TIFF LIST 2014 SEEN

A BRILLIANT INSIGHTFUL EXPLORATION OF A BAFFLING TRUE STORY AND ESPECIALLY THE MIND OF JOHN DUPONT AND WHAT COULD HAVE BROUGHT HIM TO THAT TRAGIC REALITY. HURRAH FOR THE DIRECTION OF BENNETT MILLER(MONEYBALL, CAPOTE) AND ESPECIALLY STEVE CARRELL WHO PORTRAYED THE SICKO MIND OF DUPONT MAGNIFICENTLY. TO ME A GUARANTEED OSCAR NOD. A mesmerizing hybrid of true crime and sports drama, Foxcatcher is destined to be one of the year's most talked-about films. It tells the fascinating, tragic story of wrestling champions Mark and Dave Schultz; specifically, the two brothers' fateful encounter with multi-millionaire coach John du Pont. Exemplifying the greatest strengths of Academy Award-nominated director Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher locates a balance of excitement and burgeoning dread, and keeps us firmly in its hold until its harrowing finish.

AS OF NOW, MY FAVORITE OF TIFF 14. A RUSSIAN BEAUTY WITH PHILLIP GLASS SCORE THAT WAS SUCH A PLEASURE TO WATCH AND LISTEN. THE CORRUPT CITY HIERACHY WERE VILLAINOUS AND VICTORIUS TO THE END. THIS IS THE FIRST DIRECTORIAL EFFORT SINCE HIS THE RETURN IN 2003. THE WINNER OF CANNES 2014 BEST SCREENPLAY. Andrey Zvyagintsev's magnum opus, Leviathan, premiered at this year's Cannes to unanimous acclaim, winning the Best Screenplay award and establishing him as a true master of cinema. With the film's magisterial opening — the coastal landscape of the Barents Sea, set to the clarion call of Philip Glass's symphonic score — Zvyagintsev sets the stage for a story in which human intrigues are indistinguishable from forces of nature.

FASCINATING SPORTS DOCUMENTARY ON RUSSIAN HOCKEY PLAYERS MELDING INTO THE NHL. THIS WOULD BE ENJOYED BY ALL EVEN IF NOT SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS. I WAS MESMERIZED BY THE HISTORICAL INFORMATION PRESENTED SHOWING THE SUCCESS ENJOYED BY THE HOCKEY STARS IN THE USA AFTER THE SOVIET UNION COLLAPSE. A smash hit at this year’s Cannes, director Gabe Polsky’s exhilarating documentary chronicles the rise and fall of Soviet hockey in the 1980s. During the Cold War, battles between East and West played out in sports as much as international politics. Stalin and his successors saw their athletes as ambassadors of ideology. Red Army reveals one of the most colourful chapters of this history, focusing on the Soviet hockey team and its rivalries with Canada and the USA. At the centre of the story is Slava Fetisov, one of the greatest players to experience the highs and lows of Soviet hockey prior to the USSR's collapse. He stood up to a powerful system and paved the way for Russian players to change their circumstances. As Soviet communism gave way to global capitalism, the lure of NHL money unravelled the legendary team known as the Red Army.

A FILM OF IMMEDIACY FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA MALI/MAURITANIA IN SPITE OF ITS MAGNIFICENT BEAUTY REVEALS THE SENSELESS BRUTALITY OF THE FUNDAMENTALISTS IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD. DAILY NEWS TODAY GIVES THE FILM CURRENT RELEVANCE. Following the recent jihadist takeover of northern Mali, a proud cattle herder comes into fateful conflict with the fundamentalist rulers of the provincial capital, in this luminous, lyrical and poetic drama from the great African filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. A gazelle strides across the desert, under the sound of a car's rumbling engine; seconds later, bullets cut the animal down in its tracks. The opening sequence of Abderrahmane Sissako's magisterial Timbuktu — which premiered to acclaim at this year's Cannes — encapsulates the essential truth of violent extremism: to destroy grace and beauty, not only with impunity but with an ironclad self-righteousness. Set during the early days of the 2012 fundamentalist takeover of northern Mali and inspired by real people and real events, Timbuktu is a searing drama about the everyday woes and resistance of ordinary people in a city overrun by extremist foreign fighters.

A VISUAL FEAST THROUGHOUT THAT CAPTURES THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION WITHOUT BORING DIDACTIC NARRATIVE. YOU HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF FEELING LIKE YOU WERE THERE. Celebrated Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa (In the Fog) creates one of the essential cinematic experiences of our time with this epic, formally audacious documentary chronicle of the historic protests in Kiev’s Maïdan square. Capturing impassioned speeches, songs and prayers, and the terrifying heat of battle, Loznitsa's long takes ultimately reveal the might of the masses to come together and rally for freedom and independence. Eschewing interviews and talking-head commentary, Loznitsa also refutes the jittery, hand-held camerawork of so many formless "Occupy" films or direct-reportage docs. Comprised almost entirely of static master shots.

THE BELGIUM DARDENNES BROTHERS AGAIN PROBES THE CHALLENGES OF THE WORKING CLASS PEOPLE THAT REFLECTS THE WORLD WIDE PROBLEMS OF INCOME INEQUALITY AND THE WORKERS BEING MISTREATED BY UPPER MANAGEMENT. THIS IS SO CONTEMPORARY IN ITS DEPICTION OF UNFAIRNESS. A YOUNG MOTHER WHO DESPARATELY NEEDS HER JOB, MUST CONVINCE HER FELLOW WORKERS TO VOTE AGAINST HER BEING FIRED GIVING UP THEIR 1000 EURO BONUS IF SHE IS FIRED. The Dardenne brothers deliver again. Never afraid to tackle difficult subject matter, this time around the celebrated Belgian filmmakers take on the European economic crisis. Two Days, One Night tells the story of Sandra (Marion Cotillard), a working-class mother who loses her job, but who has a fighting chance — and one weekend — to get it back. Almost immediately after returning to her factory job following a mental health leave, Sandra is laid off because her fellow line workers voted to receive a bonus rather than to keep her as the seventeenth person on the team. When she learns that their team leader persuaded them to vote against her under false pretenses, Sandra convinces the plant manager to hold a second, secret vote

A WORD OF MOUTH SENSATION AT 2014 CANNES. AN ACT OF COWARDICE IMPULSIVE DECISION BY A YOUNG FATHER COMPROMISES HIS MARITAL RELATIONSHIP AND CREATES AN INTERNAL GUILT THAT NEARLY DESTROYS HIM. IF YOU HAVE AN INTEREST IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR AS I DO, THEN THIS FILM BELONGS TO YOU. One of the most daring and audacious filmmakers to emerge in the last decade, Ruben Östlund hit a new peak with Force Majeure, a critical hit at this year's Cannes. As in his previous films Involuntary and Play, with his latest Östlund turns a keenly analytic eye on those principles we supposedly live by, and explores what happens when the codes of conduct enforcing those principles are abruptly stripped away. On a family skiing vacation in the French Alps, Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) are enjoying lunch with their two children when their meal is suddenly interrupted by thunderous booms emanating from the mountain above them. The complacent Tomas initially dismisses the possibility of danger — but when it appears that there may be an avalanche, he grabs his cellphone and bolts, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves. The remainder of the film monitors the fallout from this fateful incident, as husband and wife hotly debate what actually occurred, and what Tomas's proper response should have been — a battle that eventually threatens not just Tomas and Ebba's relationship, but those of the people around them.

AN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSMAN QUITS HIS JOB AND FAMILY WHILE IN PARIS. A HOTEL MAID BECOMES A BIRD AND FLYS AROUND ENDLESSLY....ENOUGH ALREADY! This is a film about people breaking free, and when they realize that common subtext to their lives at the end of the story, it has some undeniable thematic resonance. However, it takes WAY too long to get there. Ferran is prone to “flights of fancy,” pardon the pun, as some scenes in her film go on unchecked while others aren’t allowed nearly the right amount of time to develop. The scene in which Gary officially breaks his marriage is interminable, with long silences and what sound like improvised emotional beats.

SKIP THIS HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER. DOWNEY AND DUVALL DESERVE BETTER MATERIAL. There are moments that have all the grace and subtlety of housebreaking a dog – Dobkin rubs your face in his emotional mess, ensuring that he gets his point across. And why does the Judge not remember anything from that night? I can assure you that the answers to these question are entirely disinteresting, as is most everything else in this picture.

AN UNPREDICTABLE TWISTED TALE THAT WILL YIELD MANY OMG'S FROM ITS AUDIENCE WILL SERVE TO APPRECIATE THE IMAGINATIVE SCREENPLAY FROM ITS AUTEUR FILMMAKER, FRANCOIS OZON. ALMOST ALL OF HIS FILMS ARE CREATIVE MASTERPIECES. Like the wittiest dinner guest imaginable, François Ozon tells tales that sizzle. Lust, longing, and broken taboos fill his scenarios, all relayed with precision and style. Last year's Jeune & jolie (Young & Beautiful) provoked both pleasure and censure with its story of a wilful teen prostitute. In The New Girlfriend Ozon does it again, but with increased empathy. Claire and Laura have been best friends since childhood; their lives intertwined. When Laura falls ill and dies, Claire reaches out to comfort Laura's husband, David. It's then that she discovers David's secret. From that simple, saucy premise, Ozon takes The New Girlfriend down an ever surprising path

THERE ARE VERY FEW THINGS THAT FROST ME MORE THAN THE INEQUALITY OF INCOMES AND THE INSENSITIVITY OF THOSE SITTING AT THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN. THERE, YOU HAVE IT, COMPASSION AND SENSITIVITY FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE IS A MAJOR PART OF WHO I AM. THE WEALTHY OWN MULTIPLE MILLION DOLLAR HOMES AND THE STRUGGLING FAMILY WORKING THEIR TAILS OFF AND BARELY KEEP THEIR HOMES, YET THE BANKERS WILL THROW THEM OUT. IT IS SO UNFAIR AND THAT IS WHY THIS IMPORTANT FILM GETS A 10 FROM ME. MICHAEL SHANNON IS A GREAT ACTOR AND IS EXCELLENT AS THE BAD GUY PROTAGONIST. Ramin Bahrani, in such acclaimed films as Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, and Goodbye Solo, American director Ramin Bahrani created compassionate portraits of ordinary people struggling to survive within a society that does little to aid them. Set amid the US housing-market meltdown of the last decade, his latest feature, 99 Homes, is his most compelling to date: an intimate and moving chronicle of a family that has become one of the many casualties of a culture of relentless consumption and economic overextension.

IMMEDIATELY PLACE BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH NEAR THE TOP OF YOUR OSCAR BALLOT. HIS PERFORMANCE WAS PERFECT FOR THIS VERY INTERESTING COMMENT ON THE MAN WHO PROBABLY WON THE WAR FOR US PLUS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EARLIEST COMPUTERS. HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHIES ARE A FAVORITE GENRE OF MINE AND THIS ONE WAS SO INSIGHTFUL INTO THE LIFE OF ALAN TURING. BRILLIANT AND PRODUCTIVE BUT WAS TRAGICALLY DISMISSED FROM PROFESSORSHIP AT CAMBRIDGE FOR DECENCY LAWS THAT WERE IN EFFECT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. THE SHAME OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE CAN NEVER BE FORGIVEN. THE UGLINESS AND UNFAIRNESS OF HOMOPHOBIA IS ONE OF THE STRENGTHS OF THIS FILM. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as brilliant Cambridge mathematician, cryptanalyst and pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing, who spearheaded the Enigma code-breaking operation during World War II and was later persecuted by the British government for his homosexuality. At Cambridge University, the young Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) quickly establishes himself as a groundbreaking thinker with his theories about the potential of computing machines. When war between Britain and Germany is declared, these theories are put into active practice. Turing easily passes a test to become a member of a top-secret group assigned to decode critical German naval communications. Much to the surprise of the commanding officers, so does a woman, Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley also appearing at the Festival in Laggies). Turing and Clarke become fast friends, and are soon engaged to be married. But Turing is gay, struggling with his identity at a time when it is illegal and subject to terrible punishment.

DAVID GORDON GREEN, THE BRILLIANT YOUNG FILMMAKER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, COMBINES WITH A SHOE-IN FOR OSCAR NOD THIS YEAR, AL PACINO. IN MY OPINION, HIS BEST PERFORMANCE SINCE SCARECROW. A SENSITIVE CURMUDGEON WALLOWING IN SADNESS OVER THE LOSS OF A LOVE 40 YEARS BEFORE. A.J. Manglehorn (Al Pacino) is a storefront philosopher, toiling every day at his lock-and- key business but consumed inside by memories of the great love he let slip through his fingers. "I need you, Clara," he writes in one of the many letters that shape the mood and story of David Gordon Green's latest film. "Loving you is the only thing I ever done right. No one compares. They never will." That hope of love seems long in Manglehorn's past, but in this magical portrait of a surprising man, there is room for second chances. . The long-maned bank teller he visits — played by the remarkable Holly Hunter — yearns for a date to match her romantic fantasies, but finds she must deal with Manglehorn's peculiar perspectives. "You look good," he tells her gamely. "You look like a racehorse or something." As it grows from its quiet character-study beginnings to engage bigger questions of love and human connection, Manglehorn finds moments of pure poetry. This humble locksmith's daydreams have a surreal quality. We see life through the lens of his experience, tinged by a hard-won wisdom that's equal parts pragmatism and whimsy.

THE SCENES OF L.A. AT NIGHT ALONE IS WORTH YOUR EFFORT TO SEE THIS SLICE OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. THE INSIGHT INTO THE TELEVISION NEWS SCENE IS FASCINATING AND DISTURBING. A drifter and petty thief (Jake Gyllenhaal) joins the nocturnal legions of scuzzy freelance photographers who scour the city for gruesome crime-scene footage, in this gripping portrait of the dark side of L.A. from veteran screenwriter and first-time director Dan Gilroy. When dusk falls on Los Angeles, the nightcrawlers come out. Roaming the streets, cameras at the ready, they outrace ambulances to get to the scene of an accident or crime first, looking to bag footage they can sell to local television stations. In this gripping portrait of LA's dark side from first-time director Dan Gilroy, local TV feeds on local crisis. Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a loner and petty thief adrift in the LA night when he happens upon the nightcrawlers in action. He gets himself a cheap video camera and a police radio scanner and begins the chase. Fresh car accidents, robbery victims, home invasions — everything is fair game. But the competition is stiff: Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) is already a seasoned professional with police contacts and a reliable buyer in TV producer Nina (Rene Russo).

ABEL FERRARA MAKES FILMS IN A VERY UNUSUAL WAY AND FOR THIS REASON I EXPECT SCORN FROM MY READERS CHALLENGING TO WHY I FOUND ANYTHING WORTHWHILE IN THIS FILM. NEVER THE LESS, LIKE MOST OF HIS FILMS, I FOUND THIS SENSATIONAL IN MANY RESPECTS. THIS MAN BEHIND THE CAMERA HAS TURNED OUT SOME GENIUS FILMS, MY FAVORITE BEING BAD LIEUTENANT WITH HARVEY KEITEL. THIS ONE STARS WILLEM DAFOE AS THE PROTAGONIST PASOLINI. IF IT WERE NOT SO WEIRD, HE WOULD GET AN OSCAR NOD. TO ME THIS WAS 5 PLUS AURAL VISUAL POETRY. VERY MUCH LIKE A TRAGIC OPERA. Willem Dafoe uncannily embodies the legendary Italian filmmaker, poet and novelist Pier Paolo Pasolini in this biopic from controversial director Abel Ferrara. Pier Paolo Pasolini is a figure Italians still struggle to come to terms with. Poet, novelist, agitator, journalist, filmmaker, playwright, actor, painter, philosopher, communist, Catholic, homosexual; these descriptors do not fully contain the depth and scope of the man's restless genius. Described by many, including writers like Alberto Moravia, as the most important postwar poet in Italy, Pasolini devoted the second part of his career to the cinema and made some enduring masterpieces in the process. American director Abel Ferrara, another outlaw talent, has clearly found a soulmate in Pasolini. Starring Willem Dafoe, a dead ringer for Pasolini, Pasolini offers a kaleidoscopic view of the last day of the artist's life, in 1975. Struggling with the censors as he is about to finish Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, pausing for an interview with a journalist that allows him to reflect on ideas of sex and politics, having lunch with his beloved mother with whom he shared a house, welcoming friends and former lovers — these are all moments that allow Ferrara to piece together the complex jigsaw puzzle that is Pasolini. And then, of course, there is his obsessive predilection for cruising the nocturnal streets of Rome in search of furtive sex.

YET ANOTHER HOLOCAUST FILM FROM GERMANY WHERE THE STORIES ARE EVERYWHERE. IF THIS FILM WERE NOT FROM GERMANY, NINA HOSS WOULD BE A SHOE IN FOR AN OSCAR NOMINATION. SHE IS ONE OF THE VERY BEST ACTORS WORKING TODAY. THE SAME CAN BE SAID ABOUT CHRISTIAN PETZOLD, THE AUTEUR FILMMAKER WHO CREATED THE RECENT SENSATIONAL FILM "BARBARA". YOU MAY HAVE TO CHASE THIS FILM DOWN AT FESTIVALS IN USA. With his internationally acclaimed films The State I Am In, Yella and Jerichow, Christian Petzold established himself at the forefront of the loosely affiliated group of contemporary German filmmakers known as the Berlin School. Following the success of his previous film, Barbara (which screened at the 2012 Festival), Petzold returns with another story of a fiercely determined woman — and the deeply divided society to which she belongs — caught between a tragic past and an uncertain future. Emerging from a concentration camp at the end of World War II, Nelly Lenz (played by the formidable Nina Hoss, Petzold's regular star) undergoes significant reconstructive surgery to repair a serious facial injury caused by a bullet wound. Nelly wants everything to be exactly the way it was before the war — including her appearance — but it isn't.

IF YOU HAVE A TASTE FOR DROLL ICELANDIC/NORWEGIAN HUMOUR, THEN THIS IS YOUR FILM. BRENT HAMER OF KITCHEN STORIES BRINGS US ANOTHER COMEDY THAT WILL NOT BRING MOST PEOPLE TO LAUGHTER. A FILM FILLED WITH "HUHS" BUT SO TYPICAL OF FILMS FROM THIS PART OF THE WORLD. SKIP IT IF YOU CANNOT APPRECIATE SUBTLE HUMOUR. BASICALLY THE FILM EXPLORES THE ACCURACY OF WEIGHTS......IS THIS TRULY REAL? Full of Hamer's trademark offbeat humour, 1001 Grams sharply critiques those dichotomies — rural versus urban, precision versus poetry, science versus mysticism, romance versus logic — that Marie routinely accepts. As she explores her new possibilities, the film seems to unfurl magically, beautifully, the way the first real day of summer seems to spill over with promise and renewal. Recently divorced, Marie devotes her life to measurements, spending her days inspecting ski slopes while studiously avoiding her ex. The pride of the institute where she works is a perfect kilogram weight, a model for all measurements in the country, which Marie is supposed to take to a big conference in France. It's her first time going, and the first time her father, a fellow scientist and a legend in their field, will not be attending.

ROY ANDERSSON FROM SWEDEN RETURNS WITH ANOTHER BLACK COMEDY. LIKE SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR, I LAUGHED TILL MY SIDES HURT. IF YOU ARE NOT APPRECIATIVE OF DRY SILLY HUMOUR, THEN SKIP THIS ONE. A mixture of absurdist, hilariously deadpan humour, shock, and utter horror. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence presents a series of darkly comic vignettes organized around two narrative strands. In one, two hapless novelty salesmen wander around town trying to sell their inventory of vampire fangs and rubber masks, all the while bickering like an old married couple; in the other, Charles XII, Sweden's most bellicose king, reappears in modern times to carry on his series of disastrous defeats. Shifting between nightmare, fantasy, reverie, and even an impromptu musical number, the film culminates with a blistering indictment of what Andersson presents as humanity's stunning lack of empathy. Though he's been called a slapstick Bergman and compared to Fellini, Andersson is closest to Luis Bunuel in both his surrealist flourishes and the rage — as well as the genuine empathy and sorrow — that underlies his twisted humour

A BAD FILM IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD. THE ITALIAN MURDER OF MEREDITH KERCHER IS EXPLORED HERE IN A DISASTOUROUS WAY. A TERRIBLE DISAPPOINTMENT FOR ME FROM AN OTHERWISE EXCELLENT FILMMAKER, MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM. In 2007, a twenty-one-year-old British student named Meredith Kercher was brutally murdered in Perugia, Italy. Suspicions turned almost immediately to her American flatmate, Amanda Knox. The ensuing arrests, trial, and convictions — which involved Knox's Italian boyfriend, a bar owner, and a young drifter originally from Ivory Coast — made for a major international story and occupied immense tabloid space

THIS IS THE THIRD VERSION OF THIS FILM NOIR STORY AND ENJOYED BY ME IMMENSELEY. THE LIGHTING, SHADOWS AND INTENSITY ARE CAPTURED PERFECTLY IN THE BEST TRADITIONS OF THIS GENRE. Inspired by the true-crime story of Lonely Hearts Killers Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez — whose murderous exploits were previously brought to the screen in Leonard Kastle's cult 1969 film The Honeymoon Killers and Arturo Ripstein's 1996 Deep Crimson — the new film from Fabrice Du Welz (whose debut feature Calvaire played in Midnight Madness in 2004) paints a beautiful, disturbing, and, at times, shockingly violent picture of demented and devoted love. Encouraged by a friend to start dating, single mom Gloria (Lola Dueñas) reluctantly meets Michel (Laurent Lucas, who starred in Calvaire) for a drink. Immediately attracted to him, she refuses to accept the soon plainly evident fact that he is a con man who seduces and robs lonely older women like herself. Refusing to let Michel go, Gloria joins him in his work of grifting unsuspecting lonely hearts, and the two prove to be a perfect team — until Gloria's jealousy starts getting in the way of Michel's wooing.

AN ELEGANT AND TOUCHING BIODOCUMENTARY ON A TRUE MENSCH. Ethan Hawke directs this intimate documentary portrait of classical pianist, composer, author, teacher and sage Seymour Bernstein. Seymour Bernstein isn't well known, but he's deeply cherished by those who do know him. Living in a small Manhattan apartment at age eighty-five, he appears fully content with his choice to forgo a promising career as a concert pianist in order to teach music. Now Ethan Hawke, one of his greatest admirers, takes us into Bernstein's world with this delicately crafted film, offering a wise and charismatic reflection on art and life.

THERE ARE NOT MANY THINGS THAT GET ME ANGRIER THAN THE REALIZATION THAT THE BIG COMPANIES GET BALED OUT BY THE TAXPAYER WHEN NEEDED, YET WHEN THE EARNINGS COME IN, THEY DO NOT PAY TAXES, BUT PUT IT IN OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS. PLUS THEIR SALARIES ARE HUMONGOUS. THE SYSTEM IS SO UNFAIR TO THE AVERAGE PERSON. Smart, eye-opening and incendiary, The Price We Pay examines the timely issue of tax avoidance — specifically, the widespread use of tax havens by multinational corporations and the super-rich, allowing them to stash trillions of dollars offshore and deprive governments of hundreds of billions in corporate-tax revenue each year. This practice is (arguably) legal — but is it fair? With meticulous research and remarkable breadth and depth, director Harold Crooks — whose previous collaborations on such key documentaries as The Corporation and Surviving Progress exposed the world of big-time corporate malfeasance — takes us on a fascinating journey as he analyzes the origins, damaging repercussions, and complex moral issues arising from corporate tax dodging.

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES OF TIFF 2014 BECAUSE OF THE INSIGHTFUL JOURNEY INTO ORTHODOX JEWRY. METICULOUSLY CRAFTED WITH WONDERFUL PERFORMANCES FROM RELATIVELY UNKNOWN ACTORS. THERE IS AN EXCELLENT DIRECTOR AT WORK HERE. IF I WERE PROGRAMMING A JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL THIS WOULD BE MY NUMBER ONE SELECTION FROM THIS YEARS CROP. In Félix et Meira, an unusual romance blooms between two lost souls who inhabit the same neighbourhood but vastly different worlds. Maxime Giroux's latest feature is a sensitive study of tradition, religion, and desire in present-day Montreal. Meira (Hadas Yaron) is a young Hasidic Jewish wife and mother living in Montreal's Mile End district. Discontented with her marriage and life, she rebels secretly against her faith by listening to soul music and taking birth control pills. Secular francophone Félix (Martin Dubreuil) is an odd loner living nearby, grieving over the recent death of his estranged father. Intrigued by Meira, Félix hopes her religious devotion will provide insight into his loss. Though she rebuffs him at first, they begin to meet in secret; a mutual affection soon arises, and she acquires a taste for life outside the strictures of her faith. As Meira's desire for change becomes harder for her to hide, and her husband becomes more suspicious, the tension between them builds. Ultimately Meira must choose: leave her community to be with Félix, or stay.

THIS WAS AN ATTEMPT AT REMAKING THE WONDERFUL WILLIAM FRIEDKIN 1971 FILM FRENCH CONNECTION WITH GENE HACKMAN INVOLVING DRUGS AND GANGSTERS. THEY FAILED MISERABLY NOT EVEN COMING CLOSE TO THE ORIGINAL. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT FOR ME. Academy Award-winning actor Jean Dujardin (The Artist, The Wolf of Wall Street) stars in this high-octane crime epic chronicling a violent six-year campaign to bring down the kingpin of a major narcotics ring. Director Cédric Jimenez hurls us back to the 1970s for a bold European twist on William Friedkin's action classic The French Connection.

ANOTHER BRILLIANT FILM OUT OF SWEDEN EXPOSING THE ELITE AND THEIR SELFISH INHUMANISTIC GOALS. POSTWAR SWEDEN TALE OF CONSPIRACY THAT CAPTURES YOUR ATTENTION FOR THE ENTIRE 141'. NOT EASY TO DO. MIKAEL MARCIMAN JOINS THE RANKS OF THE SWEDISH FILMMAKERS WHO REALLY KNOW THIS GENRE OF FILM NOIR. I DO HOPE THAT YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS THIS FILM. PROBABLY YOUR BEST SHOT WILL BE PSIFF 2015. counter-history of postwar Sweden, a would-be novelist discovers the story of a lifetime when his host — a bon vivant and possible spy with friends in the highest of places — reveals the existence of a decades-spanning conspiracy by Europe’s ultra-wealthy elite, who are secretly remodelling the continent to serve their own sinister needs.

PREVIOUSLY SEEN AT PSIFF 2014 AS A FRENCH ROMANTIC SOUFFLE, EXCEPT THIS ONE HAS 2 SISTERS IN LOVE WITH THE SAME MAN, YET TOTALLY UNAWARE OF THE CONNECTION. Not only does 3 Coeurs feature an outstanding cast of some of France's most famous actors, who bring a note-perfect tone to the proceedings, it also features a filmmaker at the height of his powers, relishing the delectable intricacies of plot while never shying from the deeper emotions at play. This is a fun ride for everyone — except the characters onscreen!

THE RECOGNITION OF THE EXCELLENCE IN CUBAN CINEMA IS OVERLOOKED. OFTEN WITH HEARTWARMING NARRATIVE, FIRST RATE ACTING, BEAUTIFUL CINEMATOGRAPHY ALL DONE ON MINISCULE BUDGETS BUT WITH METICULOUS CRAFTMANSHIP, THIS FILM SHOULD BE SEEN, BUT WILL BE NOT EVEN BE A FILM FESTIVAL OFFERING. A breakout hit in Cuba, Ernesto Daranas's Behavior has galvanized audiences with its willingness to tackle taboo topics and reveal the less picturesque realities of life on the island. In this sensitive portrayal of the friendship between a young boy and a woman more than five decades his senior, Daranas exposes how internal bureaucracy, dogma and poverty are eroding Cuba's oft-envied education system.

AKA LABYRINTH OF LIES. THIS IS A FASCINATING FILM ABOUT THE GUILT OF POSTWAR NAZI GERMANY TO COVER UP THE TRAGIC TRUTH ABOUT THEIR COUNTRY. EXPLORING THE HOLOCAUST TO ME WILL ALWAYS BE OF INTEREST. THIS WOULD BE OF GREAT INTEREST AT THE JEWISH FILM FESTIVALS. GOOD LUCK CRAIG. This auspicious feature-film debut from filmmaker Giulio Ricciarelli is a lucid and compelling look at postwar Germany. Paralleling personal drama with issues of a national scale, Labyrinth of Lies opens our eyes to the ways in which we allow ourselves to forget events that we find too painful to acknowledge.

FROM BULGARIA COMES A WONDERFUL DARDENNES BROTHERS LIKE DRAMA ABOUT A REAL DESPERATE PERSON WITH REAL PROBLEMS GOES THROUGH TO BALANCE HER LIFE. THE FILM IS LOADED WITH OMG'S AND YOU WILL BE WORN OUT AT THE END. this debut fiction feature from directing duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov doggedly follows its heroine as she tries anything to save her family's home from getting gobbled up by the bank. But even as she redoubles her efforts — exhausting her options, and soliciting assistance from shadier and shadier characters — none of her travails bear financial fruit

A NEW GENRE IS EMERGING AND I WOULD TITLE IT "GYPSY COWBOY" COMING FROM HUNGARY, TURKEY, ROMANIA AND SURROUNDING COUNTRIES. THERE IS AN AMAZING DREAMLIKE TYPICALLY GYPSY-LIKE REVERIE TO THESE FILMS. I FIND THEM DELIGHTFUL. THE MALE PROTAGONIST, Isaach De Bankolé, IS A GENUINE FIND AND I PREDICT WILL BECOME A MAJOR USA STAR BUT WITH A DIFFERENT NAME. I HATED TO SEE THIS FILM END. Directed by Szabolcs Hajdu, Mirage follows Isaach De Bankolé's mysterious, nameless character as he arrives at a country farm and subsequently begins to stir up trouble. There's ultimately something oddly hypnotic about Mirage, as filmmaker Hajdu has infused the proceedings with a deliberate and visually sumptuous feel that's heightened by the mystery surrounding the central character's very existence (ie who is he? what's he up to? where's he going? etc, etc).

AKA NOT MY TYPE, SEEN BY ME JANUARY 2014 AT PSIFF, BUT ??? PREMIERING AT TIFF 2015??? THERE ARE ALWAYS SOME STRANGE RELEASE DEALS WITH FOREIGN FILMS. I WOULD PUT THIS FILM IN THE OLD FASHIONED FRENCH UNREQUITED ROMANCE CATEGORY. FUN TO WATCH. A Parisian philosophy professor transferred to a dull provincial town (Loïc Corbery) learns to cut loose and live a little after he meets a brassy blonde coiffeuse (Emilie Dequenne), in this charming romance from director Lucas Belvaux. When handsome young Parisian philosophy professor Clément (Loïc Corbery) is transferred to the northern French town of Arras, his world is turned upside down. In this small working-class community far from the wonders of Paris, Clément finds himself living in a hotel without emotional, intellectual or physical stimulation. And then he meets Jennifer (Émilie Dequenne), the charming and brassy blond coiffeuse from a local hair salon. On the surface, Clément and Jennifer have nothing in common. She's a single mother who reads tabloid magazines and has a weekly karaoke date with her girlfriends; he reads Proust and attends gallery openings. But despite their differences, there's something deeper between them, and before long this seemingly ill-matched couple begin to share in each other's lives and passions.

IT IS MARVELOUS TO SEE THIS OFFERING FROM A SMALL POOR NATION, CUBA, SUCCEED IN SO MANY WAYS BETTER THAN THE WELL FUNDED U.S. PROJECTS. ALL OF THE ACTORS ARE OBVIOUSLY ON THE SET TOGETHER AND THE WHOLE PRODUCTION SHOWS SO MUCH EXCELLENCE. THE MUSIC ALONE IS WORTH YOUR ATTENDANCE. It's payday at the hair salon where Mónica (Maribel Garcia Garzón), Violeta (Claudia Muniz), and Mayelin (Marianela Pupo) work in Old Havana, and the three women decide to venture out together and spend their paycheques. Moving from a dress shop to a restaurant, they begin to share details of their lives and problems. Mónica reveals the reason behind the argument she had with her lover earlier in the day, and a new intimacy develops between the three as Violeta and Mayelin help her confront an unexpected circumstance. Day quickly turns to night. As the women expose darker desires, Álvarez introduces us to a side of Havana most tourists rarely see. A highlight is the discovery of a nightclub where patrons are welcomed with intense electronic music from a DJ wearing a pig mask. It is here that the women separate, each looking for fulfillment that she cannot share with the others. Shot independently, a rare occurrence in Cuban cinema, Venice presents a grittiness that we are not used to in films from the island. The ensemble cast, who improvised most of the dialogue, brings a rare sense of realism to the film.