documentary | Film Festival Today

Christopher Llewellyn Reed’s Seven Films to See at DC/DOX 2023

June 15, 2023

Tribeca Review: “The Gullspång Miracle” Probes Deep Mysteries

June 12, 2023

Tribeca Review: “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” Delivers Great Cinematic Catharsis

June 10, 2023

Film Review: “Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)” Captures a Specific Moment in Music History

June 7, 2023

Film Review: “Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story” Adequately Tells Its Tale

June 5, 2023

Film Review: “STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie” Offers Delightful Homage

May 12, 2023

Film Review: “Anxious Nation” Offers Fine Cinematic Therapy

May 5, 2023

Film Review: In Compelling “Imagining the Indian,” Native American Mascots Must Go

April 4, 2023

Series Review: “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” Offers Insight and Inspiration

April 2, 2023

SXSW Interview with “Queendom” Director Agniia Galdanova and Producer Igor Myakotin

March 16, 2023

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
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This year, as always at the Tribeca Festival (formerly ...>>
Our Coverage of 2025 Oscar Nominees
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Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and ...>>