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Friar’s Club Comedy Film Festival

September 28, 2009

“The History of Concrete” Offers Hilarious Meditation
By Patrick Howard
September 18, 2026
The History of Concrete (John Wilson, 2026) 4½ out of 5 stars Have you ever heard of the old idiom “this is like watching paint dry”? A classic phrase to describe an act that will most certainly bore you to tears. With that idea in mind, hearing about filmmaker John Wilson’s new documentary The History of Concrete may send a shiver of tedium down your spine. Remarkably, John Wilson (HBO’s How to with John Wilson series) transforms material that ... >>
TIFF Review: “Fjord”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 17, 2026
Fjord (Cristian Mungiu, 2026) 4½ out of 5 stars Norway is a beautiful country with majestic landscapes, home today to a people steeped in progressive Western European principles, its violent Viking past a distant memory. In Fjord, the latest film from Romanian writer/director Cristian Mungiu (Graduation)—who won his second Cannes Palme d’Or in May of this year—we find ourselves immersed in the life of a small waterside town, following the ... >>
TIFF Interview: “The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs” Directors Èlia Gasull Balada and Matteo Norzi
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 17, 2026
TIFF Interview: “The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs” ... >>
TIFF Interview: “Re/Pair” Director Lacey Schwartz Delgado
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 16, 2026
The new documentary Re/Pair, from director Lacey Schwartz Delgado, features a series of conversations between Black and Jewish Americans on the topic of tensions and solidarity between their respective groups. I saw the film ahead of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (during which I reviewed it) and then during the festival spoke in person with Schwartz Delgado. Here is that conversation, edited for length and clarity. ... >>
TIFF Review: “Phoolan”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 16, 2026
Phoolan (Richie Mehta, 2026) 4 out of 5 stars Phoolan Devi, known as India’s “Bandit Queen,” may have been assassinated in 2001, but her earlier armed rebellion against the country’s deep-seated misogyny and caste prejudice made of her a star that keeps shining today. In writer/director Richie Mehta’s latest work, Phoolan, she is an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, refusing to accept the terms dictated by her world. Though born ... >>