I’m generally opposed to the idea of working vacations, but transcribing an interview with Cielo director Alison McAlpine while at my cottage gave her words extra gravity. There is something about the stars that too many of us take for granted. Back home in Toronto, the only blinking lights in the sky are airplanes. I used to
Two weeks ago, TIFF unveiled its Galas and Special Presentations line-up, which has triggered some serious attention from international audiences. Here in Canada, the excitement has also mounted. The lineup features four Canadian titles, including films from such trailblazers as Patricia Rozema (Mouthpiece) and Kim Nguyen (The Hummingbird Project). The recently announced Canadian line-up, which includes several documentaries,
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (Japan/USA, 100 min.) Dir. Stephen Schible Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda sings with a whisper. This quiet and contemplative film offers a portrait in pianissimo of Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. The 66-year-old artist delves into his passion for music after surviving cancer and seeing his nation devastated in 2011 by an earthquake and the ensuing
Victory Day, Sergei Loznitsa’s new film, takes place in the present and serves as a sort of companion piece to Austerlitz.
Generation Wealth (USA, 106 min.) Dir. Lauren Greenfield With self-proclaimed financial genius Donald Trump being the most significant politician in the world and the global economy continuing to affect everything from Brexit to far-right populist regimes in Eastern Europe to the rise of the nouveau riche in China, Lauren Greenfield’s documentary Generation Wealth couldn’t have been made
Hitler’s Hollywood (Germany, 105 min.) Dir. Rüdiger Suchsland “What kind of a nation is it that needs poets to be able to kill and to die?” asks Udo Kier in voiceover in Hitler’s Hollywood. This comprehensive slice of film history asks difficult and relevant questions. How audiences of the present make sense of the films of
Voices of the Sea (UK, 99min.) Dir. Kim Hopkins “…of the humble, with the humble and for the humble” were the words that Fidel Castro famously used to describe the Cuban socialist and democratic revolution. But this motto hardly reflects the reality of the humble in Cuba today. In Voices of the Sea, Kim Hopkins exposes
Omne trium perfectum goes the Latin maxim: Everything that comes in threes is perfect, a mnemonic aide familiar to fairy tales, worship rituals and public speaking. It also provides the enigmatic title of Tim Wardle’s documentary, Three Identical Strangers, one of the most compelling, and disturbing, American documentary family portraits since Andrew Jarecki’s 2003 film, Capturing the Friedmans.
Eugene Jarecki tours Elvis's America in Presley's Rolls Royce with musicians and celebrities who find the king of metaphors for the nation.
Whitney (USA/UK, 120 min.) Dir. Kevin Macdonald Whitney might be the first documentary made about Whitney Houston with the full authorization of her family but don’t let that much trucked-about showbiz line fool you. This documentary isn’t a completely sanitized account of the great singer. Houston’s story gets the full warts-and-all treatment from Oscar winner Kevin
