TIFF23 Dispatch - Part 1 September 17, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen All of the films were screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Click here for additional full reviews and dispatches. Select films below will receive separate full-length reviews at a later date, most likely in connection to their public releases. Dream Scenario Nicolas Cage has never been funnier (at least in an unironic way) than he is in Kristoffer Borgli’s English-language debut. The famed madman actor plays a dorky professor who inexplicably appears in everyone’s dreams, making him the most famous person on the planet. The fame quickly gets to his head, but it also brings unintended consequences once the dreams start taking darker turns. Borgli's examination of cancel culture isn’t all that skillful, with most of the insights being surface-level. Cage is what sells this whole premise and covers any of the minor problems. While he’s still appearing in VOD garage more often than he should, there have been just enough auteur-driven projects to keep him an icon to the Letterboxd generation. Being that this specific film is an A24 production, be prepared for the ensuing meme frenzy come November. (3.5/5) The Critic While writer Patrick Marber and star Ian McKellen are having a delightfully catty time with The Critic , director Anand Tucker takes the material too seriously, making it uneven, yet still enjoyable. McKellen plays the internet's stereotypical version of a critic: mean, smearing, and always out to make himself the star of the show. Times are changing in London as the newspapers are merging, threatening McKellen’s job, and the fascists are becoming more radicalized. Marber’s script is a little too scattershot, never developing its numerous plotlines and characters outside of the central McKellen story. The glossy production values make this a decent package as a whole. A perfect piece of entertainment to get a spring theatrical release as counterprogramming to a superhero blockbuster. (3/5) Memory Two people with memory issues come together in writer/director Michel Franco’s newest film, which doesn’t wallow in mystery as his past filmography would suggest. Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a mother who can’t seem to forget her past drug and alcohol struggles, while Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) has dementia and can’t seem to remember much of his past life. These two troubled souls are attracted to each other, even if the forces of the world, notably their families, would like them to stay apart. The script places all its priorities on these two performances, both of which reach near perfection. There’s sadness and pain in their stories, but they unlock small linings of hope when they appear in each other’s lives. Franco doesn’t offer much in terms of answers, not that anyone should expect struggles of this magnitude to be so easily solved. (3.5/5) One Life No modern movie has had a more significant fourth-quarter comeback than One Life . The first 90 minutes of James Hawes’ feature directorial debut has the same dry cracker texture as many other British WWII period pieces you’ve seen over the years. An immediate 180° is made in the climactic scene (you'll know it when you see it), leaving me and the rest of the audience in tears. Anthony Hopkins stars as the older Nicholas Winton, with Johnny Flynn playing the younger version that made it his mission to rescue children out of the Holocaust ghettos of Eastern Europe. It’s Hopkins’ segments in the 1980s that give the film the spurts of life it needs. Recently minted Oscar-winner Volker Bertelmann provides a sweeping score, accenting the epic work done by this humble humanitarian. (3.5/5) Quiz Lady By far the broadest film TIFF programmed this year, Quiz Lady is your typical streamer comedy. The generic story follows Anne (Awkwafina) and her rowdy older sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) as they go on Anne’s favorite game show to win the $80,000 needed to pay off their mom’s gambling debts. Will Ferrell, Tony Hale, and Jason Schwartzman fill out the supporting cast. Director Jessica Yu has helmed episodes of prestige television as well as both feature and short documentaries (winning an Oscar for Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien ), yet you’d never be able to tell based on what she delivers here. Everything is filmed with basic competence, with the actors filling much of the empty space with hit-or-miss jokes. It’s fun to see Oh cut loose, and Ferrell’s wholesome game show host turns out to be his best role in years. You can have some decent fun with this on a Friday night, forgetting all about it when you wake up the next morning. (3/5) More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Emilia Pérez June 6, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen A prison drama centering on a Muslim convict; a romance between a single father and a killer whale trainer deepens after tragedy; a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior flees to France to seek a better life; two brothers chase after a gold prospector in 1850s Oregon; and a sexually-charged romantic comedy about millennial Parisians. These are the basic descriptions of the last five films directed by Paris’ own Jacques Audiard, none of which seem to share an obvious thematic link or calling card. In fact, the only thing that keeps them connected is their fate after they premiere, with all of them collecting a bevy of festival and César nominations/awards. That streak of genre maneuverability continues with Audiard’s latest work, Emilia Perez , a musical crime comedy set in modern Mexico. Based on the results, I’m sure more awards are not far behind to go along with the Best Actress and Jury Prize haul at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Those Cannes audiences may have already had their fill of pure bewilderment in the form of Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestating Megalopolis , but Emilia Perez is one of the pair to actually do it right. It’s a film whose on-paper plot raises several eyebrows, only to be met with more craziness as it all explodes on the screen. It doesn’t always work, but it bats a pretty high average, and almost all of the strikes are just as satisfying to watch as the hits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h7j_EcZ5fU Let’s start back up at the top and get ourselves reoriented. Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldaña) is an overworked and underpaid lawyer in Mexico City. Her victories in the courtroom are often defeats in her personal life, as no amount of work she does seems to make a difference. Her strong resume gets her noticed by the ruthless cartel leader Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón donning incredibly convincing makeup), who, in exchange for $2 million, hires Rita to help him go through the gender reassignment surgery that he’s always dreamed of having. Years go by as Manitas becomes Emilia Perez, with Rita taking up the position of the professional guardian for Emilia’s wife (Selena Gomez) and kids, who have been in the dark about the whole operation. The degree to which the musical aspects would play into the narrative may have been shrouded in mystery during the announcement and production phases, but all those uncertainties are squashed within the first minute of the finished product. Saldaña is our guide through this story, with her seldom-seen musical chops being unleashed in an opening number featuring a large chorus and flashy camerawork. It’s this sequence that illustrates much of what’s to come, both from the story and performers: an extraordinary amount of dedication and sincerity to even the most outlandish of concepts. Audiard gives maximum effort to each of the genres he’s melding together. Each of the musical sequences is bursting with a bombastic spirit, the lighting and camerawork being as expressive as the actors. Then there’s also real danger with the crime elements, which attempt to grab hold of Mexico’s problem of missing persons and cartel-related violence. It can all feel a little silly due to the operatic fever dream of the production, but its heart is always in the right place. Carrying that heart is Spanish trans-actress Karla Sofía Gascón. While Rita is the one finding herself falling deeper down the rabbit hole, Manitas/Emilia is the one trying to dig their way out. Gascón finds that nugget of remorse that’s needed for us to sympathize with her. She also brings the house down with some of her solo numbers. Gomez is a bit shortchanged by the structure of the story, only showing up in bits and pieces. Her pop-star presence gives her scenes a certain amount of flair that distances them from any of her previous roles. Musicals will be all the rage later in the year with Joker: Folie à Deux , Moana 2 , Wicked , and Mufasa: The Lion King filling up the multiplexes. Save for maybe Todd Phillips and the chaotic duo of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, Audiard and his cast could easily lay claim to the most audacious musical of the year. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Netflix will release Emilia Pérez in select theaters on November 01st, followed by its streaming premiere on November 13th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

H Is for Hawk January 20, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen H is for Hawk. G is for grief. M is for melancholy. S is for sadness. W is for woe. D is for dejection. And, of course, C is for cookie. Based on Helen Macdonald’s best-selling memoir of the same name, H Is for Hawk runs down the alphabet of emotional turmoil, spelling out each word in capital letters. It’s one of those books whose specificity can be richly extrapolated into universality, the language of the page finding the words that we’ve all come to experience through loss. But as a film, specifically this one directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, everything seems to have been funnelled into mining the same emotional beats that we’ve come to expect. When we first meet Helen (Claire Foy), she’s enraptured by the majesty of two hawks gliding through the air. Their perfectly outstretched wings make them rise and fall against the pale blue sky, the flapping of wings being the only sound within the tranquil field. Following in her dad’s (Brendan Gleeson) footsteps, Helen's younger years saw her become a proficient falconer. A move to London for a professorship shut down that passion for a while. The urban jungle still treats her well, taking her class to the pub instead of the stodgy Cambridge lecture halls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73V6kQfGyt0 Helen rang her father when she saw those hawks, a quick opportunity to reminisce about how they used to travel the countryside, appreciating its natural beauty. That would be the final words she would share with him, as the next phone call she receives is from her mother telling her that her father suffered a fatal heart attack. Hawthorpe renders this reveal through intense claustrophobia, pushing the camera onto Helen’s face as she slowly hangs up the phone and falls into her own arms. She goes to dinner with her best friend, Christina (Denise Gough, a consistently pleasant presence throughout this gloomy film), the air thick with silence. The dead seem to come alive more often once they’re underground. That phone call is the only time we see Gleeson’s character alive; the rest of his scenes come from a rush of flashbacks that Helen can’t shake. He’s buoyant, refusing to retire. There’s passion in his refusal to quit, but also a sense of fear in that he doesn’t know what will happen once he stops moving. Helen ceases altogether under the grief, eventually adopting a goshawk, the most aggressive species of hawk, as a distraction. Hawks can’t perceive what they don’t see, which is how Helen deals with her emotions. Burying them deep down, she becomes a sort of wild animal to her friends and family. Foy brings determination to her role, a blank stare becoming her perpetual costume. She has an attention-grabbing presence, which becomes the film’s main asset as it can barely string together the scraps of its story. Timelines become fragmented, clichés become repetitive, and everything is drawn way past its full potential. We’ve come to diagnose Helen’s depression ninety minutes before she does, making this whole thing feel like a spinning wheel in a rut. Along with Tuesday and The Thing with Feathers , H Is for Hawk joins a recent trend of people using birds to aid them in their journey of accepting death. Unlike those initial two films, the bird featured in this one does not talk, only squaking every once in a while as it gets fed pieces of raw meat. That realism gives Foy the entire spotlight, but it also leaves her alone to carry such a blank film. Roadside Attractions will release H Is for Hawk in theaters nationwide on January 23rd. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Wonder November 4, 2022 By: Button Hunter Friesen One could be forgiven for believing that they are watching the wrong film based on the first image within Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder . “We are nothing without stories, so we invite you to believe in this one,” narrates a mysterious whispery voice as we open with a shot of a modern soundstage, a far cry from the mid-19th century Irish countryside where the film takes place. But just as you're about to reach for your remote and back out to the main menu of Netflix, the camera pans to the right, revealing Florence Pugh’s character of widowed English nurse Elizabeth Wright as she’s making her voyage on a boat. And with that simple trick, Lelio has placed us within the shoes (or more accurately, muddy boots) of his main character, as we are reminded that movies, while made through proven science and craftsmanship, are most alluring when they make us suspend our disbelief. Wright’s journey takes her to a small village in Ireland, a place where religion and science often occupy the same spaces. She’s been summoned by a committee of the town’s highest-ranking elders, including a priest and a doctor (Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones, respectively), to investigate an unexplainable phenomenon. 11-year-old Anna O’Donnell has gone without food for the past four months, surviving purely on “manna from heaven.” The child has been labeled a miracle by the townsfolk and receives visitors and press coverage from all over the land. Of course, this prolonged fast defies the laws of human anatomy, which is why the committee has summoned Wright and a nun, so that they may watch her all day and night and determine if the child truly is a blessing from above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htybz7XscIY Wright fills the role of the skeptic, never once believing (there’s that word again) that Anna and her family are telling the truth. She’s experienced enough despair in her life - including losing her child and husband, and serving during the bloodiest parts of the Crimean War - to doubt the existence, let alone the goodwill, of God. She observes Anna as she goes through her daily routine, one of constant prayer and giving and receiving love within her family, waiting for someone to crack under the pressure and reveal the whole thing as a sham. But Elizabeth’s beliefs begin to waver as the days drudge on and Anna continues to thrive without food, creating a constant battle between the known and the unknown. Centering his filmography around the themes of personal identity ( Disobedience, Oscar-winning A Fantastic Woman) , Lelio has often found silence to be the best judge of character. Adapting the novel by Emma Donoghue ( Room ), many of the pivotal scenes are pushed further based on observational glances. Pugh returns (not that she was gone that long) from her movie star escapades in Black Widow and Don’t Worry Darling to deliver a shimmeringly haunting performance. She may look and dress the part of Amy March in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women , but her demeanor couldn't be any more different as she brings a steely no-nonsense energy. Matthew Herbert’s off-kilter score, with its liberal use of percussion and non-period instruments, keeps you entranced toward the mystery, even if the material itself may not always be that consistently interesting. Things pick up steam near the end when the building blocks begin to tumble, and desperate choices are made. The means to get there may not have been the most well-executed, but the outcome does provide a nice return on the initial investment. Through fine work from every facet of its production, The Wonder accomplishes what it sets out to do, telling a story I wholeheartedly believed. Much of what you take away from the film will be under the surface, possibly testing your ideals about the unexplainable within your own life. Netflix will release The Wonder in select theaters on November 02nd, followed by its streaming premiere on November 16th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

We Are All Strangers September 15, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen For as much as writer/director Anthony Chen tries to instill a sense of epicness - a large city setting, several interconnected stories, and a years-long timeline - throughout his newest feature, We Are All Strangers , what’s most pertinent about it is how painfully familiar it all feels. This is the third and final chapter in the Singaporean filmmaker’s Growing Up trilogy after 2013’s Ilo Ilo and 2019’s Wet Season . Despite bringing back Yann Yann Yeo and Jia Ler Koh, the stars of those previous features, the nuance has been lost in the shuffle, replaced with a tone and story beats more in line with a prestige soap opera. Things do begin serenely well as we watch Boon Kiat (Andi Lim) prepare fried noodles in his street-level shop within the hustle and bustle of the city. The immense sense of hunger I got from those images was not nourished by the food for the soul that Chen hoped to serve over the next 150 minutes. Boon’s young son Junyang (Jia Ler Koh) is aimless, desiring to carve out an existence more than the meager one his father has. Yet, for all his whining, he is without an ounce of his father’s dedication, relying on his mandatory military service to prop himself up for success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDvkt9C62pM That mix of entitlement and laziness is why he’s looked down upon by the mother of his straight-A student girlfriend, Lydia (Regene Lim). The pair are secretly in love, yet are clearly on different paths of success in life. They quickly meet in the middle after an unexpected pregnancy, which prompts a hasty marriage and moving in together. At the same time, the widowed Boon is courting Bee Hwa, a hostess at his shop. Mismatched as their personalities might be, there’s a mutual understanding of where each of them is at this point in their lives. All of this unfolds exactly as expected, each new development completely predictable at least twenty minutes before it rears its head around the corner. And with those 150 total minutes, that’s a lot of time dedicated to a story that either needs to be turned into a miniseries or severely cut down. In this awkward middle-child form, the youthful energy of the new parents clashes with the laid-back romance of the older ones. Pick just one of these storylines (my vote is strongly for the latter), and there’s potential for a much more insightful film. Chen is obviously still a gifted filmmaker, never making this a total bore or eyesore. The neon lights of the city illuminate each night, and the pair of Kin Leonn and Thomas Foguenne provide a gentle score. Still, I felt like a stranger to all these characters at the end of their journeys. That might be a cheeky way to tie back to the title, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what Chen had in mind. We Are All Strangers had its North American premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. Film Movement will release the film at a later date. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Song Sung Blue December 14, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen As a born and raised fan of the Iowa State Cyclones, I have a special connection to “Sweet Caroline.” Dating back to the mid-2000s, the classic Neil Diamond song has been used as a victory chant for all home athletic games. It’s catchy, with a nice pace and easy-to-learn lyrics, capping off a win with a celebratory walkout song. It even plays before the official school anthem, further proving its ranking amongst fans. Granted, the Cyclones don’t have a monopoly on the song, as it originated from the Boston Red Sox and is also regularly played during games hosted by other colleges such as Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Boston College. Despite hailing from the Badger State, Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) has a complicated relationship with that song. He worships at the altar of Neil Diamond, proclaiming him to be one of the greatest singer-songwriters that America has ever had. He despises the fact that a poppy chart topper like “Sweet Caroline” has become the only thing Diamond is known for, all while he’s produced hundreds of other acclaimed songs, including the one this film gets its title from. It’s why he doesn’t ever include Neil in his tribute acts, as he knows people won’t appreciate the artistry of the catalogue and just clamour for him to play the one song everybody knows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqU7iiHFCzw When we first meet Mike, he’s singing the titular song at his local AA meeting, celebrating his twentieth “sober birthday.” He gives the group a whole presentation, aiming for their hearts and souls, all while offering some humor and good old-fashioned showmanship. It’s what he hopes to bring to the bars and casinos around Milwaukee, although none of the other tribute artists want him to branch away from what sells. A middle-aged Michael Imperioli plays a Buddy Holly impersonator, which is quite the joke considering that Holly died at twenty-two. Claire (Kate Hudson) is the only one who sees the true passion that Mike is bringing to the shows. Like him, she’s another working-class person who just wants to sing their troubles away. That passion, along with the fact that they’re the only two people who look like movie stars in this frozen tundra, is what ignites their romance. They decide to partner up to put on a Neil Diamond experience, with him taking on the moniker of “Lightning,” and she as “Thunder.” The story of a real-life underdog defying obstacles to express their artistic passion is not new territory for writer/director Craig Brewer. Terrence Howard received an Oscar nomination for playing a pimp turned rapper in 2005’s Hustle & Flow , and Eddie Murphy got his comeback role as blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name . These films, along with Song Sung Blue , carry a big heart, rallying the crowd to its feet with down-to-earth stories of perseverance. Channeling those themes through the music of Neil Diamond is what makes this film quite entertaining throughout the first hour, with the central duo being bigger than life. For both Mike and Claire, and the film itself, it all falls apart once the darkness starts to block out the light. This is based on a “true love story” and has already been covered by a documentary of the same name, so I don’t feel too bad about revealing that a freak car accident leaves Claire unable to perform. But that’s only the first of a series of tragedies that befall the Sardinas, making them join the Von Erichs as one of the most cursed families in America. Unlike Sean Durkin, who was able to make the unbelievable feel so real in The Iron Claw , Brewer keeps everything so heightened that it unintentionally circles back from high drama to parody. Pills are popped, speeches are made, and things happen at the exact right or wrong moment. There’s a subplot about Claire’s teenage daughter having an unwanted pregnancy, with the resolution being an adoption that is shot and acted with the same energy as someone finally selling a piece of furniture on Facebook Marketplace. The performances are fine and charming, although they also get too big for their own good. Jackman seems to be thinking he’s playing for the back row of a Broadway audience in the film’s later stretches. Mike may not have wanted to become a Neil Diamond cliché, but that’s exactly the kind of movie he’s appearing in. I’ll still be singing “Sweet Caroline” after every Cyclone victory. Focus Features will release Song Sung Blue in theaters nationwide on December 25th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice September 4, 2024 By: Button Hunter Friesen If you listen carefully, you can hear the collective sigh of relief of millions of Tim Burton and Beetlejuice fans from around the world the moment the opening credits of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice joyously commenced. Danny Elfman delivers a signature score as the camera weaves through the signature diorama of Winter River. This introduction is a microcosm of the subsequent one-hundred minutes: an unashamed retreading of everything that worked over thirty-five years ago and has become a part of popular culture lexicon ever since, done with enough respect and creative flair to be some of the most fun of the year. Ghostbusters II serves as the template for the opening sections, with a “where are they now” carousel setting the stage for how the famed characters have fared in the decades since. The once supernatural ally Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) now peddles the same ghostly schlock that Zach Baggins has cornered on cable television. How and why she got to this place is a mystery, as well as what her goal is to host a show that delegitimizes the supernatural. She’s got a buffoonish simp in her producer, Rory (Justin Theroux), which is about the only somewhat good thing she has going for her. Her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), doesn’t want anything to do with her, another instance in a long line of reminders that your childhood heroes turn out to be terrible parents. On top of that, her father was just killed in a freak shark attack, forcing the entire group, Delia included, to venture back to the signature haunted house on the top of the hill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoZqL9N6Rx4 Of course, all of this plot in the human world is just there to serve what’s going on in the underworld. The titular Mr. Juice is still heartbroken over Lydia, and now must hide from his vengeful ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci). The complicated and ever-shifting rules and circumstances of the afterlife bring these two stories together, with Lydia and Beetlejuice needing to rescue Astrid from being sent to the Great Beyond. Plot is not what you came to this movie for, and neither is it an important aspect in writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s game plan, which contains quite the animosity towards anything to do with PC culture. Burton also has a ball with pushing your preconceptions of what can be included in a PG-13 movie, with this one featuring an assortment of gore, cursing, and overall grossness. The effects are mostly practical, a challenge that Burton and his production team welcomed with open arms and flourished with. An animated sequence similar to The Corpse Bride and a silent horror recreation of the romantic origins between Beetlejuice and Delores are some of the standout moments that hit the nostalgia buttons so perfectly The cast is all having so much fun as well. Theroux and Willem Dafoe, as a dead Tom Cruise-esque actor turned underworld cop who takes his job a little too seriously, are the two standouts among the new additions. Their foolishness is matched only by their zeal for the zaniness surrounding them. Ryder and Keaton haven’t missed a beat in the time since, with the latter yet again being the outright champion despite having less screen time than you’d think. Bellucci is… there. She’s a symptom of the film’s disregard for plot and stakes, appearing out of nowhere and leaving without much of an afterthought. We can’t get everything we want, so it’s best to forgive those glaring gaps in depth since it created an opportunity for one of our most creative filmmakers to make something for himself and the people he cares about instead of just another executive who just wants to harness his aesthetic. We, as the audience, can only be as passionate about a film as the creatives behind it, with this one being so easy to love and laugh along with. Warner Bros. Pictures will release Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in theaters nationwide on September 06th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Love That Remains February 20, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen In the lovely trailer for The Love That Remains , the narrator (bring that back!) explains that there are no “far-right extremists or murderers in this film. Only normal people with normal feelings and normal problems.” It’s a pleasant spin on the notion that, although the island of Iceland isn’t as far away from either the continent of North America or Europe as one would think, that distance makes it seem like it might as well be located on another planet. Right now, that seclusion seems like it would be a great benefit, as the interconnectedness of modern life seems to only mean that we all fall together. One of modern life’s most normal problems is divorce, which is at the center of this film. Except, this isn’t a divorce of anger or resentment, just a falling out of love. It’s as if the pendulum had swung away from the feelings that originated this relationship, with just enough momentum to make us feel like it could swing back that way again. As the title alludes, there is still love between Anna (Saga Garðarsdóttir) and Magnús (Sverrir Gudnason), just not enough for them to live together with their three children: Ída, Ágúst, and Grímur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ0fdmesr-w For any unsuspecting viewer, it might take a few reels to fully grasp the family's strained situation. There’s a sense of lightness as they sit down for meals and then go outside to play with their sheepdog, Panda. But then the mother will tell the kids it’s time for bed, which also means it’s time for father to return to his bed aboard the floor of the 15,000-ton fishing boat he works on. Fisheries remain one of the most vital parts of the Icelandic economy, with thousands of men becoming part-time family members as they must work on the boat for days/weeks at a time. Most of the men seem to be in Magnús’s situation: get married young and have their relationships tested by the weight of time, distance, and children. Overtaking fishing as the country’s largest export is tourism, something that writer/director Hlynur Pálmason captures with his self-managed 35mm camera. The frigid tones of the frames in his previous feature, the 19th-century set Godland , have been replaced with a warmer color palette that highlights the fields, coasts, and distant glaciers. Out in the farmlands, Anna works on her art, and the kids pass the summertime by playing games, experiencing more freedom as the parents aren’t able to keep as close an eye on them. It’s a peaceful existence, one that’s also tinged with melancholy. The children are all played by Pálmason’s own, hinting at a certain amount of reflection in this story. There’s a difference here from something like Marriage Story , mostly in its refusal to address the legal dissolution of a relationship. The harsh realities do bubble up to the surface every once in a while, with abstract sequences and images holding up the foggy mirror. The boys create a makeshift scarecrow that they can shoot arrows into. Later in the film, the scarecrow comes to life for a scene, reacting to all the arrows that have plunged into its burlap body. No one sees it, and it’s back to being lifeless the next time it appears. For many families, this is the way things are. Things go up and down, with unexplainable moments that stick out from the overall tapestry. Pálmason gently captures that rollercoaster, with Harry Hunt’s melodic piano easing us along. There’s laughter, sadness, and a lovingly playful dog. What more could you need in life? Janus Films will release The Love That Remains in select theaters on January 30th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Train Dreams November 21, 2025 By: Button Hunter Friesen It took almost two million years for humans to make the journey from the discovery of fire to the invention of the light bulb. From there, it only took a few decades for superconductors. The Wright brothers flew the world’s first airplane in 1903. By 1969, Neil Armstrong was walking on the moon. Even today, at this very moment, AI-generated videos are becoming more and more lifelike, with only a few more years until they’re fully able to pass the eye test. All of these exponential growths in technology are enough to make a person feel small, a drop in an ocean that is progressively washing away. Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) is one of those small people, a lumberjack who lived and died in the Pacific Northwest throughout the early to mid-20th century. He doesn’t pay much attention to that fact, humbly accepting the notion that the world is passing him by year after year. He goes out into the forest for a few months at a time, cutting down trees to be used for railroad timber. He’ll then come back to his wife, Gladys (Felicity Jones), and daughter at their modest, isolated house. The cycle repeats over the years, a tranquil existence that goes by in the blink of an eye. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nk8TrBHOrA Director Clint Bentley, co-adapting the 2011 Denis Johnson novella of the same name with his usual writing partner Greg Kwedar, doesn’t see Robert as just a small man. He’s a symbol of the millions in America, and billions worldwide, who lived full lives that weren’t fully defined by the increased monetization of the modern world. They had nothing of worth to their names, leaving little materialistic signifiers of their existence. But they shared memories with loved ones, some smiles and sorrows with fellow travelers, and made an impact in ways that aren’t easily identified. Impressionistically swaying between the past, present, and future, Bentley captures the span of Robert’s life with breathtaking beauty. Robert is often framed small and at the forefront of the frame, the American landscape enveloping him from corner to corner. Cinematographer Adolpho Veloso imbues each image with a rich texture, lulling us into the melodic rhythms of life with its sights and sounds. Will Patton narrates passages from the novella, and Bryce Dessner’s score lushly moves things along. Based on the projects that he’s written, directed, or starred in, Edgerton has always been an artist interested in the small-scale, rather than the blockbuster. Similar to how Terrence Malick was able to use A-listers to build characters who were both of this earth and larger-than-life, so does Bentley with Edgerton, trusting him to carry the entire emotional scope of the film through somber gestures and weighty presence. Words aren’t necessary when the feelings have already been communicated so effectively through sight. William H. Macy uses words to his advantage, passing on some old-timer wisdom through some wonderful speeches about the interconnectedness of nature and the human soul. Like life itself, Train Dreams is a film that often sneaks up on you in its profundity. It may take days or weeks for you to realize just how much one image or piece of sound has stuck with you, offering a new outlook on the existence we carve out for ourselves. Netflix will release Train Dreams in select theaters on November 07th, followed by its streaming premiere on November 21st. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

Get Out September 21, 2017 By: Button Hunter Friesen By creating Get Out , director Jordan Peele has created the perfect recipe for a great sleeper hit for moviegoers tired of the usual January to February duds. Start with a great psychological horror thriller, add a little bit of comedy, a dash of social commentary, and top it off with a healthy amount of gore. Then combine this perfect recipe with a breakout lead performance from Daniel Kaluuya as Chris and a hilarious supporting performance by Lil Rel Howery as Chris’s best friend. Peele gives the world its first glimpse of his immense skill as a director. He guides the audience through a film that keeps you guessing after every twist and turn. The story of Get Out starts familiar enough for everybody who has been in a serious relationship. Chris and Rose (Allison Williams) have been together for six months and are going away for the weekend to meet Rose’s parents. Chris is cautious about the idea of going since he is black and Rose is white, but she doesn’t see it as a big deal. Eventually, Chris gets the idea that something about the family and house is not right. From here, the story starts to speed up, taking twists and turns to keep the audience guessing as to what is really going on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRfnevzM9kQ This is the part that Peele, also the writer, handles the best. He makes a new psychological horror film where you don’t know how it will end until it does. There is also the bonus of raunchy comedy mixed throughout, most of which comes from Howery’s character, who is almost too proud of his job as a TSA agent. Peele’s experience as a comedy writer/actor on his hit partner sketch show Key and Peele allows him to handle the horror comedy element with ease. Every scare is effective, and every humorous moment is truly funny, and both make the film even more enjoyable Peele describes this movie as a “social horror,” and you can tell why he describes it that way. The whole way through the film, every confrontational or shocking moment is connected to racial differences between Chris and his hosts. When I heard this, I was skeptical of how that element would fit in with horror and comedy. Luckily for me and the audience, the moments that send a message are like small jabs to make you think and aren’t ham-fisted at you the entire time. And what is a horror movie without some gore to make the squeamish look away for a couple of seconds? The film holds back with extreme violence until the end and then lets it all loose with a fifteen-minute sequence that delivers on everything and more that the audience was expecting throughout the beginning and middle build-up phases. Driving this movie along just as well as the writing and directing is the terrific lead performance of Kaluuya as Chris. We’ve seen a small dose of his talent in a supporting role in the critically acclaimed 2015 film Sicario . In his first leading role, he is required to play all types of emotions and tackles each one with the skill of a veteran actor who has been working for decades. The camera is pressed up right next to him several times throughout the film, allowing the audience to see every detail and emotion. By doing this flawlessly, we are immediately connected to Chris as a character because we are going through this experience just as blind as he is. We are just as confused and uneasy about the situation, and hope he gets out of this safely. For every horror protagonist in need of help, there is a best friend on the outside who will stop at nothing to see them safe again. Lil Rel Howery as Chris’s best friend Rod will definitely go down as one of the best supporting performances of the year. He is the only character carrying the comedy element of the film, but he doesn’t need any help since he steals practically every scene. At the end of it all, Jordan Peele, as the director of his own brainchild, is the primary reason this movie works so well. He puts a lot of confidence in his cast, positioning the camera for multiple close-ups during the most important scenes, the biggest example would be the poster shot of Chris with tears down his face. Peele also infuses symbolism into multiple shots through the movement of the camera and the colors being presented, giving slight hints to the audience. Finally, he allows the film to flow together well and not feel disjointed between the multiple boxes this movie tries to check. The comedy and horror remain interluded the entire time, which raises the quality of each by playing off the other. Get Out is one of the best and most important films of the year, which can both entertain and teach us about present-day issues. It should be on everyone’s radar. By the end of the year, I expect to see it on many critics' and fans' lists as the most entertaining and liked film of 2017. Universal Pictures will release Get Out in theaters nationwide on February 24th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Starling Girl February 6, 2023 By: Button Hunter Friesen The narrative beats within writer/director Laurel Parmet’s The Starling Girl may not be the most original, but that doesn’t lessen their impact. Elevated by an excellent leading turn by Eliza Scanlen, who continues her upward trajectory after successful supporting roles in hit films and television shows such as 2019’s Little Women and HBO’s Sharp Objects , Parmet’s feature debut offers a youthful examination of the struggle between personal ambitions and the confines of religious tolerance. Scanlen is the titular Starling girl (Jem Starling to be exact), playing younger than herself through wardrobe decisions and physical performance. The Starling family is among many within a Christian fundamentalist community nestled in the Kentucky plains. Jem's actions are in the service of what God and her community would want, such as leading a group prayer dance for her youth group. But just like every teenager, Jem starts to become drawn to the other sex, particularly her handsome youth pastor Owen (Lewis Pullman, last seen as the shy Lt. Robert “Bob” Floyd in Top Gun: Maverick ), who happens to be ten years older than her and married. The attraction slowly becomes mutual, with the flirtation of danger being a catalyst for their desire for each other. Parmet’s script focuses both on the personal aspects of this complicated relationship and the societal judgment of it. As part of being a member of her community, Jem does not have the luxury of independence when choosing a romantic partner. Her devout mother and recovering alcoholic father have decided that Jem will be courted by Owen’s much younger brother Ben, despite there being no spark of affection between them. This loss of autonomy is painful to witness, mostly because Scanlen displays inner turmoil. Much of the film plays within the tropes of this specific story, as our character rebels against their societal expectations, leading to consequences in their relationship with themself and others. At 116 minutes, the pacing could have been greatly quickened, or at least some of it chopped off in bulk. Much of the material with Jem’s father, played finely by Jimmi Simpson, plays dangerously close to parody as the struggles with addiction are delivered with such heavy-handedness. If not for Scanlen’s performance, The Starling Girl would fall much further into the realm of obscurity, its middling writing and direction had it heading for. If not for anything else, Parmet’s film has given one of our brightest young talents room to shine. Those with a deeply religious background may find more depth to it, but they may also find it dryly conventional. This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Bleecker Street will release The Starling Girl in select theaters on May 12th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen

The Chronology of Water January 9, 2026 By: Button Hunter Friesen For many reasons, including, but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic showering existentialism upon people’s minds, the increased demand for content within the Hollywood system, and the need for projects to have a starry name in each facet of the production, the 2020s have been marked by a wave of high-profile actors making their directorial debuts. Some of the names that have placed themselves at the front of the credits have been Scarlett Johansson ( Eleanor the Great) , Chris Pine ( Poolman ), Kate Winslet ( Goodbye June ), Jerry Seinfeld ( Unfrosted ), Maggie Gyllenhaal ( The Lost Daughter ), Rebecca Hall ( Passing ), Michael B. Jordan ( Creed III ), Kristin Scott Thomas ( My Mother’s Wedding ), Anna Kendrick ( Woman of the Hour ), Patricia Arquette ( Gonzo Girl) , and Aziz Ansari ( Good Fortune ). The results have been varied, with most playing it safe now that the brunt of the praise or ridicule is aimed directly towards them. It’s hard to win when you’re playing not to lose. Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water is anything but those other titles, seemingly bursting out of the actor’s frustration over the age-old quote that “if you want something done right, do it yourself.” Similar to the directorial debuts I mentioned above, the biopic genre is going through a fallow period of sameness, with each film seemingly containing puzzle pieces of the same shape and size. The only difference is the color, which is usually not that different. When everyone’s life stories are the same, why are they special? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCBwuJ0pKMA Granted, on paper, The Chronology of Water contains many of the tried and true biopic tropes. It is based on the memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, who grew up in a household commandeered by an abusive father and an emotionally catatonic alcoholic mother. Lidia’s only escape is through swimming, which she excels at. Her father forbade her from going to colleges that didn’t offer her a full scholarship, as they would have done that if they really wanted her. Once she does go to college, her newfound freedom is laced with drugs and alcohol. Within her fleeting lucid moments, she discovers her uncanny ability to write from the heart, distilling her darkness within the bright white space on the page. Sandwiched between her years being caught in a love triangle with a shiny vampire and a perpetually shirtless werewolf in the Twilight franchise, Stewart had a bevy of collaborations with some of the world’s top auteurs: David Fincher ( Panic Room ), Olivier Assayas ( Clouds of Sils Maria , Personal Shopper ), Ang Lee ( Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk ), Kelly Reichardt ( Certain Women ), Pablo Larraín ( Spencer) , and David Cronenberg ( Crimes of the Future ). A student cannot graduate simply by emulating the master; they must understand what it means to be a master. This is a film that smells of bloody iron, jaggedly cutting between the past, present, and future. The scratchiness of the 16mm photography is matched by the sound editing, with a multitude of cuts marked by an aggressive slap to your ears. The music is loud enough to mask much of Imogen Poots’ narration, although the feeling in her words tells as much of the story as the words themselves. The 128-minute runtime could be labeled as one big montage, with very few scenes lasting more than a minute. It’s exhaustingly claustrophobic, with no pretty pictures to assuage our eyes. Lidia might find a lot in common with a soldier returning home from PTSD. Her memories turn on her in an instant, with younger suppressions becoming older realizations. Why did her older sister come out of a locked room crying, followed by her dad? Why did her hopelessly devoted boyfriend stick around through years of her abuse? The waves of pain are just as real now as they were then. I may have already known some of the markings and ultimate destination of this story, but the path always eluded me. It zigs where others zag, led by Poots’ unflinchingly magnetic performance. The Forge will release The Chronology of Water in select theaters on December 05th, followed by a nationwide expansion on January 09th. More Reviews Primetime September 22, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Unabomber September 24, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Look Back September 16, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Elsinore September 14, 2026 By: Hunter Friesen Hunter Friesen