The Film Stage

While watching the latest take on Alexandre Dumas’ literary classic, this time by directors Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (who just adapted Dumas’ The Three Musketeers in 2023), I wondered if I was enjoying myself for the wrong...

David Lynch’s slow drip of material continues apace. In the month since announcing his and Chrystabell’s new album Cellophane Memories he’s released two music videos––expected roll-out for a project of this kind. Which makes a bit more compelling Lynch’s latest...

White Reindeer and Little Sister director Zach Clark returned to the festival circuit last year with The Becomers, a sci-fi tale narrated by none other than Sparks frontman Russell Mael and starring Molly Plunk, Mike Lopez, Keith Kelly, Isabel Alamin,...

Turkish director Burak Çevik’s fifth feature asks a perennial question (is there politics without violence?) and answers rather grimly, showing how in Turkey, circa the late 1970s (at least), there was no room for non-violent approaches. Nothing in Its Place,...

Just a day after New York Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival made major announcements, Venice Film Festival is here with their full lineup ahead of the festival taking place August 28 through September 7. Highlights include Pedro Almodóvar’s...

Following 2017’s You Were Never Really Here, we recently learned Lynne Ramsay would finally be embarking on her next feature in Canada in just a few weeks. An adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s 2019 novel Die, My Love, the film follows...

“They’ve gone into their dream.” That’s what the non-corporeal extraterrestrial entity (voiced by Dimitri Doré) says through a highly malleable seed that Elsa Martens (Megan Northam) places in her ear. The words are meant to comfort her when the first...

After the dark comedy Come to Daddy, New Zealand director Ant Timpson travels back to his home country with lead actor Elijah Wood for Bookworm, an adventure designed for all ages. In his introduction at the opening of Montreal’s Fantasia...

Understanding and appreciation of Claire Denis has long faced the vacancy of No Fear, No Die, her 1992 feature pitting Alex Descas and Isaach de Bankolé in the world of cockfighting. Whether you’ve watched the fuzzy DVD rip that’s satiated...

It’s Lola’s (Jeremy Moineau) first time back in her small hometown since leaving for the big city at 16 and transitioning. Thus she expects drama––either because the locals are still stuck under 1950s-era gender norms or because her old bullies...