SCREENING TODAY AT TIFF

Forsaken

(out of 4) Donald Sutherland and Kiefer Sutherland appear onscreen for the first time playing their real-life roles of father and son in Jon Cassar’s (TV’s 24) period drama that embraces every element of vintage Westerns with unvarnished enthusiasm. Civil War veteran John Henry Clayton (Kiefer Sutherland), a one-time gunfighter with a secret, is returning home to face disappointment from his aging preacher father (Donald Sutherland) while desperate to avoid strapping on his guns to protect the town from land grabbers. Watching these fine actors play off each other is fascinating (9:30, Roy Thomson Hall).

Linda Barnard

Kilo Two Bravo

A small squad of British paratroopers walk along a dried-up riverbed in Afghanistan in 2006, unaware it’s studded with Russian landmines buried decades before. One solider is horrifically wounded, then another, the randomness of the explosions keeping tension nearly unbearable in stretches amid the wait for rescue in a place where a helicopter can’t land. While director Paul Katis holds nothing back, he also tempers the film with the soldiers’ gallows humour and camaraderie, adding layers of realism (3:45 p.m., Scotiabank) L.B.

Mississippi Grind

Two compulsive gamblers form an unlikely friendship and go on the road in this gritty, tension-filled tale that takes all kinds of unexpected turns.

Character actor Ben Mendelsohn dazzles alongside Ryan Reynolds, creating an edgy onscreen chemistry that works.

The script by co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck is loaded with great dialogue and attacks the subject matter — luck, loss and redemption — with confidence and poignancy (6:30, Roy Thomson Hall)

Bruce DeMara