A special roundup of TIFF reviews from the national and local press. See page 8 for more festival coverage.

Water: Deepa Mehta’s latest is also ‘indisputably her greatest,’ says the Star, even though young lead Sarala ‘doesn’t quite nail the performance,’ according to the National Post. NOW Magazine piles on the adjectives – ‘riveting… exquisitely nuanced… stunning’ – while a more muted Globe and Mail applauds the ‘eloquently humanist’ story and ‘colorful cast.’

A History of Violence: A masterwork, raves eye Weekly, and perhaps David Cronenberg’s ‘most incisive examination of… identity, repression and transgression.’ He takes his familiar themes much further here, says the Globe, without sentiment or sugar-coating. A ‘study of paranoia studded with indigestible nuggets of sex and gore,’ cheers NOW.

Where the Truth Lies: Like Clement Virgo’s Lie with Me, Atom Egoyan’s latest is ‘a lot tamer than what all the heavy breathing suggests,’ says the Star. And although NOW sees a ‘multi-layered Hitchcockian detective thriller,’ the Globe grumbles that it ‘never claims the genre as its own, never digs beneath its surface to explore deeper themes,’ going on to complain that the wooden Alison Lohman is a ‘major casting liability.’

Lie with Me: A ‘surprisingly conventional love story if you overlook the near-constant fucking,’ quips NOW, even though, despite the steamy hype, it’s ‘mostly heaving upper torsos and abstract, fleshy close-ups,’ according to the Post. ‘Erotic and ultimately old fashioned,’ agrees the Star, but also Clement Virgo’s ‘most fully accomplished movie so far.’

3 Needles: Thom Fitzgerald’s AIDS drama is ‘unfocused and listless,’ says the Star, despite the strong cast and cinematography that’s ‘miles beyond what’s come before.’ Lucy Liu and Chlöe Sevigny get full points all around, but critics are split on the Montreal-set scenes with Shawn Ashmore. ‘Fails to take flight,’ says eye, versus ‘compellingly sketchy’ at the Globe.

Eve and the Fire Horse: A ‘funny, touching, thoroughly enchanting debut’ for Julia Kwan, says the Globe, directed with a ‘light hand and an eye for ironic detail,’ nods the Star. At times too precocious, says NOW, but still a ‘lovingly detailed reproduction of a 70s Chinese-Canadian childhood.’

Fetching Cody: A ‘truly wretched fantasy-comedy’ says eye, like a lesser Butterfly Effect. The Star thought little of its ‘standard what-if sci-fi’ time traveling, although NOW gives credit to the ‘talented… and energetic’ star Jay Baruchel.

Souvenir of Canada: A ‘lovingly goofy’ look at oddball Canadiana, says the Star, even if, adds NOW, it gets weighed down by the ‘monotonous’ narration of Douglas Coupland. Too much about his childhood in Vancouver, too ‘stingy’ on our shared nostalgia, notes the Globe.

Compiled by Sean Davidson