Tag / brad garrett

by Jaime Rebanal

The Comfort of Being Free with Sebastián Lelio’s Gloria Bell: TIFF Review

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Sebastián Lelio remakes his own Gloria for the English language with Gloria Bell, a film he made out of love for his own mother – but having a more refined eye behind the camera in the years since the original, this shot-for-shot remake of the original doesn’t only find a new reach to an English-speaking world. This isn’t any other shot-for-shot remake of a foreign language film, but it’s also a film that feels so wholly liberating from first frame to last, and celebrates what it feels like to carry that spirit no matter how old you are. But that’s the very least of what makes watching Gloria Bell feel every bit as good as it is, because for all I know this happens to be the happiest that I’ve felt watching any of Lelio’s films. It’s easy to admire the Chilean filmmaker’s ability to bring the most out of the actresses he works with if his filmography hasn’t already made that clear enough, but there’s something special about the story that he tells with Gloria which isn’t present in his other films, and perhaps it’s even more polished in this instance.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The TIFF Diaries: Day 2 – Abruptly Changing the Schedule: Mouthpiece and Gloria Bell

It is my second day at the Toronto International Film Festival and I seem to have encountered a bit of a Sophie’s Choice more than anything, and in this instance I’d been left with a choice whether to go attend a press and industry screening for Cold War or just skip it to secure red carpet access for Beautiful Boy. But I feel afterwards that I ended up making the red carpet for Felix Van Groeningen’s film after having come straight from Oakville to catch a press screening of Mouthpiece today. I have to admit though, being at a red carpet may also have been one of the most anxiety-inducing experiences of my whole life by far, because knowing already that I have to meet up with numerous big names in the business, I kept worrying about what would happen if I ended up making a fool out of myself.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Christopher Robin Review: Disney’s Ode to Nostalgia Is a Heart-Warmer

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I don’t know a single person whose childhood never included Winnie the Pooh in any way, shape, or form. He was always that presence that some of us recognized for the fact that he always represented the pleasantness that we had loved most about childhood, and for that alone it was always a most comforting moment for us in our lives. But those memories fade away from us in the same way that they had done for the young Christopher Robin Milne, who later grew to distance himself from the creations of his own father. In the case with Disney’s own Christopher Robin, we already have a reminder as to how important it is to have felt such joy in our lives, no matter how small it may be – you just know it was always there. It would be in knowing this you already feel Christopher Robin being a great film for the family, because sometimes we need that reminder it should be made into something more and from the simplest words, it may indeed have come from nothing.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Ratatouille Review: A Testament to the Artists Working on their Craft

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Brad Bird’s second animated film for Pixar may not be an action-packed ride in the same way that his previous animated films were but knowing what it is that Ratatouille stands for, it’s hard not to love the sort of experimentation that it sets out for as far as the work of Pixar has gone. But of course being the Pixar apologist that I am, I can’t help but find myself being brought into a whole other world when looking at the beautiful animated backdrops being utilized to their very fullest and Brad Bird’s touch also helps in setting that into place with Ratatouille. In coming back to the familiar and backhanded criticism that animation is recognized as being geared primarily towards children, Pixar’s films have always found a way to resonate with adult audiences over the years but in looking at the story that they are telling in Ratatouille perhaps something more is coming along the way. In this story of a rat who is doing everything that he can in order to become a cook for as unorthodox as it is, we have another tale about the way art impacts others – something that is only set to resonate with viewers of all sorts.

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