We Are Not Princesses, directed by Bridgette Auger and Itab Azzam, tells the powerful stories from four women, Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, as they prepare for their roles in a production of Antigone. Antigone, the ancient Greek … more »
Weirdly enough, as a passage in my own work, I write about my stint as a venue manager at Vancouver International Film Festival in my novella The Seven Muses of Harry Salcedo. In a passage, I mention my passing … more »
When I saw the trailer for Birthday, my first impression of the film was that it would be a manipulative sob-fest, and I steeled myself for the emotional exploitation and the violin strings. But the film – about the … more »
Clifton Hill centers on pathological liar Abby’s return to Niagara Falls after her mother’s death, and follows her obsessive quest to solve the mystery behind a potential kidnapping she witnessed as a child.
The film is Toronto-based filmmaker Albert Shin’s … more »
Samsara posits that nothing is perfect in this world – a point that it unintentionally proves itself. Although Heyjin’s road – from head priest to troubled boy and back again – is told with beauty, depth, and aching poignancy, that … more »
Asian films that first premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival each February tend not to travel to Toronto in September. The reasons vary, but it’s often down to matters of taste, or to political considerations such as pride, which … more »
When I agreed to write a book review of the first-ever English translation of Legends of the Condor Heroes, I had no idea I would be opening Pandora’s box of not only nostalgia, but also questions about translation and language.… more »
Chikaura Kei’s confident debut feature is the story of a Chinese economic migrant whose shaky existence begins to unravel after a string of deceits and crimes he has committed to support his new life in Japan starts to catch up … more »
Full spoilers ahead.
If there was any doubt about what kind of genre Murakami Haruki’s 1983 short story Barn Burning is, writer-director Lee Chang-Dong has called it by adapting the tale as a well-behaved arthouse thriller complete with revenge and … more »
Ash is Purest White (Jia Zhangke, China/France 2018)
Since his mid-career lane switch in 2013, Jia Zhangke has ditched the sluggish arthouse gloom that made him a brand in favour of speedier genre exploits to stay relevant. Still intact … more »