With heart and bravery, and offering unique windows into typically unexplored lives, remarkable debut features ‘The Hill Where Lionesses Roar’ and ‘Quickening’ both interrogate how young women on the cusp of adulthood navigate their ever more-complicated worlds.
Tag: TIFF 2021
Camille Griffin’s Apocalyptic, Existential “Silent Night” Challenges Conventions of the Feel-Good Holiday Movie
A rare apocalyptic holiday movie, ‘Silent Night’ is a philosophical and spirited dark comedy that manages to be equal parts charming and horrifying, but without the gruesome visuals that typify the horror genre.
In Indigenous Thriller “Night Raiders,” Danis Goulet Blends History, Sci-Fi, Legend and Reality
An Indigenous sci-fi thriller, “Night Raiders” brings the painful history of Canada’s residential school system into a war-torn, eerily conceivable future. (This is one in a series of reviews from the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, during which I focused on films directed by women.)
Debut Films “Aloners” and “Violet” Immerse Us in the Lives of Women on the Brink of Change
“Aloners” is an intensely quiet, atmospheric exploration of self-imposed isolation and loneliness requiring both focus and patience from the audience. “Violet,” by contrast, is intrusively loud, allowing neither its protagonist nor its viewers a moment of peace from the insistence of its narrative interruptions.
Examined together, these films present two distinct views on modern life, professional achievement and personal struggle.
Céline Sciamma’s “Petite Maman”: A Unique Meditation on the Bond Between Mothers and Daughters
In Céline Sciamma’s newest feature, “Petite Maman,” for the first time, mother and daughter speak the same language and play the same games—perhaps discovering that they understood each other all along.
[This is one in a series of reviews from the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), during which I focused on films directed by women.]