TIFF 2017 Capsule Reviews
TIFF 2017: ‘Dark River,’ ‘Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc,’ ‘Alanis,’ ‘Beast,’ ‘Occidental’
Dead Kennedys at TIFF 2017: The Rise of a New Zeitgeist
“Step aside, LBJ, your time in the spotlight is done.”
Andy Muschietti’s ‘It’ Struggles with Adaptation
“As an adaptation of a great 20th century novel, ‘It’ completely misses the mark.”
The Return of ‘Twin Peaks’ and the Pleasures of a Myopic Anomaly
“I felt challenged to endure something so terrifying, so relentlessly destabilizing. I felt fear.”
The Woman and the Puppet: On Abel Ferrara’s ‘New Rose Hotel’
“Her power lies in her opaqueness.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on David Lean’s ‘This Happy Breed’
“It is, quite simply, one of the most engaging and most charming movies ever made.”
Adrenaline and Virtuosic Filmmaking: Hal Ashby’s ‘8 Million Ways to Die’
“It’s not the edge of the knife — it’s the business end of the blade.”
The Sadness of Desert Trolls: On Robert Altman’s ‘3 Women’
“Altman balances searing interpersonal conflicts with a visual rhythm that’s downright whimsical.”
My Summer of Dunst: Volume 5
“Dunst remains in control of her persona, but she’s also at the mercy of Hollywood scheming.”
Netflix from 5 to 6: Reed Morano’s ‘Meadowland’
“With ‘Meadowland,’ Reed Morano doesn’t shy away from pain, and neither should Netflix viewers.”
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? – On Philippe Garrel’s ‘Frontier of the Dawn’
“This is a love story expressed through gaping structural absences.”
Action Hero Vulnerability and Shocking Comedy in John Frankenheimer’s ‘Dead Bang’
“The vomit moment in ‘Dead Bang’ is unfailingly human.”
The Absurdity of Our World: Tom Ford’s ‘Nocturnal Animals’
“With great color, style and technique, Ford haunts the audience with the disappointments of our absurd world.”
‘Fatal Attraction’ at 30
“Lyne does not believe in the ‘New Man.'”
Obsession and Compulsion: A Deep Look at ‘Single White Female’
“In ‘Single White Female,’ being fixated with a person’s looks, behavior and personality represents a fetishization of that person as a whole.”
‘Rampart’: A Season in the Abyss
“‘Rampart’ can never step out of the shadows.”
The Power of Suggestion in Ben Young’s ‘Hounds Of Love’
“‘Hounds of Love’ makes an intriguing case for suggestion in place of an all-out, sensationalized show.”
Sunday Spaghetti: Tonino Valerii’s ‘Day of Anger (I giorni dell’ira)’
“‘Day of Anger’ is a tightly-structured film about societal influencers and people on the fringe that need somebody in their corner.”
My Summer of Kirsten Dunst: Volume 4
“Marie Antoinette has become queen and left her partying days behind.”
The Uninhabitable Tomorrow: Bruce Robinson’s ‘Withnail & I’
“‘Withnail & I’ is chock-full with digs and insinuations of homoeroticism, some of them crude, others more subtle and rife with dramatic potential and longing.”