Category Archives: International

#TIFF2020 Reviews — Concrete Cowboy, The Disciple, Inconvenient Indian

September 15, 2020 flawintheiris

Concrete Cowboy | Directed by Ricky Staub | Written by Staub and Dan Walser, based on the book by Greg Neri | 111 min Knowing this film is based on a Young Adult novel explains a lot about a narrative that seems a lot less complex than it promises to be early on. Fourteen-year-old Cole (Caleb McLaughlin,…Read More

The Truth review — Charming French dramedy from renowned filmmaker

July 9, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda | Written by Hirokazu Koreeda and Ken Liu | 106 min | On Demand A frequently amusing, frequently melancholy family drama with a few undeniable meta overlaps to real life that help keep things interesting from the director of Shoplifters, a film I was in the minority for not loving. Catherine Deneuve…Read More

Carlos (2010) review — Terrorist epic exerts a grip

July 7, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Olivier Assayas | Written by Assayas, Dan Franck, and Daniel Leconte | 165 min | Amazon Prime Available on Prime in a two-hour-45 minute version, I understand the original TV mini-series it’s based on is five-and-a-half-hours long, so what we're getting is an edited version of a longer narrative. Despite that, the film…Read More

Wasp Network review — Spy thriller absent sting

July 6, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Olivier Assayas | Written by Assayas and Fernando Morais, based on Morais' book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War | 127 min | Netflix A historical thriller — and yes, the 1990s is history now — based on a true story of Cuban pilots, defectors to the United States, who joined anti-Castro…Read More

Exit Plan review — Suicide tourism gets deadly

June 21, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Jonas Alexander Arnby | Written by Rasmus Birch | 89 min | On Demand This chilly, discomfiting Danish drama/thriller goes out of its way to render its narrative opaque and confusing. It's got a verging-on-science-fiction premise and some anachronistic politics, but might still be worth your time if you're a Nikolaj Coster-Waldau completist…Read More

Made In Bangladesh review — Union drama’s tale needs telling

June 12, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Rubaiyat Hossain | Written by Hossain and Philippe Barrière | 95 min | Carbon Arc Cinema until June 18 We open on a sweatshop in Dhaka, a roomful of women working with sewing machines, making those inexpensive garments most of us wear without thinking much about where they're made. A fire alarm sounds,…Read More

2040 review — “An exercise in fact-based dreaming”

June 7, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Damon Gameau | 91 min | On Demand Decentralized power grids with independent solar-source energy. Self driving electric cars. Diverse, multi-species grazing crops. Marine permaculture. Educating girls. These are some of the ideas Australian filmmaker Damon Gameau learns about as he looks for solutions — that already exist — to rescue the world…Read More

Dreamland (2019) review — More like drearyland

May 29, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Bruce McDonald | Written by Tony Burgess and Patrick Whistler | 92 min | On Demand This movie brings a luxurious score and engrossing sound design, it's gorgeously shot in a medieval European town, and stars Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins, Juliette Lewis *and* includes vampires? There's nothing here that doesn't sound like fun…Read More

The Painter and The Thief review — Documentary explores unlikely connections

May 24, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Benjamin Ree | 102 min | On Demand and Prime Video A hypnotic film, one where the making-of, behind-the-scenes extras might be as fascinating as the documentary. Barbora Kysilkova is the Czech-born painter, now living with a Norwegian fellow in Oslo. Two of her photo-realistic works are lifted from an exhibition, and when…Read More

The Trip To Greece review — Another welcome jaunt with old frenemies

May 23, 2020 flawintheiris

Directed by Michael Winterbottom | 103 min | Crave "You were unpalatable as a young man," says Rob, after Steve claims he's getting better looking as he gets older. And it doesn't take more than a minute or two for these two improv-honed performers to get to the core of their connection: teasing each other…Read More