TIFF 50: "Frankenstein" has great gowns, beautiful gowns

by Cláudio Alves

Last year, Emilia Pérez finished in second place for TIFF's People's Choice Award, and, while not as bad, this year's runner-up left me similarly displeased. You can deduce that the masses disagree, having received Guillermo del Toro's Mary Shelley adaptation with open hearts and adoration aplenty. I think I was also predisposed to love the Mexican master's spin on Frankenstein, having defended his follies for the last decade, even when critics I respect soured on the man's cinema. Moreover, I even re-read the novel – comparing the 1818 and 1831 versions as I went along – to prepare for what was sure to be a grand Gothic spectacle to sweep me off my feet.

As it turns out, del Toro's Frankenstein was one of my major disappointments at TIFF 50, maybe the biggest. Thank heavens for those beautiful costumes and that beautiful Creature, for I'm not sure I'd have made it through this 150-minute slog without them…

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Almost There: Barry Keoghan in "Saltburn" & Andrew Scott in "All of Us Strangers"

by Cláudio Alves

Earlier this week, the Almost There series returned with a look at Penélope Cruz's failed bid for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Now, it's time to move on to Lead Actor, where the season's most prominent contender without a nomination was Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. But since you're probably tired of reading my defense of Scorsese's latest, I decided to focus on two others instead. The first victim is Barry Keoghan in Saltburn, for which he was nominated at the Golden Globes, BAFTAS, and Critics Choice Awards. Our second sacrifice is Andrew Scott, whose campaign for All of Us Strangers was full of passion but few actual plaudits. There were nominations at the Globes, Spirit and British Independent Film Awards, little else...

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Barbenheimmer and "Killers of the Flower Moon" are all over the BAFTA longlists

by Cláudio Alves

Even at the BAFTAs, these three are inescapable.

Since its 2020 overhaul, the British Academy has been changing its rules, aiming for more diversity within its ballot. So far, the effort's been relatively successful, though last year's choices were too Oscar-y for some people's tastes. I tend to prefer when BAFTA maintains a certain idiosyncratic identity, honoring less-seen national gems along the way. Judging by the just-released longlists, it seems we're heading down a similar path to last season's, with three Oscar frontrunners scoring in fifteen categories. That doesn't mean the Brits have lost their uniqueness. Look at the love for All of Us Strangers, including listings for all its principal cast…

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Everything's coming up Jacob

by Cláudio Alves

With Priscilla in theaters and Saltburn on the horizon, it's a good time to be Jacob Elordi. Or, alternatively, one of his fans. After terrorizing the characters of Euphoria and skating by the Kissing Booth movies without much effort, the Australian actor is proving to be a force to be reckoned with and an auteur magnet to boot. For Sofia Coppola, he's Elvis perceived through a prism of domestic nightmare, proposing a take on the legend that should be antithetical to last year's Luhrmann-directed biopic. In Emerald Fennell's sophomore feature, his statuesque figure is framed as an object of perilous desire cum obsession, like a British twist on Highsmith's Dickie Greenleaf. It's fair to say that the erstwhile HBO hunk is on his way to becoming a movie star…

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Review: "Saltburn" is an Epic Party

By Christopher James

How does one follow up a first feature after it breaks out and earns an Oscar? 

After her vivid breakthrough Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell smartly refuses to play it safe. At first glance, the tale of class warfare and homoeroticism feels familiar. But her singular eye adds an indelible slant to the material, which feels like a spiritual sister to The Talented Mr. Ripley. Like that film, Saltburn expertly dramatizes the intoxication of lust and the limits we all blow past while under its influence. Fennell’s live-wire pacing is perfectly complemented by the committed cast, particularly Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi and Rosamund Pike...

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