Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
Some facts are so basic that they are not questioned: the sky is blue, Elvis is dead, and millions of Jewish men, women, and children were the victims of a genocide acted out by the Nazi party during World War II. In the mid-1990’s American Deborah Lipstadt was sued in the British courts for defamation for calling Holocaust denier David Irving a “liar and falsifier of history.” Lipstadt was forced to prove her innocence by putting history on trial.
Based on Lipstadt’s Memoir, Mick Jackson’s new Film Denial is a tense courtroom drama starring Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall as the two legal combatants. Wishing to “give voice for the ones who did not make it,” Lipstadt is odds with her legal team regarding the best way to present their case: they would prefer to err on the side of provable, historical facts rather than emotional, eyewitness testimony.
The Movie takes place mostly in London but also travels to Auschwitz for some emotionally fraught scenes. As Lipstadt and her lawyer (Tom Wilkinson) walk through Auschwitz the snow dusts the ground like ash and even the barbed wire fences seem to weep for those who died. The imagery is perhaps manipulative but nonetheless effective and beautifully-shot.
The verdict in this case is as easily googled as facts about the Holocaust but that does not take away from the impact Writer David Hare’s script. Strong performances bolster what is sure to be a much talked about Film at TIFF ’16.
Denial screens at TIFF:
Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 7:00 PM Princess of Wales Theatre
Monday, September 12, 2016 at 10:30 AM Winter Garden Theatre
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 grandparents after her mother died and her father disappeared. Her self-published book of poetry My eye Full, has brought her to the attention of a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran where she has been invited to share her work. Despite fearing rejection by her peers, Rosie flies to the home of her absentee father and immerses herself in Persian culture. At the festival she meets Dietmar (Don McKellar) a German hipster, Mehrnaz (the sublime Shohreh Aghdashloo) an Iranian professor, and DiDi (Jun Zhu) an exiled Chinese poet. Through them Rosie finds her voice and learns what it means to be a Poet.
The Movie works best when the animation is punctuating the poetry rather than chasing stories about Rosie’s father. In one particular scene early in the Movie, Rosie listens to the muezzins call out the morning prayer and sees rainbows stream from the top of the minarets around her. As someone who lived briefly in the Middle East, the images struck me as particularly beautiful expressing perfectly my own feelings about those first moments at dawn.
In a year punctuated by excellent Animated Movies, Window Horses stands apart thanks to its unique cross-cultural story. The poetry of animation and words will stay with audiences long after the Festival.
Window Horses screens:
Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 2:00 PM Isabel Bader Theatre
Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 4:45 PM Scotiabank Theatre
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. Hibbert), he has just escaped bullies who chased him into an abandoned apartment. The silent Little is reticent to share his name let alone the truth about his crackhead mother Paula (Naomie Harris). In this world where everyone is bigger than he is, Little’s only friend is Kevin (Jaden Piner).
At age 16 Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) is still Chiron’s (Ashton Sanders) only friend. Efforts to push aside his childhood nickname are met with derision as his sexuality is challenged daily by the same bullies he once ran from. With his mentor Juan dead, Chiron has no one to guide him when the pressures of life finally come to a head.
During the Final Act we meet a very different man. Having faced tough consequences from his actions as a teenager, Black (Trevante Rhodes) is now a drug dealer in Atlanta, Georgia. Out of the blue Kevin (André Holland) reaches out to him and the two attempt to bridge the distance that time and life experiences have wedged between them.
The true brilliance of Moonlight is its casting. Each actor brings something new to the character while still maintaining the same heart. Black is still as uncomfortable with words as Little was and as wary of betrayal as Chiron. Yet despite the similarities, Rhodes adds new nuances to the role making it his own.
Based on the play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight is a painfully beautiful modern tragedy. A frontrunner to win the TIFF ’16 Platform competition, no one will leave the theatre unmoved by this Film.
Moonlight screens at TIFF:
Saturday, September 10, 2016 8:30 p.m. Winter Garden
Sunday, September 11, 2016 9:00 a.m. TBLB1
Saturday, September 17, 2016 3:15 p.m. TBLB1
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 ’16 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 sends them on missions to cause havoc and break the law in town. It truly is a family affair, but Chad always seems to be the go to guy for big jobs and general mayhem. When enough becomes enough, Chad tries to leave the family but Colby is not a force to be reckoned with. The overarching question is, can Chad manage to escape his father and siblings to protect his family or will he forever be stuck with the hand he was dealt?
Trespass Against Us truly is a great addition to TIFF ’16 with its powerhouse performances from both Fassbender and Gleeson making this one of many must-see Films at the Festival.
It screens on Friday, September 9, 2016 at 10 PM at Princess of Wales and Saturday September 10, 2016 at 11:45 AM at the Bloor Hot Docs Theatre.
Sweeping both the Audience Award – U.S. Dramatic and Grand Jury Prize – U.S. at Sundance, Nate Parker takes his tour-de-force The Birth of a Nation north en route to what should be a major player this coming awards season.
The story centers on Nat Turner (Parker), the trusted slave of Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer), who is intent on helping his family regain its former strength after losing his father. Able to read, Nat is enlisted to help preach obedience from the bible to other slaves, but as he and his master embark on their journeys together, he witnesses the inhumane treatment of his fellow black men and women. This drives him to question his own beliefs and his world unravels after he is impacted personally by the inhumanities of slavery. In the name of justice and honour, Nat leads his comrades in a very violent rebellion against their enslavers.
Make no mistake, The Birth of a Nation in addition to educating us about this not well-known-enough moment in American history, very much is a starmaking vehicle for Parker who quietly has treaded away in the trenches, now ready to unleash what should be a profitable venture for Fox Searchlight with its record-setting investment made after Sundance. Parker is mesmerizing start to finish as we see Nat‘s story progress and his world crumble. Supporting turns from Colman Domingo as fellow slave Hark Turner and Armie Hammer, in a role unlike anything we’ve seen him in thus far, are noteworthy. Aja Naomi King from How To Get Away With Murder is barely-recognizable in a subdued performance as Nat‘s wife, Cherry.
Despite being a period piece, a thoughtfully-conceptualized soundtrack intensifies the experience and makes the experience fresh. This admittedly also disconnects the audience from the moment also, while dialogue at moments fails to capture the period in which the story is set.
The Birth of a Nation will be seen and not forgotten, although whether or not it shakes its audience like recent predecessor, the phenomenal 12 Years a Slave, remains to be seen.
It screens at TIFF Friday, September 9, 2016 at 8:00 PM Winter Garden Theatre and 9:00 PM VISA Screening Room, Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 12:00 PM Roy Thomson Hall and Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 3:00 PM Princess of Wales Theatre.
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Ewan McGregor tries his hand at directing by adapting Philip Roth’s Novel American Pastoral and the Movie works incredibly-well. There are some downfalls, like a slow-burning Third Act, but for a directorial debut, this is remarkable.
The Movie takes place in 1968 and centers on a family consisting of Merry (Dakota Fanning), Dawn (Jennifer Connelly) and Seymour ‘Swede’ Levov (Ewan McGregor) and how their lives turn upside down when their daughter starts devoting herself to a radical political cause. . However it is not that she just simply believes in another political affiliation, it is the extremes she goes to that sends her family in a downward spiral, destroying everything they have built.
What works in American Pastoral are the powerhouse performances from both McGregor and Fanning respectively as the father who will stop at nothing to find his daughter and the defiant daughter who must stand her ground in the name of what she feels is right. The Film is sure to generate a conversation.
American Pastoral screens at TIFF:
Friday, September 9, 2016 6:30 PM at Princess of Wales Theatre
Saturday, September 10, 2016 10:00 AM at VISA Screening Room
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
I am about to ask you to trust me to tell you something so astounding and odd that at first it will seem somewhat unbelievable. Trust me on this because I would not lie or steer you wrong: there is a 162 minute German, subtitled Movie at TIFF that you simply MUST see. Please don’t run away or scoff because I would not lie about the brilliance Writer/Director Maren Ade’s Film Toni Erdmann.
Winfried Conradi (Peter Simonischek) and his daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller) don’t understand each other. He wants her to learn to be happy and she wishes he would learn to grow up. He “likes to make jokes” and she thinks “happiness is a strong word.” In order to find a place in his daughter’s life he becomes Toni Erdmann: a gregarious stranger with bad teeth and an even worse wig. The people in Ines’ life know he’s fake and slightly off-key but they accept this strange man into their circle more willingly than they do Winfried; and to her own amazement, so does Ines.
This unconventional comedy will have you reassessing everything you thought you knew about German Cinema. This oddly-sentimental Film will you have you laughing and smiling for days.
Toni Erdmann screens:
Thursday, September 8, 2016 at 5:30 PM Ryerson Theatre
Friday, September 9, 2016 at 12:15 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 1
After setting the world of cinema on fire with his all-in 2008 debut Hunger, Irish-German actor Michael Fassbender quickly has risen to the ranks among Hollywood’s top leading men. The striking star has challenged himself with great aptitude in roles so demanding, alas the Academy could not resist, garnering him a nomination for his portrayal of technology icon Steve Jobs earlier this year.
TIFF ’16, the Festival’s 41st edition, rolled out the Red Carpet for Fassbender at its TIFF Bell Lightbox Headquarters, him headlining its annual Soirée. The London-trained star spoke with TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey before an intimate audience which included notable names Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deepa Mehta, Kristian Bruun and several TIFF Rising Stars. He reflected on his most memorable roles and collaborations with Writer/Director Steve McQueen, both whom have paired together through three widely-acclaimed Films: Hunger, Shame and Best Picture-winning 12 Years a Slave. All three Films premiered at TIFF.
He is back this year with Trespass Against Us for Elevation Pictures, in which he stars alongside Brendan Gleeson. The Film examines the tensions between travelers versus settlers and a son’s attempt to escape the outlaw life of a criminal clan.
Does Fassbender like to watch his own Films?
He describes the process of seeing his own Films rather “horrifying” but admits, “I kinda get off on it.”. He doesn’t plan to sit through his performance in Trespass Against Us.
On his experience working with Director Andrea Arnold, he admits to being a bit of a slow learner as she would pass him his lines the night before. “She likes to create chaos and is brilliant at capturing it, whereas some Directors like to create chaos and can’t do the same.”. “Magic moments are ones that can’t be planned. It’s like the black lines between a photograph which get captured by a camera – they make us fall in love with a story.”.
How does Fassbender compare the experience of acting on stage versus camera?
He says, “It’s about finding the pace of the day when filming and pacing yourself accordingly. Filming is much like sprinting, whereas theatre is more like a marathon.”.
On filming big-budget Blockbusters like Prometheus and X-Men, he breaks down how much slower a process that is versus the smaller-budget Films he’s made in his repertoire.
“On a big budget shoot, we go through maybe two pages of dialogue a day. Everyone has to be in-sync as a machine – it’s quite impressive.”. He adds, “It took 25 days on the other hand to make Shame and an unbelievable 35 days to make 12 Years a Slave.”.
Playing Erik Lehnsherr in the X-Men Franchise, he sheds some light on his own superpowers.
“I’m a great Powernapper. I mustn’t be without a superpower! I can just lie down on stage if it comes to that. When I’m tired I just have to sleep.”.
How exactly did the magical Steven McQueen-Michael Fassbender partnership begin?
Fassbender admits, “He actually hated me at first and thought I was arrogant”. The Casting Director of Hunger convinced him to let me read again for the much-talked-about 17-minute-long scene between his Bobby and the Priest. He was offered the role shortly after that.
He equates collaborating with McQueen and Team to making music, describing it “like riffing back and forth”.
Bailey asked Fassbender about the physicality he brings to his roles in how he fully transforms every time.
“Pub Theatre (performing the likes of Resevoir Dogs) and doing pantomimes is how I started where we used body as expression,” he recalls. During his time in London, which saw him dropping-out six months before graduation, he studied movement within space and ballet.
“Shoes and costumes give me that extra layer to get into character. It all starts from feet up.”.
With already this much accomplished we wonder what’s left for Fassbender to conquer?
The Thespian would love to do Comedy. “I spoke to Seth Rogen (his Steve Jobs Co-Star) about it after throwing a blueberry at him over dinner!”.
Trespass Against Us premieres TIFF ’16 on Friday, September 9, 2016 at Princess of Wales Theatre at 10:00 PM.
Fassbender at the TIFF Soirée:
Shohreh Aghdashloo + Alma Parvizian
TIFF Rising Star Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama + Cameron Bailey
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong + Team)
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Director Kim Nguyen brings to TIFF ’16 a Philosophical Drama, Two Lovers and a Bear, that questions how far one will go for a loved one and at what cost. When two lovers are living close to the North Pole and they both have their inner demons to face, the question gets raised as to what they will do for one another to allow them to achieve their dreams and try to escape the horrible pasts they have left behind.
The Movie focuses on Lucy (Canada’s Tatiana Maslany) and Roman (Dane DeHaan) who are madly in love with one another. They both live near the North Pole in a secluded community to try and escape their pasts but every now and then it manages to resurface and hurt them both. When Lucy receives word that she has been accepted to study biology, their relationship takes a turn for the worst and the movie starts to beg the question of how far will one go for their love?
Both Maslany and DeHaan give it their all, and their performance can turn even the most cynical of people into believers. The chemistry they share throughout the Film is truly magical and makes the audience believe what they are witnessing is genuine emotions. Two Lovers and a Bear is not to be missed at TIFF ’16.
Two Lovers and a Bear screens at TIFF on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 6:30 PM at the Visa Screening Room (Elgin Theatre) and Wednesday, September 14, 2016 at 3 PM at Ryerson Theatre.
TIFFmas is about to arrive and before the insanity begins, we’re proud to announce our official Partners for TIFF ’16! We couldn’t do it without them and YOU! MRWILLWONG.COM has been a part of this City’s colourful wallpaper for seven years now, our unique take on the Festival balancing the celebrity spotlight with a strong focus on the Films which have the Festival abuzz. Contributing again this year on our Team on Reviews are George Kozera, Siobhán Rich, David Baldwin and Justin Waldman!
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