Specialty Releases | Film Festival Today

Film Review: “Mosquito State” Is a Can of Raid Away from a Total Flop

August 25, 2021

Film Review: Uruguayan Slasher Flick “The Last Matinee” Deserves to be Enjoyed on Opening Night

August 23, 2021

Film Review: “The Magnificent Meyersons” Drifts Towards Ambiguity

August 19, 2021

Film Review: “Rare Beasts” Rejects the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known

August 19, 2021

Film Review: In “Bring Your Own Brigade,” the Inferno Is Upon Us

August 17, 2021

Film Review: Keep Calm and “Cryptozoo”

August 16, 2021

Film Review: “Charming the Hearts of Men” Almost Succeeds

August 12, 2021

Film Review: In Delightful “CODA,” Music and Love Conquer All

August 12, 2021

Film Review: “The East” Offers Both a Unique and Mind-Numbing WWII Experience

August 12, 2021

Film Review: The Chaos of “Battle for Afghanistan” Exacts a Steep Price

August 12, 2021

Film Review: Sci-Fi-Horror Flick “The Stairs” Has Firm Footing, but Ultimately Leads Nowhere

August 11, 2021

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. ... >>

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