The Kid Detective Review TIFF 2020
The Plot
A once celebrated and respected kid detective, now 31, continues to solve the same trivial mysteries between hangovers and bouts of self-pity. Until a naïve young client offers him a daunting last chance at redemption by hiring him to solve her boyfriend’s brutal murder.
The Good
The Kid Detective has a unique and wildly enjoyable tone that seamlessly blends playfully wry and self-aware comedic charm with unashamedly serious film noir drama. It’s a simple premise that expertly juxtaposes the quaint small-town setting and quirky inhabitants with the typically gritty motifs of gumshoe detective drama.
There’s something deeply poetic about Adam Brody’s casting in the role as washed up child prodigy Abe Applebaum. As an actor who has actually faced the potentially crushing weight of his own overwhelming adolescent achievements. As a star of the wildly popular teen dramedy The OC, his own career since has been forged under the shadow of that overnight sensation status. It lends an extra dimension of sincerity to watching an evidently jaded man struggle to forge a legitimately adult identity in the wake of ever fading pubescent glory. His eternally youthful face is more weatherworn and authentically aged, having evolved from a relentless teenage quip machine into a more subtle and likeably restrained charm.
Brody’s note perfect performance captures the fragile and fundamentally broken nature of the character. Traumatised by very real pain and striving desperately for some form of closure. His legitimately young co-star Sophie Nelisse is by contrast a wide eyed delight as Caroline, the girl who places an unlikely amount of trust in the former boy wonder. The pair work excellently together in giving the film a playful whimsical tone without ever being outright silly or childish.
Watching Brody’s well-intentioned detective tactlessly interrogating high schoolers and sneaking awkwardly around suburban homes could have quickly descended into ridiculousness, but there’s something sincerely heartfelt about this story and the film makes devastating shifts into truly gripping suspense thriller.
This film is not just a simple slice of whimsical comedy, it’s also a legitimate Sherlockian mystery that shockingly sucker punches audiences with astonishingly devastating denouements.
The Bad
It’s exceedingly rare to have nothing bad to say about a film. This is one such occasion. Some may find the film’s basic premise off-putting or assume the films early flashes of childishness are all it has to offer. But I urge those people to give the film a chance. It is so much more than you think and a legitimately rewarding adult experience.
The Ugly Truth
The Kid Detective is a sensational slice of cinematic genius packed with wit, heart and charm. Adam Brody and Sophie Nelisse are a perfect pairing that take audiences from fits of giggles to stunned gasps. It’s difficult to do justice to just how special and truly original this film is. It is undoubtedly one of the finest gifts of this year’s Toronto Film festival and a must see future cult classic.
Review by Russell Nelson
Monday Review TIFF 2020
The Plot
Wildly sexual and romantic sparks fly when two Americans Chloe and Mickey meet in Greece and launch into an unlikely relationship, facing the immediate pressure of her imminently planned departure back to America. Their powerful connection instantly provokes difficult questions about whether or not it’s possible for such a spontaneous encounter to actually lead to a serious future.
The Good
Monday is a sensuous and wildly passionate romantic drama instantly ignited by the bristling chemistry instantly created between the astonishingly gifted talents of Sebastian Stan and Dennis Gough.
Sebastian Stan oozes the most undeniable charisma on screen. Beyond his indisputably chiselled and perfectly handsome good looks there’s a warm truly appealing lustre to his character. It will be hard for audiences to avoid being quickly swept up in his relentless wit and explosive passion. It’s truly rare to see such an authentic display of raw magnetism on screen. He is exactly the type of person that could propel a virtual stranger to abandon their existing life plans in favour of a sun drenched life together.
There’s also a vulnerability and authentically raw quality to his performance that gives the film layers and nuance. The film pushes beyond the initial adrenaline fuelled rush of a new relationship and through the at times difficult process of uncovering flaws and unforeseen problems.
Denise Gough delivers a flawless American accent and makes Chloe a wonderful counterpoint to Sebastian Stan’s Mickey. Despite their obvious chemistry there are clear differences between her maturely composed Lawyer and his free spirited man-child musician. The tensions between their two very different worlds literally explodes when their wildly different social circles collide. It’s a very stark illustration of the unexpected trauma that can follow taking a leap of faith with a new romantic partner.
Beyond the films amazing captivating central pairing a special mention must be given to Yorgos Pirpassopoulos playing Mickey’s flamboyant best friend Argyris. He is a persistently joyous and sincere voice in the film that helps invest audiences even more affectionately in Stan’s character. Likewise the film’s excellent and uplifting soundtrack injects consistent pounding energy into proceedings. It gives the film a pulsating hedonistic quality that embodies the rampant real life abandonment of true unrestrained passion.
Ultimately the complex course of this new couple’s recklessly romantic path is compellingly joyous and whistful in ways which will no doubt linger with an audience long after the film ends. There is a true sexual intensity to their performances rarely captured on screen.
The Bad
Much like life’s real passions and romantic adventures it’s a little shame that this film can’t just maintain its early optimism and joyous abandonment. It would be easy to spend much longer getting to simply enjoy these two characters swimming in their heady uncomplicated lust. It’s perhaps unwelcome when the reality of problems and ugly truths starts to emerge. It’s painful and imperfect in ways that are tragically honest and self-destructive. It’s a little genuinely disheartening to see the film lurch from sunny escapism to starkly bleak reality.
The film isn’t the simply escapist romantic fantasy its early portions seem to promises it to be. That may give the film more depth and drama but it won’t necessarily be what every audience wants to see.
The Ugly Truth
Monday is a truly compelling unflinching portrait of the course of new romance and passion in its purest form. It’s a headlong dive into the uniquely sex soaked and intense rush of new love and the grounding at times painful aftermath. Two astonishing lead performance combine in the most bravely intimate of ways to invest audiences in these characters in totally authentic ways.
Review by Russell Nelson
The Third Day Review TIFF 2020
The Plot
Sam a man already dealing with complicated personal problems and a traumatic past ends up unintentionally trapped on a mysterious island off the British coast. Unable to return to the mainland or easily contact the outside world, he grapples to understand the inhabitants and their strange customs. Faced by turns with an idyllic lurid paradise and the constant threat of something more ominous and fiercely dangerous lurking beneath the surface of the clearly complicated townsfolk. Helen another outsider also finds herself drawn in by the pull of the island, on her own quest for answers…
The Good
Co-creator Dennis Kelly bring much of the same unique visual style and warped intensity of his previous series Utopia to screen in this new deeply ambitious project. The screen is drenched in saturated colours, surreal visual cues and purposefully intimate an at times deeply claustrophobic cinematographer. The camera sits uncomfortably close to lead Jude Law during the opening portion of what swiftly becomes a wildly strange journey into the unknown.
The production has a unique format with two episodic portions split by plans for a unique 12 hours live TV event. The initial instalments titled as Summer follow Sam’s journey. The Final chapters as Winter are set to follow Naomi Harris as Helen, another headstrong outsider searching for answers. Inbetween those is the insanely ambitious planned Autumn portion, a half day long single camera continuous broadcast performance. It’s the result of a decade of planning for creators Dennis Kelly and Felix Barrett.
The production boasts as truly sensational cast. Beyond the appealing co-leads of Jude Law and Naomi Harris he supporting cast is casually packed with familiar and very talented faces. Katherine Waterstone, Paddy Considine and Emily Watson are the kind of special acting talents that can ignite even the most simple of scenes into fascinating drama. Collectively they help craft the deeply mysterious and visceral world. The other less recognisable townsfolk are well cast and each inject a brooding sense of mystery and barely concealed sinister peril.
The combination of strange and unsettling imagery, a ruthlessly claustrophobic setting and this all-star cast make The Third Day utterly compelling viewing and a truly unique experience. It remains to be seen just what the planned 12 hour instalment will add to the intense journey already offered by the episodic portions.
The Bad
The hyper-stylised look and feel of the woozy production will be a little too unsettling for some audiences. The effect of overly saturated colours, incessantly point blank camera work and frequently bizarre and ugly imagery will be simply too jarring and strange for more squeamish audiences. The punch-drunk and perverse aura of the production will not be to everyone’s tastes, even if admittedly well crafted.
It’s also a little unclear just how the 12 hours largely improvised live broadcast actually functions. How can the cast and production possibly deliver such a vast and untested form of drama. The obvious potential for disaster is undeniable even if the impressive scope of the ambition is equally certain.
The Ugly Truth
The Third Day is an ambitious and clearly unique piece of event television that is propelled by a fiercely original creative team and one of the most stellar casts assembled for the small screen. Whatever the rest of the production holds in store it will clearly be much discussed event television packed with memorable mysteries.
Review by Russell Nelson
The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Review TIFF 2020
The Plot
A documentary sequel to the landmark 2003 film The Corporation. The original tackled the evolving and problematic effects of Corporations on the economy, environment and society at large. This sequel picks up that damning character assassination by examining the past 17 years of corporate crimes and misbehaviour, including the 2008 global economic collapse.
The Good
In 2003 The Corporation was a piece of documentary cinema that fundamentally changed the public perception of what that word meant, by shining a light on the destructive often outright criminal behaviour of these all powerful and increasingly pervasive global business institutions. It was a damming critique of the greed and borderline psychotic actions of companies fuelled by a constant need for shareholder returns in spite of an astonishing human cost.
This astonishingly well produced sequel proves to be just as well evidenced and articulated a reminder of these deeply uncomfortable truths. Shamelessly intelligent and densely detailed, this new documentary systematically pulls apart the marketing manipulations and false promises of Corporations that have battled to restore their image in the face of an increasingly self-aware and enraged public. Step by step the film outlines the ways in which Corporations have sought to disguise their persistent misdeed with cynically calculated marketing campaigns and by cynically adopting a new language of ‘social responsibility’.
The original documentary examined the inherent dangers of treating corporate entities legally as the equivalent of actual people. In practice often affording them even greater rights and legal protections than individuals. This new documentary now sets out to pose the equally troubling observation that those same Companies are now effectively being treated as the equivalent of major countries. This phenomenon occurring because the sheer scale of economic power held by these companies individually is now actual directly equivalent or even in excess of many national GDPs.
It has long been a universally accepted truth that individuals have no power to hold Corporations to account. The troubling question this film now asks is whether it’s even possible for national political, financial and social institutions to exert any meaningful control on Companies which innately control every aspect of our economic and technological existence. Is it even possible for any one country to fulfil that function, faced with trillion dollar multinational corporations? Entities so vast and beyond the scope of any one jurisdiction that they effectively operate without any form of restraint, totally free of consequence. How can we ever hope to regain any shred of control over Companies which can now treat $14 billion dollar fines as a minor inconvenience, dwarfed by their incalculably vast revenue streams?
This film does a remarkably good job of examining these unsettling questions and establishing the real risks that Corporate interests may ultimately succeed in replacing all basic functions of governments and in so doing extend their control over our lives to even greater and more dangerous extents. The documentary is ruthless in explaining every steps in the worrying road already taken and the obvious perils that lie ahead if we continue our reckless march towards abandoning freedom for the corporate convince of new technologies and seemingly simplified daily lives.
The Bad
As the self-aware title suggests it is unfortunate that this film needs to exist and that the urgent warnings provided by the 2003 original have not stopped any of the abundantly troubling events of the past 17 years.
Though the original film in part catalysed urgent PR offensives to rehabilitate the public images of major corporations, perhaps those shameless attempts to once again trick people into accepting the actions of global corporations as a necessary evil or at least an inescapable reality, have been far too effective. It remains to be seen whether or not this new film can have an even more significant impact on the perceptions and behaviours of Corporations.
While this film is uniquely well crafted it’s also fair to admit that many people will simply want to outright ignore this troubling subject matter, or at least consume it in a far less concentrated form. Although each piece of the film is methodically produced and simply explained, it is apologetically intelligent and demanding viewing.
The Ugly Truth
The New Corporation is an undeniably necessary documentary that should be compulsory viewing for anyone struggling to understand the seemingly complex nightmare of vast global financial ruin and social collapse that ordinary people have endured in recent decades. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to equip yourself with the knowledge to confront these deeply disturbing truths and… WATCH THIS FILM.
Review by Russell Nelson
Penguin Bloom Review TIFF 2020
The Plot
Inspired by a true story and a bestselling book, Penguin Bloom follows the poignant journey of a family dealing with the difficult aftermath of a traumatic event whose lives are unexpectedly transformed by adopting an abandoned baby magpie.
The Good
Penguin Bloom is a genuinely poignant look at a families struggle to deal with and overcome the new challenges and emotional burdens of living with life changing disability.
Naomi Watts gives a characteristically unflinching performance as a wife and mother redefining her sense of self after an accident leads leaves her paralysed from the chest down. The talented two time best actress Oscar nominee runs the full gambit of emotions moving gradually from a state of angry despair towards a cathartic and almost euphoric new happiness. Though the physical limitations she portrays are understated on camera, it’s the credibility of her emotional portrayal that if far more impactful.
Alongside Watts The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln effectively plays a devoted husband and father. His subtle Australian accent work is particularly flawless to the point of being entirely unnoticeable and his flashes of raw emotion are heartfelt. The young actors playing their three sons are also all equally well chosen and natural in their performances, showing none of the distracting stage school affections all too common in child actors. Together the core cast form a truly plausible family unit.
A brilliant supporting cast lead by the talented familiar faces of Jackie Weaver and Rachel House flesh out the world beyond the immediate Bloom family with warmth and humour. These are particularly invaluable contributions that help to offset some of the film’s bleaker moments and more sombre early tone.
The titular magpie hero named ‘Penguin Bloom’ is obviously a scene stealing star for the production. The well trained authentic aviary hero holds audience’s attention and populates the screen with an endless array of cute moments likely to impact and inspire audiences just as much as they did for the real family.
The Bad
The film requires a degree of patience as the earliest stages are both slow moving and uncomfortably anguished. This is a necessary jumping off point for a tale which is ultimately uplifting and inspiring but nevertheless it challenges audiences to push past that initial discomfort.
This film may also prove particularly challenging for anyone whose life has been similarly effected by life changing medical circumstance. However whilst that might trigger a deeper vein of emotions it will also make such audience members even more appreciative about seeing this journey authentically captured on screen.
The Ugly Truth
Penguin Bloom challenges audiences and is a deeply emotional exploration of an incredibly sensitive subject matter. It remains both authentically upsetting and ultimately inspiring and cathartic. It’s a powerful portrait of family love and true healing.
Review by Russell Nelson