In this episode of the TIFF 2024 season, Alex discusses two new films from masters of British social realism: Andrea Arnold's Bird and Mike Leigh's Hard Truths.

Bird had its world premiere at Cannes in May; Hard Truths had its world premiere at TIFF.

Alex finds similarities in subject matter and storytelling approach between the films, including the very strong performances from some Seventh Row favourites, and discusses what each of them is individually doing that's worth noting. 

Alex wrote the book on Mike Leigh's Peterloo and his process, so her discussion of Hard Truths places it within Leigh's oeuvre and discusses how his signature process helped make this film an impressive achievement.

On this episode

0:00 Intro to the episode

3:34 Andrea Arnold's Bird

16:32 Mike Leigh's Hard Truths

38:14 Closing remarks, more from TIFF to find and look forward to

More Andrea Arnold

• An essay on landscape and limbo in Fish Tank by Gillie Collins
• A review of American Honey by Elena Lazic
• An interview with editor Joe Bini by Orla Smith on editing Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here and how that differs from working with Andrea Arnold

More Mike Leigh

• Read our ebook on Mike Leigh's Peterloo: mikeleighbook.com
• Listen to Ep. 32: Sorry We Missed You and Peterloo (Members Only)
• Listen to Ep. 119: Mike Leigh's Naked (FREE)
• Listen to us discuss Vera Drake and its place in the history of abortion movies in our Abortion on Film season.

About the TIFF 2024 season:

In the TIFF 2024 season, Editor-in-Chief Alex Heeney will discuss some of the best under-the-radar gems at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival through themed episodes.

This is for you if:

• You're attending TIFF and looking for recommendations;
• You're looking ahead to your local film festival for must-see titles; and/or
• You're interested in how filmmakers from around the world explore similar topics/genres, even if you're not sure if you'll ever see the films.

The season will be spoiler-free and designed to be listened to even if you haven't seen the films (or are worried you won't ever be able to). 

Check out all of our TIFF 2024 coverage here: https://seventh-row.com/tif24

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