Sicario

Special Presentations

One of Canada’s most recognizable directing names makes his mark on English language filmmaking in a big and bold way with Sicario.

An idealistic FBI agent (Emily Blunt) is out to do the right thing and stop drugs from coming into the country, problem is they are losing and she knows it.  So when she gets the chance to link up with two shadow government agents (Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro) tasked with taking down a Mexican drug lord, she is game to sign up.  However she soon learns that in the world of drug trafficking, her world of rules doesn’t apply and you have to play pretty heavily in the morally grey area in order to affect any real change.

With cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins at his side director Denis Villeneuve crafts us a monster of a crime thriller that plays like a violent rollercoaster.  He takes us deep into the muck and the mire of a war on drugs that simply can’t be won and he makes it some of the most compelling cinema produced this year.  Emily Blunt plays against type quite well and brings some believable angst to the role while both Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro come in with great zeal to play the kind of guys who if you shook their hand you’d want to check and see how many fingers you had left.

Sicario is a juggernaut of cinema, just go see it.

Sicario is no longer screening during TIFF.