Here’s the third part of my pick of TIFF movies you have to try to find and see.
Habibi
Habibi uncannily re-casts Majnun Layla (Mad for Layla), the 9th century classical poetry tragic love epic, in today’s Gaza Strip. Qays and Layla are madly in love, but observant Khan Yunis they have to be married to be together. Qays is poor, Layla’s parents turn him away. Qays woos Layla by scribbling verse all over Khan Yunis’s walls. Habibi is a compelling ode to emancipation.
Michael
Michael, a mousy insurance salesman, keeps an under-aged boy locked in his basement, while doing his best to appear ordinary to the outside world. Provided they don’t come knocking on his door.
The Beloved
Starring beloved French actresses Catherine Deneuve and (her real-life daughter) Chiara Mastroianni, this sly and lovely new work from writer/director Christophe Honoré takes us from Paris in the sixties to 21st century London as it follows a mother and daughter’s twin adventures in love
Bunohan
From Malaysia’s thriving indie scene director Dain Said crosses cultural and genre boundaries in his latest film. Both realistic and stylish, Bunohan is a complex story of murder, passion and haunting memories for three estranged brothers and their ailing father.
The Eye Of The Storm
Based on the novel by Patrick White, an aging matriarch controls everything in her life-including her time to die.
