The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

"The Death and Life of John F. Donovan" is a potentially powerful story, though one not successfully told in the slightest by Xavier Dolan.

Intended as a complex examination of the emotional toll of celebrity, this drama instead feels as shallow and pretentious as the characters it portrays.

From its contrived structure to its forced speechifying, this story... never acquires the emotional potency or coherence its themes demand.

In any case, what remains of John F. Donovan is a barely coherent mess, and so eager for your approval that it's hard to feel anything but sorry for it.

Dolan's most conventional film, and consequently the dullest. [Full review in French]

Even for someone like me who admires Dolan, the finished film is a bit of a mess. But it's kind of a beautiful mess, one that still has the power to be affecting.

The three-story narrative is the film's biggest misstep, by giving short shrift to what should have been the whole point of the film - the titular "death and life" of the main character.

A film with a fair bit to like within its shaggy, unwieldy construction, but not enough to outweigh the fact that Dolan's latest is an unqualified mess.

As flawed as it is, the film occasionally shines through its gloomy atmosphere with an attempt at defining the unfair cost of passion.

The hottest mess at #TIFF18.