★★★ (Written by Allison Brown) Lo Invisible is a singular portrayal of how upper-class families neglect their relatives afflicted with postpartum depression. It is a rich study of the tender relationships an individual can form with “the help” while growing up under a sheltered life, and juxtaposes the duality of luxury with familial disinterest. Anahí … Continue reading TIFF 2021: Lo Invisible
Genres
TIFF 2021: Inexorable
★★★★ (Written by Allison Brown) Merriam-Webster defines Inexorable as “not to be persuaded, moved, or stopped.” This film from director Fabrice du Welz certainly fits the bill, leaving the audience constantly on edge once the true story begins to unfold, and providing a roster of inexorable characters. I can’t believe I almost skipped this one; … Continue reading TIFF 2021: Inexorable
TIFF 2021: All My Puny Sorrows
★★★★ All My Puny Sorrows is so much deeper than just Suicide: The Movie. While this topic has been explored before by filmmakers, something about this story feels gripping and personal in a way that others before it have not. Based on the acclaimed novel by Miriam Toews, writer/director Michael McGowan adapts the material with … Continue reading TIFF 2021: All My Puny Sorrows
TIFF 2021: Montana Story
★★★★ Montana Story tells an intimate and emotional tale of two siblings, using the gorgeous mountainous backdrop of Montana state. I enjoyed Haley Lu Richardson in 2019’s Five Feet Apart, and I found Owen Teague to be impressive in Stephen King remakes of It and The Stand, but both young actors have never been this … Continue reading TIFF 2021: Montana Story
Remembrance: Twenty Years Later
(Written by Allison Brown, circa 2007) Taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming, I thought it would be insensitive as a New York based website to continue discussing film without at least acknowledging the 20th anniversary of 9/11. This day had a profound effect on me personally, as I lost my uncle, Phillip Miller. … Continue reading Remembrance: Twenty Years Later
TIFF 2021: Huda’s Salon
★★★ (Written by Allison Brown) Living in the United States, women take for granted the basic human rights we are given, and mundane activities that can be done with ease. For Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi), who lives in Bethlehem, West Bank, Occupied Palestine, a simple trip to the hair salon puts her in life-threatening danger. … Continue reading TIFF 2021: Huda’s Salon
TIFF 2021: A Banquet
★★★ A Banquet, Ruth Paxton’s bizarre new TIFF horror film, will certainly make you think twice before you eat. Strange, gory visuals, food close-ups, potential exorcisms, and… anorexia? Paxton takes several pages from the horror handbook for her feature directorial debut. While the plot may be practically threadbare, I was pulled in by the striking … Continue reading TIFF 2021: A Banquet
TIFF 2021: Kicking Blood
★★★ Kicking Blood, my first film viewed for 2021’s Toronto International Film Festival, acts as a surprisingly great start to round off the festivities. Vampires have never been one of my favorite subgenres of horror (I tend to think they work better on the page or in television format to properly expand the mythology), but … Continue reading TIFF 2021: Kicking Blood
TIFF 2021: Aloners
★★★ (Written by Allison Brown) Aloners, directed by Hong Sung-eun, is a masterful and comedic commentary on the fear of dying alone, not being good enough, and living a monotonous life. As a single woman in my early thirties spending the past year and a half primarily on my own due to the pandemic, I … Continue reading TIFF 2021: Aloners
TIFF 2021: Scarborough
★★★★ Though it carried with it a content warning (child abuse and neglect, racist language, off-screen domestic violence, references to drug use), even this was not enough to mentally and emotionally prepare me for what Scarborough had in store. The only still released ahead of 2021’s version of TIFF seemed to suggest a light familial-tinged … Continue reading TIFF 2021: Scarborough