Category Archives: International

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: Rust & Bone, the wrap-up

September 21, 2012 flawintheiris

A week flies by when you're at the movies every night. And though there were plenty of films I would have liked to have seen, I'm very happy with what I managed to take in this year. Highlights for me included Sarah Polley's startlingly intimate Stories We Tell, Michael Haneke's Love (Amour) and Thomas Vinterberg's…Read More

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: The Hunt and the final day

September 20, 2012 flawintheiris

It's not very often I walk out of a screening room totally wrung out, where I white-knuckled right through a movie. I remember it happened during Match Point. Happened again last night at The Hunt. It's another of the collection of excellent Danish films showing at this year's AFF.Mads Mikkelsen has had a great career in…Read More

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: Love (Amour)

September 19, 2012 flawintheiris

When I read the glowing reviews for this film coming out of Cannes (where it won the big prize, the Palme D'Or), it was described as about an elderly couple dealing with dementia. I wondered if it would be like Away From Her, but that film was never referenced in comparison. Makes sense, now that…Read More

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: Love Is All You Need, Antiviral and Tuesday

September 18, 2012 flawintheiris

Love Is All You Need is exactly the kind of romantic comedy Hollywood has almost entirely forgotten how to make. It gave me a rush, for both it's delicate balance of realism and sentiment and from sheer recognition of a beloved genre that I've missed: oh, yeah, this is how it's done when it's done…Read More

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: Inch’Allah, Evelyne Brochu, et cetera

September 16, 2012 flawintheiris

The past couple of years that I've been attending the Village Sound Party, hosted by Jason MacIsaac and his colleagues, have been very good times. Their studio space and backyard crammed with film and music people, a live band or two along with flowing beverages and plates full of sushi make for a seriously convivial…Read More

The Atlantic Film Festival 2012: Holy Motors, Saturday night

September 15, 2012 flawintheiris

"Was so discombobulated after Holy Motors I couldn't continue on to Chained," tweeted one of my fellow audience members at the Oxford showing last night.I know how she felt.Holy Motors is the new film from French director Leos Carax, and its damn hard to summarize. We start with black and white vintage stock footage of…Read More

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel review

June 3, 2012 flawintheiris

Directed by John Madden Written by Ol Parker from a Deborah Moggach novel These Foolish Things With a cast like this, in this environment, it's hard to not like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I've read some reviews that criticize the picture for riding too much on the charm of that cast, with too little…Read More

Footnote review

May 20, 2012 flawintheiris

So, I was going to mention a change in my professional life, for those who are keeping track. I've left my job as an editor at The Coast, the Halifax alternative weekly newspaper. I was film editor there, a position I very much enjoyed. I've moved on to a new editorial position elsewhere, which I'm…Read More

The Raven, Detention and Sleeping Beauty reviews

April 27, 2012 flawintheiris

Hello, dear reader. I've been a bit absent from the blog this past fortnight due to personal and professional changes, which I will explain soon. This said, I have still found time to see some movies and review them for The Coast. Please click here for my review of the John Cusack gothic thriller The…Read More

A Cult of One: Impromptu

March 21, 2012 flawintheiris

Welcome to a new occasional feature on Flaw In The Iris. A Cult of One is where I write about unheralded films, generally unloved and unpopular. They're misunderstood and deserve a larger fanbase... besides just me. Impromptu (1991) | Directed by James Lapine | Written by Sarah Kernochan | 91 min I stumbled across Impromptu…Read More