Film-Forward

Foreign

Charcoal | TIFF 2022

This well-calibrated droll and dark satire has a life force that courses in serpentine ways that recall Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.

The Banshees of Inisherin | TIFF 2022

A return to form for Martin McDonagh, with this dark, macabre comedy. Though the story is gritty, grim, and grotesque, the location lends it an almost epic-like grandeur.

Peter Von Kant

François Ozon’s film feels like a lighter version of its source material, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, less Jean Genet and more Noël Coward.

My Donkey, My Lover, & I

A fizzy, feel-good comedy that believes in the goodness of the human heart, even if the brain attached is a little flighty.

Both Sides of the Blade

A moody movie for fans of Claire Denis’s more recent work, character studies with dense emotions to unpack.

Olga

A competitive Ukrainian gymnast faces a painful choice: potential gold medals or her identity as a Ukrainian.

Brian and Charles

An odd, very dry British comedy, takes a while to rev up.

A Chiara

Calabrian life, as depicted here, moves in step with corruption that can be either purposefully pursued or casually accepted, but is always expected.

Happening

Few movies can be as topical right now as Happening. It plunges us back to the rotten old days when there were almost zero options out of an unwanted pregnancy.