Daniel Garber talks with Valerie Kontakos and David Bourla about Queen of the Deuce
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
New York City in the 1970s is a gritty city with a chip on its shoulder. Crime is rampant, and its government faces bankruptcy. But it’s also exploding with creativity and freedom of expression, in film, theatre, music and art, while the sexual revolution, the women’s movement and gay rights are in full swing. The city’s centre is 42nd street, and the strip running from Times Square to the Port Authority and north on 8th ave is filled with porn theatres and peep shows. And on top of it all sits a Jewish Greek-American woman, Chelly Wilson, ruling over her porn empire.
Queen of the Deuce is a fantastic new documentary about Chelly’s 
life, her work, her family and the world she built. Born in Thessaloniki, she hid her children, escaped the Nazi invasion, and gradually made her way to the top of the NY porn movie industry. The doc includes personal photos and letters, period footage, animation and talking heads to give a first-hand look at a previously unknown hero.
The film was directed by Valerie Kontakos, a well-known documentarian, founder of the NY Greek Film festival and on the Board of Directors of the Greek Cinematheque. The film features members of Chelly’s family, including her grandson, David Bourla, a screenwriter in his own right, known for action films like Push.
I spoke with Valerie in Athens and David in New York City from Toronto, via Zoom.
Queen of the Deuce is playing in Toronto at the Hot Docs Cinema as part of TJFF on June 3rd, 2023.
With love, from Poland. Films reviewed: March’68, Norwegian Dream, Bones of Crows
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Spring film festival season continues in Toronto in June. The Inside Out festival which ushered in Pride Month, closes tonight with a jukebox musical called Glitter & Doom, a love story based on songs from the Indigo Girls. And TJFF, the Toronto Jewish Film Fest, is just starting up, with an excellent selection of comedies, dramas and documentaries from four continents, viewable online or in person with a number of special guests. And keep your eyes open for the other TJFF, Toronto Japanese Film Festival, beginning next week.
This week, I’m looking at three excellent new movies: two Polish romances, one each from Inside-out and TJFF, plus an epic indigenous drama made in Canada.
March’68
Co-Wri/Dir: Krzysztof Lang
It’s 1967 in Warsaw. Hania (Vanessa Aleksander) is a talented young actress studying theatre. She’s in a rush to view a controversial new play from backstage. It references Adam Mickiewicz, the 19th century Polish poet and playwright. But on the way she is bowled over by a young stranger. Janek (Ignacy Liss) is a student at the same university. She brushes him off but he doggedly follows her as far as the theatre. And — perhaps because of his relentless pursuit — Hania gradually begins to like him. Like turns to love, and soon they’re a couple.
But these are not ordinary times. Władysław Gomułka’s one-party state is cracking down on intellectuals and student dissidents. At the same time, it’s running a harsh purge of all Poles of Jewish descent within the Party’s apparatus. This repression soon spreads to University campuses and throughout the country at large. How does this affect the young couple? Hania’s dad is a neurosurgeon who has just lost his prestigious job in the anti-Jewish campaign. While Janek’s father is a Colonel in the Interior Ministry — basically a spy who holds everyone’s secret files, and is a major figure behind both the crackdown on student protesters and the anti-Jewish purge. Can this Romeo and Juliet couple stay together despite the purge? Or will politics cross generations?
March’68 is an excellent romantic drama set in Warsaw 
during that dark, tumultuous and repressive time. (The title refers to the month when the government imposed their harshest laws.) It deftly combines real historical events and figures — from Gomulka to Adam Michnik, a future intellectual and journalist — with the fictional heroes. Through the use of period footage and reenactments, it brings you right into the middle of riots, mass arrests and interrogations alongside Hania and Janek.
This is an excellent movie.
Norwegian Dream
Dir: Leiv Igor Devold
Robert (Hubert Milkowski) is a 19-year-old boy from Bialystok, Poland. He’s starting a new job in Norway at a remote salmon processing plant. He shares an apartment in a crowded, overpriced dormitory with Marek and the rest of the Polish workers at the plant. The foreman assigns Ivar (Karl Bekele Steinland) a young Norwegian man, to train him. He’s patient and thoughtful, and befriends Robert. He’s also Black. Knowing Robert is in need of income, he offers him a weekend job in Trondheim handling the lights for Ivar’s performance. But when Robert finds out what kind of performance it was, he quits in a panic and runs away. Ivar’s a flamboyant drag queen, and Robert is terrified at being seen with him. Is he repulsed by Ivar, or is there a mutual attraction? And could Robert handle a gay relationship within a racist and homophobic environment?
Norwegian Dream is a touching romantic drama set within 
the lives of migrant Polish workers in Norway. It’s made in a realistic style, with conversations happening while hundreds of dead salmon roll past on a conveyor belt. It also deals with the bigger issues of class, race, and sexuality. And while told in a simple and straightforward way, it also poses many paradoxes. Ivar may be black, but he’s also the adopted son of the owner of the fish plant and lives in a houseboat, while working-class Robert is just trying to keep his head above water. And though the casual behaviour of the Polish workers’ may be racist and anti-gay, they are also trying to form a union to get a decent wage from their exploitative employers. And while the dialogue — mainly in Polish and English — feels a bit stilted, it actually adds a further element of authenticity to the film.
I like this movie.
Bones of Crows
Wri/Dir: Marie Clements
It’s the early 20th century in Canada. Aline Spears (Grace Dove) is a girl from a Cree nation in Manitoba. She, her brother and sister are taken away from their parents and forcibly put into a residential school. It’s run by priests who feast on fine food and wine while the kids are left hungry. But Aline is given special privileges when Father Jacobs (Remy Girard) discovers she’s a prodigy on the piano. He nurtures her talent and assigns her a special tutor. But despite her new status, she is far from safe, and after suffering unspeakable acts, she and her siblings try to escape the school.
Much later, she joins the military in WWII and is assigned to London where she becomes part of a crucial team sending telegrams in Cree, this creating a code impossible for the Germans to crack. There she falls in love with and marries Adam (Phillip Lewitski) an indigenous member of the Canadian military. But despite their their bravery, they face a hard life back in Canada, their deeds forgotten. Much of her 
efforts are now spent caring for their family and trying to protect her little sister Perseverance (Alyssa Wapanatâhk) who has fallen by the wayside. Can Aline’s past violations and injustices ever be rectified?
Blood of Crows is an epic drama with a gripping story about one woman’s amazing life. Although its about Aline, it’s also a metaphor for the treatment of an entire people. It’s a 100+ year long story. Stretching back to confederation, it includes the wiping out of the buffalo, residential schools, the lack of status and Canadian citizenship, denial of services, and the widespread incarceration, death and disappearance suffered by indigenous women. But, don’t worry, this is not meant as a depressing story suffering, it’s actually inspiring, about her descendants who fight for rights and redress. This movie, with its large indigenous cast and crew from the director on down, is both convincing and compelling. I saw this one last fall at TIFF, and it was one of my favourite movies there; I’m so glad it’s finally hitting theatres.
Don’t miss it.
Bones of Crows opens this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. Norwegian Dream played the Inside Out Film Festival, and March’68 is coming to the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
Feelings. Films reviewed: Almamula, About My Father, You Hurt My Feelings
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Inside-Out film festival is on now, playing a broad spectrum of movies, docs and shorts reflecting the world’s 2SLGBTQ+ communities. It avoids stereotypical LGBT films, choosing instead thoughtful and even experimental new films. For example, there’s a great new doc on the Indigo Girls called It’s Only Life After All and many, many more, now through June 4th, in person and online.
This week, I’m looking at three movies; an Argentinian drama from Inside Out, plus two new US comedies. We’ve got a rom-com, a social comedy, and a coming-of-age thriller.
Almamula
Wri/Dir: Juan Sebastián Torales
Nino (Nicolás Díaz) is a teenaged schoolboy with dark hair and glasses in Northern Argentina. He lives in a suburban neighbourhood with his Mom and Dad (Maria Soldi, Cali Coronel) and his older sister Natalia. But when word gets out that he’s gay, he is punched, kicked and spat upon by a group of boys from his school, who leave his bruised, unconscious body in a rusty car. And the attackers parents blame Nino for “corrupting” their sons’ minds. So the family packs up their car and moves to their dad’s second home, a huge wooden house, far away, in a remote rural area. He runs a business chopping up trees and bulldozing forests, but the workers are worried because another boy, also Nino’s age, recently disappeared into the woods and never came back. They blame it on Almamula, a mythical monster who lures boys and men into her clutches. She preys, they say, on carnal sin.
Nino is enrolled in confirmation classes learning prayers, morality and sin, along with lessons about puberty. But poor Nino has a one-track 
mind: sex. He finds himself turned on even by statues of a half-naked Jesus writhing on a cross. And he is drawn to the woods, hoping to see Almamula there. Only Maria (Luisa Lucia Paz) understand the old ways of the woods and helps Nino in his journey.
The verdant forest is filled with twisted vines, and mouldering swamps, simultaneously erotic and terrifying, like his own sexual thoughts. His dreams drift in and out of reality as he ogles workmen in his house, his sister’s boyfriend, and above all, a handyman named Malevo (Beto Frágola). A handsome indigenous fisherman, Malevo sleeps in a tent on the riverbank beyond the forest. He represents absolute freedom to Nino. Malevo rejects religion and follows other traditions — respect the forest or it will get revenge. Nino is torn between heaven and hell, carnal sin and carnal sex. Even when stigmata appear on his palms and thorns scratch his forehead, he can’t decide whether to worship Jesus or succumb the red-eyed monster. Surrounded by the obvious lies and lusts of the locals and his own family, which way will Nino turn?
Almamula is an unusual coming-of-age story about a teenager’s sexual awakening. It incorporates fairytales, mythology, and religion as seen through Nino’s confused and sexually-obsessed mind. Although not a horror movie, per se, it’s told in that style, with sounds of dragging chains, scary monsters, and highly sexualized nightmares. The old wooden house they move into creaks and groans, its ceiling fans rarely turning. And nature is always close by, both alluring and brutal in its grandeur. Great acting and beautifully shot in the wilds of rural Argentina, Almamula is a strange and fascinating story.
About My Father
Dir: Laura Terruso
Sebastian Maniscalco (Sebastian Maniscalco) is a hotel manager in Chicago in his 40s. He’s in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend Ellie (Leslie Bibb) a painter who just had her first one-woman show. After much hemming and hawing, Sebastian nervously agrees to meet her parents, and if all goes well, to smooth the way toward marriage. But there’s a fly in the ointment: his dad. Salvo Maniscalco (Robert De Niro) is a Sicilian immigrant and Sebastian’s only family, and he insists on coming along, too. A widower, Salvo was a successful hairstylist in his prime, known for his brash opinions, old-world ways and his generous use of men’s cologne. Sebastian is afraid he’ll embarrass him in front of his potential in-laws.
They get their first glimpse of Ellie’s family at an airport near DC when her preppy brother Lucky tells them to ditch their rentacar and fly with him in his private helicopter. Ellie’s family is not just rich, they’re filthy rich and Plymouth Rock powerful. Old money. His dad 
owns a chain of luxury hotels, and his mom Tigger (Kim Cattrall) is a Senator. Their summer home is a mansion inside a country club. Will they accept Sebastian into their rarified world? Does he want to be a part of it? And what about his dad?
About My Father is a broad comedy about class and ethnicity, and it’s kind of funny. I laughed more than once, and some of the side characters — like Tigger and the two brothers, Lucky and Doug, a new-ager — keep the plot moving. De Niro plays his dead-pan dad to perfection, reversing the role he played in the Meet the Fokkers series. The big question is who the hell is Sebastian Maniscalco, who write and stars in a movie, about himself (starting with a cute family history). In real life he’s a stand-up comic with some acting roles, not a hotel manager. The problem is the character Sebastian (a hotel manager) is prone to suddenly shift into the real Sebastian’s stand-up comedy schtick. I guess his die-hard fans will find it funny to see a comedian duck walk across a room flapping his arms, but to me it was just embarrassing. That said, though neither uproariously hilarious nor terribly original, About My Father is watchable, funny and even heartwarming.
You Hurt My Feelings
Wri/Dir: Nicole Holofcener
Beth and Don (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies) are married professionals living a comfortable life in New York City. They are also deeply in love, so close that they share ice cream cones. Beth is a published author who also leads writers’ workshops; she’s trying to get her first novel published. Don is a well-established therapist who mainly counsels bickering couples and neurotic individuals. Sarah (Michaela Watkins), Beth’s sister and best friend, lives nearby with her partner Mark (Arian Moayed). She’s an interior decorator, he’s an actor.
Everything’s going great until Beth and Sarah overhear Don and Mark talking about her latest unpublished novel… and her always loving, always supportive husband says her book sucks. Beth is devastated. Is their marriage a lie? Is nothing true? She’s not the only one going through a bad time. Some of Don’s patients are insufferable, and he finds himself forgetting who is who. Is he fit to be a psychiatrist? Sarah begins to think her thankless job is a joke, spending weeks 
tracking down a particular light fixture. And Mark wonders, at his age, why is he still a struggling actor? Even Beth and Don’s only son Elliot (Owen Teague) is working in a pot dispensary and refuses to show her the manuscript he’s writing. What can be done to fix all their lives?
You Hurt My Feelings is a very funny, satirical social comedy. It gently mocks everyone involved, but especially Gen-X educated, white, urban professionals. Like any comedy, it goes for the laughs but what sets this apart is that the characters are flawed, realistic and believable — rather than over-the-top exaggerations. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is as good as ever, and in a very different role from the wise-cracking ones in Seinfeld and Veep. This is a very sweet and funny movie.
About my Father and You Hurt My Feelings both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. Almamula is playing tonight, Saturday May 27, 9:30 pm, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox as part of the Inside Out Film Festival.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
Friends and Lovers. Films reviewed: The Starling Girl, The Eight Mountains
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Spring Film Festival Season continues in Toronto, with Inside-Out opening next week, followed by TJFF in June.
But this week, I’m looking at two new dramas; one from the US, the other from Italy. There’s a fundamentalist young woman in Kentucky looking for love, and two men in the Italian alps looking for the fundamentals of friendship.
The Starling Girl
Wri/Dir: Laurel Parmet
Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen) is a 17-year-old girl in Kentucky, creative, pretty and burgeoning with sexual urges. She lives in the Holy Grace Christian community under the strict guidance of her parents and Pastor Taylor. She directs her energy into dance, moving her body to express her true feelings. But the dance troupe is supervised every step of the way and the slightest transgression — be it a visible bra strap or a hint of leg — is labeled selfish or sinful. Too many sins and you get shipped off to the dreaded King’s Valley — and they’ve all seen what happens to people sent there.
Pastor Taylor and her parents believe it’s time for “courtship” — 
that is Jen spending time with the boy they choose. They set it up but it does not go well. Ben Taylor is immature, gawky and socially inept. His idea of a good time is joking about chicken droppings. In any case, Jen has her eyes on the prize: Owen (Lewis Pullman). He’s charismatic and tanned, just back from Puerto Rico. He’s into meditation more than scripture. The only problem is he’s a Taylor, too, the preacher’s eldest son and he’s already married.
They decide to meet on the sly. There first few times are chaste and pure but the two of them are ready to explode. She’s the only real person he’s ever met, the only girl he feels comfortable with, he says. And Jen is infatuated with him. They start sending text messages or passing little notes to set up secret rendezvous. But there are no secrets in a community this small. Everything leaks out 
eventually. Is Jen being manipulated by an older, married man? Can Owen be trusted? And are they really in love?
The Starling Girl is a young woman’s coming-of-age drama about sexual frustration and awakening within a restrictive environment. This is filmmaker Laurel Parmet’s first feature and it’s a doozy. Filled with passion, deceit, secrets and lies, it’s a powerful look through a young woman’s eyes. I’ve never seen Eliza Scanlen before, and just assumed she was discovered in a Kentucky diner — but no, she’s yet another Australian actor bursting onto the American scene (and she’s totally convincing.)
I recommend this one.
The Eight Mountains
Wri/Dir: Felix van Groeningen, Charlotte Vandermeersch
(Based on the novel Le otto montagne by
Paolo Cognetti)
It’s the 1980s in Piedmont Italy. Pietro is an 11 year old boy who goes to school in Turin, but spends his summers with his parents in a tiny mountain village. There he meets Bruno, also 11, who herds long-horned goats and milks cows in the village. They become instant best friends, playing, fighting and swimming in the crystal clear waters of an isolated alpine lake. Bruno even gives Pietro a new name: Biero, which is Pietro, or stone, in the local dialect.
Though their moms are around, both of their fathers are rarely there: Bruno’s dad does construction work in Switzerland, while Pietro’s dad is a chemist at a huge plant in Turin. But he visits when he can — he loves the isolation and grandeur of the mountains, and wants to impart his love of them on his son. He takes him on hikes up the local peaks, recording each visit in a diary. Bruno soon joins their climbs (when he’s not apprenticing to make cheese) and their bonds strengthen each summer. But high school brings big changes — school is in the cities not the villages. And it costs money. Pietro’s parents offer to pay for Bruno to study in Turin. Pietro is offended by them taking his best friend away from the mountains — you’ll ruin him! he says. In any case, Bruno’s father won’t allow it. He puts him to work full-time laying bricks at the age of 13.
Pietro drifts apart from his best friend, and breaks all ties with his family to discover himself. 15 years later, he returns to the village and rekindles his friendship with Bruno. But have they drifted too far apart?
The Eight Mountains is a wonderful novelistic drama about friendship and life in the mountains. The story takes place over two decades, with each role played by three actors, child, adolescent and adult, though mostly as the third. Luca Marinelli (Martin Eden in Martin Eden) is excellent as an almost fragile writer who travels the world looking for his true home, and the eight mountains of the title. (He also narrates the story). Alessandro Borghi plays the 
adult Bruno — burly, bearded and gruff — but filled with self-doubt and conflicting emotions.
I don’t speak Italian, but I love the way the film plays with language and dialect, and communicates literary concepts and foreshadowing but without losing its deep, emotional pull. The film is by the Belgian team of Felix van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown) and Charlotte Vandermeersch, and it fits perfectly with their past work: it’s quite long (2 1/2 hours) with vivid natural scenery, a moving plot and American-style music. If you’re looking for a good, juicy drama about adult friendships, this is the one to see.
Great movie.
The Eight Mountains and The Starling Girl both open this weekend; check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
Daniel Garber talks with Shazad Latif about What’s Love Got to do with it?
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Zoe is a young woman in London, whose love life is at a standstill: she meets lots of bad boys on dating sites, but, so far, no keepers. Her career — as a documentary filmmaker — is also dragging; she’s running short of ideas. So she decides to combine the two: make a doc about turning to arranged marriages instead of love. Her subject? Kaz, her childhood best friend and next-door neighbour, whose Pakistani parents want to match him up with a suitable bride. Kaz lets Zoe follow him everywhere with her video camera as he navigates the world of arranged marriages. This takes them both to Lahore for a potential wedding between Kaz and his prospective bride Maymouna. But can two strangers make for a happy marriage?
What’s Love Got to do with it? is a charmingly nuanced 
romantic comedy about love and marriage across cultures. Shot in London and Lahore, it looks at differing viewpoints on relationships, without falling for cheap laughs and cultural cliches. It’s directed by the great Shekhar Kapur, written by Jemima Khan and stars Shazad Latif as Kaz and Lily James as Zoe. Shazad is a British actor known for his television work on MI-5 and Star Trek Discovery, and in films like The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
I spoke with Shazad Latif via Zoom in London.
What’s Love Got to do with it? opens this weekend in Toronto.
Friends. Films reviewed: Blackberry, Book Club: the Next Chapter, The Maiden
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Toronto Spring film Festival season continues with Reelabilities on right now, with pay what you can admission to these fully accessible films, by, for and about disabled and deaf people. And on the horizon look out for Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ film fest starting on May 25.
This week I’m looking at three new movies opening this weekend — two comedies and a drama — from the US and Canada. There are longboarders in Calgary, wedding planners in Tuscany, and entrepreneurs and engineers playing with their Blackberries.
Blackberry
Co-Wri/Dir: Matt Johnson
It’s 1996 in Waterloo, Ontario. Research in Motion is a motley crew of programmers and engineers developing products in a strip mall. They hold onto their college-boy culture (it’s mainly guys), playing music, eating junk food, joking around and watching movies when they’re not writing code. But they work their asses off, too. They want to launch a cel phone like nothing the world has ever seen before. RIM was founded by Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Matt Johnson). Blackberry would let you send fully encrypted texts wherever you are using only your thumbs and a built-in keyboard. It’s the first “smart phone”.
They are brilliant at inventing things and getting them to work, but less skilled on the financial side. In fact, they are deeply in debt, having been double-crossed by a silicon valley corporation. In walks financial wizard Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton). He doesn’t know anything about the tech side, but he was impressed by their pitch. So impressed he promises to bail them out, inject cash, and get the cel phone off the ground. In return he declares himself co-CEO (to their objections). And within a few years, Blackberry has captured half the cel phone market. But can they survive the advent of the iPhone.
Blackberry is a hilarious and brilliant look at the rise and fall
of a Canadian device that once dominated the global market. It’s full of geeks nerds and douchey pricks, tremendous discoveries and idiotic errors that, in hindsight, could have been avoided. It’s shot in that 20 oughts retro mode, and Baruchel and Howerton will amaze you. As will many of the smaller parts — like Sungwon Cho and Michael Ironside. I’ve been watching Matt Johnson (co-writer, director and costar) since his first film The Dirties appeared at the Toronto After Dark Festival a decade ago. His talent is unique, weird, and quirky; what could have been a dull corporate biopic gets the full Matt Johnson treatment and ends up as a perfect period piece.
Blackberry is a great tech-geek flick.
Book Club: The Next Chapter
Co-Wri/Dir: Bill Holderman
Viv, Carol, Diane and Sharon have known each other for more than 50 years but live in various cities across the US. Viv (Jane Fonda) is a bon vivant and advocate of free sex, Carol (Mary Steenbergen) is a chef, Sharon (Candice Bergen) is a judge, now retired, and Diane (Diane Keaton) is just herself, a flibertigibbet-y worrywart. But as they adjust to retirement in their seventies+ (up to 85), they feel the need for something new. Viv, after a lifetime denouncing the patriarchy and heteronormative institution of marriage, suddenly decides to exchange rings with her longtime lover. Seeing this her three friends decide they must go to Italy to celebrate her engagement. And after lots of hemming and hawing, they are off to Rome, Venice and Tuscany, celebrating the culture, scenery, fashion, shopping and food Italy offers them. But can they overcome all the obstacles they encounter on the way?
Book Club: the Next Chapter is a comedy road movie about 
sexually-active elderly women having a romp together in Europe. It’s also an unoriginal, cliche-ridden touristic guide to Italy: from riding gondolas in Venice to ogling marble statues in Rome. But even as I was cringing at the truly awful jokes (like Chef Gianni wants to show me his Cucina… what should I do? I bet chef Gianni’s cucina is really big!) I was smiling through the whole dreadful movie. Why? Because to see Fonda, Keaton, Bergen and Steenburgen — plus the great Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini — in a movie together is fun, even a godawful movie like this one… and they looked like they were having a really good time.
The Maiden
Wri/Dir: Graham Foy
Kyle and Colton are best buds at a high school in suburban Calgary. They’re on their longboards, skating across their neighbourhood till it turns into vacant lots, open fields, and forest, a river and railway tracks. Kyle (Jackson Sluiter) is a rebel, he likes hardcore music and carries spray cans to put his tag Maiden on every bridge and surface they pass. Colton (Marcel T. Jiménez) is the taller one but more hesitant and introspective. He lets Kyle take the lead but gleefully joins in smashing up a TV or giving a ritual burial to a dead cat they find in a half-built house. But then something terrible happens and Colton is left all alone to deal with his devastating loss. The second part of the film retells many of the events this time using the point of view of a shy young woman named Whitney (Hailey Ness). But time, reality, and death are all fluid in this film, and not what you think.
The Maiden is an amazing — and constantly surprising — first film by a new director, originally from Calgary, about 
friendship and loss, bullying and cruelty but also about finding the joy of life. All the main players are first-time actors who play their parts perfectly, while the photography is beautifully shot on grainy 16mm film.
This movie has so many jarring images — like Colton in a red hoodie in the school hall, drowning in a sea of cowboy hats during the Calgary Stampede — images that stick with you long after the film is over. People singing to songs only they can hear. It presents life shattering events but without ramming it down your throat. So much is left unsaid — and that’s what gives The Maiden its unexpected power.
Really good movie.
Blackberry, Book Club: The Next Chapter and The Maiden all open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
Daniel Garber talks with Cam Christiansen about Echo of Everything
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
What do punk, gospel, jazz and Andalusian duende music have in common? They all bring an ecstatic reaction from musicians making the music and listeners dancing to it. It’s a primal response dating back thousands of years, with music bringing joy, anger, sadness, and inspiring sex and even violence from its listeners. Are these ecstatic reactions still around today? And are the notes and rhythms 
we hear an echo of ancient rituals or even primordial sound waves?
Echo of Everything is an amazing new documentary about music and how it affects us emotionally, spiritually and scientifically. A highly personal film it incorporates expressionistic scenes in black and white, philosophic interviews and intense musical performances recorded in supersaturated colour. And running throughout is a constant stream of sound and rhythm, recorded around the world.
Echo of Everything is written and directed by Calgary-based filmmaker and animator Cam Christiansen, known for his award-winning features Wall and I Have Seen the Future.
I spoke with Cam in person, on-site during Hot Docs at the Luma Café at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Echo of Everything had its world premiere at Hot Docs and is opening theatrically later this year.
Narrative sovereignty. Films reviewed: El Equipo, Praying for Armageddon, The Stroll, Twice Colonized at #HotDocs30
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival is on its last weekend, but with many more terrific movies yet to be seen. If you’re a student or under 25 or over 60, all daytime screenings are free. So be sure to catch a movie today or tomorrow.
This week I’m looking at some of the movies that played at Hot Docs, including ones dealing with narrative sovereignty. There is archaeology vs the military, religion in international politics, indigenous decolonization, and sex workers reclaiming their history.
El Equipo
Dir: Bernardo Ruiz
It’s 1984, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Falklands War has just ended and the military Junta has fallen, leaving a fragile democracy in its place. The rule by military and police has ended but over 10,000 people are missing — the “disappeared”. And the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo demonstrate daily demanding justice for their lost sons and daughters.
Enter Dr. Clyde Snow, a chain-smoking, martini-quaffing Texan in a cowboy hat. He’s a forensic archaeologist, known for authenticating the remains of notorious Nazi Dr Mengele and the victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. He’s in Argentina to rattle some bones and expose the skeletons in the closet. But first he needs some help. He recruits young university students — including Mimi Doretti, Patricia Bernardi, and Luis Fondebrieder — from the anthropology and archaeology departments. They are hesitant at first; if there’s another coup, Snow could easily fly back to North America while the students would be among the first to disappear. But they agree to help excavate unmarked graves to prove they were tortured and killed by the police and military. And in some cases to identify the remains. And after studying with Dr Snow, they become internationally renowned, called to investigate massacres and war crimes around the world.
This very moving film documents the group over 40 years, at the trials in Argentina, as well as projects in El Salvador, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Mexico.
El Equipo is a crucial film.
Praying for Armageddon
Dir: Sonje Hessen Schei, Michael Rowley
Why does the US have such close ties with Israel? According to the US state department, “Americans and Israelis are united by our shared commitment to democracy, economic prosperity, and regional security. American ties to the State of Israel are strong and longstanding.”
Al Jazeera says: “Washington’s unwavering support for Israel is rooted in the aftermath of World War II, the Cold War, pro-Israeli political influence and PR heft.” But there is another, less well-known reason: American Evangelical Christians’ belief that the Rapture and Armageddon cannot occur without the State of Israel controlling the city of Jerusalem. Only then can Jesus return to earth in the End of Days. Armed with a sword, he will smite all those who don’t believe he’s the Messiah; but this who do will ascend to heaven, leaving the world in its wake.
These beliefs in Armageddon and the End of Times are absolute and unequivocal. That’s part of the reason why Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, and why Evangelicals send so much support to Israel.
It’s a religious thing.
This documentary digs deep into a world of sword-bearing motorcycle gangs, megachurches and ordinary people who believe wholeheartedly in biblical prophesies. It also looks at violence against Palestinians by settlers in the Occupied Territories that their donations support. Pray for Armageddon is a fascinating look at America through a glass darkly by curious Scandinavian filmmakers.
The Stroll
Dir: Zackary Drucker, Kristen Lovell
The meatpacking district around 14th street in New York City was for decades the home of trans sex workers who plied their trade at night in cars and alleys around the empty trucks cleared of carcasses. Many were runaways, largely black or hispanic, ostracized by their families, and rejected by the mainstream community. Their only possible work was sex work. They banded together to protect each other from violent johns and the constant threat of arrest and assault by the brutal 6th Police Precinct, using a law known as “walking while trans.” The district is now a gentrified shopping area, but co-director and subject Kristen Lovell returns to her former neighbourhood as she pieces together their shared history. Many of her friends were murdered, beaten or sexually assaulted by police, murdered or sentenced to long prison sentences, especially since Rudolph Giuliani’s crackdown based on the “broken window policy”.
Through period photos and films and new interviews, the film shows them as they fought for their lives and livelihood, often among a disinterested or hostile larger community. It lionizes heroes like activist Sylvia Rivera, who founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) are they were then known. But it also shows explicit photographs and the sex-workers own graphic descriptions — some hilarious, others harrowing — of their work and lives.
Although Lovell was once herself the subject of a documentary, The Stroll reframes their story to their own version of history, not that of an outside filmmaker.
This is what is meant by narrative sovereignty, where the film’s subject is also a director allowed final say on her own portrayal.
Another example of narrative sovereignty is:
Twice Colonized
Dir: Lin Alluna, Aaju Peter
It’s the 1970s. Aaju Peter is a young Greenlandic Inuk and a top student. Her parents support her moving to Denmark (Greenland is its colony) to continue her education. She stays there until she is 18, but when she returns home, she finds she can’t talk to anyone — she speaks Danish now but has lost her Greenlandic language and culture. She quickly marries a Canadian and moves to Iqaluit. She is now a practicing lawyer, an Inuit activist and has served as an international delegate at the EU, and the United Nations fighting for indigenous rights and representation.
But the film is a highly personal view of her life over a seven year period. We follows her return to Denmark, to revisit her past, and confront her worst fears. It also reveals the impact of a terrible death of one member of her family, as well as a bittersweet reunion with another. With beautiful, stark images of life in the arctic, this is an unvarnished portrait that shows Aaju Peter at her best and worst.
Twice Colonized, The Stroll, Praying for Armageddon and El Equipo are all playing at the Hot Docs Festival through the weekend. Twice Colonized is also opening theatrically next Friday at the Hot Docs cinema in Toronto.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
Mishmashed genres. Films reviewed: Sisu, Polite Society, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Spring Film Festival Season continues in Toronto, with Hot Docs on now — offering 200 great documentaries from around the world, with free daytime tickets for students and seniors! — and ReelAbilities Film Festival starts on May 11th, showing great films by, for and about the deaf and disability communities — and it’s fully accessible!
But this week I’m talking about three new movies — from Finland, the UK and the US — opening this weekend. There’s a WWII action-thriller that feels like a spaghetti western; an Indo-English action-comedy with a dash of Kung Fu, and a coming-of-age drama about puberty in the 1970s.
Sisu
Wri/Dir: Jalmari Helander
It’s 1944 in Lapland, Finland, and a grizzled old prospector (Jorma Tommila) is panning for gold. He knows there’s a war going on, but he just wants to be alone with his dog, his horse and his pickaxe. But then he hits a golden lode! Not just a few tiny nuggets, but huge glowing rocks. Now it’s time to pack up his bags and head off toward Helsinki to cash them in. What he doesn’t know, though, is that the Nazis are carrying out a scorched-earth policy, burning and killing everyone in Lapland. And a troop of SS soldiers, tanks and all, are heading his way. How can a feeble old prospector resist the Third Reich?
But this is no ordinary codger. When Finland was allied to the 
Nazis he singlehandedly fought hundreds of Soviet soldiers – his back is riddled with bullet holes and scars, but he is virtually indestructible. He is a living legend and the Russians know to steer clear of him. And now Finland has switched sides, from the Axis to the Allies. But the SS Obersturmführer (Norwegian actor Aksel Hennie: Max Manus) and his henchman Wolf (Jack Doolan) don’t have a clue who they’re dealing with. And when they spot his gold, they make it the mission of their squad to kill the old man and grab the booty. But which side will triumph in the end?
Sisu (the title is an untranslatable Finnish word that means something like a knuckle- breaking determination, and bravery, never to give in despite the odds) is an extremely violent action-thriller, told in a light, almost humorous way, about one man’s fight to the bitter end. It traces their battle on land, through minefields, underwater and high in the sky. The music and camerawork look like a 1960s spaghetti western, and the film has an almost cartoonish or fairytale feel. I’ve seen Tommila in a number of super-weird Finnish movies (Big Game, Rare Exports) directed by Helander, always about a not-so-nice hero in Lapland, with his actual son Onni Tommila always playing a role (this time he’s a German soldier). A unique genre, but one you should explore. If you’re into suspense and action with lots of violence, blood and gore, you’ll love Sisu.
Polite Society
Wri/Dir: Nida Manzoor
Ria and Lena are two sisters who live in London. When they’re not wrestling or trying to gouge each other’s eyes out, they are fantasizing about their future careers: Ria (Priya Kansara) as a stuntwoman, and Lena (Ritu Arya) as an artist. Ria relentlessly practices her killer kung-fu kick (to no avail) while Lena cultivates her brooding goth persona.
This doesn’t sit well with their Pakistani parents, who want their daughters to find respectable professions. That’s why they pay for Ria’s posh private school — so she’ll become a doctor.
But things turn bad when Lena drops out of art school and falls 
into a deep depression. Things get worse when she agrees to attend a party at a huge mansion, thrown by Salim (Akshay Khan) the most eligible bachelor in town, and the son of a millionairess (Nimra Bucha). But when he proposes to Ria, Lena knows something is not right. Why did this rich guy want to marry an art school drop out? What are his real motives? With the help of her best friends Clara and Alba she decides to delve into Salim’s past and expose his wrongdoings to stop the impending wedding. But is she barking up the wrong tree? And is it all just her childish imagination?
Polite Society is an English action-comedy, and though set within the South Asian community, aside from one song it’s a far cry from Bollywood. The humour is British and the fights are strictly Hong Kong. Throw in a bit of science fiction and some high school dynamics, and you’ll find an unexpectedly enjoyable mishmash of genres, in the style of Everything, Everwhere, All at Once… but entirely different. I liked this one a lot.
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret
Wri/Dir: Kelly Fremon Craig (Based on the book by Judy Blume)
It’s the 1970s in Manhattan. Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) is an 11-year-old girl who lives in an apartment with her parents. She loves school, her friends, her Grandma Sylvia (Kathy Bates) who lives nearby, and the city that’s all around her. So when her parents tell her they’re leaving The City and moving to suburban New Jersey, Margaret is devastated. And despite their assurances — it’s just across the river, Dad (Benny Safdie: Uncut Gems) got a promotion and Mom (Rachel McAdams: Morning Glory, A Most Wanted Man, Everything Will Be Fine, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) won’t have to work anymore — to Margaret it’s another universe. That’s why she starts talking directly to God, since she has no one else to tell her secrets to. She was brought up with no religion — her dad’s Jewish and her mom’s Christian — but she still needs the God thing.
She soon makes friends her age, when their neighbour marches through their front door. Nancy (Elle Graham) quickly informs her
she’s richer, prettier and more popular than Margaret but she can join her clique anyway as long as she follows the rules: They must wear a bra, tell the group when they have a period, and share the name of the boy they’re crushing on. Problem is Margaret has no breasts, no period and Moose, the guy she likes, isn’t the right one. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret is a retelling of the classic, pre-teen novel, and it’s fantastic. It’s funny and realistic, dealing with the problems and insecurities girls had to deal with before the internet. (And none of these worries have gone away). It’s set in the 1970s, complete with the classrooms, clothes and music of the period, but also the attitudes and zeitgeist. It deals with everything from spin the bottle to bullying. And if you have a heart I’m sure you’ll shed a tear at least once. Generations grew up on Judy Blume’s books, and the movie is faithful to the original but totally accessible to kids today (and their parents.) This is a great girls’ movie about the perils of puberty.
Polite Society, Sisu and Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret all open across Canada this weekend; check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
The best movie of the year? Films reviewed: Chevalier, Quasi, Beau is Afraid
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Spring film festival season continues with Images, where indie film and experimental video meets avant-garde art and media culture. And Hot Docs Documentary Festival starts next week. But this week I’m talking about three new features — a comedy, a historical drama and a movie that defies categorization. There’s a hunchback whose name rings a bell, a musician whose work rivals Mozart’s, and a recluse who must confront what he fears most.
Chevalier
Wri/Dir: Stephen Williams
It’s the 1780s in Paris, and Joseph de Boulogne (Kelvin Harrison, Jr) is the talk of the town. He’s handsome, witty, educated and highly-skilled. He’s a champion fencer and a violin virtuoso. He can also compose a score for opera, ballet or orchestra. When Mozart comes to town, he jumps onto the stage and challenges him to a duel — using violins as their weapons. Men admire him, and women swoon. And the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton) dubs him Chevalier de Saint-George, the highest title he can receive. Most unusual of all, Joseph de Bologne is Black. Born in the French Caribbean, his father is a wealthy colonist, and his mother a West-African-born slave.
He takes on as his lover the beautiful Marie Josephine (Samara Weaving); together they hope to 
launch his career in opera. But he faces opposition from people in high places. His lover is married to a powerful, but abusive man. The Chevalier earlier snubbed another patron La Guimard (Minnie Driver) who bears a grudge. Can a black man in 18th century France rise to the top of a rigid system? And what about the revolution?
Chevalier tells an interesting story about an almost-forgotten historical figure. It’s full of ornate wigs and costumes, dancing ensembles, and crowds on cobblestone streets shouting Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité! What it’s missing, though, is a soul. It’s hard to get past the big issues and petty intrigues to care deeply about the main characters. This film has great production values and acting. In fact Kelvin Harrison, Jr is one of the best young actors around, and I’ll see anything he’s in — he’s that good. Sadly, he’s better than the material he has to work with. Chevalier is good enough, but it never reaches the greatness I was hoping for.
Quasi
By Broken Lizard
It’s France in the 1400s, and Quasimodo, the legendary hunchback with a twisted face, works not as a bellringer in Notre Dame but as a royal torturer. He got the job because he invented the rack to straighten out the hump of fatty tissue on his back. Didn’t work, but turns out the rack is great for causing pain. And the new queen (Adrienne Palicki) has taken a shine to Quasi. She likes his outspoken nature, and the fact he listens to what she says, unlike the vain and egotistical King Guy. Things are looking up when Quasi wins the national lottery. But the grand prize — meeting with the King — ends up a fiasco. Far from being a fun filled smorgasbord, Quasi leaves the palace with orders to kill the Pope! If not, the King will kill him and all his friends instead. To add to his troubles, when he meets the Pope, Quasi is ordered to assassinate the King! He’s caught in the middle of a feud between two cruel and powerful leaders. How will he ever get out of this one?
Quasi is a sketch comedy parody that transplants The Hunchback of Notre Dame into a new 
setting. Unfortunately — aside from a bit of bawdy humour — most of the jokes never go beyond foul language, torture humour and opaque references to oysters. (Why oysters? Why indeed). Then there are scenes like one character having his testicles nailed to a wooden board. (Is this supposed to be funny? I don’t get it.) The film is the product of comedy troupe Broken Lizard whose five members — Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, and Eric Hanske — wrote, produced and starred in multiple roles, with Heffernan at the helm. Apparently, they’re quite well-known and popular and have made some other movies, including “Super Troopers 1 & 2”. Perhaps they’re an acquired taste (which I have yet to develop) and if I ever do, I’ll be sure to let you know. But in the meantime, I failed to find humour anywhere in this unfortunate exercise in juvenile excess.
I guess we could call this a quasi-comedy.
Beau is Afraid
Wri/Dir: Ari Aster
Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is a meek, mild-mannered, middle-aged man who lives in an unnamed city. He’s the ultimate passive introvert, whose main goal is to avoid conflict. He has no job or friends and lives alone, but does see a therapist regularly. His main topic? His mom, Mona Wasserman (Patti Lupone) a very successful entrepreneur from a small town called Wasserton. His dad died before Beau was born, so Mona has always been the main influence in his life. Then there’s Elaine, the girl of his dreams, whose Polaroid photo he carries with him wherever he goes. Their time together as teenagers was brief but he will never forget her.
Now he’s supposed to fly to visit his mother, but Beau is afraid. And for good reason. He lives in a 
dystopian slum full of criminals, drug addicts and naked serial killers roaming the streets. He’s in danger the moment he steps out his door. And his apartment isn’t safe either — it’s infested with poisonous spiders, and bloodthirsty neighbours who slide threatening notes under his door. Nowhere is safe. Luckily his analyst prescribed him a new medication he’s sure will calm Beau down. But it comes with unexpected side effects.
When he misses his flight, he sets out on foot, beginning a picaresque journey full of strange, wonderful and sometimes hazardous people he encounters along the way. His face and body are battered and bruised, his survival due to sheer luck. But will he ever see his mother again?
Beau is Afraid is a hilarious, dreadful, shocking and amazing drama. It’s uncategorizable, one of those few movies that stand alone, like work by David Lynch, Gaspar Noe or Lars Von Trier. It’s three hours long, uncomfortable to watch, but clearly something special. It’s multiple-layers deep with more detail than you can absorb in a single viewing. I’m purposely not touching most of the characters and plot because one of the joys of watching this thing is the constant surprises.
The whole movie is intentionally ambiguous as to what is real, what is imagined, and whether you’re inside a dream or a drug-induced psychosis.
The acting is superb, from Joaquin Phoenix as the eternally abused milquetoast to Patty Lupone as his monstrous mother (possibly her best film performance, ever?), with unforgettable scenes by Parker Posey as an unexpected visitor, Kylie Rogers as a vindictive teen, and Amy Ryan as a Gold Star Mother. Beau is Afraid chews up and spits out everything, from the collapse of the American Dream, to psychoanalysis, hippy communes, police violence, poverty, Big Pharma, and rampant capitalism.
Some people will hate this movie, but I think it’s amazing; maybe the best film of the year.
Beau is Afraid and Chevalier both open across Canada this weekend; check your local listings. Quasi is now streaming across Canada on Disney+.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
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