-
Nika & Madison Review: TIFF 2025
•
In Canada, we have an ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. According to research done by Statistics Canada, women of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit descent are six times more likely to be murdered than their non-Indigenous counterparts. They also face assault, both physical and sexual, at disproportionately higher rates, and the perpetrators are…
-
“Modern Whore” Is an Entertaining and Necessary Doc on Sex Work | ForReel
•
Sex work is work. Let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. Society has traditionally looked down on sex work, and in particular sex workers, for various reasons rooted in dubious morality (and religion), but the fact remains that sex work is work, and sex workers are deserving of respect and…
-
“Noviembre” Is a Gripping Tour De Force That Turns History Into Harrowing Theatrical Experience | ForReel
•
On November 6th, 1985, a left-wing guerrilla group called Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19, for short) stormed the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, Colombia. The intent was to hold the Justices of the Supreme Court hostage and force a trial against President Belisario Betancur. What happened instead was one of the deadliest attacks in…
-
Meadowlarks Review: TIFF 2025 | That Shelf
•
In Canada, we like to think of ourselves as progressive and inclusive and, relative to other nations today, we most likely are. That hasn’t always been true; our history is littered with heinous events and policies that persecuted the Indigenous peoples of this country. One of the main efforts to erase Indigenous identity and…
-
“Burning” and the Art of Captivating Storytelling | ForReel
•
Storytelling has been a part of the human experience since the dawn of time. From cave paintings to campfire stories to novels to film, at our core, we want and need to tell stories, and our memory is key to the process. What we write is informed by our remembered experiences, as is how…
-
Foreigner Review: A Slick, Bubblegum Horror About Immigrant Experiences | That Shelf
•
Starting a new life in a new city is difficult. Moving takes time, money, and effort. You leave your support circle behind, and start fresh in a new place with few—if any—friends. It is a challenge, to say the least. Then consider that younger people also have to go to a new school in a new…
-
Lurker Review: Théodore Pellerin and Archie Madekwe Shine in an Exploration of Obsession | Awesome Friday!
•
Obsession is one of the great literary themes. One person in a position of power, another aspiring to attain it, a relationship between them evolving from fascination to camaraderie and into something else. Alex Russell, writer on such series as The Bear, Interior Chinatown, and Beef, takes on this classic setup in his first feature film, Lurker. …
-
‘Buffet Infinity’ Review – A Mildly Chaotic But Unique and Singular Film | Movies We Texted About
•
There are movies, and there are movies, and then there are the wild and experimental films that use the cinematic form to tell a story in a way that only filmmaking can. Buffet Infinity is one of this third type. Set in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Buffet Infinity plays out as a series of local news…
-
A Familiar Narrative Holds “The Bearded Girl” Back | ForReel
•
There was a time when we regarded circuses with awe. – when we’d file into circus grounds to see trapeze acts and contortionists, and wonders from far-off lands. But those days are largely in the past now. The Bearded Girl is a coming-of-age story set among the remnants of those days. Centred on a…
-
Dog of God Review: A Beautifully Animated Nightmare | That Shelf
•
The wonderful thing about animation is that it can be used to tell any kind of story. Too often, we deem animated films as somehow lesser than or relegate them to being just for kids even some of the most creative and inspiring films of late are animated. Into the Spider-Verse, Flee, Mad God, and last year’s Flow, to…
-
Redux Redux Review: A Satisfying Twist on the Multiverse | That Shelf
•
How far would you go for revenge? If someone were taken from you, what would you do to the person who took them? What would exacting that revenge do to you? How much of your humanity would you sacrifice? These are the kind of questions that no one will know the answer to until…
-
“The Well” Walks a Well Worn Path Through an Intriguing World | ForReel
•
Post-apocalyptic stories tend to serve as warnings that come in many forms; sometimes they are about how the apocalypse might unfold, or about the resources we will fight over, or the people who will be doing the fighting. Whether the future is filled with robots or devoid of resources, there’s always human drama and…
-
A Second Life Review: A Lovely Walk Through Paris | That Shelf
•
We’ve all felt depressed. It’s a fact that sometimes life will get you down, and if you let it, depression and anxiety can isolate you from having any meaningful relationships. The luckiest of us have only had fleeting experience with this, but all of us have felt it at one time or another. A Second Life is…
-
Strong Performances Keeps “Horsegirls” on Track | ForReel
•
Horsegirls is a unique film about a young woman’s journey to find her place in the world. It hits several beats that you will see coming along the way, but it gets there with some important distinctions and directions that you perhaps won’t. Margarita (Lillian Carrier) is 22 and autistic. She lives with her…
-
“Birthright” Goes Horrifyingly Wrong in All the Right Ways | ForReel
•
There is, it is fair to say, often generational divides. One that we are living through today is between millennials (who are now in their 30s and 40s) and boomers (who are now mostly retired). Boomers grew up in a world that had ample opportunity, and a more fair distribution of wealth, whereas millennials…