Three new reviews from TIFF
Roma ( out of 4): A masterful work of grace, compassion and insight by Alfonso Cuarón, about two women divided divided by class but linked by mis- fortune: f poor maid and nanny Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) and her affluent boss Sofia (Marina de Tavira), who both discover they cannot depend on the men in their lives. Cuaron’s vision within the Mexico City neigh- bourhood of his youthful memory, mirroring national issues and recreating the infamous Corpus Christi massacre of1971, is as expansive as it was for the cosmos in Gravity. Shot in velvety velvety B&W and with full appreci- ation a of the big screen — it’s a pity most people will see this via tti the t’s small a portrait screens of of personal Netflix — strength in a time of social turmoil. Peter Howell If Beale Street Could Talk ( K ): Like a great bluesman, Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins finds poetry in the lives of people struggling to surpass pain aaand cruel circumstances, often choosing c beautiful images over words. He’s the empathetic au- teur of choice to adapt James Baldwin’s classic novel of love and racial injustice, set in the Harlem of 1974. KiKi Layne seizes hearts and minds as Tish, 1119 years old and pregnant. She’s fighting for the release of her childhood friend Fonny (Toronto’s Stephan James), now her child’s father, who has been jailed by a racist cop on a false charge of rape. Imagine To Kill a Mockingbird told from the perspective of the maligned Black family rather than the well-intended white one. There’s no Atticus Finch to argue Fonny’s case, just a clockpunching lawyer, but the combination of Baldwin’s prose and Jenkins’ deeply humanistic filmmaking supply eloquence that transcends mere argument. PH The Grizzlies ( ): “To Sir, With Lovegoes to Nunavut” must have been the pitch line for this movie, but don’t let that make you sell it short. This defeature by Miranda de Pencier does indeed have the contours of that 1960s hit about a righteous teacher trying to break through to a rough gang of students, but it’s very much its own movie and also a true Canadian story, eh? Ben Schnetzer plays Russ Sheppard, a newly minted teacher who flies way north to Kugluk- tukk, a town with a skyrocketing suicide rate. His students give him a reception chillier than the Arctic air, until he suggests that they take up lacrosse, Can- ada’s national sport and his personal passion. An excellent cast that includes Tantoo Cardinal and Nunavut-based actors Paul Nutarariaq and Emerald MacDonald help enliven a tale you only think you’ve seen before.