Category Archives: Historical Drama

#AIFF2017 Day 7: Geek Girls, Novitiate

September 21, 2017 flawintheiris

Geek Girls Here's a message to documentary filmmakers: Your project may not be entirely feasible if you make yourself the centre of it and not once, but twice, you show footage of yourself calling possible interviewees, while your voice-over says something like, "Many experts and celebrities I'd hoped to speak to bailed out at the…Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 3: The Square, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, Sweet Virginia

September 17, 2017 flawintheiris

I tend to be impressed by film doing a single thing well and managing to do that one good thing through its running time. Ruben Östlund's Palme d'or-winning The Square manages to be good at doing many things simultaneously, to the point where it's hard to collect all those things in your head at once. I…Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 2: The Child Remains, Mary Shelley, plus The Crescent

September 16, 2017 flawintheiris

The comfortably full Cinema 8 at Park Lane was the site of the gala premiere of Michael Melski's The Child Remains, his long-gestating supernatural thriller, on Friday evening. It was clearly an emotional event for the writer-director, and he had many kind things to say about his crew and cast. Unfortunately, we also had to put…Read More

Lady Macbeth review — Bawdier and bloodier than you think

August 31, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by William Oldroyd | Written by Alice Birch, based on the novel Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Nikolai Leskov | 89 min After a little delay, this interesting picture finally opens in Halifax on Friday, September 1. Katherine (Florence Pugh), a young woman, is married off—sold, really—to a wealthy man she barely knows. This…Read More

Detroit review — A harrowing look at a troubled time

August 5, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow | Written by Mark Boal | 143 min Four-and-a-half years since the astonishing Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow and her writing partner Boal return with powerful docudrama about the events that took place before, during, and after what happened at the Algiers Motel in Detroit. It was 50 years ago, the summer of 1967,…Read More

New On Canadian Netflix: June/July 2017

July 24, 2017 flawintheiris

Here are a cross-section of a number of mildly-to- solidly recommended films recently made available on Canadian Netflix. (You can click on the movie titles to read my original reviews where I’ve written them in the past.) *One note: In May I recommended Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, a film when I first saw it back…Read More

New episode of LENS ME YOUR EARS is up!

July 5, 2017 flawintheiris

In recognition of yesterday's celebration of independence by our friends to the south, a new episode of my film podcast (co-hosted by Stephen Cooke), Lens Me Your Ears, is now available. It's #036, entitled "Make America Great," and you can find it on iTunes and on Stitcher. There's no need to worry, this podcast is…Read More

My Cousin Rachel review — Hitchcockian period drama brings fresh suspense

June 18, 2017 flawintheiris

Directed by Roger Michell | Written by Michell, adapting the novel by Daphne Du Maurier | 106 min Philip (Sam Claflin) is the young man raised on a mid-1800s Cornwall estate by his elder cousin, Ambrose, who is like a father to him. Ambrose seems to have little interest in women or getting married, but…Read More

12 Films To Get Excited About: Summer 2017 (aka the Anti-Blockbuster Blues)

May 15, 2017 flawintheiris

Usually I do a summer preview between now and mid-June—I did in 2015, and in 2014, but last year I couldn't find my thrill for the summer, so just did a post-mortem around labour day. With analysts expecting the Hollywood blockbuster season to be a total dud, thanks mostly to franchise fatigue—did anyone ask for fifth…Read More

A Quiet Passion review — Pain, pity, and poetry

May 5, 2017 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Terrence Davies | 125 min A solemn, mannered Emily Dickinson biopic, directed by the very literate British filmmaker Davies. On the surface an odd casting choice for the poet, Cynthia Nixon, makes the role entirely her own. We meet Emily when she's still a teen (Emma Bell) frustrated at a seminary,…Read More