Pete Farndon | Film Festival Today

TIFF Review: “Pretenders”

September 13, 2026

TIFF Review: “Pretenders”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 13, 2026
Pretenders (Joss Crowley, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars By now, the conventions of nonfiction biopics are familiar and, if done well, also enjoyable. Pick any public figure—or musical group—that you admire, and chances are that a competently made movie will engage and entertain. Such is the case with Pretenders, the latest foray into the genre from director Joss Crowley (Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible). It may not reinvent the cinematic wheel, ... >>
TIFF Review: “The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 12, 2026
The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs (Èlia Gasull Balada/Matteo Norzi, 2026) 4½ out of 5 stars Every artist who agrees to have a movie made about them should be so lucky as to have their work photographed in as exquisite a manner as that used by Èlia Gasull Balada and Matteo Norzi (Icaros: A Vision) for the canvases of Sara Flores. In The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs, they craft a loving portrait of their septuagenarian subject, an ... >>
TIFF Review: “Le Faux Soir”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 10, 2026
Le Faux Soir (Michaël R. Roskam, 2026) 4 out of 5 stars We have by now seen what feels like every permutation possible of a World War II narrative. Not so, it turns out, for Belgian director Michaël R. Roskam (The Drop) has managed to find a new angle with his Le Faux Soir, which takes us into a surprisingly comical act of defiance against the Nazis. Fascists hate being laughed at. We should do so all the time. ... >>
TIFF Review: “Union Town”
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
September 10, 2026
Union Town (Barbara Kopple, 2026) 4 out of 5 stars The great documentarian Barbara Kopple began her cinematic career with the 1976 Harlan County U.S.A., which took home the Oscar that year in its category. The movie gave audiences an on-the-ground look at a work strike among hard-scrabble Kentucky coal miners and was a model of observational filmmaking. Now, in Union Town, Kopple returns to labor issues, setting her latest opus among the ... >>
Interview with “Franz” Director Agnieszka Holland
By Christopher Llewellyn Reed
August 28, 2026
Polish director Agnieszka Holland first came to my attention with her 1990 masterpiece Europa Europa, about a young Jewish boy during World War II who hides from the Nazis by joining the Hitler Youth, with nobody suspecting his true identity. She has remained on my cinematic radar ever since. Now, with Franz, she crafts a remarkable biographical portrait of one of the 20th century’s most important writers, Franz Kafka, who died of tuberculosis ... >>