Film festivals like Toronto are sometimes like revolving doors. Each year their whirlwind oscillations allow just the big films with coin and clout to pass through, attracting instant publicity, esteem and distribution. For everyone else, the wait for recognition is … more »
Hirayanagi Atsuko’s refreshing debut feature Oh Lucy! is one whimsical cocktail, mixing one part urban alienation, one part domestic drama, two parts road movie, and topped with splashes of comic tragedy and cultural critique. Gloomy Tokyo office lady Setsuko (Terajima … more »
Styled as a comic domestic drama but hiding sweeping undercurrents, Mina Shum’s crowd-pleasing fourth feature portrays a Vancouver family whose lives are jolted by a convergence of difficult revelations and bottled-up fissures. When elderly mother Maria (Cheng Pei Pei) discovers … more »
The laughter dropped often from the packed press and industry screening on opening night, but as the film wore on it was hard to shake off the feeling that their mirth was in fact mockery. Some rightly expected the film … more »
Toronto’s largest film festival is shrinking with age. Earlier this year it had announced plans to reduce its overall program by a fifth by axing some sections and venues. The claim was that slimming down was needed to cut a … more »