I am back from the Toronto International Film Festival, and I’ll continue to be posting articles, reviews, links, and more in the days, weeks, and months to come. But here is a quick round-up of my published TIFF work so far:
- I reviewed Matthew Weiner’s disastrous directorial debut, “You Are Here,” for The Playlist, and gave it a D. The review drew a couple humorous comments — no, I am not part of a film critic conspiracy against the film for not being “arty” enough; folks, I enjoyed “Bad Words,” and that was about as arty as “Mallrats” — but for the most part, the reviews have been horrendous. I was thrilled to see Anne Thompson included the review in her “You Are Here” review round-up.
- I gave a slightly negative review to Götz Spielmann’s “October November,” and I admit that response had a lot to do with how blown away I was with his last film, “Revanche.” (The Playlist)
- For the world premiere of Godfrey Reggio’s “Visitors,” I wrote less of a review and more of a description of what was a pretty memorable experience. (The Playlist)
- My rave review of Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” was posted yesterday on The Film Stage, and while it might seem like hyperbole, I stand by every word. I will have lots more to say about this one.
- “Sarah Prefers to Run” (I gave it a B-) had one of the festival’s breakout performances, from actress Sophie Desmarais. [The Film Stage]
- “Wasted Youth” was screened as part of TIFF’s “City to City” programme. I gave it a B. [The Film Stage]
- Lastly, my most recent review, of Catherine Breillat’s “Abuse of Weakness,” is up now at The Playlist.
I have some more work coming, and I posted plenty on Twitter and Facebook over the course of the weekend.
Photo from “Sarah Prefers to Run” courtesy of TIFF