#TIFF18: “HIGH LIFE” REVIEW

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

A spaceship housing criminals and screwups is heading for a Black Hole close to Earth. Monte (Robert Pattinson) is awake and tending to the care of the ship – while also taking care of his daughter, who was actually born on the ship. But not everything is cheerful as it seems.

Saying anything more would spoil the surprises legendary French Director Claire Denis has in store for audiences in her English language debut. Suffice to say, fluids are spilled, secrets are revealed and as you might have heard, there’s a room on the ship called the “fuckbox”. It all makes for a bizarre sci-fi oddity that takes its time coming together, producing results that are far from satisfying. The multiple layers make for encouraged re-watchability (as does discovering what the film is actually about), but some of the disturbing content may make that incredibly difficult. Juliette Binoche does great work as the ship’s doctor, but Pattinson positively knocks this one out of the park, carrying the Film from one strangely enigmatic moment to the next. He does a terrific job reminding us that Edward Cullen should continue to be a forgotten fragment of the past.

High Life screens on Sunday, September 9 at 9:30 PM at Roy Thomson Hall [World Premiere], Tuesday, September 11 at 11:00 AM at Winter Garden Theatre and Friday, September 14 at 9:45 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

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#TIFF18: GUESTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2018 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

By Mr. Will Wong

The time has arrived. We waited every year with baited breath for those Toronto International Film Festival guest announcements and finally they have been announced!  While several marquee titles like Beautiful Boy, First Man, Destroyer, Wildlife, High Life, A Star is Born, If Beale Street Could Talk and Ben is Back embark on their Awards Season trails, Toronto once again readies itself for the massive onslaught of starpower and talent set to shut down the City post-Labour Day.

 

With multiple titles at the Festival, stars like Jake Gyllenhaal, Dev Patel, Amanda Steinberg, Lucas Hedges and Nicole Kidman are set to make the best of the Fest!

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mahershala Ali and Hilary Swank also will be having In-Conversations-With! More on that here.

Toronto’s own Drake also will introduced highly-buzzed MONSTERS AND MEN, Jason Reitman is back with fan favourite Live Read of The Breakfast Club and THE FIRST MAN will be presented at Ontario Place‘s Cinesphere!

 

Announced to attend TIFF ’18 earlier today are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who are you most excited to see?

Our Team are prepping feverishly for this our biggest and best year yet at TIFF as we get ready to bring you the buzz on all the biggest stars and Films of the Festival.

 

More on some of TIFF ’18’s most-talked-about titles here.

 

In the meantime, start planning your Festival, who and what you’ll see right here.

 

(Photo/video credit: TIFF)