Vancouver, BC. There’s no better place to call home in my opinion. I was born and raised in Burnaby, BC, and I’ve lived most of my adult life in East Vancouver. For my day job, I work managing the box office for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra - a role I find highly rewarding, especially with the amazing team I work with. But my passion in my free time lies in art, creativity, and storytelling. I enjoy drawing, writing, and of course, watching all kinds of movies as often as possible.
I joined ForReel during in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. Following that year’s Vancouver Film Festival, Thomas and I connected over Twitter, and it wasn’t long after our first messages that I contributed my first article to the ForReel website - a review on Bong Joon-Ho’s Memories Of Murder, following the extraordinary success of his newest film Parasite.
From there, the rest is history. I’ve written on a variety of films, from new releases to cult classics. I have also had the privilege of covering some of the North America’s most renowned film festivals, including Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, and my hometown festival, The Vancouver International Film Festival, as accredited press. Covering these festivals is not only fun, but also very rewarding for me as they are great opportunities to explore new and exciting types of films. It’s a privilege to be able to watch and write on these films as they premiere at festivals, then get distributed to audiences, and even go own to earn prestigious accolades.
My preference in film spans across a few types and genres: dramas, thrillers, and ensemble productions immediately come to mind. But in addition that, I love to write about cult classics. It’s fun to reflect on films that have shaped both the film industry and my own perspective on film, so I do that on my post series Best Reels: Cult Classics. But I am also drawn to Canadian film. When attending film festivals, especially ones based in Canada, I find myself seeking out films made in Canada or by Canadian filmmakers. It fills me with pride to see Canadian film garner attention and praise alongside world class cinema of the year, and I am thrilled to support that. After all, I hope one day to be one of those Canadian filmmakers making a mark on the industry with the stories I have to tell.
For now, I enjoy sharing my thoughts on movies here on the ForReel website. In fact, you can find entries to my own Best Reels series Bloody Cuts, Cult Cuts, and Canadian Cuts here. I invest a lot of time and effort into ensuring the articles and reviews I publish reflect my feelings on film in the most authentic manner, and I hope you find value in reading what I have to share.
In recent years, 5 star films to me include titles like Suspiria (2018), Parasite, Uncut Gems, Memoria, The Hand of God, Fire of Love, TÁR, and The Fablemans (here’s my full review on that one if you want to know more). And some of my all time favorite films include Steve McQueen’s film Hunger, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s film Cure, and of course, Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. Great storytelling in film happens all the time, and I love highlighting that greatness in films that exist while always looking forward to the next movie that offers a profound viewing experience.
It means a lot to me that you follow ForReel and are interested in the content that the ForReel team and I publish. Follow us. Follow me. Leave comments. ForReel tho, let’s talk more about movies.
my FIRST REVIEW on forreel: MEMORIES OF MURDER
“…Memories of Murder speaks to the inexplicable air of chaos that has become our daily lives in a year of a global pandemic and mass social upheaval.”
"Like the Iranian masters before him, [Matthew Rankin] emphasizes both the poetic and the peripheral, making his film feel less beholden to the “action” being depicted on screen than it is to the undercurrents of ennui and the curios of the filmspace.