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Tag: Anna Kendrick

  • TIFF 2023 reviews: ‘Woman of the Hour’ and ‘Shayda’

    TIFF 2023 reviews: ‘Woman of the Hour’ and ‘Shayda’

    Actor-turned-director Anna Kendrick and first-time director Noora Niasari screened their new movies at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival

    Anna Kendrick, best known as an actress in the Pitch Perfect franchise and A Simple Favor, takes the director’s chair for the first time with her thriller Woman of the Hour. Meanwhile, first-time director Noora Niasari adapts her childhood in the drama Shayda.

    The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, 2023. Read all of our reviews from the festival here.

    Tony Hale, Anna Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto in Woman of the Hour. Courtesy of TIFF.

    Anna Kendrick is first-time director of the hour with Woman of the Hour, a taut and effective thriller

    As an actress, Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, A Simple Favor) is known for her bubbly wry personality behind a thousand watt smile that oozes charisma. It makes the tense and terrifying opening sequences of her directorial debut Woman of the Hour all the more surprising. It has more in common with David Fincher’s Zodiac than any of her onscreen appearances. However, the bizarre true story of a serial killer’s appearance on 70s dating show The Dating Game is a match for her sensibilities as an actress — and apparently as a director.

    Kendrick plays Cheryl Bradshaw, a failed actress in LA whose agent gets her onto an episode of The Match Game. Little does she know Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto, Don’t Breathe), one of the three eligible bachelors she has to pick from, murdered five woman prior to his appearance. Oscillating between intense suspenseful scenes depicting Alcala’s past crimes throughout the 70s and darkly comedic clips from the show — where Kendrick gets to flash her signature wry humor — Woman of the Hour is a tight and engrossing thriller that strikes a balance between respecting the victims and faithfully recreating what transpired.

    While actors-turned-directors often take a “more is more” approach — as if they have something to prove — Kendrick has astounding control over the atmosphere, mood and pacing of the movie. She never sensationalizes any of the killings and even her directorial flourishes — a quick cut or audio dropping out — are small but effective. She allows the story to direct the style rather than the other way around. At a lean 94 minutes, Woman of the Hour is as efficient as they come but doesn’t sacrifice impact. If this movie is any indication, Anna Kendrick is going to be the director of the hour.

    Woman of the Hour premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix acquired the film for distribution. Release date TBA.

    Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Selina Zahednia in Shayda. Courtesy of TIFF.

    Sweet and engrossing Australian drama Shayda gives Zar Amir Ebrahimi another stellar acting showcase

    Ever since seeing Zar Amir Ebrahimi in her Best Actress-winning performance in Holy Spider at the Cannes Film Festival I was fascinated by what she would do next — and she did disappoint. Australian drama Shayda takes the form of a familiar domestic violence drama in the vein of Sleeping with the Enemy or Enough but has the added element of an immigrant story. Ebrahimi plays the titular character, an Iranian immigrant living in a women’s shelter with her daughter Mona (Selina Zahednia) in 1980s Australia.

    We learn through a heartbreaking monologue where Shayda prepares to fight for custody of her daughter what drove her to finally leave her abusive husband (Osamah Sami). Ebrahimi’s performance is staggering. Rather than letting the emotion out in a watershed moment, it feels like she’s held it in so long it simple begins to seep out. So much of the success of Shayda falls on her performance that continually transforms as the movie progresses. While the subject could be overwhelming, first-time writer-director Noora Niasari, who based the story on her own childhood, relishes in the moments of joy rather than lingering on those of pain.

    While the movie doesn’t completely transform the formula of this kind of movie, the pure fact that the story is about an Iranian woman and immigrant makes it a compelling watch. Niasari explores the tension between celebrating and participating in your culture while doing something that goes against it. Shayda doesn’t offer any answers or proclamations, it simply seeks to make you feel what it is like to live in that tension. In the end, Shayda is uplifting, engrossing and heartwarming.

    Shayda is playing at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film later this year.

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  • ‘A Simple Favor’ review — A deliciously twisted mystery

    ‘A Simple Favor’ review — A deliciously twisted mystery

    A Simple Favor is a darkly funny and campy mystery thriller anchored by stellar performances by Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick.

    30-second review: So much of the plot of a simple favor is melodramatic and ironically plays off like an episode of a CW primetime soap opera. But it works. That’s thanks to director Paul Feig‘s incredible sense of tone. He knows when the movie needs to be a melodrama and when it needs to be a comedy and when it needs to be a mystery. Finding that right balance makes A Simple Favor a pure delight to watch.

    However, it would be nowhere near as successful as it is if it wasn’t for an awkwardly charming lead performance by Anna Kendrick and a stellar, career-high turn from Blake Lively playing a compelling and deliciously campy character.

    Where to watch A Simple Favor: Available to buy or rent on Prime Video.

    Director Paul Feig has been on a roll with female-fronted broad comedies with critical and commercial hits Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy, and Ghostbuster coming one after the other. And while all of those movies share the same general tone—elevated, raunchy broad comedy with emotional elements—he takes a crack at a truly genre-bending story in the deliciously campy mystery A Simple Favor, which is based on the novel by Darcey Bell and adapted by Jessica Sharzer.

    In the film, Feig is challenged with balancing a Gone Girl style mystery with a satirical suburban melodrama a la The Stepford Wives with a hint of the broad comedy he has become famous for. And while he’s mostly successful in his execution, the true stars of the movie are Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively giving the best performances of their careers. 

    Kendrick plays Stephanie, a widowed full-time single mother and part-time mommy blogger who is every bit the endearingly awkward, always upbeat person we’ve come to expect Kendrick to play. And while many may have become tired of her adorkable charm defined by spitfire lines delivered in stream of consciousness style, it certainly is effective here. Though she’s certainly a super mom to her son Miles (Joshua Santine), the other parents at the school don’t easily take to her over-achiever status, which is why they’re surprised when she becomes friend with full-time working mom Emily (Lively).

    Emily is an enigma. She seems to have it all. A high-profile job in the city, a beautiful house in the suburbs, stunning closet—she rocks chic three-piece suits paired with equally stunning Louboutin’s throughout the film—and a devilishly handsome husband, Sean (Henry Golding). However, there’s a darkness to her hidden by her effortless attitude towards life. Still, Stephanie is roped into her life blinded with intrigue—and an afternoon martini quickly loosens her up to the idea of friendship. And that intrigue only increases when Emily goes missing. 

    A Simple favor
    Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in A SIMPLE FAVOR. Credit: Lionsgate.

    One day, Emily asks Stephanie for the eponymous simple favor, which is looking after her son Nicky (Ian Ho) while she deals with a work crisis. With Sean in London visiting his mother, Stephanie, always eager to help out, accepts. But Emily never returns to pick up Nicky. From there, the story unfolds while Stephanie tries to figure out what happened to her recently acquired best friend. Along the way, she deals with a suspicious detective (Bashir Salahuddin, great here) convinced there’s more to the case than meets the eye, Emily’s boss Dennis (Rupert Friend), and a punk artist from Emily’s past (Linda Cardinelli). 

    A Simple Favor has more twists, turns, and shocks than a soap opera and Feig tackles them all with a self-aware campy flair that makes every stinging quip and ridiculous moment land. And although the movie has trouble navigating its own plot towards the end, Feig has a stellar cast to anchor it. After charming us earlier this summer in Crazy Rich Asians, Golding more than holds his own as a doting, though worn down, husband and father to Emily and Nicky. His character’s slow deterioration during the film is shown all over his face, but he still retains that movie star glow. He has a career ahead of him.

    Still, it’s Anna Kendrick’s quick-fire charm and Blake Lively’s seductively sinister barbs that make A Simple Favor so incredibly fun to watch unfold. Even as the plot becomes convoluted—sometimes to excess—it’s still the kind of consciously ridiculous suburban satire that is going to please any audience it plays to. A Simple Favor is a mess in the best way possible. The only thing that would make it better is if you watched it with a gin martini with a twist of lemon in hand.

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    Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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