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A Heavy Heart

A commanding performance from Peter Kurth as one-time East German boxing champ Herbert, an imposing tough guy who bullied and intimidated everyone around him from his family, to his boxing protégé and the people he muscles as a debt collector. He dismisses mounting signs of ill health but a diagnosis of ALS can’t be ignored. Herbert meets his physical deterioration with fury. Too late, he craves reconciliation, but his voice is gone. Student Academy Award winner Thomas Stuber makes a self-assured debut and creates an unforgettable character in Herbert, thanks to a stunning and intimate performance from Kurth. (3 p.m., Scotiabank). Linda Barnard

Stonewall

Filmmaker Roland Emmerich, best known for big-budget big action films such as Independence Day and 2012, goes for something much smaller in scale in a dramatization of New York’s Stonewall Riots of 1969, credited with launching the gay/les- bian rights movement. The script by Jon Robin Baitz will surely be regarded as too tepid by queer historians. But there are good performances by Jeremy Irvine as Danny, a Midwestern lad who gets caught up in the fury, and Jonny Beauchamp as Ray, plus Emmerich manages to capture some of the grit and tone of the period. (9:30 p.m., Roy Thomson Hall). Bruce DeMara

Youth

“Emotions can be overrated,” Michael Caine says in Paolo Sorrenti- no’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning The Great Beauty. This may be true, but not when emotions bypass logic and go straight for the heart. Set at a luxurious spa for people trying to relax, Sorrentino’s meditation on aging features great chemistry between Paul Dano, Harvey Keitel and Michael Caine, and the kind of cinematography that demands your attention. See it once to laugh and smile; see it twice to stop and think. There’s real humanity here, and it may hit closer to home than you’d expect. (3 p.m., Princess of Wales Theatre). Peter Howell