Dear Danny,We blinked, and ten days passed. How swiftly time goes by when in festival mode, just floating on films and friends. It’s not until I’m on the way home, writing my final dispatch in between airport terminals, that I realize how tremendously exhausted I am. A good time, then, to be reflecting on Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, quite the strong cup of black coffee. As a non-fan of In Bruges (2008) and Seven Psychopaths (2012), I was pleasantly surprised by the grim comic force of Martin McDonagh’s morality tale, a Southern Gothic hamlet pushed through the filter of British Catholic guilt. The eponymous placards are positioned on a dilapidated road and painted red with a confrontational query, part of the crusade waged by the grieving Mildred (Frances McDormand) against the local lawmakers who’ve failed to locate the man behind her daughter’s rape and murder.
- 9/17/2017
- MUBI
It’s been an interesting run-up to the Toronto International Film Festival, and in terms of the survival of the species, the good ol’ U.S.A. has been something of a race to the bottom. What would do us in first: violent neo-Nazis whose activities are almost explicitly condoned by the Klansman In Chief? Or a 1,000-year weather event on the Gulf Coast whose magnitude surely owes something to global climate change, and whose aftermath of collapsing dams and exploding chemical factories has everything to do with systematic neglect?Given the state of things down here, who wouldn’t want to repair to Canada for some challenging cinema? As always, the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) is the place to be in September, and Wavelengths once again features the best of the fest. This is because the films selected for Wavelengths are the opposite of escapism. Whether they tackle...
- 9/7/2017
- MUBI
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
Forget the Cloverfield connection. The actors who were in this film didn’t even know what the title was until moments before the first trailer dropped. Producer J.J. Abrams used that branding as part of the wrapping for its promotional mystery box, but the movie stands perfectly alone from 2008’s found-footage monster picture. Hell, 10 Cloverfield Lane perhaps doesn’t even take place within the same...
10 Cloverfield Lane (Dan Trachtenberg)
Forget the Cloverfield connection. The actors who were in this film didn’t even know what the title was until moments before the first trailer dropped. Producer J.J. Abrams used that branding as part of the wrapping for its promotional mystery box, but the movie stands perfectly alone from 2008’s found-footage monster picture. Hell, 10 Cloverfield Lane perhaps doesn’t even take place within the same...
- 2/24/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
- 8/3/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.
Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.
Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.
Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...
- 8/3/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Adam Cook, in a dispatch to Brooklyn Magazine, writes that How Heavy This Hammer, Kazik Radwanski’s followup to his debut feature, Tower, "is "a low-key, understated character portrait of a middle-aged family man named Erwin (Erwin Van Cotthem) who seems casually ambivalent towards life… "On a narrative level, there’s not too much going on here… but Radwanski’s sensitive and empathetic approach effectively brings the viewer into this mundanity and helping us understand the silent pressures and tensions of this unremarkable man and his existential woes." We're collecting more reviews, all of them quite positive so far. » - David Hudson...
- 9/18/2015
- Keyframe
Adam Cook, in a dispatch to Brooklyn Magazine, writes that How Heavy This Hammer, Kazik Radwanski’s followup to his debut feature, Tower, "is "a low-key, understated character portrait of a middle-aged family man named Erwin (Erwin Van Cotthem) who seems casually ambivalent towards life… "On a narrative level, there’s not too much going on here… but Radwanski’s sensitive and empathetic approach effectively brings the viewer into this mundanity and helping us understand the silent pressures and tensions of this unremarkable man and his existential woes." We're collecting more reviews, all of them quite positive so far. » - David Hudson...
- 9/18/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Dear Fernando,Minotaur is the kind of film we’re able to see at such a big festival as Toronto only because adventurous programming strands like Wavelengths have the patience to present their unique tempo within the hectic atmosphere of the surrounding festivities. And its tempo is indeed unique, evoked through the opiated, satin haze of its digital photography. Two young men and a young woman, bohemian occupants of a Mexico City apartment, lounge, inactive and increasingly beset by a crushing sleepiness. Long takes in widescreen fragment their flat, making its space mysterious and jagged. The few other people who interact with this somnolent trio are all helpers, servants or delivery men, the dialog almost all functional, except for excerpts of a book read out loud periodically about a misremembered or perhaps never-happened meeting. You feel echoes of Last Year in Marienbad and also perhaps Marguerite Duras’s India Song,...
- 9/18/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Dear Danny,Happy to hear of your findings, especially the new films by Federico Veiroj and Kazik Radwanski, whose previous features (A Useful Life and Tower, respectively) struck me as brimming with distinctive talent and sensitivity. I’m eager to catch up with both of these young directors’ visions, but first let me tell you about a veteran’s vision, namely Terence Davies’ in the visually lambent, deeply affecting Sunset Song. A passion project for the great British filmmaker with a decade-long production history of false starts, this adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 1932 Scottish novel emerges as a full-bodied reverie of faces and landscapes, splendor and pain. Taking place in a bucolic Scottish village in the years leading up to World War I, Davies’ sprawling narrative centers characteristically on a sensitive gaze absorbing and challenging a dour world: Young Chris (Agyness Deyn), a farm lass whose lucidity and vivaciousness...
- 9/17/2015
- by Fernando F. Croce
- MUBI
The 43rd edition of the Festival du nouveau cinéma showcases the best new films and filmmakers from around the world. The festival which has often been described as ‘ baby-tiff’ – picks up the best from Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, Telluride, Toronto and more – and demonstrates the vibrancy of filmmaking in all its forms and for all audiences. The fest has announced the first wave of films from Quebec and Canada in their lineup. Once again this year, the Festival will be putting local cinema in the limelight by screening some much-awaited works spread out over several programs, including the International Competition – Louve d’or, Focus, Fnc Lab, Panorama and Special Presentation for the features as well as a variety of short film programs.
The Fnc will present the much-awaited Félix and Meira (Félix et Meira), the new film by Maxime Giroux (whose Jo pour Jonathan was shown in 2010), the tale of an...
The Fnc will present the much-awaited Félix and Meira (Félix et Meira), the new film by Maxime Giroux (whose Jo pour Jonathan was shown in 2010), the tale of an...
- 9/12/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Six of the 10 homegrown feature-length films that will have their world premieres at the Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) have been supported by the Miff Premiere Fund, including anthology drama The Turning and Anna Broinowski’s documentary Aim High In Creation!.
Australia’s oldest and largest film festival runs from July 25 to August 11, opening with Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited! and closing with Jc Chandor’s All Is Lost, starring Robert Redford.
The 17 programme strands include activism on film and new Arabic cinema, both of which artistic director Michelle Carey says “effortlessly suggested themselves”, plus such perennial favourites as the backbeat music program, accent on Asia, night shift, international panorama and documentaries.
The Turning is an adaptation of the country’s most popular Australian book of 17 short stories set in one locale, interconnected and written by acclaimed author Tim Winton. A different person has directed each. Some are first-timers including actors David Wenham and Mia Wasikowska...
Australia’s oldest and largest film festival runs from July 25 to August 11, opening with Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited! and closing with Jc Chandor’s All Is Lost, starring Robert Redford.
The 17 programme strands include activism on film and new Arabic cinema, both of which artistic director Michelle Carey says “effortlessly suggested themselves”, plus such perennial favourites as the backbeat music program, accent on Asia, night shift, international panorama and documentaries.
The Turning is an adaptation of the country’s most popular Australian book of 17 short stories set in one locale, interconnected and written by acclaimed author Tim Winton. A different person has directed each. Some are first-timers including actors David Wenham and Mia Wasikowska...
- 7/3/2013
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
The Bradford International Film Festival is typically an underground-friendly fest. This year appears to be no exception with two very special experimental film retrospectives, as well as a few modern underground-type flicks.
The 19th annual Biff will roll on April 11-21 at several locations around Bradford and Leeds in England, including the National Media Museum, Hebden Bridge Picture House, Hyde Park Picture House and other venues.
Biff is hosting a tribute to Stan Brakhage this year by screening the prolific filmmaker’s magnum opus, Dog Star Man, as well as a selection of his short films, from 1963′s legendary Mothlight to 1994′s Black Ice. There’s also going to be an epic-sized tribute/retrospective of experimental films from Austria, a country with a proud avant-garde filmmaking tradition that’s typically overlooked.
From Austria, Biff is, of course, screening two works from one of the experimental film world’s biggest masters,...
The 19th annual Biff will roll on April 11-21 at several locations around Bradford and Leeds in England, including the National Media Museum, Hebden Bridge Picture House, Hyde Park Picture House and other venues.
Biff is hosting a tribute to Stan Brakhage this year by screening the prolific filmmaker’s magnum opus, Dog Star Man, as well as a selection of his short films, from 1963′s legendary Mothlight to 1994′s Black Ice. There’s also going to be an epic-sized tribute/retrospective of experimental films from Austria, a country with a proud avant-garde filmmaking tradition that’s typically overlooked.
From Austria, Biff is, of course, screening two works from one of the experimental film world’s biggest masters,...
- 3/11/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
News.
The fight continues. Mark Rappaport is still struggling to regain possession of his work from Ray Carney. For an up to date take on the ordeal, check out Craig Hubert's piece in Artinfo. The team behind the 2011 film Bellflower have another project in the works and will be looking to crowdfunding.
Finds.
Above: the trailer for Denis Côté's new film, Vic+Flo Saw a Bear, set to premiere in Berlin later this week. Aaron Cutler reports on Rotterdam for Fandor:
"Each year, it seems, the retrospectives and sidebar programs of rare treasures merit the eagerness of Iffr attendees, many of whom share the open secret that the programming’s ostensible central sections—competitions between new films, many receiving their world premieres—contain several of the weakest films in town. While lightning sometimes strikes (such as last year’s Neighboring Sounds), it’s rare for a wonder to debut here.
The fight continues. Mark Rappaport is still struggling to regain possession of his work from Ray Carney. For an up to date take on the ordeal, check out Craig Hubert's piece in Artinfo. The team behind the 2011 film Bellflower have another project in the works and will be looking to crowdfunding.
Finds.
Above: the trailer for Denis Côté's new film, Vic+Flo Saw a Bear, set to premiere in Berlin later this week. Aaron Cutler reports on Rotterdam for Fandor:
"Each year, it seems, the retrospectives and sidebar programs of rare treasures merit the eagerness of Iffr attendees, many of whom share the open secret that the programming’s ostensible central sections—competitions between new films, many receiving their world premieres—contain several of the weakest films in town. While lightning sometimes strikes (such as last year’s Neighboring Sounds), it’s rare for a wonder to debut here.
- 2/6/2013
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
Canadian writer-director Kazik Radwanski's debut film, "Tower," one of our Top 10 Undistributed Films of 2012, has just released a new poster. The film had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and its Canadian premiere at Tiff. "Tower," starring newcomer Derek Bogart, follows a 34-year-old bachelor still living with his parents and without a stable career. The bald, finicky weirdo frequents nightclubs looking for affection until he starts dating a woman he meets. However Derek doesn't settle just yet, as he sets his sights on catching a neighborhood raccoon that won't leave him alone. College Street Pictures will distrubute the film in Toronto for an exclusive engagement at The Royal on February 22. Here's the film's trailer: Tower - trailer from Medium Density Fibreboard Films on Vimeo. Check out the poster below:...
- 2/4/2013
- by Erin Whitney
- Indiewire
News.
Studio Ghibli has announced that both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's new films will be released in Japan next summer.
Raya Martin and Mark Peranson are currently filming a project in Mexico titled La ultima pelicula starring Alex Ross Perry:
"The fiction-documentary hybrid takes place in the context of the pending Mayan Apocalypse, when a filmmaker and his guide traverse the Mexican countryside with the goal of making the last movie, a contemporary update of the acid Western. Alex Ross Perry, Gabino Rodriguez and Iazua Larios star in the project, which takes inspiration from the myths of the American West constructed by filmmakers Sam Peckinpah, Monte Hellman and Dennis Hopper."
Film Comment has announced its top 50 films of the year (topped by Holy Motors), as well as the top 50 undistributed films of the year, a list which includes Traveling Light by Notebook contributor Gina Telaroli. Indiewire has...
Studio Ghibli has announced that both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's new films will be released in Japan next summer.
Raya Martin and Mark Peranson are currently filming a project in Mexico titled La ultima pelicula starring Alex Ross Perry:
"The fiction-documentary hybrid takes place in the context of the pending Mayan Apocalypse, when a filmmaker and his guide traverse the Mexican countryside with the goal of making the last movie, a contemporary update of the acid Western. Alex Ross Perry, Gabino Rodriguez and Iazua Larios star in the project, which takes inspiration from the myths of the American West constructed by filmmakers Sam Peckinpah, Monte Hellman and Dennis Hopper."
Film Comment has announced its top 50 films of the year (topped by Holy Motors), as well as the top 50 undistributed films of the year, a list which includes Traveling Light by Notebook contributor Gina Telaroli. Indiewire has...
- 12/19/2012
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
Montreal’s Festival Du Nouveau Cinema (10.10 – 10.21) announced their line-up today for their 41st edition and among the smorgasbord of subtitle offerings dating back to this year’s Rotterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Venice and Tiff editions, we’re knee-deep in avant-garde world cinema from the established auteurs Assayas, Vinterberg, Ozon, Sang-Soo, Joao Pedro Rodriguez, Larrain, Loach, Reygadas, Ghobadi, Mungiu and Miguel Gomes. Heavy on offerings from Quebec and France, the fest also manages to offer a stellar snapshot of the up-and-comers from all corners of the globe. Among the notable titles in the (Competition category) International Selection we’ve got Pablo Berger’s Blancanieves, Ursula Meier’s Sister, Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s Francine (which received its theatrical release earlier this month) and Rodrigo Plá’s La Demora. Loaded in Cannes items, the Special Presentations is the fest’s A-list selections (see filmmakers named above) and the one pic...
- 9/25/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Below you will find our total coverage of the 2012 Toronto International Film festival, including previews, reviews, and the festival-spanning dialog between our two main critics at Tiff. A few more pieces may be added as they come in.
Wavelengths (P)Reviews
by Michael Sicinski
Part One - The Shorts
Part Two - The Features
Correspondences
between Fernando F. Croce and Daniel Kasman
#1
Fernando F. Croce on Abbas Kiarostami's Like Someone in Love, Michael Haneke's Amour, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers
#2
Daniel Kasman on Wang Bing's Three Sisters, Christian Petzold's Barbara, Ying Liang's When Night Falls, Ernie Gehr's Departure and Auto-Collider Xv
#3
Fernando F. Croce on Carlos Reygadas' Post Tenebras Lux, Olivier Assayas' Something in the Air, Bernardo Bertolucci's Me and You, Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha
#4
Daniel Kasman on Brian De Palma's Passion, Heinz Emigholz's Perret in France and Algeria, Nathaniel Dorsky...
Wavelengths (P)Reviews
by Michael Sicinski
Part One - The Shorts
Part Two - The Features
Correspondences
between Fernando F. Croce and Daniel Kasman
#1
Fernando F. Croce on Abbas Kiarostami's Like Someone in Love, Michael Haneke's Amour, Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers
#2
Daniel Kasman on Wang Bing's Three Sisters, Christian Petzold's Barbara, Ying Liang's When Night Falls, Ernie Gehr's Departure and Auto-Collider Xv
#3
Fernando F. Croce on Carlos Reygadas' Post Tenebras Lux, Olivier Assayas' Something in the Air, Bernardo Bertolucci's Me and You, Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha
#4
Daniel Kasman on Brian De Palma's Passion, Heinz Emigholz's Perret in France and Algeria, Nathaniel Dorsky...
- 9/22/2012
- MUBI
Dear Danny,
And so our Tiff dialogue comes to a close. A jet-lagged, discombobulated close, filed rather late and written largely in the limbo of airport terminals, suffused with that distinctly Portuguese melancholia known as “saudades.”
Indeed, the word turns up in Lines of Wellington, defined onscreen by that grand old satyr Michel Piccoli as the yearning for “what could have been, but wasn’t.” Fittingly, this historical epic—set in 1810 and detailing the clash between Anglo-Portuguese and Napoleonic troops as viewed by an ensemble of military and civilian figures—was supposed to have been directed by Raúl Ruiz, but after the Chilean master filmmaker passed away those duties fell instead to his widow, Valeria Sarmiento. The concept of Sarmiento, herself a director of nearly 20 films, shooting a panorama “prepared” by Ruiz certainly tantalizes. The stolid cinema de qualité pageant that resulted, however, turned out to be the antithesis of Ruiz’s sublimely slippery camera,...
And so our Tiff dialogue comes to a close. A jet-lagged, discombobulated close, filed rather late and written largely in the limbo of airport terminals, suffused with that distinctly Portuguese melancholia known as “saudades.”
Indeed, the word turns up in Lines of Wellington, defined onscreen by that grand old satyr Michel Piccoli as the yearning for “what could have been, but wasn’t.” Fittingly, this historical epic—set in 1810 and detailing the clash between Anglo-Portuguese and Napoleonic troops as viewed by an ensemble of military and civilian figures—was supposed to have been directed by Raúl Ruiz, but after the Chilean master filmmaker passed away those duties fell instead to his widow, Valeria Sarmiento. The concept of Sarmiento, herself a director of nearly 20 films, shooting a panorama “prepared” by Ruiz certainly tantalizes. The stolid cinema de qualité pageant that resulted, however, turned out to be the antithesis of Ruiz’s sublimely slippery camera,...
- 9/22/2012
- MUBI
Tour d’ivoire: Radwanski’s Debut a Character Study Of Discontent and Disconnection
Canadian filmmaker Kazik Radwanski has created a conflicted character study with Tower, a film about a socially challenged man that seems to be as disconnected from his own life as the film is from a linear narrative. Employing a captive intimacy by having the entire film shot in close-up and with handheld cameras, our discomfort with the film is only further compounded by our extreme proximity with our awkward protagonist, which never abates. As aggravatingly vague as it is interestingly observant, Radwanski has created a feature perhaps not wholly likeable, but, definitely unpredictable.
Derek (Derek Bogart) is a prematurely balding, confidently inelegant thirty-four year old living in his parents’ basement. He’s working at an agonizingly slow pace on an animation idea he has for a cartoon (reminding his mother of Shrek) which depressingly involves his innocent...
Canadian filmmaker Kazik Radwanski has created a conflicted character study with Tower, a film about a socially challenged man that seems to be as disconnected from his own life as the film is from a linear narrative. Employing a captive intimacy by having the entire film shot in close-up and with handheld cameras, our discomfort with the film is only further compounded by our extreme proximity with our awkward protagonist, which never abates. As aggravatingly vague as it is interestingly observant, Radwanski has created a feature perhaps not wholly likeable, but, definitely unpredictable.
Derek (Derek Bogart) is a prematurely balding, confidently inelegant thirty-four year old living in his parents’ basement. He’s working at an agonizingly slow pace on an animation idea he has for a cartoon (reminding his mother of Shrek) which depressingly involves his innocent...
- 9/12/2012
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Tower
Directed by Kazik Radwanski
Written by Kazik Radwanski
Canada, 2012
Shot almost exclusively in close ups, we get an alarming and vivid sense of Derek (Derek Bogart), the subject of Kazik Radwanski’s character study, Tower. At 34-years old, he’s already balding. His face is unshaven. His stare is vacant and empty. The gash on his nose looks septic. Every flaw, fault, and frailty of his appearance is accentuated and presented in contiguous detail.
Around him, the surroundings are blurred; out of focus. We don’t really know where is his, and in real sense, neither does Derek. He’s stuck in his own lonely universe, the boy in his own bubble. The world outside of his own is alien to him, and he is alien to them.
He’s not really a man-child; he’s just socially stunted. He still has his molars, something that should’ve been...
Directed by Kazik Radwanski
Written by Kazik Radwanski
Canada, 2012
Shot almost exclusively in close ups, we get an alarming and vivid sense of Derek (Derek Bogart), the subject of Kazik Radwanski’s character study, Tower. At 34-years old, he’s already balding. His face is unshaven. His stare is vacant and empty. The gash on his nose looks septic. Every flaw, fault, and frailty of his appearance is accentuated and presented in contiguous detail.
Around him, the surroundings are blurred; out of focus. We don’t really know where is his, and in real sense, neither does Derek. He’s stuck in his own lonely universe, the boy in his own bubble. The world outside of his own is alien to him, and he is alien to them.
He’s not really a man-child; he’s just socially stunted. He still has his molars, something that should’ve been...
- 9/9/2012
- by Justin Li
- SoundOnSight
Tower
Directed by Kazik Radwanski
Canada, 2012
Most of us have vivid memories of getting our wisdom teeth extracted. Chances are, you’ve had a spring break or part of summer vacation ruined by the procedure—or enhanced, depending on your prescription. However, when Derek (Derek Bogart, The Blue Seal) discusses, in his oddly inflected voice, the possible removal of his wisdom teeth with a dentist, he isn’t high school- or college-aged. He’s thirty-four. He also doesn’t commit to the operation.
First and foremost, Tower is a character study. Primacy of plot might work well for Aristotle, but he’s not the only game in town. Besides, plot must take a backseat in Tower because it’s taken a backseat in Derek’s life as well. Prematurely bald and resembling Chester Brown, Derek lives in his parent’s basement, works part-time at his uncle’s construction company, and...
Directed by Kazik Radwanski
Canada, 2012
Most of us have vivid memories of getting our wisdom teeth extracted. Chances are, you’ve had a spring break or part of summer vacation ruined by the procedure—or enhanced, depending on your prescription. However, when Derek (Derek Bogart, The Blue Seal) discusses, in his oddly inflected voice, the possible removal of his wisdom teeth with a dentist, he isn’t high school- or college-aged. He’s thirty-four. He also doesn’t commit to the operation.
First and foremost, Tower is a character study. Primacy of plot might work well for Aristotle, but he’s not the only game in town. Besides, plot must take a backseat in Tower because it’s taken a backseat in Derek’s life as well. Prematurely bald and resembling Chester Brown, Derek lives in his parent’s basement, works part-time at his uncle’s construction company, and...
- 9/1/2012
- by Dave Robson
- SoundOnSight
Above: Ernie Gehr's Auto-Collider Xv.
The vast bulk of Tiff's 2012 has been announced and listed here, below. We'll be updating the lineup with the previous films announced, as well as updating links to specific films for more information on them in the coming days. Of particular note is that the Wavelengths and Visions programs have been combined to create what is undoubtedly the most interesting section of the festival. Stay tuned, too, for our own on the ground coverage of Tiff.
Galas
A Royal Affair (Nikolai Arcel, Demark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany)
Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)
The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)
Dangerous Liaisons (Hur Jin-ho, China)
Emperor (Peter Webber, Japan/USA)
English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde, India)
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (Shola Lynch)
Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)
Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)
Inescapable (Ruba Nadda, Canada)
Jayne Mansfield's Car (Billy Bob Thorton, USA/Russia)
Looper (Rian Johnson,...
The vast bulk of Tiff's 2012 has been announced and listed here, below. We'll be updating the lineup with the previous films announced, as well as updating links to specific films for more information on them in the coming days. Of particular note is that the Wavelengths and Visions programs have been combined to create what is undoubtedly the most interesting section of the festival. Stay tuned, too, for our own on the ground coverage of Tiff.
Galas
A Royal Affair (Nikolai Arcel, Demark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany)
Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)
The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)
Dangerous Liaisons (Hur Jin-ho, China)
Emperor (Peter Webber, Japan/USA)
English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde, India)
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (Shola Lynch)
Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)
Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)
Inescapable (Ruba Nadda, Canada)
Jayne Mansfield's Car (Billy Bob Thorton, USA/Russia)
Looper (Rian Johnson,...
- 8/22/2012
- MUBI
After a string of announcements, it looks like the Toronto International Film Festival have locked down their line-up and it’s looking like a fantastic slate. Much of the additions today come in the form of previous Cannes premieres, including Michael Haneke‘s Amour (review), Cristian Mungiu‘s Beyond the Hills (review), Abbas Kiarostami‘s Like Someone in Love (review), Bernardo Bertolucci‘s Me and You (review), Hong Sang-soo‘s In Another Country and the Venice premiere Olivier Assayas‘ Something in the Air. Most notably missing is Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors, but we do get a new Michael Winterbottom film titled Everyday. Out of the Discovery section, the biggest film seems to be The Brass Teapot, and indie drama starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano and one can check out all the additions below.
Masters
Amour Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany North American Premiere Screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and...
Masters
Amour Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany North American Premiere Screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and...
- 8/21/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
More than once in "Tower," the discomfiting first feature from Canadian writer-director Kazik Radwanski, 34-year-old loner Derek -- memorably played by newcomer Derek Bogart -- issues a dubious refrain: "I don't want you to think I'm some sort of weirdo," he says. Of course, that's all anyone thinks of this squinty-eyed, cartoonishly bald and finicky bachelor as he juggles odd jobs while living with his parents. Getting uncomfortably intimate with Derek from the first scene of "Tower" until its last, Radwanski dares the audience to feel differently about him. It's no easy task. Throughout the movie, Derek wears a distinctive frozen expression, his eyes locked in a distant gaze. Early on, after making the rounds at a nightclub and chasing a few women home, he awakes the next morning with a nasty red wound between his eyes. Never hidden from view, the injury is one of many merciless forces that...
- 8/10/2012
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
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