New York-based indie filmmaker Nathan Silver (Soft in the Head, Stinking Heaven) steps out of his comfort zone for the City of Lights in his wonderfully warped new film, Thirst Street. Initially, during the film’s pre-title preface the viewer is deftly launched into what feels like a keyed up Sirkian melodrama –– imagine, if you […]
VIFF 2017 Review
Lady Bird – VIFF 2017 Review
Delving into equal parts poignancy and playfulness with surety and poise, Greta Gerwig makes an impressive and unhesitating directorial debut with the charismatic coming-of-age comedy Lady Bird. A rare and relatable portrait of youth, and from a female perspective (Gerwig also wrote the screenplay), this is a film effected with affection, authenticity, and deliberate indulgence. […]
The Endless – VIFF 2017 Review
After firmly establishing themselves as impressive innovators in the low-budget but high-concept realm of mumblecore sci-fi/horror films with meta-movements and Lovecraftian leanings (2013’s Resolution and 2014’s Spring are must-see movies for genre junkies), the writer-director duo of Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson present their most ambitious and riskiest gambit yet with The Endless. Earnestly but […]
The Florida Project – VIFF 2017 Review
New Jersey-born filmmaker Sean Baker follows up his candy-colored transgender screwball comedy Tangerine (2015)––also his highly lauded cinematic breakthrough––with another vivid tour-de-force film, which brings with it an illustrious new joie de vivre to the essentia of youth, The Florida Project. Set in a superannuated, very tacky and pastel colored corner of Orlando interstate, which […]
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 […]