Black Conflux

Last updated
Black Conflux
Black Conflux poster.jpg
Official release poster
Directed by Nicole Dorsey
Written byNicole Dorsey
Produced byMichael Solomon
Mark O'Neill
Starring Ella Ballentine
Ryan McDonald
Cinematography Marie Davignon
Edited bySophie Leblond
Production
companies
Band With Pictures
Panoramic Pictures
Release date
  • September 6, 2019 (2019-09-06)(Toronto)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Black Conflux is a 2019 Canadian drama film written and directed by Nicole Dorsey in her feature directorial debut. [1] Starring Ella Ballentine, Ryan McDonald, Luke Bilyk, Olivia Scriven, Sofia Banzhaf, and Lawrence Barry, the film follows a teenage girl from Newfoundland and Labrador whose quest for independence leads her into the orbit of a mentally unstable and potentially violent man in his twenties. [2]

Contents

The film premiered in the Discovery section at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019, [3] and was commercially screened on the Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox in 2021. [4]

Production

A key scene in the film is set to Gowan's 1987 single "Moonlight Desires". [5] The film also alludes to Brian Damude's 1975 thriller film Sudden Fury , with a scene in which Dennis is watching the film on video. [4]

Critical response

Norman Wilner of Now gave the film a four-N rating, writing that "while Black Conflux functions primarily as a character study (with excellent work from the leads, and strong support provided by Olivia Scriven and Sofia Banzhaf), it’s also about showing us the environment that shapes those characters – and the odds against their ever escaping it." [1] Nikki Baughan of Screen Daily also reviewed the film positively, stating that the film "doesn’t offer anything groundbreaking in terms of its narrative, but is nevertheless a striking calling card for its talented maker." [3]

Matt Bobkin of Exclaim! was more critical, asserting that "the film's strong beginning and middle showcases plenty of strengths: strong acting, natural dialogue and rich cinematography", but concluding that it was ultimately undermined by an anticlimactic ending. [2]

Stephan Dalton of The Hollywood Reporter wrote the first International review and praised the film for its "strong visual aesthetic”, and "sufficient depth and polish to secure more festival bookings”. The review takes note of cinematographer Marie Davignon's "gorgeous imagery”, actor Ella Ballentine's "luminous acting", and notes about director Nicole Dorsey's work that “even if this deceptively artful debut feels a little muted and unpolished in places, it is plainly the work of a skilled filmmaker with ample future potential.” [6]

David Davidson of The Globe and Mail praised the film, writing that "it is rare for a first feature to be so well directed, thoughtful and entertaining" and comparing it to Anne Wheeler's 1986 film Loyalties and Lynne Stopkewich's 2000 film Suspicious River "with their atmosphere of dread and depiction of rural life as a hotbed of sexual fantasies and violence". [4]

Awards

In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. [7]

The film received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020, for Best Actor (McDonald) and the John Dunning Best First Feature Award. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Ballentine</span> Canadian actress (born 2001)

Ella Hope Ballentine is a Canadian actress of Sicilian and Hungarian descent. She began her acting career as a child actress on the Toronto stage, before appearing on television and in films. Ballentine's portrayal of Anne Shirley in the television film adaptation of the classic Canadian novel, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery was a critical success, receiving a Joey Award in 2016 and a Canadian Screen Award in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazik Radwanski</span> Canadian filmmaker (born 1985)

Kazik Radwanski is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His early short films have been cited as part of the New Canadian Cinema movement. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2012 with Tower. His second feature film, How Heavy This Hammer (2015), screened at film festivals around the world and received critical acclaim.

<i>Firecrackers</i> (film) 2018 Canadian film

Firecrackers is a 2018 Canadian drama film written and directed by Jasmin Mozaffari. An expansion of Mozaffari's 2013 short film of the same name, the film stars Michaela Kurimsky and Karena Evans as two teenage girls trying to escape their small town.

The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision." Introduced in 2015, the award is presented to a film, selected by an international jury of three prominent filmmakers or actors, from among the films screened in the Platform program. The program normally screens between eight and twelve films; only one winner is selected each year, although as with TIFF's other juried awards the jurors have the discretion to give honorable mentions to other films besides the overall winner.

Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films. The list was first introduced in 2001 as an initiative to help publicize Canadian films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 44th edition of the festival

The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a screening of the biographical film Radioactive, directed by Marjane Satrapi.

Jasmin Mozaffari is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her debut feature film Firecrackers.

<i>Antigone</i> (2019 film) 2019 film

Antigone is a 2019 Canadian drama film directed by Sophie Deraspe. An adaptation of the ancient Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, the film transposes the story to a modern-day refugee family in Montreal. The cast includes Nahéma Ricci as Antigone, with Rawad El-Zein, Hakim Brahimi, Rachida Oussaada, and Nour Belkhiria. It was filmed in Greater Montreal in 2018.

<i>White Lie</i> (film) 2019 Canadian film

White Lie is a 2019 Canadian drama film written and directed by Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas. The film stars Kacey Rohl as Katie Arneson, a university student who fakes a cancer diagnosis for the attention and financial gain, but gets caught up in having to maintain her lie.

<i>Anne at 13,000 Ft.</i> 2019 Canadian film

Anne at 13,000 Ft. is a 2019 Canadian drama film. Directed and written by Kazik Radwanski, the film stars Deragh Campbell as Anne, a shy, socially awkward daycare worker whose attitude to her life and work is radically transformed after she skydives for the first time. It premiered in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and received an honourable mention from the Platform Prize jury. In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. After premiering on the festival circuit in 2019, the film's 2020 theatrical release was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<i>No Crying at the Dinner Table</i> 2019 film

No Crying at the Dinner Table is a 2019 Canadian short documentary film, directed by Carol Nguyen. An exploration of the common stigma in Asian families against expressing emotional vulnerability, the film centres on interviews Nguyen conducted with her family, played back around the dinner table at a family gathering.

<i>I Am in the World as Free and Slender as a Deer on a Plain</i> 2019 film

I Am in the World as Free and Slender as a Deer on a Plain is a 2019 Canadian short drama film, directed by Sofia Banzhaf. The film stars Micaela Robertson as an unnamed young woman navigating contemporary millennial dating culture through a series of dates and sexual hookups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicole Dorsey</span> Canadian film director and screenwriter

Nicole Dorsey is a Canadian film director and screenwriter, whose debut feature film, Black Conflux, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sofia Banzhaf</span> Canadian actress and filmmaker

Sofia Banzhaf is a Canadian actress and filmmaker from Newfoundland and Labrador. Banzhaf was born in Germany and spent part of her early life in the United States. She is most noted for her 2019 short film I Am in the World as Free and Slender as a Deer on a Plain, which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for short films.

Marie Davignon is a Canadian cinematographer and film director. She is most noted for her work on the 2020 film Beans, for which she received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Cinematography at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021.

<i>Sudden Fury</i> (1975 film) 1975 Canadian film

Sudden Fury is a Canadian thriller drama film directed by Brian Damude and released in 1975.

Thomas Antony Olajide, sometimes also credited as Thomas Olajide, is a Canadian actor and writer from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is most noted for his performance in the 2021 film Learn to Swim, for which he received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022, and as co-creator with Tawiah M'carthy and Stephen Jackman-Torkoff of Black Boys, a theatrical show about Black Canadian LGBTQ+ identities which was staged by Buddies in Bad Times in 2016. Olajide, M'carthy, and Jackman-Torkoff were collectively nominated for Outstanding Ensemble Performance at the Dora Mavor Moore Awards in 2017.

References

  1. 1 2 Norman Wilner, "TIFF review: Black Conflux". Now , August 27, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Matt Bobkin, "TIFF Review: 'Black Conflux' Is a Heartfelt Coming-of-Age Movie Undone by its Own Premise". Exclaim! , September 4, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Nikki Baughan, "‘Black Conflux’: Toronto Review". Screen Daily , September 6, 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 David Davidson, "Black Conflux heralds arrival of a stunning new Canadian talent". The Globe and Mail , July 2, 2021.
  5. Brad Wheeler, "Moonlight desires, granted: Behind the greatest soundtrack moment in recent Canadian film history". The Globe and Mail , July 3, 2021.
  6. Stephen Dalton "'Black Conflux': Film Review | TIFF 2019". The Hollywood Reporter , September 17, 2019.
  7. Norman Wilner, "TIFF announces Canada's top 10 films of 2019". Now , December 11, 2019.
  8. Norman Wilner, "Canadian Screen Awards 2020: Prepare for a Schitt's show". Now , February 18, 2020.