Month: September 2016 | www.jaredmobarak.com

TIFF16 REVIEW: Souvenir [2016]

2016/09/082016/12/05 Jared Mobarak

“Like ABBA but not so famous” It starts with bubbles. So many bubbles rising slowly in liquid as the opening credits in script font flash onscreen. And when the camera finally pans out to see what it’s been that’s mesmerized us so? A glass of water with an Alka-Seltzer dropped in, of course. This is the humor director Bavo Defurne and his co-writers Jacques Boon and Yves Verbraeken infuse throughout their outside-the-box romance Souvenir. As it is the woman about to drink this concoction is hardly special: she lives alone,…

TIFF16 REVIEW: The Magnificent Seven [2016]

2016/09/082016/09/14 Jared Mobarak

“It won’t sweeten, it’ll only sour” I’m at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to the new The Magnificent Seven despite going in thinking it’d be the other way around. Here I was anticipating that I’d be able to watch the film with a completely blank slate because I’ve never seen the 1960 version nor have I yet been able to sit down for what is surely one of cinema’s greats: Akira Kurosawa‘s Seven Samurai. So, pretending to be a true millennial that doesn’t realize movies were made before those…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Past Life [2016]

2016/09/062016/09/14 Jared Mobarak

“In tragedy you can’t escape fate” It’s 1977 and you’re the lead soprano in your first international concert. Rapturous applause and a flawless performance later you find yourself hobnobbing with classmates and audience members alike, the famed German composer Thomas Zielinski (Rafael Stachowiak) even enters to the crowd’s delight. But rather than let the electricity of the moment overwhelm you and bask in the glory of a successful evening, you can’t help noticing an older woman walking towards you with a scowl on her face. She asks your name, inquires…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Nikdy nejsme sami [We Are Never Alone] [2016]

2016/09/052016/09/14 Jared Mobarak

“Those afraid to die are afraid to live” Fans of Quentin Dupieux should rejoice because I haven’t seen a film this absurdly hilarious since Wrong. Petr Václav‘s Nikdy nejsme sami [We Are Never Alone] is definitely bleaker, darker, and strangely realist, but it has that same sense of subtle humor to give you pause about the meaning of what’s thus far been viewed. The story concerns two families with certifiably insane patriarchs, a local pimp searching for escape, and the whore he deludes himself into thinking loves him despite her…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Tereddüt [Clair Obscur] [2017]

2016/09/052017/05/01 Jared Mobarak

“Like a thorn” Life for a woman like Elmas (Ecem Uzun) in Turkey is a living nightmare. An eighteen-year old all but sold to a willing husband (Serkan Keskin‘s Koca) much older than she to clean his house, give her mother-in-law (Sema Poyraz‘s Kaynana) across the hall insulin shots, and—marriage or not—get raped every night, she’s gradually losing her sense of identity and mind. She’s so young and unversed in the world that she makes a game out of folding the sheets atop their bed to see whether a coin…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Without Name [2016]

2016/09/052016/09/14 Jared Mobarak

“Best to sleep with your pajamas on inside out, yeah?” For someone afraid of loneliness, Eric (Alan McKenna) sure loves putting himself in positions that can’t help isolating him from the world. A land surveyor who specializes in remote areas and works by himself unless apprentice-of-sorts Olivia (Niamh Algar) can tear herself away from her thesis to help, his long hours and extramarital affair (also when Olivia can put down her studies) risk destroying a marriage already on the rocks. He must work to keep his family together and therefore…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Zacma [Blindness] [2016]

2016/09/042016/09/14 Jared Mobarak

“Hatred conceals faith” The roles have been reversed for Julia Brystygier (Maria Mamona), the once powerful colonel in the USSR’s Ministry. She interrogated countless enemies of the state, namely Catholics who rejected the communist concepts ruling them. The human body was her canvas, torture her paintbrush—nothing was out of bounds as far as acquiring the information she sought. But that was years ago. Now she’s a private citizen like the masses trying to survive. A lucky one too considering many of her superiors during that period are now in jail…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Fixeur [The Fixer] [2017]

2016/09/042016/12/31 Jared Mobarak

“We’re journalists not activists. It’s not the same thing.” Some people can’t help themselves from striving to be the best whether that means winning a contest, getting a promotion, earning accolades, or proving you’re the only one able to accomplish an impossible task. They want to be relied upon for results. Radu (Tudor Istodor) is all the above. Doing what he’s told isn’t enough—he looks beyond what’s asked to discover what’s needed. And when it comes to career this character trait has served him well. He possesses the connections, intelligence,…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Tyttö nimeltä Varpu [Little Wing] [2016]

2016/09/042016/09/14 Jared Mobarak

“Varpu Vanamo raspberry nose, teeny weeny toffee toes” The director of Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?, the hilarious 2014 Oscar nominee for Best Short Film, is back with her sophomore feature narrative Tyttö nimeltä Varpu [Little Wing]. Taking on writing responsibilities this go-round, Selma Vilhunen supplies a much more dramatic work than her aforementioned claim to fame. It’s also a lot more personal with young horse enthusiast and central character Varpu Miettinen’s (Linnea Skog) emotionally trying family life being drawn from her own. She is eleven-years old,…

REVIEW: For the Love of Spock [2016]

2016/09/032016/09/07 Jared Mobarak

“He did” I’m not sure what the original plan for Adam Nimoy‘s documentary For the Love Spock was considering a full-length feature about the origins of a fictional character—no matter how beloved—is hardly the stuff for which theatrical releases are made. But Leonard Nimoy‘s passing during production ultimately gave the project a new motivation. It was no longer about commemorating Mr. Spock on the eve of “Star Trek” the original series’ fiftieth anniversary. Suddenly the footage captured had morphed into a memorial for this man who touched so many souls…

TIFF16 REVIEW: Jesús [2017]

2016/09/022017/12/08 Jared Mobarak

“Don’t do anything stupid, lad” Adolescent hijinks turn tragic on multiple fronts in Fernando Guzzoni‘s Jesús despite my not being sure there was going to be a solid point to the film until mid-way through. Everything previous merely sat as a slice of life for the titular character, a normal everyday Chilean punk named Jesús (Nicolás Durán) with too much autonomy and not enough direction. He’s practically raising himself after the death of his mother, Dad (Alejandro Goic‘s Héctor) constantly out of town working. So the eighteen-year old roams the…

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