(****) New teachers face certain perils whenever they walk into a classroom. Those dangers are on view in this riveting drama. Carla (Leonie Benesch), a Polish immigrant, works in a German junior high school. The principal and her administration are conducting an investigation into a series of thefts. After grilling students, in the most intrusive […]
Sing Sing — Toronto International Film Festival Review
(****) It’s refreshing when a film poses answers to the most confounding social issues. Countless feature films and documentaries exam the plight of systems and institutions that treat Black folks unfairly. Too few offer solutions. That’s the reason this based-on-fact and real people drama is so illuminating. It offers results. Prison reform is a hot […]
Origin — Toronto International Film Festival Review
(***) It’s a lot to contemplate. Race, racism. Caste systems. Engineered prejudice, segregation and oppression. It’s all so thought-provoking. No wonder Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste: The Origins of Discontents became a Pulitzer Prize-winning best seller. Tracing her theories and thesis through the history of slavery, genocide of Jews in Europe and marginalization of the Dalit (untouchables) in India […]
Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero — Toronto International Film Festival Review
(***/12) The job of a good documentary is to speak truths. The job of a music documentary is to do that and mesmerize audiences with alluring vocals, instrumentals, songs and tunes. And in this case, stage performances too. In that way, this mus/doc gets the job done. Montero Lamar Hill was 19 years old when […]
Les Indésirables — Toronto International Film Festival Review
(**1/2) Back in 2019 French filmmaker Ladj Ly’s directing debut Les Misérables was a revelation. A gritty, grassroots-type movie about life in a low-income, immigrant-filled housing project outside Paris. How good was it? Good enough to win a Cannes Jury Prize and be nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar®. This time, Ly is mining the same […]
Rustin
(**1/2) He was the man behind the man. Martin Luther King’s chief lieutenant. Why is he only getting attention now? Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) was gay at a time in the ‘60s when he was shunned by MLK’s other associates. He regained his stature in the civil rights leader’s camp when he […]
American Fiction Wins the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award
(**1/2) The people have spoken. Amuse them and there will be acclaim. Hence the bestowing of TIFF’s People’s Choice Award on a screen adaptation that’s fueled by wit, sarcasm and tepid drama. It’s blatant cynicism. Those who aren’t Black buying Black books that are filled with tropes, cliches and stereotypes that fulfill previously conceived notions. The Black authors who […]
The Equalizer 3
(***) “Do you know who I am?!” That’s what a menacing thug bellows. “I know what you are,” replies Robert McCall (Denzel Washington). Former government assassin. Current freelance equalizer. A counterbalance to bullies and their behavior. Sometimes action/crime/thrillers cross the line into the art film world. Director Antoine Fuqua has clearly chosen that path, as […]
Blue Beetle
(***) It’s a start. One day Latino superheroes will be everyday marvels. Not a rarity. This is the beginning. Blue Beetle first appeared in a comic book back in 1939, in a story about an archaeologist who found a magical blue scarab in Egypt that gave him superpowers. It would eventually become part of DC […]
Gran Turismo
(***) Vroom. Vroom. Zoom. In his bedroom, he’s a helluva a race car driver. On the racetrack, he’s even better. That’s according to this very engaging bio/spo/dra. There’s a whole generation who know little about the outside world and more about the virtual one in their rooms. Nagging parents try to coax them out. Society […]
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