Katie Keener's Coverage of the Calgary International Film Festival

Before You Know It

Before You Know It is the debut feature film from the writing duo of Hannah Pearl Utt and Jen Tullock who both star (Utt also serves as director) as close sisters with ying and yang personalities. Rachel (Utt) is the level-headed and practical one while Jackie (Tullock) is a free-spirit who finds humor in life. They may on the surface be opposites but there is a closeness that they fall back on time and again especially seeing that they grew up with the believe that their mother was dead from a father (Mandy Patinkin) with enough eccentricities to spare. — Read Full Review at Toujours Katie

Another Child

The film is set off by the affair between Joo-ri’s father and his mistress being observed by her in secret as she watches her father visit her at the out of the way restaurant she works at. It is quiet but the woman notices the young girl through the window which spooks Joo-ri and sends her running off and into a collision with Yoon-ah who is around the same age and also the daughter of the woman, Mi-hee (Kim So-jin). This chance encounter teeters the affair into the light of being discovered, as well as the resulting pregnancy, but also throws these girls together whether they like it or not as they both grapple and struggle with the fallout of their parents’ illicit union. — Read Full Review at Toujours Katie

Greener Grass

Greener Grass is the brainchild of writing team Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe who also directed and star in the film as neighborhood besties who can’t help but feel as if they are in constant competition. Jill (DeBoer) is our lead protagonist, perfectly coiffed, flashing a bright metal mouth grin and most commonly seen in various bubblegum pink ensembles. Like everyone in this film she is a bit of an airhead and always striving for perfection even if her eccentric pool water drinking husband Nick (Beck Bennett) and oddball son Julian (Julian Hillard) test her comfort levels. — Read Full Review at Toujours Katie

The August Virgin

This film is quiet and serene, quite comfortable in the leisurely pace it sets up early on and despite that it never seemed to drag for a moment. The film as the title partly suggests takes place in August, primarily a 15 day stretch during which festivals throughout the city take place in honor of “The Assumption of the Virgin”. Our lead – Eva (Arana), is one of the native outliers who decides to stay in Madrid when so many flee to escape the blistering temperature for a holiday elsewhere. Renting a small but comfortable flat from a good friend we are invited to stay with Eva and each day is ticked off with an orange title card and flourished white calligraphy to mark the day. — Read Full Review at Toujours Katie

Parasite

Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the past few months then you have definitely heard all the chatter spreading through the inter webs concerning Parasite. The society and class thriller from the sharp mind of Bong Joon-ho is so many things (thriller, comedy, satire and subversive horror) all wrapped into one neatly wrapped parcel. I won’t give away any of the twists for your own benefit, but I must say that what you see from the trailers is a misdirect in many ways and the film delights in pulling the rug out from under you on more than one occasion. — Read Full Review at Toujours Katie

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Out of all the films I saw at CIFF I can without a doubt say that Portrait of a Lady on Fire was by far my favorite. It was one of my anticipated ones and the last film I saw at the festival so it made for the cherry on top after a rather mixed bag of films (some good, some not so good). I’ll admit that when I sat down I was feeling a bit drained from the festival circuit and hadn’t seen a film that I absolutely loved entirely, I was in need of that perfect film to show itself to me and this was it. Celine Sciamma delivers a gorgeous feast for the eyes and soul through her direction of this love story. — Read Full Review at Toujours Katie