#HBFF review: Shaina

February 27, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Beautie Masvaure Alt | Written by Wanisai Chigwendere | 97 min | at the Halifax Black Film Festival 2021, running through Sunday The HBFF opening film is a Zimbabwean YA drama, telling the story of a 16-turning-17-year-old Shine (Wilmah Munemera). She more than bright, she's quietly brilliant, with dreams of going to university…Read More

Minari review — Lovely and inclusive immigrant family drama

February 26, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Lee Isaac Chung | 115 min | Crave What's special about this picture is how it manages to nail a certain universality. Based on the filmmaker's own childhood memories, it's the story of a Korean family in the 1980s moving into a mobile home in a field in Arkansas. Jacob Yi…Read More

The Mauritanian review — Injustice exposed in post-9/11 thriller

February 25, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Kevin Macdonald | Written by Michael Bronner, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani, based on the book Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Salahi | 129 min | Crave With this film following 2019's The Report and Official Secrets, Hollywood is still mining stories from the ways in which the American military industrial complex overreached…Read More

The Halifax Black Film Festival returns

February 22, 2021 flawintheiris

This year is the fifth edition of the Halifax Black Film Festival, running from Tuesday, February 23 through to Sunday, February 28. No surprise it's all online this year, as so many festivals are these days. The festival is the brainchild of the Fabienne Colas Foundation, which runs the Black Film Festivals in Montreal and…Read More

Saint Maud review — An intense exploration of religious fervour

February 20, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Rose Glass | 84 min | On Demand Rose Glass' first feature is a stunner. It's a psychological thriller flecked with bloody, body horror notes — a story told through the experience of a deeply unreliable narrator. Maud (Morfydd Clark), as we learn, isn't even her real name. She's a home…Read More

Some Kind of Heaven review — Dark side of the golden years

February 19, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Lance Oppenheim | 81 min | Carbon Arc Cinema "This is different than most gated communities. This is a community with gates." This is an especially vague distinction provided by one of the residents of The Villages, America's largest retirement community. It's a little like Disneyland for senior citizens, it's a planned and…Read More

Greenland review — Entertaining end-of-the-world movie

February 18, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Ric Roman Waugh | Written by Chris Sparling | 119 min | Amazon Prime The presence of Gerard Butler in a feature film these days is usually a sign of a certain kind of popcorn escapism. I admit I haven't kept up with all of his action adventure pictures — I gave up…Read More

Supernova (2021) review — Quietly devastating dementia drama

February 16, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Harry Macqueen | 93 min | Crave Plus and On Demand This is a small, intimate drama, a straight-ahead two-hander for most of its running time. It's also a deeply moving film. Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) have been together for years. Sam is a famed concert pianist and…Read More

Judas And The Black Messiah review — Politically powerful, dramatically flawed

February 15, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Shaka King | Written by King, Will Berson, Kenneth Lucas and Keith Lucas | 126 min | Crave Plus The epic, practically Shakespearean crime dramas of Martin Scorcese, from Goodfellas to The Departed, cast a long shadow over Shaka King's thriller and docudrama. It's about the life of Fred Hampton, the young, charismatic…Read More

Roald Dahl’s The Witches review — Hathaway best thing in creepy kids comedy

February 13, 2021 flawintheiris

Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Written by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris, and Guillermo del Toro, based on the book by Roald Dahl | 106 min | Crave Plus Back in 1990 an adaptation of this Dahl book was made by the legendary Nicolas Roeg, starring Anjelica Huston. I haven't seen it, but I did check out…Read More