By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A dramatic revenge thriller set in the American suburbia of the 1950s, The Secrets We Keep follows Maja (Noomi Rapace), a Romanian woman who fled her home country following World War II, and has tried her best to forget the past. Maja has established a quiet life in… Read More VOD Review: The Secrets We Keep
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The most obvious comparison to The Curse of Audrey Earnsahw, Canadian filmmaker Robert Thomas Lee’s new period horror film which was produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, would be The Witch. Like that 2015 film directed by Robert Eggers, Lee’s film is another work of folk horror… Read More Review: The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) In 1969, the Canadian government under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau made crucial changes to the criminal code under Bill C-150, partially decriminalizing homosexuality across the country. It was a historic move that struck down archaic “anti-buggery” and “gross indecency” laws, with Trudeau’s famous musing that “there’s no place… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Sex, Sin & 69
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Following the death of his parents, Kit (Henry Golding) returns home to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to find a place to scatter their ashes, and discovers that he barely remembers the country that he was forced to leave as a young boy. Having grown up in… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Monsoon
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The year is 1995, and Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman) has just moved to a small town in Illinois with his partner Aaron (Ari Cohen), seeking a new life for themselves and Aaron’s teenaged daughter Kayla (Jennifer Laporte). But it’s not long before Malik, who still hasn’t recovered from the… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Spiral
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Troy (Steve Zahn) is the father of Joe (Sasha Knight), who was assigned female at birth but has recently revealed that he is transgender and was born in the wrong body. When Joe’s mother Sally (Jillian Bell) refuses to accept who he is, Troy escapes with him into… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Cowboys
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Eddie (Fionn O’Shea) and Amber (Lola Petticrew) are two closeted gay teenagers in Ireland circa 1995, who are tired of the constant homophobic taunts from their classmates and decide to put rumours about their sexuality to rest by pretending to date each other. Despite the destined to be… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Dating Amber
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Russell (Thomas Duplessie) is a young drag queen in Toronto, who has turned to drag as a way to perform and express himself after his career as a young actor stalled out. When his boyfriend (Andrew Bushell) dumps him, Russell packs his bags and heads to Prince Edward… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Jump, Darling
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) While we hear his voice on the phone beforehand, Bill Murray doesn’t actually show up onscreen until nearly twenty minutes into On The Rocks, his latest collaboration with writer/director Sofia Coppola. But there’s no arguing that his presence is the main selling point of the film. And Coppola… Read More Review: On The Rocks
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Brandon Cronenberg, son of the famed Canadian director David Cronenberg, really does his father proud with his shot in Toronto second feature Possessor, a high concept thriller that offers a mix of graphic violence, graphic sex, and good old fashioned body horror. It’s a potent combination that will… Read More Review: Possessor Uncut
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Jack (John Reynolds) and Su (Sunita Mani) are a typical millennial hipster couple living in Brooklyn. Feeling too attached to their phones, and worried about getting disconnected from each other, they decide to spend a week at a friend’s cabin in upstate New York, vowing not to check… Read More Review: Save Yourselves!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Jane (Sally Hawkins), the lead character in the indie dramedy Eternal Beauty, is a woman living in Wales who has paranoid schizophrenia. At first, Jane just comes across as sort of quirky, including an amusing early scene where she brings herself pre-wrapped Christmas presents for her family members… Read More VOD Review: Eternal Beauty
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) How much you enjoy The Glorias, director Julie Taymor’s highly stylized biopic of the trailblazing women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, will partially depend on how much you enjoy Taymor’s other work. As someone who generally admires her audacious theatrical impulses, as bold as they may sometimes be, (I’ve… Read More VOD Review: The Glorias
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest feature from indie filmmaker Miranda July, her first since The Future in 2011 and third overall following her 2005 breakout Me and You and Everyone We Know, Kajillionaire is an oddball crime comedy that is chock full of the writer/director’s usual eccentricities. The film is populated… Read More Review: Kajillionaire
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) A moving first feature from writer/director Edson Oda, Nine Days is the sort of high concept indie film that I love to discover, using the imaginative premise of souls competing to be born to explore no less than what it means to feel and be alive. The film… Read More Review: Nine Days
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Directed by Spike Lee, David Byrne’s American Utopia is a film version of the Broadway show that the former frontman for the band Talking Heads staged in 2019 at the Hudson Theatre in New York. It was the opening night film at TIFF eleven days ago, and watching… Read More #TIFF20 Review: David Byrne’s American Utopia (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Making his feature directorial debut, actor David Oyelowo crafts a wonderful and nostalgic throwback to the classic kids adventure films of the 1980s with The Water Man, which I’m pleased to say is one of the nicest surprises of this year’s festival. The film’s protagonist is Gunner Boon… Read More #TIFF20 Review: The Water Man (Special Events)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on the true story of a father who started walking across America to raise awareness of bullying in honour of his son, Good Joe Bell is a well-intentioned drama that includes some moving moments, but makes an equal number of questionable and frustrating storytelling choices. Joe Bell… Read More #TIFF20 Review: Good Joe Bell (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Alba truffle, which grows in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, is considered to be one of the world’s rarest and most exclusive food items, and directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw take us into the unique world of the men who forage for them in their… Read More #TIFF20 Review: The Truffle Hunters (Special Events)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The directorial debut of Viggo Mortensen, who also stars in the film in addition to serving as the writer, producer and composer on the project, Falling explores the relationship between a middle aged son and his ailing, elderly father. And it’s the sort of rugged, powerful drama that… Read More #TIFF20 Review: Falling (Special Presentations)
