Víctor Erice's return will make you believe in miracles

by Cláudio Alves

Miracles haven't existed in movies since Dreyer.

So says a gruff film editor to his aged director friend in Víctor Erice's first feature in three decades, a work brilliant enough to make a lie of that line. Well, it was miraculous to me, though there must be some dissenters out there. Folks like Thierry Frémaux who infamously conned Erice into opening the flick at Cannes under the assumption it would play in competition. Only, Close Your Eyes didn't get to vie for the Palme d'Or, getting shafted into the newborn Premiere section. At this point, that farrago must be water under the bridge, though one presumes a big Cannes victory would have helped Close Your Eyes get to theaters sooner. For American audiences, it only now made it to screens, enjoying a limited release courtesy of Film Movement…

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TIFF '23: Final Farewells and a Jury of One

by Cláudio Alves

Since THE BOY AND THE HERON opened the festival, there was a Studio Ghibli pop-up store. Sadly, I didn't take either of these giant fur babies home. But it was tempting!

All things in life must come to an end, so it's time to say goodbye to TIFF '23. Words will never be enough to express my gratitude to Nathaniel and the Media Inclusion Initiative, whose help made this coverage possible. Overall, I watched 59 features and six shorts, reviewing most of them along the way, and getting positively drunk on cinema. It was especially incredible to experience so many of these films on giant screens, unlike the sort I get to experience in Lisbon-based festivals. To watch something like Rosine Mbakam's Mambar Pierrette on the Scotiabank Theater's IMAX screen is an experience I won't soon forget.

Beyond the films, I met amazing people at TIFF, from fellow critics to festival programmers and ex-directors, editors, and the like. I even got to take a selfie with Abe, my fellow Team Experience member who I only knew through Zoom until now. Pardon the sentimentality, but this was a dream come true…

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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…

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