#TIFF16: “I, DANIEL BLAKE”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
Daniel (Dave Johns) is on mandatory work leave after suffering a heart attack. His doctors will not approve his going back to work, but the government has deemed him fit to return. As he fights to collect his Employment and Support Allowance, he befriends single mother Katie (Hayley Squires), who is struggling to provide for her two young children.
Director Ken Loach won the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this ...
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#TIFF16: “JULIETA”
Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
Wunderkind auteur, Spanish Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar returns to TIFF '16 with JULIETA, a melodramatic female-centric Film that focuses on guilt and grief. Adapted from short stories written by Nobel prize winner, Alice Munro, the Movie opens in Madrid with Julieta (Emma Suarez) about to move to Portugal with her lover until a chance meeting with her estranged daughter’s best friend. Abandoning her plans, she stays behind in Madrid and ...
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#TIFF16: “AMERICAN HONEY”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
It wouldn't be TIFF if it weren't divisive, right?  Andrea Arnold’s American Honey should play well to the Arthouse-craving Festival crowd, although we're unsure how the mainstream might perceive it.
American Honey starts off by introducing us to our main character Star (Sasha Lane) and how fed-up she is with the daily grind. Whether that be her abusive and less than caring boyfriend or it be her sister's children that she took upon herself to ...
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#TIFF16: “WINDOW HORSES”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
Growing up, National Film Board Animated Shorts like The Cat Came Back and Log Driver’s Waltz helped define what it meant to be Canadian. They represented a support of the arts and a style of animation that were unique and unlike anything produced elsewhere at the time. Ann Marie Fleming’s Movie Window Horses (The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming) is a nostalgic return to those halcyon days at the NFB.
Rosie (Sandra Oh) was raised by her ...
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#TIFF16: “MOONLIGHT”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
We are rarely the same people as children that we are as teenagers or adults. Outside forces like time, family, and even social status shape our world views and mold our characters. In writer/director Barry Jenkin’s brilliant new Film, Moonlight, we witness how seemingly small actions and insights change one boy’s life at childhood, adolescence, and finally adulthood.
When Juan (Mahershala Ali) first happens upon 9-year-old Little (Alex R. ...
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#TIFF16: “PERSONAL SHOPPER”
Auteur and Festival favourite Olivier Assayas returns with his latest, Personal Shopper, an eclectic mixture of the supernatural, a Thriller and heartfelt Drama. Reuniting with numerous members of the cast from Clouds of Sils Maria, this is truly unlike anything we've ever seen.
Front and center in a phenomenal performance is Kristen Stewart as Maureen, whose fraternal twin dies suddenly in Paris. Her brother we learn like she, was a medium and she becomes obsessed with any confirmation from ...
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#TIFF16: DAY 3 SIGHTINGS – ROONEY MARA, OLIVER STONE, ZACHARY QUINTO, LIEV SCHREIBER, NAOMI WATTS, ELISABETH MOSS, MAHERSHALA ALI + MORE
TIFF '16 officially is in high flight and we aren't stopping!  Around tonight will be the likes of Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp (daughter of Johnny) walking the Red Carpet for PLANETARIUM at Roy Thomson Hall. Down the road also will be real-life couple Naomi Watts and Liam Schreiber walking the Carpet at Princess of Wales Theatre for their Film, THE BLEEDER, set in the Boxing world. French Cinema also was front and center tonight at the annual UniFrance TIFF Bash as heavyweights ...
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#TIFF16: “TRESPASS AGAINST US”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
From director Adam Smith comes a complicated Family Drama, Trespass Against Us which begs the question to what lengths we will go to for our family. What makes this TIFF '16Â selection stand out are the lead performances from Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson.
The story focuses on the dynamic between Chad (Michael Fassbender) and Colby (Brendan Gleeson) as they live in a deserted part of town with the rest of the family in trailers and Colby ...
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#TIFF16: “SNOWDEN”
How do you make a story about the process behind the leaking of documents one that engages and rivets? Oliver Stone does just this, delivering perhaps his greatest work in quite some time in Snowden.
The story still fresh on our minds, Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets deep into the psyche of whistleblower/traitor (however you stand on the matter) Edward Snowden as we witness his rise as a young man within the Central Intelligence Agency, where he learns that the privacy and fundamental rights of ...
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#TIFF16: “SNOWDEN”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Where does one start with Oliver Stone? The man has made some incredible Films and fortunately hia newest effort, Snowden it falls in this category.
Joseph-Gordon Levitt stars as Edward Snowden the man who single-handedly took down the National Security Agency. Snowden was one of the youngest recruits to the NSA and took it upon himself to make it known through the leaking of highly-classified documents proving the government had access to our ...
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