#TIFF18: “KINGSWAY” REVIEW

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

Matt (Jeff Gladstone) is fragile and suicidal. He just found out his wife Lori (Colleen Rennison) is cheating on him and that she just so happens to be pregnant. As his life begins to crumble, his mother Marion (Gabrielle Rose) and sister Jess (Camille Sullivan) attempt to keep him from breaking any further, all while trying to forge ahead with their own love lives.

It may not sound like much of a Romantic Comedy, but veteran TIFF director Bruce Sweeney does his very best to keep the proceedings as darkly-comedic, quirky and vaguely romantic as possible. There is some genuine heart and raw emotion on display here (mostly from Sullivan), but the focus is disjointed and all over the place for the first two-thirds of the Movie. Once everything starts to come together in the third and Sweeney does away with all the superfluous characters, Kingsway really comes into its own and becomes a genuine slice of Canadiana. I just wish it got there faster.

KINGSWAY screens Monday, September 10, 7:15 PM, Jackman Hall [World Premiere], Thursday, September 13, 5:45 PM, Scotiabank Theatre and Saturday, September 15, 9:00AM, Scotiabank Theatre.