December 20, 2024

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 12/20

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

if you want the perfect christmas film

holiday inn

Vincent Georgie: A beautiful, heartfelt and festive Christmas musical starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Give it a whirl or fall in love with it again. It will surely get you in the Christmas spirit.

Synopsis: In this Irving Berlin musical, Jim (Bing Crosby) and Lila are members of a performing trio who plan to quit and run a country hotel. When Lila says she has fallen in love with the dancer in the act, Ted (Fred Astaire), Jim leaves town with a broken heart. After turning the inn into a holidays-only live entertainment venue, Jim winds up booking — and falling for — Linda (Marjorie Reynolds). But when Ted shows up at the place after being dumped by Lila, he too sets his sights on beautiful Linda.

Available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

if you love the beatles

daytime revolution

Vincent Georgie: Come for the music, stay for the surprisingly touching story. A fave from WIFF 2024.

Synopsis: In 1972 John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-hosted “The Mike Douglas Show” for one week. Their version of daytime television was a radical take on the traditional format, incorporating candid Q&A sessions and conversations about current issues.

Available on Apple TV and YouTube.

if you want something fun

the grand seduction

Vincent Georgie: This is a very funny, lighthearted film shot in Newfoundland. Based on a Quebec film, this English adaptation captures the heart and charm of East Coast life. A most enjoyable watch. A World Premiere at TIFF 2013.

Synopsis: Residents of a small fishing community in Newfoundland charm a doctor into becoming the town’s full-time physician, in order to secure a vital factory contract.

Available on Apple TV, Crave, Netflix and Amazon Prime.

DOUBLE FEATURE

all hail, international cinema

Vincent Georgie: WIFF celebrates International Cinema 365 days a year. In honour of the announcement earlier this week for the films that are shortlisted for the Best International Feature Oscar, let’s look back at two excellent past nominees: the first is an outstanding Oscar-Winning drama from Russia and the second is a very touching Oscar-nominated Christmas drama from France.

burnt by the sun

In the Soviet Union during the summer of 1936, Army commander Sergei Petrovich Kotov (Nikita Mikhalkov), his wife, Marusia (Ingeborga Dapkounaite) and his daughter, Nadya (Nadezhda Mikhalkova), are enjoying their family vacation. Marusia’s lost love, Mitya (Oleg Menchikov), missing for 13 years, suddenly shows up at her family’s dacha. Although he’s greeted warmly, Mitya has a secret agenda: to arrest Kotov for his part in a nonexistent conspiracy to assassinate Stalin.

joyeux noel

With the advent of World War I, Europe is thrown into a brutal and vicious chaos as men are forced to kill or be killed. While blood soaks the battlefield as Christmas approaches, the men in the trenches of the Western Front face a transformation, however fleeting, toward peace and goodwill. Against all odds, four unlikely individuals from opposing sides (Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis) bond during this bloodless respite to experience the hope and goodness in humanity.