ALLELUIA First Look: Poster and Trailer!

Uh, got a little something on the wall there behind you. 

Nothing makes a horror film scarier than knowing it was inspired by a true story. It's all, "Wait, what, some of that actually happened?! No. Way." When it comes to Alleluia, yes way: it was inspired by the murderous rampage of the 1960s "Lonely Hearts Killers," a couple who killed at least twenty women that they lured through newspaper ads. (Note to self, avoid newspapers for the rest of forever. Just in case.)

Great looking couple. We should invite them over for a potluck sometime. 

Director Fabrice Du Welz puts a murderous, carnage-filled twist on this classic story, which premiered at Cannes earlier this year to fantastic reviews. Variety makes reference to it being a "shield-your-eyes" kind of movie, so you might want to keep that in mind. Perfect film to bring your mum to, if you ask us. We get a sense that Alleluia is going to have people talking a lot during this year's Festival. Check out the poster and trailer below and you'll find it hard to disagree.

Alleluia is screening at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Vanguard Programme. Check out more Vanguard films on the official Festival website.

ALLELUIA screening times:

Tuesday, Sept 9th 10:00 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Thursday, Sept 11th 3:00 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Saturday, Sept 13th 9:15PM SCOTIABANK 13

Director Profile: Brillante Ma Mendoza of SAPI

The first think you'll read on director Brillante Ma Mendoza's website is that he "is a living national treasure of the Philippine alternative cinema". And don't for a second assume that it's a hyperbolic statement because we completely agree, as should you.

Mendoza started off his career as a production designer--making quite a name for himself as such. It wasn't until 2005 that he directed his first feature film, Masahista, about a young girl working as a masseur in Manila. The film screened at the 2005 Locarno International Film Festival and won the Golden Leopard award.

Kinatay still

Since that first festival win from his very first feature, Mendoza has gone on to direct a staggering 16 films. Just a reminder: only eight years have passed since 2005. Yeah, wow is right. Even more impressive was that pretty much all of these films went on to screen at film festivals and collect an impressive number of awards. 2007's Manoro won two awards at the Cinemanila International Film Festival and Foster Child won Best Picture at the Durban Film Festival; 2008's Serbis saw him nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and in 2009 he won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for Kinatay. 2009's Lola cleaned house at numerous festivals, winning Best Film at the Dubai International Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at the Miami International Film Festival, just to name a few.

Are you feeling as awed and impressed as we are yet? Thought so.

Captive still

After Lola, Mendoza took a break (we can see why!) and came back in 2012 with two films: Captive, and Thy Womb. The former, starring award-winning actress Isabelle Huppert, screened at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Bear award and the latter screened at a handful of festivals, including the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and, of course, picked up a handful of awards along the way.

We're starting to wonder where Mendoza puts all of these awards. If ever a director needed an Awards Room, it would be Brillante Ma Mendoza.

Lola still

Mendoza has always strived to make his films ultra-realistic, controveserial, and observational--something for which he has been both praised and criticized. His film Kinatay, despite it's Cannes win, proved to be polarizing with critics. Ebert notably called it the "worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival" (as of 2009, at least) while (and this is kind of cool) it inspired director Quentin Tarantino to write Mendoza a personal note praising the film, saying it "was bold, daring, and to me, the whole point of making a movie in the first place."

We are quite certain that Sapi will be no less challenging and daring, especially given the subject matter. Mendoza has made films about a broad range of topics--from kidnappings to masseurs--but Sapi is his first attack on mainstream media. Prepare your senses for an onslaught, kids. And to those of you Vanguarders who are brave enough to tackle this film, make sure to tell the rest of us (read: this author, who is a big baby) what it's like.

SAPI Screening Times:

• Friday, Sept 6th, 10:00 PM SCOTIABANK 3
• Saturday, Sept 7th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 10
• Sunday, Sept 15th, 3:00 PM SCOTIABANK 14

Director Profile: SEX, DRUGS & TAXATION'S Christoffer Boe

Director Christoffer Boe is no stranger to film festivals. Since his student film, Anxiety, played at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival--winning the Prix Decouverte de la Critique Francais--Boe has premiered a handful of feature films at various film festivals to praise from critics and awards alike.

His first feature film, Reconstruction, was shot with Super 16 film and relied almost entirely on natural light. Whoa, right? Naturally, it won the Caméra d'Or and Prix Regard Jeune at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. It also went on to win a slew of other awards, including the Gold Plaque for Best Cinematography from the Chicago International Film Festival, the Bronze Frog for cinematography from Camerimage, and, perhaps most impressive of all, Boe was awarded the FIPRESCI Director of the Year award from the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Reconstruction still

Boe's 2006 feature, Offscreen, also received festival attention, winning the Young Cinema Award at the Venice Film Festival, the Nordic Council's Film Prize, and the Jury Prize for Best Film at the 2007 Fantastic Fest--just to name a few. Offscreen follows actor Nicolas Bro, playing a skewed version of himself, on a quest to film his entire life. Mixing reality with fiction, the dark, satirical film plays to people's tendency toward narcissism and obsessive self-indulgence.

Offscreen still

Sex, Drugs & Taxation will have its International Premiere at this year's Festival and marks Boe's first (and hopefully not his last) film at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is a quasi-biopic about Simon Spies and Mogens Gilstrup--people who you might not have heard of before this film but you certainly won't be able to forget after having seen it. Start off with a little bit of a buddy comedy, add a generous amount of booze and LSD, and toss in a scene where a man chases off a gorilla with his penis and you've got one unforgettable, hilarious trip.

Sex, Drugs & Taxation still

Seriously now, guys: you don't want to miss Sex, Drugs & Taxation at this year's Festival. We know you'll be talking about it, and director Christoffer Boe, long after the final credit rolls.


SEX, DRUGS & TAXATION Screening Times:

• Saturday, Sept 7th, 9:30 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
• Sunday, Sept 8th, 7:45 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
• Friday, Sept 13th, 12:00 PM SCOTIABANK 2

BLUE RUIN: Cannes Press Round Up

Jeremy Saulnier's second directorial effort, the genre-straddling revenge film Blue Ruin, made a big impression at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. After you read these review highlights, you'll definitely want to catch a screening of the film at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, where it's being presented as part of the Vanguard Programme.

Screen Daily finds that Blue Ruin is "distinguished by the way it allies solid storytelling to fine craftsmanship," and praises Saulnier for taking "familiar ingredients" and "elevat[ing[ them into something more accomplished and appealing." Reviewer Allan Hunter adds that the film "confirms [Saulnier] as one of the more intriguing figures currently making their mark on American independent features

In Indiewire, Eric Kohn has a similar reaction, noting that Blue Ruin shows a degree of sophistication that unquestionably deepens [Jeremy Saulnier's] filmmaking cred" and mentions how it "displays an ongoing commitment to a mature visual style and an extreme emotional range."

Variety's Justin Change compares Blue Ruin favorably to Saulnier's 2007 debut Murder Party, remarking on Saulnier's "impressive progress" with "clean and efficient" filmmaking when "[c]arefully exploiting the audience’s fear of what it can’t (or can only partially) see."

At the International Cinephile Society, Marc van de Klashorst goes further, describing the way "Saulnier paces the film expertly to a boiling point, keeping the story lean and concise, and also demonstrating a good cinematographic eye" and stating that the film "shows a lot of promise for the still-young director."

Fred Topel at Crave Online has a visceral reaction to Blue Ruin, declaring that it's "the kind of movie I go to film festivals for. It’s totally unknown, a raw and powerful voice, and it just blew me away." Furthermore, he feels that it "addresses expository exchanges in a fresh way, and those revelations are both true to life and true about conventions of cinema."

Meanwhile, at The Hit List, William Goss is also impressed, determining that Blue Ruin "easily ranks among the best films playing at Cannes so far this year."

Twitchfilm's Brian Clark makes an even bolder claim: "I doubt we'll see a more deft, thrilling genre film this year [than Blue Ruin]."

With reviews like this, how could you not want to put Blue Ruin at the top of your list for this year's Festival?

BLUE RUIN Screening Times:

Monday, Sept 9th, 8:00 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Wednesday, Sept 11th, 12:00 PM TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX 1

BLUE RUIN Clip

Festival alum (2012's Hellbenders) Macon Blair gives a tense, harrowing performance as Blue Ruin's lead, as his character, the drifter Dwight, carries out an act of vengeance that will also protect his estranged family. Writer-director Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin is "a lean and suspenseful genre piece," says Variety, that won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes.

Below is a clip from Blue Ruin, which plays this year's Toronto International Film Festival within the Vanguard programme.

Further information about Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin can be found on the Festival website, as well as on the Blue Ruin website, Twitter account, Facebook page, and IMDB page.

BLUE RUIN screening times:

• Mon., Sept. 9, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 8:00 PM
• Wednes., Sept. 11, TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 12:00 PM