coming-of-age | Film Festival Today

Film Review: In Enjoyable “Big Time Adolescence,” A Boy Grows Up the Hard Way

March 13, 2020

Film Review: “Booksmart” Offers Enjoyable Laugh Lessons

May 24, 2019

“Boorman and the Devil” Compels You
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 26, 2025
Boorman and the Devil (David Kittredge, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars Of this I am certain: one need not be a fan of a movie to enjoy its making-of tale. Especially when that documentary is more than a compendium of trivia, becoming instead a rumination on art and its place in the world. Such is David Kittredge’s Boorman and the Devil, which chronicles the production of one of the worst films I have ever seen, Exorcist II: The Heretic. ... >>
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 ... >>

10 Picks for TIFF 2025
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