By John H. Foote
(?)
I am told this is a masterful film.
I WOULD NOT KNOW BECAUSE ELEVATION REFUSED TO HAVE PRESS AND INDUSTRY SCREENINGS. NOR WOULD THEY PROVIDE ME WITH LINKS OR SCREENERS TO SEE THE FILM. SO A STUDIO IS DICTATING TO THE FESTIVAL THAT THEY CANNOT SHOW THE FILM TO THE PRESS OR INDUSTRY. I AM TOLD THIS WAS NOT POPULAR DECISION AND TIFF IS NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT.
Frankly, Elevation Pictures has prevented me from doing the job I have been accredited by TIFF to do. I prepared to write for this festival under the understanding both Ammonite and The Father would be available to me for screening, just as in the more than 24 years I have been covering TIFF.
ELEVATION SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.
I WAS ASKED HOW MANY OF THEIR PREVIOUS FILMS I HAD WRITTEN ABOUT TO WHICH I PROVIDED A LIST. JUST A SINGLE FILM FROM 2020, BUT THEN AGAIN THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY WAS SHUT DOWN.
I am told Anthony Hopkins gives his finest performance since The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and should be an Oscar nominee for Best Actor for his said to be superb work as a man fighting Alzheimer’s. I am told this; I cannot say I have experienced the film. I am told Olivia Colman is equally great as his daughter struggling to help a man who does not believe he needs help. I am told together they are magnificent.
I am told.
Just as I was told by the company who brought their film here to be celebrated, to be seen, to build buzz, that I would not be seeing the film.
So I was told.
Shame on Elevation Pictures for hi-jacking the TORONTO International Film Festival.
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
