TIFF '23: A Dozen of Festival Highlights

by Cláudio Alves

The 48th Toronto International Film Festival ended last Sunday, but this coverage continues. Even so, it's time to bring things to a close, so here's the last batch of reviews, all capsules because we're running out of time. They span five continents and a dozen nationalities, comprising a trip around the world through the vehicle borderless vehicle of cinema. Directorial approaches are as distinct as the cultures depicted, from meta-cinematic musings to modern noir, from magical realism with a spring on its step to the slowest of slow cinema. Still, all the works deserve your attention. They are shining gems that prove how, despite assertions to the contrary, cinema isn't dying. At TIFF, it's alive and thriving…

Click to read more ...

TIFF '23: Getting into the Christmas Spirit with ‘El Sabor de la Navidad’

By Abe Friedtanzer

It always feels a little strange to watch a Christmas movie long before the holiday season, but that just means getting into that wintry mindset ahead of time! El Sabor de la Navidad, a Spanish-language comedy from Mexico, is notable because it’s produced by Salma Hayek Pinault and stars Mariana Treviño, who is the best reason to watch last year’s A Man Called Otto. It’s a lighthearted portrait of an extended family and others connected to them trying to get through a holiday that brings far too many conflicting personalities together…

Click to read more ...

TIFF '23: The Best International Film Oscar Race

by Cláudio Alves

The Toronto International Film Festival represents an excellent opportunity to get in touch with cinema from all over the world. For Oscar obsessives, it provides a great chance to catch up with Best International Film submissions, especially as they're announced throughout the festival. I already covered some of them – Australia's Shayda, Bhutan's The Monk and the Gun, Brazil's Pictures of Ghosts, Chile's The Settlers, Finland's Fallen Leaves, Germany's The Teachers' Lounge, Romania's Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, South Korea's Concrete Utopia, and Turkey's About Dry Grasses. However, there are still some more TIFF titles to review.

They are the Netherlands's Sweet Dreams, Tunisia's Four Daughters, and Morocco's The Mother of All Lies. Though they haven't been officially selected, I also saw two of Norway's three finalists, A Happy Day and Songs of Earth…

Click to read more ...

Emmy Category Analysis: Lead Actor in a Limited Series (2023)

By Christopher James

Will serial killers or Weird Al Yankovic take home an Emmy this year? 

The Lead Actor in a Limited Series race has only gotten more competitive throughout the year. Evan Peters performance as the titular character in Netflix's Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was pegged as the early frontrunner in this race. He now faces off against recent Oscar nominee Steven Yeun for the critically acclaimed Netflix show Beef. Other challengers are also very much in the hunt. Who is going to take home the win? Let's examine the field...

Click to read more ...

Norway's Oscar Submission Finalists

by Nathaniel R

Since we last discussed the Best International Feature Film four more official submissions have been announced from Egypt, Nepal, Slovakia, and Ukraine which you can read about on those charts (click on the country names) with several more to follow since oft-nominated countries like Spain, Italy, France, and Sweden are all announcing in the next few days. Tonight though, one of my favourite topics: Norway! As longtime readers know I once lived there and was once fluent in Norwegian. Those days are long long gone but I still like to watch Norwegian movies and television and try to turn off the subtitles on occassion.

Norway has announced three finalists for their submission: Let the River Flow, A Happy Day, and Songs of Earth...

Click to read more ...