Christopher Llewellyn Reed | Film Festival Today

Film Review: “Nightmare Alley” Is a Narrative Nightmare

December 16, 2021

Series Review: Season 2 of “The Witcher” Trades Strangeness for Stability

December 15, 2021

Film Review: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Delights with Both Power and Responsibility

December 14, 2021

Film Review: “West Side Story” Gets a Mostly Fine Facelift

December 8, 2021

Film Review: George MacKay Howls Magnificently in Uneven “Wolf”

December 3, 2021

Film Review: “The Unforgivable” Is Almost Worth Forgiving

November 24, 2021

Film Review: “Drive My Car” Takes the Scenic Route on the Way to Catharsis

November 23, 2021

Film Review: Breathtaking “Prayers for the Stolen” Laments Lost Innocence

November 16, 2021

Film Review: “Speer Goes to Hollywood” Tackles the Big Lie with (Mostly) Truth

November 7, 2021

Film Review: In “Gaza Mon Amour,” Love Keeps Hope Alive

November 4, 2021

Film Review: “Eternals” Is Both Never-Ending and Ephemeral

November 4, 2021

TIFF Review: “Franz”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 10, 2025
Franz (Agnieszka Holland, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars The writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924), though he died far too young (of tuberculosis), left behind a literary legacy that has lasted into our present. Works such as his story “In the Penal Colony,” his novella The Metamorphosis, and his novel The Trial have proved enormously influential, even though most of his works were only published after his death. We have his friend Max Brod to thank for us ... >>
TIFF Review: “Steal Away”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 9, 2025
Steal Away (Clement Virgo, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars Set in a land that exists outside of a specific era and place, yet suggestive of many different locations and moments (including the here and now), director Clement Virgo’s Steal Away plunges the viewer into a simultaneous idyll and nightmare. The freshness of youth—and youthful desire—runs directly into the brutality of human greed, destroying the innocent dreams of our teenage protagonists. ... >>
TIFF Review: “Good Boy”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 8, 2025
Good Boy (Jan Komasa, 2025) 3½ out of 5 stars Tommy is a problem child (young adult, really, at 19). A hard-drinking and drug-taking bully—violent and oversexed, to boot—he provides no service to the world beyond making a mess that others have to clean up. So if he were to vanish, who would miss him? ... >>
TIFF Review: “Wake Up Dead Man”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 7, 2025
Wake Up Dead Man (Rian Johnson, 2025) 3½ out of 5 stars With the 2019 film Knives Out, writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) added the whodunit to his repertoire, continuing with the 2022 sequel, Glass Onion, and now the 2025 follow-up, Wake Up Dead Man. All three movies tell entirely standalone stories, with their only connecting tissue the presence of preening private detective Benoit Blanc (played each time by James Bond ... >>
TIFF Review: “Sentimental Value”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 6, 2025
Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier, 2025) 4½ out of 5 stars Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World) won the Grand Prix (or second-place award) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his latest, Sentimental Value, which just had its Canadian premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Starring his frequent muse, Renate Reinsve (the aforementioned Worst Person plus Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man), Stellan ... >>

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