By Anne Brodie Canadian-Pakistani filmmaker Zarrar Kahn’s eerie winner of multiple international awards In Flames is an unusual and intriguing family drama with strong thriller elements, biting social and cultural commentary and an astounding ending. Mariam (Ramesha Nawal) and her mother Farhia (Bakhtawar Mazhar) live in a small apartment in Karachi with Marian’s little brother Bilal (Jibran Khan). Uncle Nasir… View Post
By Anne Brodie Outrageously, hilariously potty-mouther Wicked Little Letters starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley looks at what can happen in the small English village of Littlehampton in the 20s when a peculiar prank befouls the air. Prim Edith Swan (Colman), a deeply religious, conservative spinster still living with her parents in her fifth or sixth decade receives profanity-crammed anonymous… View Post
As Earth Month begins, I can’t help but think of its journey from creating environmental awareness and pushing for change in the 1970s to its current iteration; a 9-1-1 call for the planet. Despite decades of activism, we now find ourselves at a critical crossroads, facing the very real impacts of climate change and the awareness that the fossil fuel… View Post
By Anne Brodie Steven Zaillian’s black and white iteration of Patricia Highsmith’s evergreen psychological thriller simply called Ripley starts slow but by Ep 3, you’re done for, hooked, breathlessly anxious to see what follows. You can’t look away anymore. Andrew Scott’s black, blank eyes are effective as Tom Ripley constantly seeks targets and escape routes; he’s a liar and thief… View Post
As March swiftly transitions into April, I find myself eagerly anticipating the arrival of warm weather and gardening, especially after enduring one of the greyest winters on record here in Ottawa. The shift to longer days has also begun to lift my spirits, despite my hatred of Daylight Saving Time. What can I say except two things can be true… View Post
Tamson Grieg is Lady Helen Gwinear, an embittered shrew of a mother whose daughter Nell has run off to join a band of 17th-century highwaymen in The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. It’s no wonder. Lady Helen runs some pretty rough business as head of her own criminal organization, but worse, she has no idea how to be a… View Post