Featured Specialty | Film Festival Today

Film Review: “The Artist’s Wife” Is a Heartfelt Story and an Engaging Experience

September 24, 2020

Film Review: Lovely “Bird Island” Showcases a Haven of Gentle Souls

September 24, 2020

Series Review: “Les sauvages” Offers Strong Mix of Entertainment and Polemic

September 17, 2020

Film Review: “The Last Laugh” Fails to Execute on a Potentially Interesting Premise

September 14, 2020

Film Review: “Black Boys” Powerfully Examines Systemic Racism Against Black Male Bodies

September 10, 2020

Film Review: “Cuties” Offers a Complex Examination of Tween Agency

September 8, 2020

Film Review: “Apocalypse ’45” Beautifully Showcases the Horrors of War

September 4, 2020

Film Review: Kung Fu and Comedy Collide in “The Paper Tigers,” a Story with Good Intentions, but a Mixed-Up Narrative Structure

August 31, 2020

Film Review: “House of Cardin” Displays the Limitless Creativity of a Fashion Icon

August 27, 2020

Film Review: In “Lingua Franca,” the Common Language Is Cinema

August 25, 2020

Film Review: “Coup 53” Effectively Explains Iran’s Present Through Its Past

August 24, 2020

TIFF Review: “A Private Life”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 15, 2025
A Private Life (Rebecca Zlotowski, 2025) 3 out of 5 stars There is one primary reason to see A Private Life, from director Rebecca Zlotowski (Just the Two of Us), and that is Jodie Foster (Nyad), whose riveting performance is further enhanced by the fact that she speaks French throughout. Well, make that two reasons, as Daniel Auteuil (An Ordinary Case), in the role of her ex-husband, is equally compelling. Together, they provide the highlights ... >>
TIFF Review: “A Pale View of Hills”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 15, 2025
A Pale View of Hills (Kei Ishikawa, 2025) 3 out of 5 stars Born in 1954 in Nagasaki, Japan, Nobel-prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro emigrated to England in 1960. His subsequent bicultural upbringing has given him a unique perspective on the world that has informed much of his writing, specializing in the emotional reserve that humans layer on top of experience to avoid looking closely at hard truths. His novels The Remains of the Day (1989) ... >>
TIFF Interview: “Steal Away” Co-Writer Tamara Berger and Director Clement Virgo
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 14, 2025
Toronto-based director Clement Virgo just premiered his latest feature, Steal Away, which he co-wrote with wife Tamara Berger, at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (where I reviewed it). They previously collaborated on the 2005 Lie with Me. This new project is an adaptation of Karolyn Smardz Frost’s 2017 nonfiction book Steal Away Home and is set in a world that is neither the here nor the now, but possibly both, an amalgam of times ... >>
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. ... >>

10 Picks for TIFF 2025
September 1, 2025
The 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (or TIFF) ...>>
Films to See at Fantasia 2025
July 15, 2025
For fans of the weird, wild, and wonderful, the 29th ...>>
“Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” Interview with Director and Star
June 12, 2025
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Five Films to See at Tribeca 2025
June 4, 2025
This year, as always at the Tribeca Festival (formerly ...>>
Our Coverage of 2025 Oscar Nominees
January 25, 2025
Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and ...>>