Category Archives: Indie

The King Tide review — Chilling folk mystery evokes classic 1970s horror

April 25, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Christian Sparkes | Written by Kevin Coughlin, Ryan Grassby, Albert Shin, and William Woods | ▲▲▲▲△ | In Cinemas I spoke with Newfoundland filmmaker Christian Sparkes when his fantastic first feature, Cast No Shadow, was released back in 2015. There was an element of folk magic in that picture that's shared here in…Read More

Queen Of My Dreams review — Fetching first feature crosses cultures

March 23, 2024 flawintheiris

An earlier version of this review appeared on FITI last September at #TIFF2023 Written and Directed by Fawzia Mirza | 97 min | ▲▲▲△△ I gather Cape Breton-raised filmmaker Fawzia Mirza brings a lot of autobiography to this light, charming film, the story of Azra (Amrit Kaur) is a queer woman living in Toronto with…Read More

Perfect Days review — a low-key delight

March 19, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Wim Wenders | Written by Wenders and Takuma Takasaki | 124 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | on VOD and digital As much as I wanted to, I couldn't get to all the Oscar nominees this year before the big show, but in the weeks ahead I hope to catch up with a few of…Read More

The Knox Office: Love Lies Bleeding, One Life, Humanist Vampire

March 17, 2024 flawintheiris

On Friday I once again dropped by CBC Information Morning in Halifax. This time I chatted with guest host Preston Mulligan and co-host Matt Brand (a big action movie guy, Matt's podcast The Action Movie Hall Of Fame is found here). I talked about the excellent new surreal noir Love Lies Bleeding, One Life, and…Read More

Sometimes I Think About Dying review — Daisy Ridley’s drab days

March 12, 2024 flawintheiris

Directed by Rachel Lambert | Written by Stefanie Abel Horowitz, Kevin Armento, and Katy Wright-Mead | 94 min | ▲▲△△△ | On VOD Terrific title, folks. Really something special. But this melancholy office drama, while it reaches for some kind of wistful truth about loneliness, is centred on perhaps the dullest character to ever have…Read More

Carbon Arc Cinema review: Rose

December 14, 2023 flawintheiris

I am the Artistic Director at Carbon Arc Cinema, part of a group of programmers who choose the films we screen. This weekend we're screening Rose, a Danish film set in France, on Friday, and an encore screening of Fallen Leaves on Saturday. Written and Directed by Niels Arden Oplev | 106 min | Carbon…Read More

Carbon Arc Cinema Review: Amanda

October 12, 2023 flawintheiris

I am the Artistic Director at Carbon Arc Cinema, part of a group of programmers who choose the films we screen. Written and Directed by Carolina Cavalli | 93 min | Carbon Arc Cinema Our film from last weekend, Scrapper, was the debut from a British filmmaker, and this week we have another debut, this…Read More

Fair Play review — A bloody portrait of power, ego and sex

October 10, 2023 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Chloe Domont | 113 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Netflix Fair Play is an adrenalized New York picture the likes of which we haven't seen in awhile. It's got the bones of something like Margin Call, set in that world, but it's entirely its own beast — making its own inquiries and…Read More

The Royal Hotel review — Outback adventure turns to horror

October 6, 2023 flawintheiris

Directed by Kitty Green | Written by Green and Oscar Redding | 91 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Crave A review of this film first appeared on FITI during TIFF in September. This exceptional new drama from Kitty Green, the director of The Assistant, reunites her with the breakout star of that one. Julia Garner. Garner's…Read More

Carbon Arc Cinema review: Passages

September 28, 2023 flawintheiris

I'm the new Artistic Director at Carbon Arc Cinema, part of a group of programmers who choose the films we screen. Directed by Ira Sachs | Written by Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias, and Arlette Langmann | 91 min | Carbon Arc Cinema This is the first feature to screen at Carbon Arc Cinema under the auspices…Read More