Alex Heeney

Film/Theatre Critic and Editor-in-Chief at Seventh Row

Film/theatre critic, podcaster, EIC & founder @SeventhRow. Canadian. Engineer. Indoor Air Quality. alex @ seventh-row dot com. @bwestcineaste on other socials.

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Articles

Interview: Warwick Thornton on The New Boy

1 week ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

In this interview, Indigenous writer-director-cinematographer Warwick Thornton discusses The New Boy, his western about an Indigenous boy in 1940s Australia. Not in the zeitgeist. Not pushed by streamers. But still easy to find — and worth sitting with. And a guide to help you do just that. → Send me the guide“I’m making this for the cinema screen,” writer-director-cinematographer Warwick Thornton told me of his new film, The New Boy.
HotDocs Review: Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh's The Nest

3 weeks ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

Alex Heeney reviews Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh’s The Nest, a Gothic documentary about a haunted house that reveals lesser-known parts of Winnipeg’s intersectional history. Not in the zeitgeist. Not pushed by streamers. But still easy to find — and worth sitting with. And a guide to help you do just that. → Send me the guide Not in the zeitgeist. Not pushed by streamers. But still easy to find — and worth sitting with. And a guide to help you do just that.
InsideOut Reviews: Sandbag Dam, The Nature of Invisible Things

3 weeks ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

Alex Heeney reviews Rafaela Camelo’s The Nature of Invisible Things and Čejen Černić Čanak’s Sandbag Dam at Toronto’s InsideOut LGBTQ+ Film Festival: two sensitive films about young people that young people should see. Not in the zeitgeist. Not pushed by streamers. But still easy to find — and worth sitting with. And a guide to help you do just that. → Send me the guideThere was a time not too long ago when LGBTQ+ film festivals were filled with films about adults for adults.
Interview: Lucio Castro on Cannes ACID film Drunken Noodles

1 month ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

In this interview, Lucio Castro discusses the total freedom of low-budget filmmaking for his queer Cannes ACID film Drunken Noodles. Discover how other directors approach low-budget filmmaking. Not in the zeitgeist. Not pushed by streamers. But still easy to find — and worth sitting with. And a guide to help you do just that.
Film Review: Pauline Loquès's Nino at Cannes

1 month ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

Alex Heeney reviews Pauline Loquès’s film, Nino, starring Théodore Pellerin, which screens in the Critics’ Week sidebar at Cannes. The film tells the story of a twentysomething man’s nervewrecking weekend after he’s diagnosed with cancer and before he starts treatment. Not in the zeitgeist. Not pushed by streamers. But still easy to find — and worth sitting with. And a guide to help you do just that.
Love Letters (dir. Alice Douard) at Cannes- Film Review

1 month ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

Alex Heeney reviews Alice Douard’s debut feature Love Letters, which screens in the Critics’ Week sidebar at Cannes. The film tells the story of a queer woman in 2014 whose partner is pregnant with their child, and the paperwork involved with becoming her daughter’s legal parent. Click here to sign up for the Seventh Row Newsletter. Now that same-sex marriage has been legal in most Western countries for years, it can be easy to forget that the dark ages for queer people were just a decade ago.
Interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne on The Unknown Girl

1 month ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

In this interview, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne discuss the making of their film The Unknown Girl, the sound design, and creating reality on screen. Discover how other directors approach sound design. Click here to sign up for the Seventh Row Newsletter. This interview with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne on The Unknown Girl was conducted in September 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Wedding Banquet directed by Andrew Ahn - Seventh Row Film Podcast

2 months ago | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

On the podcast, Alex recommends Andrew Ahn’s remake/adaptation of the 1993 Ang Lee queer rom-com The Wedding Banquet, which is a film you should watch for many reasons including the sound design. Today on the podcast, Alex Heeney recommends Andrew Ahn’s delightful remake/reimagining of Ang Lee’s 1993 queer rom-com The Wedding Banquet. Ahn updates the film in a way that takes stock of how much has changed for queer people in the US. Same-sex marriage is legal.
Black Bag directed by Steven Soderbergh - Seventh Row Film Podcast

Mar 28, 2025 | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

On the podcast, Alex recommends Alain Guiraudie’s film Misericordia and delves deep into the film’s compelling opening scene. Today, Alex Heeney recommends Alain Guiraudie’s multi-César-nominated LGBTQ+ erotic thriller, Misericordia. Misericordia takes many twists and turns that she doesn’t want to spoil. So Alex introduces the film briefly before delving into what we can learn from the opening sequence.
Black Bag directed by Steven Soderbergh

Mar 21, 2025 | seventh-row.com | Alex Heeney

On the podcast, Alex recommends Steven Soderbergh’s new film, Black Bag, and discusses why she’s been a Soderbergh fan for 25 years. It’s not very often that we get a movie for adults that’s smart and fun and screening theatrically. But Steven Soderbergh’s London-set spy thriller Black Bag opened in North American cinemas last weekend. The film features major stars like Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender and major lesser-known talents like Tom Burke and Naomie Harris.