Before it premiered, there were hopes that Francis Lee’s new film would put Kate Winslet in the race for next year’s best actress Oscar. Hopes were dashed though after the reviews from this year’s virtual Toronto Film Festival, labeling it as dry, mute, and bleak. The fan fiction element of the story tries to balance facts […]
After winning the screenplay award at Cannes, and topping many industry professional’s top film lists of the year, “Portrait of a Lady on Fir”e comes into the Toronto International Film Festival with elevated buzz. It’s apparently clear now that France will be deciding between Céline Sciamma’s female love story or another Cannes breakout playing at
Finally, we are starting to see the LGBTQ genre splintering away from the usual controversial gay relationship dramas and tragedies. Giant Little Ones by Keith Behrman explores gender issues regarding same-sex experimentation among teens and young adults. In life and on film, society reacts differently to sexual intimacy between two females than it does when the intimacy is between
The title of Melissa McCarthy’s new film could also be a question to critics and audiences who have watched her career dive bomb in the last couple of years. She’s gone downhill since blasting onto the film scene with “Bridesmaids,” the introduction to her one-note comedy routine that earned her an Oscar nomination. “Can You
Wash Westmoreland, the director of Oscar-winning “Still Alice,” originally wrote the script for “Colette” back in 2001. As the climate in Hollywood has shifted, there has been more demand for female-centered films. What better than one of France’s most celebrated feminists Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. The film opens with Oscar nominee Keira Knightley (“Pride and Prejudice”) running
“Lizzie Borden took an ax. And gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done. She gave her father forty-one.” It’s a catchy rhyme that has kept the folklore of Lizzie Borden alive in pop culture for over 100 years. However, few know the real story of Lizzie Borden. She was acquitted
In 2011 Brother and sister duo Jesse and Evgenia Peretz made a film called Our Idiot Brother and it was very bad. They return with yet another quirky comedy, but this time, the script and direction are genuinely entertaining. Evgenia’s script examines the different aspects, responsibilities, and regrets of middle-age dating. She also explores idol obsession and
After focusing on people in their twilight years in films like “I’ll See You in My Dreams” and “The Hero,” promising new writer/director Brett Haley has shifted his focus. “Hearts Beat Loud” is first and foremost a father/daughter “dramedy.” It is also a film about music and a story about difficult choices. Haley and screenwriting
I never thought I would be able to tell if a movie was headed for VOD, but after seeing so many acquisition titles at TIFF (and knowing how this works), Disobedience is one of handful that won’t get a major theatrical release. They are promoting it as a lesbian film, which is both arguable and
I know this looks like a movie about tennis or gender equality. It’s both and neither at the same time. Battle of the Sexes has recent Oscar winner Stone very much in the lead, and Carell, once again teaming with his Little Miss Sunshine directors for another oddball supporting performance. Like the best movies seemingly