiveness. In it, Campillo introduces his characters, its two leaders before concentrating on HIV positive Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart). Sean is a charismatic and very oratorical young militant who wades fearlessly into action, bolstered by the courage of his convictions.
To make his film more personal as well as effective, Campillo puts faces into the organization of ACT UP. Sean meets (at a rally) Nathan and has sex, beginning a relationship. The film also documents different reactions to the ACT UP activities. BPM, one of the best films of TIFF is definitely also its most powerful one.
Those who are HIV positive have the members of ACT UP and other activist groups to thank for the progress made as of today.
For a film that deals with the topic of death, BPM is full of life. A film that deserves to be angry for the fact that the privilege of living for many has almost been taken completely away.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fhO2A4SL24
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (UK/Ireland 2017) ***1/2
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.
Director:
Writers:
Stars:
Nicole Kidman, Alicia Silverstone, Colin Farrell
Greek director (DOGTOOTH and THE LOBSTER) Yourgos Lanthimos’s latest feature is a supernatural psychological thriller that is the most difficult to watch despite its bouts of black humour.
The film follows Dr. Steven Murphy (Farrell), a cardiac surgeon who is first seen at a diner meeting with a 16-year-old named Martin (Barry Keoghan).
The doctor buys the boy an expensive watch as a present. The relationship between the two is revealed as the film goes on. Steven introduces Martin to his wife (Nicole Kidman) and two children. Martin, determined to ingratiate himself into this unfamiliar new family, becomes something like an adopted son. Strange things begin to happen with the children developing paralysis right out of the blue.
Secrets start coming out of the closet. Director Lanthimos unveils bits at a time, thus keeping the audience in anticipation. It is safe to say that the film gets more and more serious and ends up becoming quite a disturbing watch. Lanthimos does not skimp on the violence and language.
The film has a lot of anger and the anger is slowly but surely unleashed by every one in the party concerned. THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER is a well executed psychological and emotional horror film but not for everyone!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFdGfwChtw
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: BORG/McENROE (Sweden/Denmark/Finland 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.
Director:
Writer:
Stars:
Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgård, Sverrir Gudnason
Chosen as the Opening film of the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, BORG/McENROE is one of two tennis films playing, the other one being BATTLE OF THE SEXES.
The two films by inevitable comparison show vast differences in approach. BORG/McENROE takes its subject of tennis very seriously while the other doesn’t relying on comedy to stir its audience.
The results of the tennis matches are crucial for both films. In BORG/McENROE, they are exciting and competently shot while the other one is laughable and boring.
The actors also here sport tennis bodies while Emma Stone is too skinny and Carell too bloated.
Borg/McEnroe tells the story of the epic rivalry between Swedish tennis legend Björn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) and his greatest adversary, the brash American John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf), which came to a head during the 1980 Wimbledon Championships.
Gudnason and LaBeouf deliver believable performances of the tennis stars. LaBeouf probably played himself, an angry controversial person himself in real life.
BORG/McENROE is what a tennis film should be. It celebrates the game of tennis, delivers exciting matches and teaches the audience a thing or two about the game while offering some insight of what tennis professionals go through.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgfFdEOGUqE
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: MARLINA: THE MURDERER IN FOUR ACTS (Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/France 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.
Director:
Writers:
Stars:
Egy Fedly, Dea Panendra, Yoga Pratama
Marlina (Marsha Timothy), recently widowed is unable to pay her husband’s funeral services. A troupe of ugly and unforgiving men use this excuse to take her livestock and have their way with her.
But they are not prepared for the fury of this woman, in this revenge fantasy where women are warriors and will take no shit. Marlina poisons them with a soto ayam (local chicken soup dish) dinner and beheads Markus, the head of the gang, as she is riding him.
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak), titled THE Robbery,
The Journey, The Killing and The Birth is a slow moving, arty though no less engaging piece of storytelling that will grab one from start to end. Humour is deadpan and always present as Marlina takes a bus with the head of Markus to make a report at the nearest police station. She meets a pregnant neighbour who also has man trouble.
A stylish but violent film proving Surya as a fantastic storyteller. The film is set on an island in East Indonesia shot in Malay.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO (USA 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.
Director:
Stars:
Lady Gaga, Florence Welch, Donatella Versace
GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO is director Chris Moukarbel’s attempt at a revealing documentary of the inside workings of Lady Gaga. This is a Netflix Original Documentary.
The film shows the star at her home, during rehearsals, and a few performances, the highlight being performance for the Superbowl 51 half time show.
Stefani Joanne Germanotta as she is known offstage, basically does her thing, and the audience sees a normal human being at work, though she does live the good life with prized canines and a beautiful house. Unfortunately, the film offers little insight on the artist that the audience does not already already know.
In fact, the film is quite boring for a doc on such a lively person. Lady Gaga takes a cheap shot at Madonna at the beginning of her movie. In her defence (as she said in the press conference), she claims that she was unaware that her Madonna comment was inserted in the doc. Lady Gaga makes a strong point on the power of music at the Press Conference.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5JyeRdXQ-0
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: LE GRAND MECHANT RENARD ET AUTRES CONTES (THE BIG BAD FOX AND OTHER TALES) (France 2017) ***1/2
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.
Directors:
Writers:
French dessin anime at its best! Filmmaker, animator and cartoonist Benjamin Renner (ERNEST & CELESTINE) adapts his own comic strips for this trio of laugh-out-loud farm animal adventures. The film opens with the cartoon characters opening a 3-act stage play.
The players are not ready as they cannot find the baby and the tree prop appears in front of the opening curtain. Very funny and inventive and primes the audience for more of the best to come. There are a total of three animated stories.
In “A Baby to Deliver,” Rabbit, Duck, and their wise but easily annoyed friend Pig are tasked by Stork with returning a human baby to its parents in Avignon. In “The Big Bad Fox,” a fox lacking the smarts to catch a hen is persuaded by a wolf to steal her eggs, hoping to eat them when they hatch.
In the final act “The Perfect Christmas,” In the final act, Rabbit and Duck are playing in the snow in the lead-up to the holiday season when they believe they accidentally killed Santa Claus. To fix their mistake, they decide to take his place, delivering presents to everyone with very funny consequences.
All three are entertaining, even for adults with my favourite being the first for its goofiness and introduction to Renner’s characters.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QkSzpNGW8
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: JOURNEY’S END (UK 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.
RC Sherriff’s Journey’s End is the seminal British play about WW1. Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, variously awaiting their fate.Director:
Writers:
Simon Reade (screenplay), R.C. Sherriff
Stars:
Sam Claflin, Paul Bettany, Asa Butterfield
JOURNEY’S END about soldiers (Officers and enlisted men) during an offensive in the trenches during the First World War is a story that is already too familiar to us.
Still, it is a story that needs repeating, to remind the world of the futility of war and that orders coming down from the top brass would ultimately be executed often to the death by the men of lower ranks, who has loved ones and families back home.
JOURNEY’S END is based on the 1928 play and filmed two years later by James Whale which starred Sir Lawrence Olivier as Cpt. Stanhope now played brilliantly convincingly by Sam Catlin.
Things get real only when the audience can put a face to the goings-on. The face in this case belongs to green 2LT Laleigh (Asa Butterfeld) who wishes to join the battalion of his old school mate Cpt Stanhope who used to be his house monitor and good friend of him and his sister.
The narrow trenches emphasizes the claustrophobia of the location complete with mud rats though only one is shown) and worms oozing out from the mud during a meal. To Dibb’s and the production designer’s credit, the film never feels like a play.
The message is clear that that human beings are the ones fighting the war, and there are casualties on both sides as the end credits remind both sides of the millions that have dies in WWI.
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: STRONGER (USA 2016)
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.
Director:
Writers:
John Pollono (screenplay), Jeff Bauman (based on the book “Stronger” by)
Stars:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson
STRONGER looks at the Boston marathon from the point of view of a victim. And a really bad victim at that – one that has lost both his legs in the middle of the bomb explosion.
To the film’s credit, the film is an adaptation of the memoir by Jeff Bauman, recounting his struggles to adjust after losing his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing. So, it is a true story, rather than one base on true events. But unfortunately the film wallows in self pity.
The film tells the true story of tragedy and rebirth. Runner Erin Hurley (Tatiana Maslany) was still a mile away from the finish line when the bombs went off. Her boyfriend, Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal), however, was right there. He is rushed into surgery, but his legs must be amputated. The bombing’s immediate aftermath provides Jeff with an unexpected sense of purpose as he had seen one of the terrorists responsible for the blasts.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Malsany and Miranda Richardson (as Jeff;s mother) deliver excellent performances despite the film’s flaws. If the film turned out better, they night have been up for acting Oscars. One can only wish the film would have been a better one instead of one wallowing is self pity.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6MN0QfQx7I
TIFF 2017 Movie Review: THE CHILDREN ACT (UK 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.
Director:
Writer:
Stars:
Fionn Whitehead, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci
THE CHILDREN ACT, based on the Booker prize winning novel by Ian McEwan and adapted by him, is a part courtroom drama part marriage crisis involving a London high court Judge, a super-efficient no-nonsense Fiona Maye (Twice Oscar Winner Emma Thompson).
As her marriage founders, she is taking on the ruling of a case involving a Jehovah Witness boy, Adam Henry (Fionn Whitehead). He is in hospital, and in need of a blood transfusion, which he refuses on religious grounds. His parents (Ben Chaplin and Eileen Walsh) feel the same.
Her ruling of the case will not be revealed in this review (for the sake of spoiling a key plot point) but it is safe to say that Maye makes an exception to the rule by making a personal visit to the hospital to speak to Adam before ruling on the case. THE CHILDREN ACT questions the audience’s stand on the morality issue, but not so much as the drama of the film.
The film also ends, quite brilliantly with an open instead of a closed ending as in the book Regardless, THE CHILDREN ACT is a meticulously crafted film, extreme well acted and written.
Trailer: (unavailable at time of writing)
Festival Reviews 