Film Reviews by Joanne Laurier
Polanski’s Carnage: Not a dispute about fundamentals
By Joanne Laurier, February 10, 2012
In New York City, cordiality turns to anger and chaos when two sets of parents meet to discuss an altercation between their 11-year-old sons.
The Artist: An amiable gimmick
By Joanne Laurier, January 7, 2012
The near-silent, black-and-white film recounts the demise of a fictitious silent screen icon.
Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar
By Joanne Laurier, November 17, 2011
Clint Eastwood’s new film treats the life and times of J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director and a malignant presence in American society for nearly half a century.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 5
The defense of Iranian filmmakers, and their artistic decline
By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, October 26, 2011
The recent Toronto film festival screened several films from Iran—including This is Not a Film, about the house arrest of filmmaker Jafar Panahi, co-directed by Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, and Good Bye from Mohammad Rasoulof.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 4
The permanent, painful search for truth
By Joanne Laurier, October 15, 2011
A number of films at the recent Toronto film festival offered serious presentations of life and artistic problems themselves.
Toronto International Film Festival 2011—Part 2
Crimes and upheavals past and present
By Joanne Laurier, October 5, 2011
The best films from France in recent years have concerned themselves with the country’s colonial past and related issues today.
Incendies: Trauma and tragedy in the Middle East
By Joanne Laurier, June 28, 2011
Based on the acclaimed play by Wajdi Mouawad, French Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has fashioned a movie that evokes Lebanon’s painful conflicts in the 1970s and 1980s.
HBO’s Mildred Pierce: A Depression-era drama aimed at a contemporary audience
By Joanne Laurier, April 29, 2011
Based on the novel by James M. Cain, director Todd Haynes’s five-part miniseries is an account of an unhealthy mother-daughter relationship in 1930s southern California.
David O. Russell’s The Fighter: “Big-hearted” people treated seriously
By Joanne Laurier, January 11, 2011
Set in the early 1990s, the movie fictionally recounts the story of welterweight Micky Ward and his trainer, half-brother Dicky Eklund, as they battle poverty and adversity.
The Next Three Days: a thriller with something more on its mind
By Joanne Laurier, December 30, 2010
A drama starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks in which a woman is accused of murdering her boss after an altercation at work. Her college professor husband becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail.
Three films: Conviction, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Inside Job
By Joanne Laurier, November 9, 2010
A number of films that appeared at the 2010 Toronto film festival, and on which we commented, have opened in North America. We repost the comments today.
Toronto International Film Festival 2010—Part 2
Tears of Gaza director: “How could one not want to show the world what is happening?”
By Joanne Laurier, September 28, 2010
Tears of Gaza, directed by Norway’s Vibeke Løkkeberg, is a powerful documentary. The filmmakers collected video footage shot by Palestinians during the Israeli onslaught in December 2008-January 2009. The film follows three children in particular.
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