TIFF 2022 Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Catherine Hardwicke is nothing if not eclectic in choosing what she directs. On the heels of “Mafia Mamma,” which came and went from theaters quickly in April, here comes “Prisoner’s Daughter,” Hardwicke’s film from TIFF last September.

Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott are two of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars. But before they reunite onscreen in Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Poor Things,” their devilish take on the sex comedy hits theaters first.   READ MORE: ‘Sanctuary’ Review: Margaret Qualley & Christopher Abbott Roleplay With Sex & BDSM Kink In A Terrific Two-Hander [TIFF] Fresh off its world premiere at TIFF last September, “Sanctuary” sees Abbott and Qualley play a twisted power game with each other.

Mary Harron has tackled all sorts of difficult subjects over her nearly thirty-year career. Audiences may know her best for her 2000 adaptation of Brad Easton Ellis‘ “American Psycho” with Christian Bale.

After a highly successful world premiere at TIFF last Fall, Stephen Williams‘ “Chevalier” is ready for its US theatrical release. And it’s also a huge role for Kelvin Harrison Jr., who, after memorable roles in “Cyrano,” “The Trial Of The Chicago 7,” and two Trey Schultes movies, looks poised for a break out now.

After a highly successful world premiere at TIFF last Fall, Stephen Williams‘ “Chevalier” is ready for its US theatrical release. And it’s also a huge role for Kelvin Harrison Jr., who, after memorable roles in “Cyrano,” “The Trial Of The Chicago 7,” and two Trey Schultes movies, looks poised for a break out now.

Thanks to last year’s performances in “God’s Creatures” and “Aftersun,” Paul Mescal is one of Hollywood’s hottest rising stars. And Melissa Barerra is on the rise, too, thanks to her breakout roles in “Scream,” “Scream VI,” and “In The Heights.” Now the two actors collide in Benjamin Millepied‘s “Carmen,” a gritty modern-day reimagining of Georges Bizet‘s opera of the same name.

Leave it to Stephen Frears to make another project about recent British history. But in fairness, “The Lost King” looks like a lighter romp than the likes of “A Very English Scandal” and “The Queen.” It’s not like every film has Sally Potter hallucinating a long-deceased monarch, right? READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023 Based on Phillippa Langley‘s 2013 book “The King’s Grave: The Search For Richard III,” “The Lost King” traces the discovery of Richard III’s grave under a car park in Leceister, and how the Langley’s amateur research led up to it.

Tracking Maya Gabeira’s quest to surf one of the world’s biggest waves in Nazaré, Portugal, Stephanie Johnes’ documentary “Maya and the Wave” splits its time between standard-issue documentary about Gabeira’s rise in the community and insightful critique of how institutionalized misogyny in the surfing world has tried to diminish Gabeira’s contributions to the sport. Featuring some incredible visuals, and using Gabeira to tell her own story, it’s an entertaining and informative exploration of the professional surfing community The enormous waves in Nazaré act as both a framing device within the story and Gabeira’s white whale.

Tracking Maya Gabeira’s quest to surf one of the world’s biggest waves in Nazaré, Portugal, Stephanie Johnes’ documentary “Maya and the Wave” splits its time between standard-issue documentary about Gabeira’s rise in the community and insightful critique of how institutionalized misogyny in the surfing world has tried to diminish Gabeira’s contributions to the sport. Featuring some incredible visuals, and using Gabeira to tell her own story, it’s an entertaining and informative exploration of the professional surfing community The enormous waves in Nazaré act as both a framing device within the story and Gabeira’s white whale.

As the climate crisis worsens, the need for urgent action grows exponentially. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away, and this one threatens total global collapse.

Tearepa Kahi’s “Muru” opens with several spiky title cards: “The views and accuracy of the information contained in this production are not endorsed or supported by the New Zealand Police.” “This film is not a recreation of the police raids against the people of Tūhoe…”; “…It is a response.” The raids in question took place in 1916 and 2007. The former ended with the arrest of Māori prophet Rua Kēnana; the latter, which sought to uncover paramilitary training camps, ended with the seizure of four guns and the arrests of eighteen people, including Tūhoe activist Tame Iti.

“Until Branches Bend,” which plays in this year’s TIFF Spotlight section, is a promising but poorly executed debut from Canadian filmmaker Sophie Jarvis. While it tries to be a paean to peaches and sisterhood and sustainable living, and at times a cri de coeur against corporate greed, it is none of these things.

1999 was a strange year for pop culture. On the one hand, there was all this fear about Y2K and the possible end of the world.

Daniel Goldhaber announced “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” the film he made with Jordan Sjol, Ariala Barer, and Daniel Garber, on the morning of August 3rd, just out of nowhere, like Beyoncé dropping an album. It’s not only the spontaneity of the announcement that feels fitting, but the devil-does-care energy and urgency to it: not merely a “we did a thing,” but, like its assemblage of characters assemble in the film, a bomb waiting to go off.  Continue reading ‘How To Blow Up A Pipeline’ Director Daniel Goldhaber On Channeling Political Restlessness In Genre Film [Interview] at The Playlist.

What does the title of Graham Foy‘s “The Maiden” mean? The film’s early title card reveals that it’s a graffiti tag for Kyle (Justin Sluiter) and Colton (Marcel T. Jiminez), two friends in ’90s Calgary who litter their hometown with the marker.

#MeToo has done a lot of good for culture in the five years since the movement’s birth. But there’s bad to take with that good, too, like the endless and awkward sloganeering that commodified the cause as a series of catchphrases: Dismantle the patriarchy; smash the patriarchy; burn down the patriarchy.

Can you get the same satisfaction from a round of “NBA 2K” as you can from dunking in real life? Is a trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park good enough to check off “African safari” on your bucket list? Does pelting your brother-in-law’s best man with paintballs at the bachelor party make you a combat veteran? Look away if you don’t want to spoil the answers, but: No, no, and no, and puttering around a Quonset hut pretending to be an astronaut isn’t the same thing as hitching a rocket to Mars, either.

Tyler Perry’s 23rd film, “A Jazzman’s Blues,” is a major departure for the seasoned director known for comedies and farces that are sometimes extremely broad. For “A Jazzman’s Blue,” the prolific filmmaker does a 180 into drama and romance.

They headed north to the wilderness in the 1970s, when Michelle (Sarah Gadon) was 15 and pregnant with Cea, “because if there was one thing Papa Dick was sure of, it was that the wilderness would solve all their problems.” They ended up in the Kootenay Plains, up in Alberta, where “Papa Dick” (Robert Carlyle) headed up a commune that sounds an awful lot like a cult. Cea Sunrise Person first told her story in her 2014 memoir, “North of Normal,” which has been adapted into a film of the same name by director Carly Stone and screenwriter Alexandra Weir.

“Concrete Valley” opens with a man wandering in the woods around Thorncliffe Park, one of Toronto’s first postwar high-rise neighborhoods and one of its most diverse areas. He’s Rashid (Hussam Douhna), a Syrian doctor who recently relocated to Canada with his family.

It should come as a surprise to no one that I’m not a Tyler Perry fan. For a myriad of reasons: from the inconsistent quality control, the harmful stereotypes that proliferate his movies, and the rampant misogynoir in his work— his vision of Blackness disturbs me.

Intimate partner violence can take on many forms. Physical, sexual, emotional, psychological.

They headed north to the wilderness in the 1970s, when Michelle (Sarah Gadon) was 15 and pregnant with Cea, “because if there was one thing Papa Dick was sure of, it was that the wilderness would solve all their problems.” They ended up in the Kootenay Plains, up in Alberta, where “Papa Dick” (Robert Carlyle) headed up a commune that sounds an awful lot like a cult. Cea Sunrise Person first told her story in her 2014 memoir, “North of Normal,” which has been adapted into a film of the same name by director Carly Stone and screenwriter Alexandra Weir.

There’s water, water everywhere in “Causeway,” the strong cinematic debut of accomplished theatre mainstay Lila Neugebauer — and oh so much to think about. The laconic Lynsey (a resurgent Jennifer Lawrence in what is plainly her career’s finest performance) explains that she’s drawn to water on a deep, source-of-all-life level while convincing a pool cleaning service’s manager to give her a job skimming scum and fixing filters.

Sidney Poitier wasn’t solely a pioneer or merely among his generation’s best actors; he was a complicated, flawed human, prone to mistakes and foibles. But you wouldn’t know the depth of those flaws or how lasting his mistakes were by watching the Apple TV+ documentary “Sidney.” This documentary should be better, richer, and more comprehensive.

After the 2021 discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves on school grounds in British Columbia, the dark history of Canada’s residential school system and its traumatic impact on generations of Indigenous families once again became international news. Outrage and sorrow poured out from survivors across the country.

Midway through Frances O’Connor’s “Emily,” the title character finds a note. It’s been left for her, discreetly, with the time and place to meet the man she loves.

On the inhospitable shores of Berck-sur-Mer, France, where the sounds of the tide mingle with a woman’s breathless running, is where Alice Diop’s narrative-feature debut “Saint Omer” begins.

“The Swimmers” is inspired by the true story of teenage Olympic athlete and Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini who, in 2015, along with her sister Sara and two others, dragged a boat full of fellow refugees across the Aegean sea. After the girls made it to Germany, Yusra was selected along with ten others to compete with the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

It would be strange enough if you find someone out in the world who looks identical to you. (Unless you’re a twin, of course.) But what would really screw with your mind is if you found out that your doppelganger is married to someone who looks identical to your spouse.

This week marks the beginning of the 47th Toronto International Film Festival. Films premiering in Toronto as well as those that have already premiered at festivals such as Cannes and Venice, are generating a lot of interest online, which makes festivalgoers excited that after taking caution due to the COVID pandemic, TIFF is back in person this year.

Werner Herzog’s “Theater of Thought” may be the most egg-headed documentary to ever open with a quote “ascribed to Chuck Berry.” To wit: “In my Theater of Thought I am rocking. / In the Dance of my Mind, I am swinging.

Even though troubled actor Ezra Miller is reportedly in treatment after a year of personal and legal scandals, some big questions remain. For example, will Miller ever return to their relative stardom pre-2022? And will Warner Bros.

It’s a tale almost too astonishing to believe: two sisters flee their war-torn country and save sixteen other people’s lives through their champion swimming skills. But it’s the true story of Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini and her sister Sara and the basis for “The Swimmers,” set for its world premiere as the opening film at the Toronto International Film Festival this month.

We are less than a month away from the beginning of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. So, as we get closer to the Opening Night festivities, TIFF is beginning to lock down its final list of films that will screen at the event.

As we approach the end of summer, it’s time to look ahead to the fall film festival season. This is the time of year when folks like the people at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) begin to finalize their lineup of screenings.