Although it does have moments of genuine human drama throughout, director Florian Zeller’s The Son uses unsubtle emotional manipulation to get its points across.
Laura Dern
It has taken an egregiously long time for Kelly Reichardt’s resplendent, slow cinema, humanist masterpiece Certain Women to make its way back to a Canadian theatre. Certain Women, which last played in Toronto this past September at TIFF, received a theatrical release and well warranted critical acclaim in the U.S. last fall. In Canada, it was quietly, inconspicuously, and unceremoniously released to VOD over the winter. It’s a film that has technically been available to Canadian viewers for quite some time now, but a highly belated theatrical release at TIFF Bell Lightbox this week allows people to see the film in its best possible presentation. It’s a must see in any medium, and one of Reichardt’s best efforts. Even if you don’t live in Toronto, seek this film out.
Laura Dern is refreshing in almost every way–on screen and off. In her latest film, Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée’s Wild starring Reese Witherspoon, Dern plays a role that is tough and beautiful, with layers that add meaning throughout the story. Maybe best of all, the narrative is refreshingly different, with an ending that is happy, but not what you might expect.
The Toronto International Film Festival did not slow down much this year after the first busy weekend, which was kind of a surprise. For as long as I’ve been going to TIFF, the first four days of the festival have always been blockbuster, while the week after kind of fizzles away. This year though, TIFF has kept the pace going, and it’s kept me busy late into the week.