Category Archives: International

Song Without A Name review — Dark days in Peru

November 25, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Melina León | Written by León and Michael J. White | 97 min | Carbon Arc Cinema A haunting, intense drama based on actual events that took place in Peru in 1988, reported on by the journalist father of the director and co-writer, León, against the backdrop of conflict between the Peruvian government…Read More

Ammonite review — Lesbian love story worth seeing for the performances

November 16, 2020 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Frances Lee | 120 min | In Cinemas Francis Lee’s follow-up to God’s Own Country is a period drama set on a surf-swept shore featuring a romance between two women, but don’t let any surface similarity to Portrait Of A Lady On Fire lead you on. The tone here, of muted…Read More

#HIFF2020 review: Bait

November 11, 2020 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Mark Jenkin | 89 min | Halifax Independent Film Festival The 2020 Halifax Independent Film Festival runs from Thursday, November 12 to Sunday, November 15. It includes international features and local shorts screenings. They're all online and free. For screening information, go to hiff.ca. Some have called Bait experimental, and I…Read More

The True History of The Kelly Gang review — Bloody empty

November 9, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Justin Kurzel | Written by Shaun Grant, based on the book by Peter Carey | 124 min | Netflix A visceral, anger- and spite-filled Australian western that plays fast and loose with the legend of the country's famed outlaw, Ned Kelly. It's upfront with its fictionalizing right up to the picture's ironic title,…Read More

Rebecca (1940/2020) review — Traditional melodrama worth seeing in two versions

November 3, 2020 flawintheiris

Rebecca | Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Written by Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison, and Philip MacDonald, from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier | 130 min The Hitchcock original remained unseen by me until recently — all I knew was it was his first Hollywood picture, and it won Best Picture over films like…Read More

Martin Eden review — Italian melodrama mixes politics and culture to compelling ends

October 27, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Pietro Marcello | Written by Marcello and Maurizio Braucci, from the novel by Jack London | 129 min | Carbon Arc Cinema I’ve been asking myself quite a bit lately if, as movie-goers, we've all been programmed to identify, and sympathize, with the protagonist of the movie we're watching. That maybe we're not…Read More

2067 review — Time-travel yarn gets tangled up

October 1, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Seth Larney | Written by Larney and Dave Paterson | 114 min | On Demand Just this week the theoretical idea of time travel got just a little more credence, but it's always had potent allegorical power in the minds of fantasists. The era I came of age in had plenty of these…Read More

#LDF2020 Review — iHuman

September 28, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Tonje Hessen Schei | 99 min This is a very bleak look at our possible fate given the rapid development of artificial intelligence. This documentary travels the planet, speaking to scientists and researchers on a future that could be amazing — AI could solve a lot of our problems — but, according to…Read More

#FIN2020 Closing Night Gala review — Another Round (Druk)

September 25, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg | Written by Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm | 115 min After he set the world alight with The Celebration (Festen) and as a shining light of the Dogme95 movement, Danish auteur Vinterberg spent a few years in the cinematic hinterlands with films that people didn't like (It's All About Love, Dear…Read More

#FIN2020 Review — Deux (Two of Us)

September 23, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Filippo Meneghetti | Written by Meneghetti, Malysone Bovorasmy, and Florence Vignon | 99 min I'd read this described as an Amour for same-sex seniors, but that's more than painfully reductive... it's also plain wrong. Deux has something else going on. In its delicate heart it's a late-life lesbian love story, but it's paced…Read More