Tornado

Want a period piece which feels like it was made by the lovechild of Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone and stars Tim Roth as the bad guy? Of course you do! That lovechild is writer and director, John Maclean, who only has one feature-length film before this to his credit, Slow West (a film I haven't seen but now intend to). Tornado is about a young girl, who goes by the name of Tornado (Kôki). She and her samurai father are travelling through the English countryside in 1790, occasionally stopping to put on puppet shows in their travelling theatre stagecoach. Along comes Tim Roth and his band of bad guys and well I won't spoil a thing. Go watch it. The famous Sergio Leone facial close-ups are on full display. The patience of Kurosawa, the slow stress-building of Leone - Maclean has learned from the best to take his time. The thing I dislike about Marvel movies is they are so loud and inelegant; beastly like a neon pig-ape draped in the American flag. Tornado is Zen beauty. It's in no hurry, but then suddenly it cuts fast and clean - you don't see it coming. For me, it's one of the best Westerns I've seen in a while. It's a mosaic of grey and brown but it's gorgeous nonetheless. With a short runtime of 90 minutes, it's a piece of candy. Taste this treat streaming on Crave or see if Peter has it at Movies 'N Stuff here in Ottawa.