German-American actress Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds) gives a bold, bravura performance in writer-director Fatih Akins’ occasionally conventional but always compelling revenge-rattled new film, In the Fade. Broken down into three chapters (titled; Family, Justice, and the Sea), Akin’s film moves with ferocity from a heart-crushing tragedy to a gaunt, sweeping, teeth-bared revenge thriller with only […]
Reviews
Happy End – VIFF 2017 Review
Austrian writer-director Michael Haneke (Funny Games, Amour) revisits familiar intellective terrain in his most recent rigidly composed treatise on haute-bourgeois prerogative, Happy End. In fact, so recognizable are Haneke’s pet themes of old-line disaffection amidst the intersection separating media estrangement and bubbling-just-below-the-surface violence, that the sadistic streaks and elegant arcs are all too easy to […]
The Divine Order – VIFF 2017 Review
“There is a tiger between my legs, Hans, and I’ve never had an orgasm!” says an empowered Nora (Marie Leuenberger) to her thunderstruck husband (Max Simonischek), in Swiss director Petra Volpe’s wonderful new film about the women’s suffrage movement and struggle for voting rights in 1970s Switzerland, The Divine Order. Punctuated by comedic flourishes and […]
The Killing of a Sacred Deer – VIFF 2017 Review
As unforgettable as it is unshakable, the fifth film from Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, The Lobster), The Killing of a Sacred Deer, is an unsettling and transgressive domestic odyssey that astounds with its unrelenting menace and imaginative fluency. Equal parts garish and gorgeous, this incendiary psychodrama tells the undone tale of renowned cardiovascular surgeon […]
Tragedy Girls – VIFF 2017 Review
The new film from director Tyler MacIntyre (Patchwork), Tragedy Girls, is a savage and cynical satire full of colorful off-color status quo commentary doubling as a paeon to slasher films and teen exploitation fare, particularly Michael Lehmann’s 1988 cult classic, Heathers. And while it’s beyond doubt that every review of this film must mention Heathers […]
Meditation Park – VIFF 2017 Review
Bookended by a pair of pining yet positive 1960s-era pop songs from Chinese diva Chang Loo, Mina Shum’s latest film, Meditation Park, bristles with passion and perseverance in a contemporary-set story of devotion, deliverance, and revision amongst an aging married couple at a crossroads. Meditation Park is sensational in its subtlety and simplicity as Shum, […]