Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
Wasp Network focuses on a few Cuban intelligence agents who pose as dissidents during the country’s 90s post-Soviet Union economic collapse.
Director Olivier Assayas is a master of telling multiple character storylines and making them all come together naturally. With Wasp Network, he continues on this path. This time around he focuses on three different intelligence agents with different things to lose and gain. Although the Film does get a bit slow at times it’s the performances from an all-star Cast that keep the audience’s attention. Those intense performances are from Edgar RamĂrez, Gael GarcĂa Bernal, and Wagner Moura. Yet the most captivating performances come from PenĂ©lope Cruz and Ana de Armas who are the ones most affected by their husband’s actions.
Wasp Network screens at TIFF on Mon, Sep 9 at Ryerson Theatre at 6 PM, Tue, Sep 10 at Scotiabank Theatre at 6 PM, and Sat, Sep 14 at Ryerson Theatre at 8:30 PM.
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
The Film follows the story of Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) in her quest to not only claim her own freedom but the freedom of all slaves.
This Film documents the pivotal moments in Harriet Tubman’s adult life, with a focus on her efforts in transporting those enslaved to freedom areas. For those who know this empowering and inspiring Story, the Film won’t tell you anything you didn’t already know. It that has been brought to the big screen through beautiful Cinematography, an excellent Score and a powerful performance from Erivo.
Harriet screens at TIFF on Tue, Sep 10 at Roy Thompson Hall at 6 PM, Tue, Sep 10 at Elgin Theatre at 8 PM, Wed, Sep 11 at Winter Garden Theatre at 3 PM, and Sat, Sep 14 at Scotiabank Theatre at 2:45 PM.
Things finally are reaching a simmering point now at TIFF ’19, giving us a chance to catch some screenings finally! Tonight’s big ticket was Noah Hawley’s LUCY IN THE SKY at Princess of Wales Theatre, which saw Natalie Portman narrowly escaped rain! She channeled some major Black Swan tonight!
See some Snaps below. Hover cursor right and left to navigate album.
#TIFF19: #NataliePortman arriving at the Premiere of #LucyintheSky. 👨🚀 pic.twitter.com/FfiTGNtui2
— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) September 12, 2019
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
After Frankie (Isabelle Huppert) finds out she has a serious illness she summons her family and close friends to join her on a holiday in Sintra, Portugal.
Director Ira Sachs has a way of shooting a Film with many characters and making it feel intimate. The Script is rich with uniquely different characters who have particular quirks in their dialects. These loveable and honest characters are brought to life by a killer Cast consisting of Huppert who is hilarious here, the beguiling Marisa Tomei and more. Frankie is a fusion of Drama and Comedy with insightful lessons on life.
Frankie screens at TIFF on Wed, Sep 11 at Princess of Wales at 6 PM and Thu, Sep 12 at Winter Garden Theatre at 2:30 pm
Review by Mr. Will Wong
Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) seems to be on the verge of greatness under the persistent urging of his father (Sterling K. Brown). While everything seems fine initially, things take a drastic turn for the worse after his girlfriend Alexis (Alexa Demie) finds out she is pregnant with his child and his world crumbles. In the face of a tragedy, which threatens to tear Tyler’s family apart, his father, mother (RenĂ©e Elise Goldberry) and sister (Taylor Russell) are left to pick-up the pieces and find themselves again.
Filmmaker Trey Edward Shults’ (Krisha, It Comes at Night) hits you like a tidal wave in its first act but calms into a ripples in the second. While dialogue is sparse and the Film takes a nuanced tone, this is where Waves finds its flow in its meditation on grief.
Harrison delivers pure intensity in a performance which solified him a TIFF ‘19 Rising Star, while Russell shows a quiet maturity in her ability to express a deep undercurrent of emotion with little dialogue. Shults gets the honour of a Score by Academy Award winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross which intensifies the Film. Drew Daniels‘ Cinematography is breathtaking, whether it be his gorgeous captures of the Florida waters or çloseups that bring us up-close and intimate to these characters, particularly Harrison in his panic.
While Waves’ unevenness might not be for all, it is an ambitious effort even if it asks for your patience. It screens at TIFF Tue, Sep 10 at Ryerson Theatre, 8:45pm, Wed, Sep 11, Scotiabank Theatre, 6pm and Sun, Sep 15 at Ryerson Theatre, 2:45pm.
It’s been a relief getting a breather finally and we actually are finding time to see some movies! We saw Joker which filled two theatres completely at an industry screening and it was enthralling seeing Joaquin Phoenix go all in! While it does a number on you, it is well worth getting shaken for.
Less sightings today, but here are a few we had. Hover cursor right on each album to navigate.
JUDY – Premiere
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#TIFF19: Visionary Filmmaker #PedroAlmodovar at #TIFF for #PainandGlory. #HuaweiP30Pro
HARRIET – Afterparty
Also, a huge congratulations to Mike, who won our TIFF ’19 Tenth Anniversary Prize Pack!
TIFF19: We love you guys and appreciate all your support these past ten years so much!! Congrats to Mike, who won our #TIFF ’19 Survival Pack – Tenth Anniversary Edition! pic.twitter.com/bVYOB9r3Fn
— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) September 10, 2019
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
Take a heaping cup of Guy Maddin’s influence, sprinkle liberally with Wes Anderson’s imaginative plot machinations and way with words then finally add just a wee bit of Tim Burton to keep you slightly discombobulated and you have the recipe for Canadian director, Matthew Rankin’s, most bizarre and audacious Feature debut THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. This off-kilter, off-the-wall “biopic” of how William Lyon Mackenzie King became Prime Minister of Canada is genuinely funny and the personification of the words original and unique. There are so many elements and twists in this movie that I won’t reveal because THE TWENTIETH CENTURY has to be seen and savoured to fully appreciate the bizarre world we have just entered. Daniel Beirne (as Mackenzie King) has captured a piece of my non-conformist heart with his hysterical performance.
Want to see a movie flaunts gender roles, watch a competition that includes clubbing puppet baby seals and sexualizes footwear while maintaining romantic subplots and Quebec’s need to be unique? Do not walk…run to see THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. To quote a line used often in the Movie, you will love it “as sure as a winter’s day in spring”.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY screens at TIFF Tue, Sep 10, Ryerson Theatre at 11:59pm, Thu, Sep 12 Scotiabank Theatre at 9:45pm and Sat, Sep 14 Scotiabank Theatre at 1:30pm
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
Cagalera (Benny Emmanuel) and Moloteco (Gabriel Carbajal) want to leave their impoverished lives behind. Cagalera is living in the shadow of an abusive alcoholic father and Moloteco lives alone in a ramshackle house that could blow over at any minute. They need money badly, and must continually look for new and more dangerous ways to find it.
In his second Feature behind the camera, Gael GarcĂa Bernal delivers an intense and uncompromising vision of life in a Mexican slum. It is a character study that is equal parts raw and intimate, rarely taking a breath in-between all of the chaos that ensues. And while I admire his gritty approach, I am not quite sure what Bernal was striving for with how obscene and grotesque some elements of the Film are. For one, the violence is vicious and often shocking just for the sake of it. For another, the dialogue seems disingenuous and mean-spirited. I would forgive these faults if there was more than a brief hint or two of introspection. Do not get me wrong, Emmanuel and Carbajal are positively luminous in their roles. But the Script by Augusto Mendoza could and should have done them more favours.
CHICUAROTES screens during TIFF at the following times:
Tuesday September 10, 9:15pm @ Scotiabank Theatre
Wednesday September 11, 6:15pm @ Scotiabank Theatre
Friday September 13, 5:15pm @ Scotiabank Theatre
Review by Mr. Will Wong
While Rupert Goold‘s JUDY might not be that feel-good Film of the year, it is a fascinating portrait framed around the final weeks of Hollywood icon Judy Garland’s (RenĂ©e Zellweger) life. Set in 1969, we see her homeless and struggling to support her children, hence taking on a string of sold-out London shows, which pull her away from her children as she fights to retain custody of them. We see her fall in love with her much-younger fifth husband Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock), battling her addiction to prescription pills and alcohol at once. We watch her world unravel as the Film handles it all with compassion.
While we feel some characters, particularly her love interests of the past and present are oversimplified and generic, all else pales in comparison to Zellweger‘s tour-de-force delivery. She is phenomenal in the glossy numbers under the bright lights with a big band as she is in the Film’s more heartbreaking moments where she is reduced to pure vulnerability.
While this story ultimately is tragic, Goold and Writer Tom Edge find that one last spark before Garland‘s light extinguished, and make it a beautiful, lasting moment.
JUDY screens TIFF Tues, Sep 10 at the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre at 6:00pm and Wed, Sep 11 at the Elgin Theatre at 11:00am.
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
When Ellen (Meryl Streep) loses her husband she embarks on an investigation into corrupt insurance companies who are dodging her claims.
Director Steven Soderbergh and Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns tackle the secret world of financial corruption that was exposed in the Panama Papers, yet in a playful way. With the use of multiple characters and storylines, which are all intrinsically-connected, they take the audience on a journey on how to get rich through legal but immoral ways. They have an all-star Cast, consisting of Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas, who knock it out-of-the-park, especially when they break the fourth wall . The most impressive part of The Laundromat is how it takes a complicated tale of corruption, making it simple to understand.
The Laundromat screens at TIFF on Mon, Sep 9 at Princess of Wales Theatre at 6 PM, Tue, Sep 10 at Elgin Theatre at 2:15 PM, Fri, Sep 13 at Elgin Theatre at 5 PM, and Sat, Sep 14 at TIFF Bell Lightbox at 3:15 PM.
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