Sunday 28 August 2016

Sunday August 28th, 2016 See You At The Movies





















With the end of August right around the corner, the fall season is perhaps every cinephiles favourite time of year.  Each September, movie lovers around the world turn their attention to one of the biggest film events of the year: The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Exciting new blockbusters and independent films make their grand premiere to adoring fans. Although the films are yet to be released, here is a look at some filmmakers making their debuts at this year’s festival.

Montreal native director Denis Villeneuve is returning to TIFF with of the season’s most anticipated films, Arrival. Based on the short story Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, Arrival concerns humankind’s first contact with extraterrestrials that have mysteriously landed on earth. Villeneuve’s previous efforts are part of the reason Arrival is generating so much excitement. His sophomore film, Polytechnique, is an ambitious and challenging film about the true story of the 1989 Montreal school massacre. Villeneuve’s most recent film, Sicario, finds two FBI agents attempting to bring down a dangerous drug cartel. With the enormous pedigree Villeneuve’s name carries, Arrival is sure to be a hit.

Canadian influences continue to permeate with the latest from Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta, based on the three short stories adapted from Alice Munro’s 2004 Runaway. Almodovar is a world-class filmmaker, with a career spanning over twenty years, containing rich and complex films that defy categorization. Critics frequently cite Almodovar’s All About My Mother as one of his best: a daring film about a mother coming to terms with a tragic loss in her family, while using the contrivances of the plot as a means of exploring tragic issues in a human way. On the other end of the spectrum, Almodovar’s 2006 Volver is a lighthearted look at mother and daughter relationships that are put to the test by bizarre circumstances.

For suspense fans, J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls is sure to bring the right amount of thrills and action to the beloved Patrick Ness book, from which it was adapted. No one seems better suited than Bayona to bring this tale of a misunderstood boy who finds help from a tree monster to help him cope with his mother’s illness. Bayona’s previous films were both visually and emotionally striking about children similarly dealing with grown up situations. The 2007 thriller The Orphanage is a gripping tale of a woman who comes across a ghost story in the orphanage where she once lived. Director Oliver Stone also knows a thing or two when it comes to real life events. Stone’s newest film, Snowden is based on the true accounts of the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden who leaked classified intelligence to The Guardian. Stone’s film promises to be one of the talked about films of the year. Stone has similarly covered controversial figures in his previous films, everyone from ancient icons like Alexander the Great in Alexander, musical legend Jim Morrison in The Doors, to political figures such as Richard Nixon in Nixon and George W. Bush, in W.

Plenty more filmmakers will be showcasing their new work at TIFF this year. Check out the Thunder Bay Public Library’s catalogue and online collections for more from contemporary to up and coming filmmakers. Be sure to share your enthusiasm for these films with the Library as well as through our many social media platforms. In the meantime, we’ll see you at the movies.

Petar Vidjen

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