August 12, 2022

WIFF’s Weekend Watch List — 08/12

PERSUASION (If you want a hot new Netflix film) Vincent Georgie: Wonderful, appealing performances. Check. Charming, quality production values. Check. Study adaptation of a…

girl smiling while sitting in the window.

PERSUASION

(If you want a hot new Netflix film)

Vincent Georgie: Wonderful, appealing performances. Check. Charming, quality production values. Check. Study adaptation of a Jane Austen favourite. Check. Enjoy!

Synopsis: When Frederick Wentworth — the one who got away — crashes back into Anne Elliot’s life, she must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances.

Watch on Netflix

THE HANDMAIDEN

(If you want a film with an edge)

Vincent Georgie: Park Chan-wook is a master filmmaker, and this film exemplifies the exacting nature of his production standards, the incredible universes he creates, his appetite for both eroticism and darkness and, most of all, his fearlessness. You might consider a long walk or a cold shower after this one.

Synopsis: With help from an orphaned pickpocket, a Korean con man devises an elaborate plot to seduce and bilk a Japanese woman out of her inheritance.

Watch on iTunes

Watch on YouTube

CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY

(If you dream about what cities can be)

Vincent Georgie: For everyone that loves where they live, we owe a debt of gratitude to the pioneering nature of Jane Jacobs’ vision for cities. This film was part of our very popular Spotlight on Architecture from the WRSA annually at WIFF.

Synopsis: Arguably no one did more to shape understanding of the modern American city than Jane Jacobs, the visionary activist and author of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” who fought to preserve urban communities in the face of destructive development projects. Here, she fights against the ruthless redevelopment projects of urban planner Robert Moses.

Watch on iTunes

Watch on YouTube

DOUBLE FEATURE

THE ASTONISHING MARION COTILLARD

Cotillard scaled her film career very quickly and earned her Lead Actress Oscar as Edith Piaf in her early 30s. Seemingly overnight, she became one of our most respected actresses. Need confirmation? Her delicate, sensitive work in the second film is achingly good.

LA VIE AN ROSE

Born into poverty and raised in a brothel, Édith Piaf manages to achieve worldwide fame. Though her extraordinary voice and charisma open many doors that lead to friendships and romances, she experiences great personal loss, drug addiction and an early death.

Watch on iTunes

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

The film follows Sandra, a young woman assisted by her husband, who has only one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so that she can keep her job.