Richard Porton

TIFF Countdown -6: Miss Bala / Romeo Onze / The Cat Vanishes / Habemus Papum / i am a good person/i am a bad person / Coriolanus

Cinema Scope 48 Preview: Miss Bala (Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico) – Contemporary World Cinema By Adam Nayman The opening sequence of Miss Bala clings closely to its main character while coyly denying us a look at her face for as long as possible. This is partly because the build-up is worth it—star Stephanie Sigman is as…
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TIFF Countdown -7: A Dangerous Method / The Turin Horse / Dreileben

Cinema Scope 48 Preview: A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada/Germany) By Richard Porton The title of Russell Jacoby’s 1983 polemic, The Repression of Psychoanalysis, suggests that the radical implications of the Freudian tradition have become muddled in an era where nothing seems more safely middle-class than a session on the couch with the shrink of…
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TIFF Countdown -8: Monsieur Lazhar / Melancholia / Michael

Cinema Scope 48 Preview: Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau, Canada) By Jason Anderson Few lives go untouched by some form of trauma or catastrophe, yet compassion is often the last thing we spare for the people who cross our paths, especially when there’s no obvious indication they might need anything from us. This point was elegantly…
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