Toronto Film Scene

Last entries by Brandy Dean

17 May 2013

Review: The We and the I

Michel Gondry, unleashed from the commercial shackles of oh, say The Green Hornet, returns a bit more to form with The We and the I. Basically plotless, the film takes a bus ride through the Bronx with a group of teenagers, on the way home after the last day of...

Archived in Independent & Repertory Issue 4 Volume 5: May 2013 LGBT Cinema Issue Archive Reviews RSS
16 Apr 2013

Media Impact: the Ken Burns effect (or why Ken Burns deserves a swift kick in the balls)

Oh Ken Burns, how I loathe, ye. For over 30 years, you’ve been painting American history with a saccharine brush and I’m beginning to wonder when our collective teeth are finally going to rot and fall out from the over-consumption of your sugar. You, sir, are just as toxic as...

Archived in Columns Media Impact RSS
12 Mar 2013

Cinema Revisited: Who is Lina Wertmüller?

Lina Wertmüller is a conundrum. The Italian filmmaker (she gets her umlauts from aristocratic Swiss descent) was the first woman to be nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for her masterful 1975 movie Seven Beauties. She’s not exactly prolific, but she does have 23 feature films to her credit....

Archived in Cinema Revisted Columns
20 Feb 2013

TFS Essential Canadian Cinema: Bon Cop, Bad Cop

Still Canada’s reigning domestic box office champ, Bon Cop, Bad Cop is hailed by some as an important move towards trying to join the francophone and anglophone film industries within Canada. The film is entirely bilingual and takes on the concept of mixed cultures and languages – something you’d think...

Archived in Columns Essential Canadian Cinema
14 Feb 2013

Review: A Good Day to Die Hard

Yippee ki-yay motherfuckers! John McClane is back for another round in the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard. It goes without saying that the Die Hard series is a fan fave and one of the few franchise operations to get better with each...

Archived in Major Theatrical Reviews
11 Feb 2013

Why do French Canadian films thrive, while English Canadian films struggle to find an audience?

It’s a fact. The French Canadian film industry booms, while the English Canadian film industry limps and struggles. Speak to any English Canadian filmmaker and you’ll encounter much hand-wringing, hair-pulling, and just flat out sorrow. What’s really going on here? Why do French Canadian films thrive when English Canadian films...

Archived in Articles Cover Cover Stories
06 Feb 2013

Spotlight On: The Jutra Award (Prix Jutra)

The U.S. has the Oscars. Canada has the Genies (now known as the Canadian Screen Awards). But QuÃ©bÃ©cois filmmakers, while technically part of Canada and thus eligible for the Genies – er, Canadian Screen Awards – have their own annual awards, the Jutra Award (or Prix Jutra or La SoirÃ©e...

Archived in Columns Spotlight On
24 Jan 2013

Japanese Divas: Great Actresses of Classic Japanese Cinema Hits Screens at TIFF Bell Lightbox on January 24, 2013

Japanese Divas: Great Actresses of Classic Japanese Cinema, a lavish 31-film salute to Japan’s finest actresses and the directors they worked with, hits TIFF Bell Lightbox screens on January 24 and runs until March 31, 2013. Part of Spotlight on Japan, a city-wide festival celebrating classic and contemporary Japanese culture,...

Archived in Articles TIFF Programming
03 Jan 2013

TFS Essentials: stop-motion animation

Last month, while standing in an interminable holiday rush line at Shopper’s Drug Mart, I was confronted by one of those stand-up cardboard displays meant to tempt a last second impulse buy. The cynicism with which I would typically greet such a crass commercial come on instantly melted away when...

Archived in Columns TFS Essential
04 Dec 2012

Exile: A Myth Unearthed begins theatrical run at Projection Booth East on December 7, 2012

The exile of the Jewish people from their homeland in 1 A.D. has become a defining narrative in Judeo-Christian society and underpins the contemporary troubles in the Middle East. But did the exodus really happen? This is the central question examined in the Exile: A Myth Unearthed, an NFB documentary...

Archived in Blog Indie Cinemas On the Scene
16 Nov 2012

Today on the Scene: screenings and film fun for Friday, November 16, 2012

It’s not only Friday, people. It’s a Friday with a new schedule at TIFF Bell Lightbox and a film festival devoted to hard liquor and porn. Now that’s how you do Friday. Here’s what’s happening today on the scene for Friday, November 16, 2012. The TIFF Bell Lightbox shakes it...

Archived in Blog Today on the Scene
15 Nov 2012

Today on the Scene: screenings and film fun for Thursday, November 15, 2012

Ah yes, my friends, we inch ever so slowly toward the weekend. What’s the best way to pass the time while you wait for Friday? Besides booze, the answer is see a movie. Here’s what’s happening today on the scene for Thursday, November 15, 2012. The TIFF Bell Lightbox has...

Archived in Blog Today on the Scene
14 Nov 2012

Today on the Scene: screenings and film fun for Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Are you tired of my lame James Bond jokes yet? Fine. There’s no Bond offerings in Toronto today except, you know, that new one. Skyrise? Skymall? Nightfall? Something like that. Otherwise, here’s what’s happening today on the scene for Wednesday, November 14, 2012. The TIFF Bell Lightbox has got it...

Archived in Blog Today on the Scene
13 Nov 2012

Cinema Revisited: Akira Kurosawa, Japan’s greatest film director?

The Emperor Kurosawa It’s the Asian cinema issue here at the TFS, and you don’t talk about Asian cinema without talking about Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Or rather, you don’t talk about cinema (and you certainly don’t revisit classic cinema) without talking about Akira Kurosawa. It turns out that the...

Archived in Cinema Revisted Columns
13 Nov 2012

The European Union Film Festival Launches on November 14, 2012

The 8th annual European Union Film Festival returns to Toronto on November 14, 2012 and runs until November 27, 2012. All films will screen at The Royal and admission is free to each film, with tickets distributed on a first-come-first-served basis starting one hour prior to screening time. The European...

Archived in Blog Festivals On the Scene
13 Nov 2012

Today on the Scene: screenings and film fun for Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Are you still wearing that tux?!? Fortunately, there’s more Bond goodness on offer today, once you get over the martini hangover. Here’s what’s happening today on the scene for Tuesday, November 13, 2012. The TIFF Bell Lightbox has got it going on today. You can, of course, catch the theatrical...

Archived in Blog Today on the Scene
12 Nov 2012

Today on the Scene: screenings and film fun for Monday, November 12, 2012

I assume that everyone saw Skyfall this week. Thus I also assume we’re all in tuxedos and evening gowns. Have a martini, shaken – not stirred, and hit a movie theatre, a Toronto movie theatre. Here’s what’s happening today on the scene for Monday, November 12, 2012. The TIFF Bell...

Archived in Blog Today on the Scene
12 Nov 2012

The Miles Nadal JCC Presents The Social Cinema of Sydney Lumet on Monday, November 12, 2012

As part of the ongoing series “Intelligent Art and Meticulous Craft: The Social Cinema of Sidney Lumet”, the Miles Nadal JCC will host critic Shlomo Schwartzberg’s talk “Cops, Crooks, & Corruption”, with film clips from The Offence, Serpico, Find Me Guilty, Q & A, and Night Falls on Manhattan on...

Archived in Blog On the Scene
09 Nov 2012

Today on the Scene: screenings and film fun for Friday, November 9, 2012

Whether you’re feeling Bond-ish or you’re in the mood for some fine Asian cinema, Toronto has it going on today. Here’s what happening today on the scene for Friday, November 9, 2012. At the TIFF Bell Lightbox today you can find Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, Samsara, Dial...

Archived in Blog Today on the Scene
09 Nov 2012

Reel Asian Review: Hometown Boy

Hometown Boy chronicles the journey of Liu Xiaodong, one of China’s most respected artists, to his hometown Jincheng, in Liaoning Province, to paint his childhood friends. This is a revisit of an earlier project that eventually secured his place in art school, and he’s filled with trepidation to return as...

Archived in Festivals Reel Asian

Last Comments by Brandy Dean

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Latest Columns

TFS Explains: censorship and heteronormativity in classic Hollywood cinema

Lindsay Zanatta

“In classical narrative cinema, to see is to desire.” Linda Williams Back in the 1930s, the Hollywood studio system standardized the way movies were produced. Film workers,…