May 16, 2025

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 5/16

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

iF you’re a fan of david mamet

henry johnson

Vincent Georgie: Famed playwright David Mamet has given us some of the most scorching scenes and memorable dialogue in both stage and screen adaptations of his work, “Glengarry Glen Ross” chiefly among them. His latest feature, while stagey, has the same potent characterizations and dramatic tensions you would come to expect. This one’s worth discovering.

Synopsis: A man seeks his moral compass while meeting authority figures, including his future cellmate Gene.

Rent the film on its official website.

if you want A strong drama

all to play for

Vincent Georgie: French actress Virginie Efira has been quickly emerging as one of the busiest actresses working in Europe, but also one of the very best. She is outstanding in the lead role here, brilliantly conveying the complicated and disheartening challenges of navigating social services that are intended to be of help. There is a scene late in the film (you will know it when you see it) that is one of the most raw and animalistic scenes I have seen in recent memory. An excellent film, full of emotion.

Synopsis: Barmaid Sylvie is a single mum living with her two sons, Sofiane and Jean-Jacques. One night, Sofiane is injured while alone in the flat, which results in his being in a foster home. Sylvie is determined to bring her son back home.

Available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

if you want some easy laughs

weekend at bernie’s

Vincent Georgie: Winner of 37 Oscars, including…I’m kidding. Will it change your life? No. Will you have some fun, enjoy some laughs, and have a great night? Absolutely. Long “live” Bernie.

Synopsis: Fun-loving salesmen Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy) are invited by their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser), to stay the weekend at his posh beach house. Little do they know that Bernie is the perpetrator of a fraud they’ve uncovered and is arranging to have them killed. When the plan backfires and Bernie is killed instead, the buddies decide not to let a little death spoil their vacation. They pretend Bernie is still alive, leading to hijinks and corpse desecration galore.

Available on Apple TV.

DOUBLE FEATURE

cannes fever

Vincent Georgie: While the Cannes Film Festival got underway earlier this week, let’s take a look at this year’s Palme d’Or Jury President Juliette Binoche and some of her most underrated performances in an awards-laden career. The first film is a tense story of surveillance in a Parisian suburb, while the second is a sophisticated character drama from WIFF 2014. Both films, as expected, had their World Premieres at Cannes in their respective years.

CACHÉ

Without warning, happy, successful Parisian couple Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne Laurent (Juliette Binoche) receive anonymous videos suggesting that they are being stalked. The tapes are followed by disturbingly violent, if childish, drawings. Georges, a well-known literary talk show host, shrugs off the mysterious messages, but Anne grows increasingly distressed and fearful for their teenage son. She grows to suspect that an incident in Georges’ past is behind the increasing torment.

Available on Apple TV, YouTube, and Amazon Prime.

clouds of sils maria

A veteran actress (Juliette Binoche) comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reflection of herself when she agrees to take part in a revival of the play that launched her career 20 years earlier.