Category Archives: Film

TIFF FILM REVIEW: Pierre Thorreton’s ‘L’amour fou’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – When the late couturier Yves Saint Laurent’s longtime companion and business partner Pierre Bergé decided to sell their vast and unique collection of artwork, it was called the auction of the century. Pierre Thorreton’s painstaking … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Michael Winterbottom’s ‘The Trip’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Michael Winterbottom’s listless foody travelogue “The Trip” is made up of highlights from a six-part BBC-TV series that has yet to air but if these are the best bits then no one will mind waiting. … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Richard Ayoade’s ‘Submarine’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Joe Dunthorne’s delightfully idiosyncratic 2008 novel “Submarine,” in which a smart and eccentrically gifted 15-year-old muses about school, girls, movies, parents and life in general, is the kind of book that almost never is made … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM FESTIVAL: Justin Lerner’s ‘Girlfriend’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Justin Lerner’s “Girlfriend” claims to be the first U.S. feature film to star a person with Down syndrome, namely Evan Sneider who plays a young man with a major crush on a single mom he’s … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Rowan Joffe’s ‘Brighton Rock’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Rowan Joffe’s film of Graham Greene’s 1938 novel “Brighton Rock” takes a gothic approach to the story of a young thug obsessed with hell with little of the writer’s subtlety and too much reliance on … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Hilary Swank in ‘Conviction’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Tony Goldwyn’s “Conviction” is a soundly constructed tale of an individual fighting against a travesty of justice with Hilary Swank as a high school dropout who devotes her life to becoming a lawyer in order … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Mickey Rourke in ‘Passion Play’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Screenwriter Mitch Glazer’s first directorial effort, “Passion Play” starring Mickey Rourke and Megan Fox is a sentimental noir fable aimed at movie buffs with a soft spot for tough guys with tender hearts. Rourke in … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Clive Owen in ‘Trust’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – The title of David Schwimmer’s understated drama “Trust” derives from children and parents who have too much of it when dealing with the potential perils of internet chat rooms. Clive Owen provides a wrenching study … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: Jeanne Labrune’s ‘Special Treatment’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – Parisian sophistication is hard work in Jeanne Labrune’s ineffectual “Special Treatment,” which attempts to explore the similarities between prostitution and psychoanalysis. Isabelle Huppert plays a 40-ish uptown hooker bored with her chosen career path who … Continue reading

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TIFF FILM REVIEW: ‘Made in Dagenham’

By Ray Bennett TORONTO – The real-life tale of a group of female machinists who took on the Ford Motor Company in England and earned equal pay for women gets a rousing and entertaining telling in Nigel Cole’s crowd-pleasing “Made … Continue reading

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