This Review Was Originally Published as Part of Our Coverage of Fantasia 2024 A Toronto librarian’s sheltered existence is cracked open in Darkest Miriam. Miriam Gordon (Britt Lower) is a librarian at the Allen Gardens branch of the Toronto Public Libraries, whose daily routine involves reading to children, answering questions at the info desk, and …
Romance
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A fugitive punk rocker encounters a young woman, who happens to be the biggest fan of his band, in Dinner in America. After being kicked out of rehab, Simon (Kyle Gallner) is on the run from the police, due to his tendency of being a pyromaniac. Simon ends up crossing paths with Patty (Emily Skeggs), …
A CEO enters into a submissive affair with her much younger intern in Babygirl. Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) is the CEO of a tech company, who is not fully satisfied sexually by her longtime husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas). Romy’s company hires a new young intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), who chooses Romy to be his mentor. …
The novel by William S. Burroughs is adapted for the big screen with Queer. As a result of his drug addictions, writer William Lee (William Lee) has been living as an exile in 1950s Mexico City, frequenting the city’s gay bars and sharing tales of homosexual misadventures with his friend Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman). Lee …
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The Tony Award-winning musical hits the big screen with Wicked: Part One. Due to being born with green skin, Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) has been subjected to much prejudice, particularly from her father Governor Thropp (Andy Nyman) of Munchkinland, who gives preferential treatment to Elphaba’s wheelchair-bound sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode). While accompanying Nessarose to Shiv …
The highs and lows of a young couple’s relationship are depicted non-linearly in We Live in Time. As he is finalizing the divorce from his failed marriage, Tobias (Andrew Garfield) ends up being hit by a car driven by Almut (Florence Pugh), a former figure skater turned Bavarian fusion chef. The two begin a passionate …
A lonely Montreal man finds love right as he is targeted for abduction by aliens in You Are Not Alone. Since the end of his previous relationship, Léo (Pier-Luc Funk) has preferred being alone, working night shifts delivering pizzas from his family’s pizzeria. Things begin turning around when Léo meets Rita (Marianne Fortier), a sweet-natured …
An idealistic man pine over an engaged woman in Young Werther. Werther (Douglas Booth) has arrived in Toronto on a pit stop before embarking on a trip to Europe. However, Werther ends up falling head-over-heels for Charlotte (Alison Pill) when he meets her in a bar and won’t even let the fact that she is …
A New York sex worker spontaneously marries the son of a Russian oligarch, raising the ire of his family, in Anora. Anora (Mikey Madison), who prefers to go by the nickname Ani, is a sex worker who works in a New York City strip club. Due to her ability to speak Russian, Ani is introduced …
A grieving man takes an experimental drug, which brings his dead girlfriend back to life through lucid dreams in Daniela Forever. Nick (Henry Golding) is a British DJ living in Madrid, who is in a depressed funk after his Italian girlfriend Daniela (Beatrice Grannò) is killed in a hit-and-run. Nick’s therapist Victoria (Nathalie Poza) refers …
A murdered man comes back to right the wrongs that were committed in The Crow. While serving time in a rehab facility, Eric Draven (Bill Skarsgård) meets and falls for Shelly Webster (FKA Twigs), who he helps escape from Marion (Laura Birn), a woman working for Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston), a crime lord who made …
A Montreal video artist and New York poet reflect on their complicated relationship in Me and My Victim. Maurane is a Montreal-based multimedia artist specializing in video art and Billy Pedlow is a poet living in New York. The two met while Maurane was on a trip to New York and their story is told …
A Toronto librarian’s sheltered existence is cracked open in Darkest Miriam. Miriam Gordon (Britt Lower) is a librarian at the Allen Gardens branch of the Toronto Public Libraries, whose daily routine involves reading to children, answering questions at the info desk, and filling out incident reports. However, a mystery arises at the library when Miriam …
A college professor moonlighting as an undercover contract killer ends up falling for one of his clients in Hit Man. Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a divorced college professor living an isolated life with his two cats. Gary moonlights for the police department, working as tech support for an undercover sting operation meant to catch …
Three tennis aces have a love triangle relationship over a multi-year period in Challengers. Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) is a past his prime Tennis superstar preparing for the 2019 US Open while recovering from an injury. Art’s wife and coach, retired tennis ace Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), enters him as a wild card into a Challenger …
A stuntman has to try and locate the missing star of his ex-girlfriend’s film in The Fall Guy. Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is one of the best stuntmen in the business, often working a double for action superstar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). After being injured in a stunt gone wrong, Colt departs into a life …
A grieving woman finds herself pulled into the past, as a new love interest enters in the present in The Greatest Hits. For the past two years, Harriet (Lucy Boynton) has been unable to let go of the memory of her boyfriend Max (David Corenswet), who died in a car accident. The reason for this …
A passionate affair begins between two friends who shared a traumatic event in The Burning Season. Alena (Sara Canning) and her husband Tom (Joe Pingue) arrive at the Luna Lake Resort for the wedding of their longtime friends JB (Jonas Chernick) and Poppy (Tanisha Thammavongsa). However, disaster strikes during the reception when JB, high on …
A gym manager falls for a bodybuilder in Love Lies Bleeding. Lou (Kristen Stewart) is a manager of a gym trying to escape her past relationship with her gun smuggler father, and beetle enthusiast, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris). Despite her estrangement from her father, Lou still maintains a relationship with her sister Beth (Jena Malone), …
A romance blossoms between a cook and the gourmet she worked for the past twenty years in The Taste of Things. Set in 1885 France, Eugénie Chatagne (Juliette Binoche) has been working for gourmet Dodin Bouffant (Benoît Magimel), cooking exquisite meals for Dodin’s friends. Though the latter has rebuffed multiple marriage proposals, Dodin and Eugénie …
A teenage outcast falls for a reanimated corpse in Lisa Frankenstein. Set in 1989, Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is a shy teenager still reeling from her mother’s murder. Lisa’s father Dale (Joe Chrest) has since remarried the incredibly cruel nurse Janet (Carla Gugino), though her daughter Taffy (Liza Soberano) tries to get Lisa to come …
A Montreal Drag Queen deals with self-esteem issues in his personal and professional life in Solo. Simon (Théodore Pellerin) is a makeup artist by day, who performs in Montreal’s drag scene at night. Things seem to be looking up for Simon, as he falls for new drag artist Olivier (Félix Maritaud), who recently moved to …
The creation of a mad scientist learns what it means to be a woman in Poor Things. Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) is a mad scientist who hires his student Max McCandless (Ramy Youssef) to observe the progress of his “daughter” Bella (Emma Stone). Max soon comes to realize that Bella is not a normal …
A secretary’s relationship with her new coworker at a correctional facility turns sinister in Eileen. Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) is a young woman working as a secretary at a correctional facility for teenage boys in 1960s Massachusetts. At home, Eileen has to deal with her alcoholic father Jim (Shea Whigham), the retired police chief, who …
The life and marriage of conductor Leonard Bernstein is revisited in Maestro. In 1943, 25-year-old Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) made his conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic, setting himself to be one of the first great American conductors. Despite being a gay man, Leonard falls for Costa Rican-Chilean actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), a …
An outcast teenager tries to balance their new love with their darkest secret in My Animal. Heather (Bobbi Salvör Menuez) is an aspiring hockey goalie, who is cursed by the fact that their father Henry (Stephen McHattie) is a werewolf and passed this trait down to Heather and their younger brothers Cooper (Charles F. Halpenny) …
The story of the tumultuous relationship between Priscilla Beaulieu and Elvis Presley is told in Priscilla. In 1959, 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu (Cailee Spaeny) is living in Germany with her stepfather Captain Beaulieu (Ari Cohen) and mother Ann (Dagmara Dominczyk). Priscilla is invited to a party hosted by an army cadet and rock and roll superstar …
A teacher takes a job at an institute preparing couples for a love compatibility test in Fingernails. A new test has gained popularity, which tests the compatibility of couples by scanning their fingernails. Anna (Jessie Buckley) and her boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) are one of the lucky couples who scored 100% on the test. …
A man and his Osage wife are at the centre of a series of murders in 1920s Oklahoma in Killers of the Flower Moon. After oil was found on their Oklahoma reservation, the Osage people became wealthy from the development that happened in the county. After returning from the First World War, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo …
The relationship of a young married couple is forever changed by a stranger’s proposition in Foe. In the near future, Henrietta (Saoirse Ronan) and her husband, Junior (Paul Mescal), live an isolated existence on the latter’s family farm. Late one night, the couple is visited by Terrance (Aaron Pierre), who informs Junior that he has …
A gay filmmaker causes strife in his marriage when he begins an affair with a woman in Passages. Tomas Freiburg (Franz Rogowski) is a German-born filmmaker living in Paris with his English printer husband Martin (Ben Whishaw). After Martin leaves early from the wrap party of Tomas’ latest film, the latter ends up hooking up …
A quiet office worker with thoughts on death begins dating her outgoing new coworker in Sometimes I Think About Dying. Fran (Daisy Ridley) is an office worker in a sleepy coastal town, who keeps to herself while thinking of various ways she can die. Fran becomes acquainted with her new coworker Robert (Dave Merheje), an …
Two sleep-deprived high school students connect with each other in their school’s observatory in Insomniacs After School. Ganta Nakami (Daiken Okudaira) suffers from nightly insomnia, which causes him to take naps while attending school. When asked to acquire a stepladder from his school’s observatory-turned-storage room, Nakami finds his classmate Isaki Magari (Nana Mori), who also …
The signature doll from Mattel hits the big screen with Barbie. In Barbieland, Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives a perfect existence with President Barbie (Issa Rae), author Barbie (Alexandra Shipp), physicist Barbie (Emma Mackey), and doctor Barbie (Hari Nef). Barbie is the unrequited object of affection of Ken (Ryan Gosling), who has to compete with Ken …
A cash-strapped woman takes a job to seduce an awkward teenager in No Hard Feelings. Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 32-year-old Uber driver and bartender in Montauk, New York, who is on the verge of losing her mother’s house, due to rising property taxes. After her car is towed away by ex-boyfriend Gary (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), …
The attendees of a youth astronomy convention find themselves quarantined after an encounter with aliens in Asteroid City. Asteroid City is a small desert town known for being the site of the arid plains meteorite. Many Junior Stargazers and their parents descend upon the town for Asteroid Day, including photographer and recent widower Augie Steenbeck …
Two Korean childhood sweethearts are reunited after more than two decades apart in Past Lives. As children, Na Young (Moon Seung-ah) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim) are inseparable, before Na Young’s family decides to immigrate from South Korea to Toronto. 12 years passed and the now re-named Nora (Seung Min Yim) is working as …
A Chinese-Canadian high school student tries to figure out his identity in Golden Delicious. Jake (Cardi Wong) is a teenager who is under a lot of pressure from both his basketball-loving father, George (Ryan Mah) and social media-influencer girlfriend, Valerie (Parmiss Sehat), to meet their expectations for Jake. Things change with the arrival of Jake’s …
A cinema manager connects with her new employee in Empire of Light. Hilary (Olivia Colman) is the duty manager of the Empire Cinema, located in a 1980s English coastal town. Steven (Micheal Ward) is a new employee hired at the cinema, which also includes the manager Donald Ellis (Colin Firth), who is engaged in an …
Disclaimer: My thoughts on Bones and All are based on the content of this work of fiction and do not support nor condone the act of cannibalism A teenage girl battling cannibalistic urges goes on a cross-country trip to locate her birth mother in Bones and All. Maren Yearly (Taylor Russell) is a teenager whose …