Denis Villeneuve

Tightly wound from the opening frame, Denis Villeneueve’s Sicario opens to the gripping sounds of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s gripping electronic score, as FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) rides in an armored vehicle to an Arizona house linked with drug traffickers. Clad in full combat armor herself, as are her partner Reggie Wayne (Daniel Kaluuya) and the dozens of other agents with them. Like the viewer, Macer doesn’t know what exactly she’s getting herself into, but the foreboding look on her face as she takes deep breaths and tries to relax suggests that she has some idea of the danger lying ahead.

Québec born director Denis Villeneuve has come a long way since breaking onto the scene with 2000’s Maelström, the film that truly put his talent on the map for all to admire.

A sequel for a film that hasn’t even been released? And one that is an early Oscar darling? Pinch me this isn’t real. But it looks like it is, or at least according to Variety, who reports Lionsgate is developing a sequel to Sicario, which is set to open in theaters this week. The sequel …

Last year, Canadian auteur Denis Villeneuve released Enemy, which is an elusive and polarizing piece of cinema but believe it or not, it is not his most elusive film. Yes, the same filmmaker who gave us the final shot of Enemy, actually had a film that was more disorienting: That film was Maelstrom (2000).  While …

Ridley Scott nostalgia is having an awful good week. Back in November there were talks that a sequel to Blade Runner, Scott’s 1982 sci-fi masterpiece, was in the works, but that Scott would be unable to direct due to schedule conflicts with Prometheus 2. Now however, a replacement has been found in Denis Villeneuve, Oscar …

15. The Immigrant  – If one were to rank the films of 2014 based solely on innovation, The Immigrant would probably end up near the bottom. Writer-director James Gray’s languid melodrama tells the tumultuous story of a resilient Polish woman looking to find a slice of the American Dream, without much in the way of …

40. Night Moves Since 2006, Kelly Reichardt has found a way to reach inside of the hearts of her audiences, plucking out strings one by one with desolate re-imaginations of the American Pacific Northwest, seen through the eyes of people not so different than ourselves. With Meek’s Cutoff, she departed from her typical genre and moved …

    15. Stranger by the Lake Directed by Alain Guiraudie Written by Alain Guiraudie France Though Stranger by the Lake premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival (and appeared on Sound On Sight’s best of 2013 list), it finally reached North American audiences in January of this year. Alain Guiraudie’s stunning noir-tinged thriller is …

Picking the best movies that come out in any given year is no easy feat. For film fans, a quality feature can come out at any time, from any one, and discovering an enjoyable and well-crafted feature is truly a pleasure. As we reach the halfway point of the year, many excellent films have already …

Enemy Written by Javier Gullón Directed by Denis Villeneuve Canada and Spain, 2013 Enemy belongs to a subgenre of cinema known roughly as Well-Made Movies That Should Only Be Consumed Once. No doubt, this nightmarish suspense thriller is designed as something of a puzzle box, offering up clues as to what’s really going on to …

Overstuffed with an A-list cast, Denis Villeneuve’s (Incendies, Polytechnique) Prisoners is a funereal and often shocking meditation on what people are capable of doing for their loved ones. Permeated with savagery and blood, this is a film that forces ghastly situations on the audience which they’ve likely seen before but are hopefully not entirely numb to processing from a victim’s point of view. The drive behind what holds a family together for better or worse is showcased in painful detail. Gruesome, agonizing, and distressing, Prisoners goes for the jugular and leaves everyone wincing at the hideous view of the human condition that it leaves in its wake.

What value does fiction have in the interpretation of a historical event? This question can become central to the reception and understanding of historical films and has taken on important resonance in past years in regards to films like Ben Affleck’s Argo or Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. These films are not documentaries; however they …

Parkas, mittens and earmuffs can only do so much to starve off the imposing weight of winter. Many of us suffer, in some form or another, from seasonable depression and it’s easy to stay in bed all day instead of facing the dark and cold that comes during the winter months. Not all of us …

Incendies is the first unqualified masterpiece of 2011

It was Canada’s turn for glitz and glamour last night as the red carpet rolled out for The 31st Annual Genie Awards, Canada’s biggest night in film. Awards were handed out at the National Arts Center in our nation’s capital last night and hosted by icon and current funnyman William Shatner. The televised event on …

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Front Row Center, the new videocast from Sound on Sight. That’s right, for the first time ever, we’ve put our faces where our mouths are. Wait, that can’t be right. Anyway, in our first installment, we take on an appropriately patriotic subject: Justine and Simon discuss Canada’s (Quebec’s, really) entry …

  The nominees for the 31st Annual Genie Awards, Canada’s answer to the Oscars, were unveiled at simultaneous press conferences in Montreal and Toronto yeseterday. After being snubbed by the major Hollywood awards, only receiving 1 nomination and win for Paul Giamatti at the Golden Globes, Barney’s Version has been highly recognized by Canadian audiences. …

Disclaimer: I purposefully did not include Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. For my purposes, it’s too American. I am interested in hearing if you think it should qualify and if you are willing to undertake a discussion on defining National Cinema. It is tricky, I certainly don’t object to others who would include it on …

Incendies Directed  by Denis Villeneuve Canada’s submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category for this year’s Academy Awards comes in the shape of a rather atypical piece of Quebecois cinema – a mostly Arabic language war drama. Originating as a coup de foudre that director Denis Villeneuve had for Wadji Mouawad’s play of the …

“Villeneuve’s screen adaptation has been hailed as his best feature film to date.” Incendies Directed  by Denis Villeneuve Canada’s submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category for this year’s Academy Awards comes in the shape of a rather atypical piece of Quebecois cinema – a mostly Arabic language war drama. Originating as a coup …