The Angels’ Share (Ken Loach) is a pleasant change of pace for the venerated social realist director and his regular screenwriter, Paul Laverty. Rather than a glum lecture on the state of world affairs (like the pair’s last collaboration, Route Irish), it’s a charming character piece similar to his 1992 Riff-Raff, fluidly slipping between drama and comedy as it follows a remorseful Glasgow thug (Paul Brannigan) whose efforts to turn his life around lead him into the unlikely hobby of whisky appreciation. The film initially seems shaggy and unstructured, but that’s part of its appeal Loach and Laverty nudge the story delicately and without much fuss, trusting the actors to provide the necessary emotional weight. 101 min.
Rating: NNNN (NW)
Opens May 17 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. See here for times.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mira Nair) is an assured adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s novel about Princeton-educated Changez (Riz Ahmed), a Pakistani émigré with a high-paid job at a U.S. financial firm who finds himself gradually transformed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Ahmed is excellent as a man outraged that’s he’s being racially profiled and that his photographer girlfriend (Kate Hudson, the pic’s weak link) is crassly exploiting their relationship for her art. Repulsed by his work on Wall Street, he quits, choosing to return to his home country to teach. He tells his story to an American journalist (Liev Schreiber) who’s bent on finding out if Changez knows the whereabouts of a kidnapped professor. Has Changez become a bona fide terrorist? Nair cranks up the tension before we find out. But that conflict is secondary to what really matters here: the perspective of a man falling out of love with America. Some subtitles. 130 min.
Rating: NNNN (SGC)
Opens May 17 at Varsity. See here for times.
The We and the I (Michel Gondry) unfolds on a casual (and inexplicably long) bus ride on which rowdy high school kids from the Bronx subject unfortunate passengers (and us) to their unrelenting cruelty, lewd sexuality and occasional misfit charms. Director Gondry channels Spike Lee in this vibrant reflection on class, culture and youth, capturing that raw and bustling energy of the inner-city. Digging deep into who these kids are while pondering what they may become, he gets a whole lot of mileage out of an exceptional cast of actual Bronx students, savouring their naturalistic performances while giving them plenty room to wile out. He throws in a few absurdist flourishes, but those interludes never feel out of place. Gondry knows how to complement his subject, like a DJ scratching a record. He puts his own touches to the sound of the Bronx while staying true to its beat. 103 min.
Rating: NNNN (RS)
Opens May 17 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. See here for times.
Fight Like Soldiers Die Like Children (Patrick Reed) catches up with Roméo Dallaire on his current African mission, working with NGOs trying to rehabilitate former child soldiers who’ve experienced horrors beyond their years. Dallaire is a charismatic and open subject, and the cause is certainly noble, but this is a fairly by-the-numbers documentary that doesn’t really do much to deepen our understanding of Dallaire or the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the film spends most of its time. There’s also the regrettable decision to illustrate the experiences of a composite child soldier in animated sequences that feel simultaneously naive and condescending. Some subtitles. 83 min.
Rating: NNN (NW)
Opens May 17 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. See here for times.
Mud (Jeff Nichols) is a delicate, small coming-of-age drama about an Arkansas river kid (Tye Sheridan) who discovers a man (Matthew McConaughey) hiding out on an island and decides to befriend him. We know something’s off, but the kid needs a father figure, so he decides to help the man fix a wrecked boat and reach out to the frightened woman (Reese Witherspoon) he insists is waiting for him in town. Sheridan, who played the Terrence Malick surrogate in The Tree Of Life, is terrific at conveying adolescent confusion with tiny squints and frowns, and McConaughey plays off him masterfully. Director Nichols also makes excellent, economic use of Witherspoon, Joe Don Baker and Michael Shannon. Mud only really stumbles at its climax, when Nichols abandons texture and complexity for an action sequence that feels like a backslide to his debut feature, Shotgun Stories. I suspect he had to include it in order to get the film made, but I really wish he’d found a way not to. 130 min.
Rating: NNN (NW)
Opens May 17 at Eglinton Town Centre, Grande – Yonge, Queensway, SilverCity Mississauga, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
Greetings From Tim Buckley (Daniel Algrant) purports to explore the mind and soul of Jeff Buckley (Penn Badgley), son of the late singer/songwriter Tim, as he bums around New York City in the summer of 1991 while getting ready to participate in a concert of his father’s music. Through his flirtation with a comely production assistant (Imogen Poots), we discover that Jeff is a charismatic but complicated soul, tormented by the absence of his father (Ben Rosenfield) even though he barely knew him. This is all really heavy, I guess, because we know Jeff will die a few years later in an accidental drowning. There’s a haphazardness to the movie that grows more grating as it goes along, with modern-day cars and even a smartphone turning up in the frame. I might have been more forgiving if it were a better film – one that kept me so wrapped up in the narrative or characters that I didn’t have time to nitpick. 99 min.
Rating: NN (NW)
Opens May 17 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. See here for times.
The Iceman (Ariel Vromen) casts the estimable Michael Shannon (Take Shelter, Premium Rush) as career criminal Richard Kuklinski, a New York family man who killed a whole bunch of people for a two-bit mobster (Ray Liotta). Shannon’s approach to Kuklinski as a total brick wall – refusing to give anything back to his co-stars – is a fascinating performance choice, but even that can’t juice up this dull slog through Mob movie clichés. His period facial hair does become increasingly lively as the story moves through the 60s, 70s and 80s. Speaking of facial hair, co-stars Chris Evans, James Franco, Stephen Dorff and an unbilled David Schwimmer appear to be having some sort of Morgan Spurlock look-alike contest. Spoiler alert: Schwimmer wins. 106 min.
Rating: NN (NW)
Opens May 17 at Varsity. See here for times.
Please Kill Mr. Know It All (Colin Carter, Sandra Feldman) starts out with a great premise. Bookish advice columnist Sally (Lara Jean Chorostecki) needs to come up with a face to accompany her masculine byline, so she gives her editors a sketch of a man she saw at a movie theatre. Unfortunately, that’s Albert (Jefferson Brown), a professional assassin whose livelihood – and life – depends on anonymity. And now he’s known to everyone – but for the wrong reasons. The notion of a ruthless killer being constantly approached in the street for relationship advice is kind of genius – and would make a great sketch or short film. But screenwriter/co-director Feldman sticks to the rom-com playbook, with the misidentification just the first in a series of wacky misunderstandings that bring Sally and Albert together. The characters just aren’t that interesting, and the movie’s modest ambition prevents anything that interesting from happening to them. It’s too bad, really. 87 min.
Rating: NN (NW)
Opens May 17 at Royal. See here for times.
Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s (Matthew Miele) would be moderately watchable couch fodder as an extended episode of the now-defunct Fashion Television. It’s got plenty of pretty people, pretty clothes and swatches of info. But as a feature-length doc, it’s pure assembly-line dreck. Miele’s ode to conspicuous consumption looks at high-end Manhattan department store Bergdorf-Goodman, interviewing everyone from influential tastemaker Linda Fargo to window display designer David Hoey. The talking heads include just about every fashion designer of note, all of whom say the same thing. Ditto the C-list celebs. The film has little tension, momentum or personality, unless you count personal shopper to the rich and famous Betty Halbreich, who drops a few choice one-liners. Among the juicy anecdotes, two stand out: one involving a bag lady and a fur coat, and another concerning Yoko Ono and John Lennon that will horrify PETA. 93 min.
Rating: NN (GS)
Opens May 17 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. See here for times.
National Theatre Live: This House is a live high def broadcast of James Graham’s behind-the-scenes political drama set in 1974 Britain. 170 min.
Opens May 16 at Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Grande – Yonge, Queensway, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Yonge, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
Paul McCartney & Wings: Rockshow is a screening of a 1980 concert film by Wings, filmed during their 1976 North American tour. It includes an interview with McCartney that’s exclusive to theatrical screenings. 145 min.
Opens May 22 at Coliseum Scarborough, Courtney Park 16, Queensway, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
