TIFF: "Bonjour Tristesse"... but with cell phones

by Matt St Clair

Photo Credit: Giacomo Bernasconi

When the 1958 film adaptation of the novel Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan was released, it was both a beacon for the arrival of star Jean Seberg and a showcase for six-time Oscar-nominated legend Deborah Kerr to play with her star persona. Kerr’s interpretation of the high-strung Anne Larsen was a send-up of her “proper English ladies” casting niché that simultaneously allowed her to play into her sex appeal seen previously in From Here to Eternity and An Affair to Remember. 

The newest film adaptation from author-turned-director Durga Chew-Bose follows the same story beat-for-beat...

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TIFF: Ralph Fiennes carries the engaging and tense "Conclave

by Matt St Clair

Ralph Fiennes in "Conclave" © Focus Features

After taking audiences through the treacherous WWI battlefields in the Oscar-winning epic All Quiet on the Western Front, director Edward Berger crafts a different exercise in tension in the form of a Pope election with Conclave, a high-stakes thriller based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris that is full of high-stakes political intrigue and stellar performances...

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TIFF '23: Jodie Comer astounds in "The End We Start From"

by Matt St Clair

The first glance of the title The End We Start From, immediately brough the past few years to mind. Once the COVID pandemic turned the world upside down, we all lived in physical and mental isolation, fearing what the coming days would bring. While the virus hasn’t disappeared, we have found ways to move forward and start anew during uncertain times. This film's nameless protagonist (a sublime Jodie Comer) experiences a cataclysmic crisis and does the same thing.

Just as the heroine has given birth to a newborn, a catastrophic flood strikes England...

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TIFF '23: Kate Winslet elevates "Lee"

by Matt St Clair

Kate Winslet as "Lee"

After winning an Emmy for Mare of Easttown, I wondered how Kate Winslet would follow up her career-best work on the acclaimed HBO miniseries. Her latest starring vehicle, Lee, looked like a worthy follow-up project on paper. Winslet collaborates with cinematographer-turned-director Ellen Kuras, who lensed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which featured Winslet’s other greatest performance. Sadly, only Winslet’s performance lives up to the promise of the reunion...

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Review: A quartet of actresses grace "The Miracle Club"

by Matt St Clair

Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club is the latest entry in the multiverse involving pictures where elderly, award-winning actress legends unite Avengers-style for an adventure. However, compared to previous entries in the unofficial multiverse like Book Club, 80 for Brady, and Poms, The Miracle Club is a more profound effort. There are moments of humor to be found in this story about friends coming together for a potentially “last” trip to fulfill an unrealized dream or goal but The Miracle Club leans heavily on the dramatic side.

Set in 1960s Ireland, Oscar winners Kathy Bates and Dame Maggie Smith play Eileen and Lily, two close-knit friends from the working-class village of Ballygar...

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