Fall Festival Roundup
POOR THINGS
Venice / Telluride/ TIFF /NYFF/BFI London Film Festival/Miskolc Cinefest
“A funny, sad, bawdy, beautiful concoction that will haunt and provoke in equal measure. The star of the show (in every way) is always Emma Stone, in a performance that pushes both her, and us, beyond any comfort zone.” – Total Film
“The two actors give career-best performances in Yorgos Lanthimos’ weird and wonderful new film. Stone’s wide eyes employed to perfection in Bella’s own wonder at the world. Holly Waddington’s costumes — a Vivienne Westwood-esque blending of Victorian, punk, and mod styling — aid in her transformation. Stone is a gifted comedic actress and she is an ideal match for Lanthimos’ tone, a strange mix of black comedy, farce, and social commentary” – Entertainment Weekly
“Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos fly their freak flags in a delicious coming-of-age story like no other” – Variety
“Yorgos Lanthimos’s luscious film about the human subject of a surgeon’s macabre experiment is a reminder of what a splendid, absurd thing it is to have a body and a mind… A film that gives pleasure in every fantastical frame”” – Sight and Sound
“Stuffed with rude delights, spry wit, radical fantasy and breathtaking design elements, the movie is a feast. And Emma Stone gorges on it in a fearless performance that traces an expansive arc most actors could only dream about.
James Price and Shona Heath’s sets are marvels of invention that treat the idea of period as a sandbox in which to run riot with a full range of architectural and decorative styles. That includes the Expressionistic sci-fi of Godwin’s lab; a luxury passenger ship that’s like an antique toy bursting with sumptuous interiors; and an other-worldly Alexandria hotel, a castle ascending all the way from the shoreline into the clouds on sandstone steps.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Robbie Ryan’s celluloid-shot images draw surprises and subtle depths out of the visual inventions in a film of extraordinary texture.” – Screen Daily
“Poor Things” is the best film of Lanthimos’ career and already feels like an instant classic, mordantly funny, whimsical and wacky, unprecious and unpretentious, filled with so much to adore that to try and parse it all here feels like a pitiful response to the film’s ambitions.” – Indie Wire
LEE
TIFF
“Kate Winslet excels in a complex biopic of a woman at war on many fronts” – Deadline
“Kate Winslet scores her best ever role in this biopic of a Vogue model-turned WW2 photographer” – BBC
“A satisfyingly textured portrait of a remarkable and unusual woman. Winslet’s outstanding performance, plus an impressive supporting cast should serve as a marketing hook for a film that has, if not breakout potential, then certainly the scope to become a mid-range arthouse success” – ScreenDaily
“Kate Winslet energizes a glossy biopic of Vogue photographer” -The Hollywood Reporter
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
TIFF
All the Light We Cannot See had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be available to stream starting November 2 on Netflix.
“Steven Knight and Shawn Levy’s series — featuring Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie — tells a story of hope, radio and the electromagnetic spectrum. A radiant lead performance from newcomer Aria Mia Loberti, a legally blind graduate student with no acting training, is such a good and pure presence that she almost salvages the show around her, grounding the series’ sense of jeopardy and even selling long and strange scenes in which her secret radio transmissions are treated as a diary ” – The Hollywood Reporter
“All the Light You Cannot See is speedy, tear-jerking, and handsome enough. Loberti is graceful and affecting as Marie, embodying the lead’s righteous sense of purpose while allowing for a child’s (or any human’s, really) raw fear to creep in during grave moments. ” – IndieWire