The Film Stage

TIFF Review: In Afterlife Rom-Com Eternity, Elizabeth Olsen Navigates an Impossible Choice
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How do you want to spend eternity? That’s the primary question at the heart of David Freyne’s Eternity, a high-concept relationship comedy (which he co-wrote with Patrick Cunnane) that envisions the afterlife like a never-ending theme park vacation. Instead of knocking...
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TIFF Review: Julian Offers a Queer Love Story of Pain and Preservation
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It’s a fleeting, impermanent moment. At a concert, Fleur (Nina Meurisse) locks eyes with Julian (Laurence Roothooft) just as she takes her seat, and suddenly a spark takes hold. The fascination and mutual attraction quickly becomes a courtship, then a...
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The History of Sound Review: A Tenderly Felt Drama with Terence Davies-Style Musicality
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Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Cannes coverage. The History of Sound opens in theaters on September 12. It’s strange to hear backwood Appalachian fiddle folk in a French theater at the hand of a...
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Happyend Review: Neo Sora Poignantly Explores our Responses to an Impending Future
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Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Venice coverage. Happyend opens in theaters on September 12. “Something big is about to change,” is surely one ominous beginning for a debut fiction feature, but director Neo Sora...
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Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) Review: Directorial Debut Captures Bittersweet Longing
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Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Sundance coverage. Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) opens in theaters on September 12. Filmmaker Sierra Falconer’s Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) captures a bittersweet feeling....
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Rabbit Trap Review: Dev Patel Leads Wholly Immersive Horror Story
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Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Sundance coverage. Rabbit Trap opens in theaters on September 12. It’s always thrilling when a horror film explores the power and possibility of sound. Much modern horror is too...
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TIFF Review: Claire Denis’ The Fence Takes an Unnerving Stare Into Darkness
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Is the idea of a Claire Denis film changing? There was likely an image one formed in their head when that name emerged: elliptical, sexy, avant-garde. Yet recent works are suggesting a different direction, one far more direct and less...
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Urchin Trailer: Harris Dickinson’s Riveting Directorial Debut Arrives This October
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While the only thing more hit-or-miss than directorial debuts are directorial debuts from actors, one of the more accomplished in recent memory is Harris Dickinson’s Urchin. The rather riveting character study follows a London man trapped in a cycle of...
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Where to Land Review: Hal Hartley Returns with Shaggy and Spellbinding Drama
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“I’m done being a superhero.” An international movie star who’s become synonymous with her intergalactic onscreen persona in a wildly successful television show, Muriel (Kim Taff) has reached her creative breaking point. She confesses as much to her boyfriend Joe...
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“I Like Films That Are Quieter in Their Execution”: Sierra Falconer on Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake)
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Sunfish (& Other Stories on Green Lake) is the kind of small film you hope to discover at a festival. Written and directed by Sierra Falconer in her feature debut, this lovely drama is built from her own personal history....
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