Category: Canadian Cinema

#TIFF26 Review: Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Midnight Madness)

By John Corrado The latest work from Winnipeg filmmaker Matthew Rankin (The 20th Century, Universal Language), Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is a gonzo Canadian political documentary by way of archival footage collage, and, well, it rocks. Backed by the National Film Board, this portrait of Canada’s 18th Prime Minister is a lot wackier than… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Midnight Madness)

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#TIFF26 Review: Tangles (Centrepiece)

By John Corrado In her debut feature Tangles, director Leah Nelson crafts an incredibly moving animated film that poignantly handles the devastating experience of Alzheimer’s and how it impacts a whole family. The film is an adaptation of author and illustrator Sarah Leavitt’s autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. At the start of the… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Tangles (Centrepiece)

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#TIFF26 Review: All That She Wants (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) gets a much deserved starring role in All That She Wants, a very enjoyable Canadian romantic-comedy from co-directors Scarlett Bermingham and Andrew Rhymer. It’s the sort of film that hits the rom-com beats and does them all very well, while adding some fresh twists to the genre. Murphy… Read More #TIFF26 Review: All That She Wants (Special Presentations)

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#TIFF26 Review: Smudge the Blades (Centrepiece)

By John Corrado Director, writer, and star Cody Lightning (Hey, Viktor!) draws from the well of the underdog sports movie for his second feature Smudge the Blades, an enjoyable homegrown hockey movie centred around the Treaty 6 Blades, an Indigenous U-18 hockey team in Northern Alberta. The film opens with a fight breaking out on… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Smudge the Blades (Centrepiece)

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#TIFF26 Review: Still Night, Burning House (TIFF Docs)

By John Corrado In her debut feature Still Night, Burning House, Vietnamese-Canadian filmmaker Carol Nguyen looks inward, focusing on her own family’s history with grief and mental health. The film seeks to tell the story of her Uncle Thach, who was schizophrenic and died from suicide a decade ago, after jumping out a second story… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Still Night, Burning House (TIFF Docs)

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#TIFF26 Review: L’Autre (Centrepiece)

By John Corrado Fear of “the other” seems to be one of the prevailing themes throughout Quebec filmmaker Alexandre Franchi’s mix of dark comedy and psychological thriller L’Autre, a title that literally translates to “the other.” The film opens with our protagonist Stan (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) undergoing surgery to remove cancer from the bone in his… Read More #TIFF26 Review: L’Autre (Centrepiece)

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#TIFF26 Review: The Betrayers (Centrepiece)

By John Corrado Canadian author and filmmaker David Bezmozgis returns to the screen with The Betrayers, a well-acted and intriguing adaptation of his own award-winning 2014 novel of the same name. The film centres around Baruch (Michael Aronov), a Soviet dissident turned Israeli politician, who is being pushed to enter into a coalition agreement, while… Read More #TIFF26 Review: The Betrayers (Centrepiece)

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#TIFF26 Review: Toy Gun Bandit (Centrepiece)

By John Corrado Toy Gun Bandit, the new film from Quebec writer-director Rémi St-Michel, is a work that feels inspired by the scrappy, propulsive filmmaking of the Safdie brothers. That’s a lofty comparison, to be sure, but their influence is felt throughout this frenetic Québécois crime movie, which serves as both an entertaining and suspenseful… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Toy Gun Bandit (Centrepiece)

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Movie Review: The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

By John Corrado In his previous documentary, the Oscar-winning 2022 film Navalny, Toronto filmmaker Daniel Roher presented a thrilling portrait of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Now Roher turns his attention to the equally timely topic of artificial intelligence in The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist. Roher’s latest, which he… Read More Movie Review: The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

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The 2026 Canadian Film Fest runs from March 24th to 29th in Toronto

By John Corrado The 20th anniversary edition of the Canadian Film Fest begins tonight and runs until March 29th at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto. I’ve had the privilege of covering this festival a number of times in the past, and I’m always impressed by the range of homegrown films on display. This year’s milestone… Read More The 2026 Canadian Film Fest runs from March 24th to 29th in Toronto

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Official Trailer for Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie!

By John Corrado The official trailer has just been released for Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Canadian filmmaker Matt Johnson’s wildly entertaining time travel comedy. This one premiered at SXSW last year, and also got a hometown welcome as the opening night film of TIFF’s Midnight Madness section, where it very easily won… Read More Official Trailer for Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie!

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#TIFF50 Review: Dead Lover (Midnight Madness)

By John Corrado In their latest film collaboration Dead Lover, real life couple Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie craft a German Expressionist parody with a real handmade quality to it. Glowicki, who directs the film from a screenplay that she co-wrote with Petrie, stars as a lonely gravedigger. We are told that she smells really,… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Dead Lover (Midnight Madness)

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