TIFF 2017 Review: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’
“Guillermo del Toro may very well be cinema’s reigning master of monster mythology.”
“Guillermo del Toro may very well be cinema’s reigning master of monster mythology.”
“It’s a good year to be a Constant Reader.”
“The moments of realization transcend the typical viewing experience.”
“For Lowery, cosmic-historic memory is the supernatural, and this is his translation of the myth. And it is woeful.”
“While lush animation and detailed backdrops make Shinkai’s films visually stunning, without character depth, it’s a beauty which rings hollow.”
“The failure of language permeates ‘Twin Peaks,’
an abundance of verbiage disintegrating under the looming and ageless presence in the woods.”
“In regards to modern day politics, ‘Cat People’ captures the anti-immigration fervor of the 2016 American presidential campaign and election.”
“In John Carpenter’s ‘In the Mouth of Madness,’ the delicate reality in which we live exists only as far we as believe it.”
“‘Destiny’ arrives at its final satisfying destination as a poetic and deeply affecting film, an ethereal meditation from a now legendary filmmaker…”
“The central relationship between Belle and the Beast has the unfortunate stench of Stockholm syndrome all over it.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
“Maybe it’s his own nostalgia or the naturalistic approach, but I haven’t felt someone film my city with that much love in a long time.”
“A deeply affecting and personal vision, it’s an essential entry in the history of eroticism in Canadian cinema.”
“As in many Studio Ghibli films before it, the male director is speaking directly to his male audience, pleading with them to treat the women in their lives with the respect and equality they deserve.”
“‘Princess Mononoke’ explores the gaping chasm between nature’s gentle acceptance of circumstance and humanity’s steadfast refusal to quietly accept death.”
“A fever dream of marital discontent, Charlie McDowell’s ‘The One I Love’ tackles a failing marriage with sci-fi panache.”
“‘Black Orpheus’ embraces sex as multiplicitous. This somehow makes the love more noble, because it is not confused with lust, and sex becomes a celebration rather than a symbol of it.”
“The horror reads as a treatise against a dominant culture that upholds rather old-fashioned ideas of gender…”
“The complexities of ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ are worthy of their own analysis, but the film’s simplicities and stark honesty about emotion are its strengths.”
“The crystal-clear visuals of ‘Sea Child’ transcend into a an aquatic journey of surrealism…”