May 19, 2023

WIFF’S WEEKEND WATCH LIST — 5/19

Check out our recommendations of what to watch this weekend.

if marty mcfly is your guy

still: a Michael j. fox movie

Vincent Georgie: A touching, honest and personal film about Fox’s life, family and health struggles. This is clearly the definitive film record of someone that is rightfully now acknowledged as a legend. The Canadian boy did good.

Synopsis: A short kid from a Canadian army base becomes the international pop culture darling of the 1980s, only to find the course of his life altered by a stunning diagnosis. The actor who is an incurable optimist is forced to confront an incurable disease.

Available on Apple TV+.

if you want a moody, European drama

Paris, 13th district

Vincent Georgie: Focusing on a community of friends and lovers, all immigrants to Paris, master filmmaker Jacques Audiard has assembled a stunningly shot and dramatically nuanced film with. This is a film of both ideas and energy. Unfairly underrated.

Synopsis: Émilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy – they’re friends, sometimes lovers and often both.

Available on iTunes, Amazon Prime and YouTube.

if you want a rural thriller

Arsenault & fils

Vincent Georgie: Desolate, small rural communities are enhanced settings for stories of illicit activity and the unfussy and dangerously resourceful people that engage in them. There’s an entertaining menace to this film. A hidden gem from WIFF 2022.

Synopsis: Set in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, the film centres on the Arsenaults, a family who have been involved in illegal poaching and reselling of wild meat out of the back of the family-owned garage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_3azdI_is

Available on Amazon Prime and iTunes.

DOUBLE FEATURE

don’t trust the Argentinians

Spend this warm long weekend discovering two very entertaining con game thrillers, both hailing from Argentina. The films completely hold your attention and engage your sleuthing skills. Both films were remade in the US to far weaker effect. Absolutely seek out the two Latino originals.

nine queens

Nine Queens is the story of two small-time swindlers, Juan (Gastón Pauls) and Marcos (Ricardo Darín), who team up after meeting in a convenience store and become involved in a half-million-dollar deal. As the deceptions and duplicity mount, it becomes more and more difficult to figure out who is conning whom, and we begin to ask ourselves, “Who isn’t a thief?”

the secret in their eyes

Hoping to put to rest years of unease concerning a past case, retired criminal investigator Benjamín Espósito (Ricardo Darín) begins writing a novel based on the decades-old unsolved mystery of a newlywed’s rape and murder. With the help of a former colleague, Judge Irene Menéndez Hastings (Soledad Villamil), Benjamín attempts to make sense of the past. The journey through his memories sets Benjamín on a thrilling emotional path that leads to a shocking realization.