By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) On the night that he finally comes out to his parents, high schooler Tunde Johnson (Steven Silver) is driving to his boyfriend Soren’s (Spencer Neville) birthday party, when he is shot and killed by police during a traffic stop. Then he wakes up in his own bed, and… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (Discovery)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Written by Shia LaBeouf while he was in rehab, and inspired by his own troubled upbringing as a child actor being raised by an abusive father, Honey Boy is a unique and emotional film about addiction and processing trauma. The film begins with its main character, Otis Lort,… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Honey Boy (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Satire is a tricky thing to properly pull off, but New Zealand actor and filmmaker Taika Waititi succeeds in his latest film Jojo Rabbit, an original and daring World War II satire that is equal parts funny and moving. The main character is Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis),… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Jojo Rabbit (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Set in Newfoundland in the 1980s, Black Conflux follows both a teenaged girl named Jackie (Ella Ballentine), who is navigating the world of high school, and a mentally unstable young man named Dennis (Ryan McDonald), who works in a brewery and has trouble with women. Jackie has started… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Black Conflux (Discovery)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Yuma (Mei Kayama) is a 23-year-old woman with cerebral palsy in Tokyo, who dreams of being recognized as a manga artist. But the work that she does gets taken by Sayaka (Minori Hagiwara), a blogger who passes it off as her own and has gained a massive following.… Read More #TIFF19 Review: 37 Seconds (Contemporary World Cinema)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Set in London of 1862, The Aeronauts tells the story of James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne), a pioneering meteorologist who believes he will be able to use changes in sky temperatures to predict the weather, making him the laughing stock of the scientific community at the time. Determined to… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Aeronauts (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Françoise Crémont (Isabelle Huppert), affectionately referred to as Frankie, is an aging French actress who invites her family and friends to a sprawling villa in Sintra, Portugal for a vacation together that could end up being their last. There’s her son Paul (Jérémie Renier), current husband Jimmy (Brendan… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Frankie (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Terrence Malick used to take long hiatuses between his films, but the reclusive director has become quite prolific in the years since his 2011 magnum opus The Tree of Life, having released multiple films since then. Now Malick returns once again with A Hidden Life, a World War… Read More #TIFF19 Review: A Hidden Life (Masters)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is a cynical journalist who is assigned to write a short magazine profile of Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks), the star of the TV show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. While Lloyd initially scoffs at having to interview a children’s entertainer, he forms a bond with Mr.… Read More #TIFF19 Review: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The title of The Friend refers to Dane Faucheux (Jason Segel), the longtime best friend of journalist Matthew Teague (Casey Affleck) and his wife Nicole (Dakota Johnson). Dane first met Nicole when they were working together at a small theatre, and despite him initially asking her out, Dane… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Friend (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Ruben (Riz Ahmed) is the drummer in a heavy metal band, and he’s in a relationship with the lead singer, Lou (Olivia Cooke). But Ruben’s career in music is threatened when he starts experiencing ringing in his ears and then completely loses his hearing. Worried that he might… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Sound of Metal (Platform)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Set in the tacky, tourist trap area of Niagara Falls that the film is named after, Clifton Hill follows a woman named Abby (Tuppence Middleton), who returns to her hometown of Niagara Falls after her mother dies to help facilitate the sale of their family motel, and becomes… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Clifton Hill (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The first film that director Hirokazu Kore-eda has made outside of his native Japan, The Truth follows Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve), a veteran French actress who has just published an autobiography. The release of this book prompts Fabienne’s screenwriter daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) to visit her in Paris, travelling… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Truth (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on a true story, Hustlers centres around Destiny (Constance Wu), a young stripper who becomes the protege of Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), the de facto queen of the club. When the club starts losing business during the 2008 recession, Ramona hatches a plan to make money by drugging… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Hustlers (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy) are an old married couple who bicker constantly, but have stayed together for over thirty years. Edward is very quiet, and Grace is neurotic by nature, which makes their relationship somewhat volatile. In her attempts to elicit the sort of emotional… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Hope Gap (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is an 18th century artist who is commissioned to paint a portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), ahead of her arranged marriage to a Milanese businessman. Héloïse is resisting the marriage, and doesn’t want to be painted, so her mother (Valeria Golino) has hired Marianne to… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas) is an aging filmmaker plagued by chronic pain and a sense of creative stagnancy. When a revival screening is booked of Sabor, the last movie he made before his career started drying up, Salvador reunites with the film’s star, Alberto (Asier Etxeandia), whom he… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Pain and Glory (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Directed by Toronto’s own Daniel Roher, and carrying the distinction of being the first ever Canadian documentary to open the festival, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band is an engaging and emotional look at Robertson’s own life and career as the lead guitarist and main songwriter… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Jenny (Hong Chau) is a young political activist in the 1970s who is laying low after bombing a draft office to protest the Vietnam War, when she forms a bond with a young heiress named Pauline (Sarah Gadon), who has gotten involved with a violent cult run by… Read More #TIFF19 Review: American Woman (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A dark and brooding fairy tale set in the Balkan forests, Entwined follows a doctor named Panos (Prometheus Aleiferopoulos) who arrives in town to start a medical practise, much to the suspicion of the superstitious townsfolk. When he comes across a mysterious young woman, Danae (Anastasia-Rafaela Konidi), who… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Entwined (Discovery)
The Joy of Movies 