ALSO OPENING
BELOW HER MOUTH
It wasn’t quite the “entirely f emale crew” suggested by the write- up at the Toronto International Film Festival — I see that Jason Knight was the casting director — but Below Her Mouth certainly brings a female perspective to this story of lesbian romance. Jasmine ( Natalie Krill) is a fashion editor engaged to fiancé Rile ( Sebastian Pigott) when she suddenly falls hard for newly single roofer Dallas ( Erika Linder). Some scenes feel natural, but the sex scenes come off as scripted, and there certainly are a lot of them — Dallas and Jasmine make out in cars, bars, tubs, stairs, bedrooms, the Toronto Islands and more. April Mullen directs from a screenplay from first- timer Stephanie Fabrizi. Below Her Mouth opens Feb. 10 across Canada.
KISS & CRY
When 19- year- old Carley Allison died from a rare form of cancer in 2015, thousands gathered at her memorial in Brampton, Ont. The aspiring figure skater had become a YouTube sensation for a video of her singing More Than This shortly after surgery to remove a tumour in her trachea. She also kept a blog to chronicle her struggle. Now Toronto director Sean Cisterna delivers Kiss & Cry, a musical- romance biopic starring Sarah Fisher as Allison. Not only is this movie based on a true story; Fisher was Allison’s best friend. Kiss and Cry opens Feb. 10 at the Carlton cinema in Toronto after a series of special screenings on World Cancer Day, Feb. 4.
1 NIGHT
Millennials, take note: You are the “older generation” in this first film from writer/director Minhal Baig. 1 Night stars Isabelle Fuhrman and Kyle Allen as Bea and Andy, high-schoolers on prom night. At a hotel they bump into Liz and Drew ( Anna Camp and Justin Chatwin) who have booked a room and plan to pretend they’re strangers, as a way of reigniting the spark in their relationship. What follows is an evening of reminiscences, recriminations and possible romance. 1 Night opens Feb. 10 at the Carlton cinema in Toronto.
EXIT: MUSIC
When t he Nazis t ook power in 1933 it disrupted a thriving arts community in Germany. In Exit: Music, director James Murdoch and writer Simon Wynberg ( also artistic director of Toronto’s Artists of the Royal Conservatory or ARC Ensemble) examine the lives of five musicians and composers displaced by the Third Reich — Paul Frankenburger, Adolf Busch, Walter Braunfels, Erich Korngold and Mieczyslaw Weinberg. But ARC has gone one step further, researching, restoring and playing lost works from these composers, and thus giving a true voice to history. Exit: Music screens Feb 10 through Feb. 16 at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers cinema in Toronto. Murdoch and Wynberg will participate in Q&As on Feb. 10, 15 and 16.