Paolo Kagaoan

Toronto

Editor and Critic at Freelance

Salesman. Film Critic. Editor. Opinions are my own. He/them/hers. E-transfer me through Paolo dot Kagaoan at gmail dot com.

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Articles

Canadian Film Fest 2025: Our Review of 'His Father's Son' - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

Amir (Alireza Shojaei) is in bed, trying to convince his white Canadian girlfriend Dina (Romina D’Ugo) to stay. She doesn’t but it is weird that she has white collar clothes on after staying with a guy. Come of think of it, His Father’s Son has enough weird things in it that Amir starts to notice. The weirdness starts when his estranged uncle Parviz dies, the latter leaving his fortune to the former’s family (Gus Tayari, Mitra Lohrasb, Parham Rownaghi).
Deaf Crocodile: Our Review of 'Adela Has Not Had Her Supper Yet' on OVID - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet, a 1978 film from Oldřich Lipský, gives its viewers a transatlantic hall of mirrors effect. Through this film, we see how the Czechoslovakians see Americans seeing Czechoslovakians see Americans, etc. The Czech nobility, including Baron Rupert von Kratzmar (Miloš Kopecký), discuss Prague’s new, dashing visitor, Nick Carter (Michal Dočolomanský). Not the singer, the detective from the obscure book series.
Thinking and Feeling: Our Review of 'The Nature of Love' on OVID - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

Sophia (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau) and Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) are the main characters in The Nature of Love. But as I’ve written before and I will write this again – supporting characters can sometimes enhance a lot of films. If anything, they can serve as catalysts for what the main characters end up doing, like Sylvie (Marie-Ginette Guay). Seeing Sylvie’s struggles with her husband Pierre (Guy Thauvette), probably makes her want to blow up her world.
Past Sins: Our Review of ‘Can I Get A Witness?' - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

The first act of Anne Marie Fleming’s Can I Get a Witness doesn’t explain a lot about two of its three main characters. Kiah (Keira Jang) and Dianel (Joel Ouelette) go to people’s houses like door knock sales people or people doing surveys. In one of the homes, Kiah plays the piano for her host. Eventually, they go to a couple (Ben Immanuel and Yuki Morita) who die by suicide. By this time, the viewers understand what’s going on.
A Kingdom for Good Lighting: Our Review of ‘ The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed’ on MUBI - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

Joanna Arnow, director of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, also plays the lead, Ann. Ann’s work and family lives aren’t at their best during the current moment, as she receives insults from coworkers. Her dating life is open to interpretation – as a submissive she goes on enough good dates. She goes on those dates with both doms and vanilla folks. Arnow divides her films between chapters, naming them after the dom and vanilla people with whom she has relations.
Bad Guy Takes Centre Stage: Our Review of ‘Plankton: The Movie’ - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

Dating a megalomaniac isn’t easy, especially if it’s Plankton (Mr. Lawrence’s voice), a creature with one obsession. He wants to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula even if his computer wife Karen (Jill Talley) has better ideas. He dismisses her ideas, which makes her angry enough to sing a song about dominating the entire world. And she’s doing it without him. Losing one’s computer wife isn’t easy, so he gets the help of Spongebob Squarepants (Tom Kenny) and others.
Deaf Crocodile: Our Review of ‘Time of Roses’ on OVID - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

A woman during 2010s Finland, Anu (Tarja Markus), walks over to the desk of her boyfriend, Raimo Lappalainen. Arto Tuominen plays Raimo, a documentary filmmaker and a historian who has a new subject for his new project. That subject is Saara Turonen, (Ritva Vepsä) a nude model from the 1970s who dies from an accident. He occasionally tries to take his mind off of her by participating in Helsinki’s social scene but some things bug him.
Beyond the 36th Chamber: Our Review of '100 Yards' - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

The master of a martial arts house in 1920’s Tianjin, Northern China, dies, making way for an inevitable schism. Shen An (Jacky Heung) and Chairman Meng (Li Yuan), represents one side, Qi Quan (Andy On Chi-Kit) the other. Chairman Meng reminds Qi Quan of certain traditional values, that ‘our circle has never mingled with hoodlums’. Meanwhile, Qi Quan thinks the circle needs ‘modernization’. Chairman Meng’s death by gunfire makes Qi Quan the main suspect, which prompts him and Shen An to duel.
Out With The Old?: Our Review of ‘The Leopard’ (2025) on Netflix - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

As a Sicilian Prince, Don Fabrizio Corbara de Salina (Kim Rossi Stuart) has the occasional societal obligations. Otherwise, he and members of his extended family, living during the Risorgimento, find themselves in trouble. He has to bail out his nephew Tancredi Falconeri (Saul Nanni), in jail, facing death for siding against the then Sicilian King. His daughter Concetta (Benedetta Porcaroli) is in love with Tancredi even if the latter has his eyes on Angelica Sedara.
Beyond the 36th Chamber: Our Review of 'The Assassin' (2015) on MUBI - In The Seats

1 month ago | intheseats.ca | Paolo Kagaoan

Antiheroes have been around in art forms for a long time yet they still surprise me, and the anti-heroine Hou Hsiao Hsien’s The Assassin doesn’t even get a conventional homecoming. It’s a 9th century Chinese nun, Jiaxin (Sheu Fang-Yi) who brings her back to court. The titular character in The Assassin is Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi). Jiaxin abducts her when the latter was a child to train her as an assassin, a plan which, for the most part works.