Daniel Garber talks with Chandler Levack about I Like Movies
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s 2002 in Burlington Ontario, a suburb of Hamilton.
Lawrence is an eccentric, self-centred 16-year-old boy who lives in a small bungalow with his widowed mom. He spends most of his time with his best friend Matt, the two of them watching SNL at weekend sleepovers. They’re making an end-of-the-year film together at school. Lawrence lives and breathes movies, consuming stacks from his local video store. His long-term ambition? To become an auteur. But first he’ll have to study cinema at NYU (“Canadian universities are too… Canadian”).
To pay for it, he needs big bucks. But when he gets a job at a video chain store, everything changes. He hits it off with the store manager, the older woman who hired him. But no more 
time for sleepovers, or making his film. His relationship with his doting mom is in a shambles, and he begins to doubt he’ll get into any University. Is just liking movies… enough?
I Like Movies is a coming-of-age comedy that premiered at TIFF. It explores the life of an aspiring filmmaker in a lifeless Canadian suburb. It’s written and directed by prize-wining filmmaker, writer and movie critic Chandler Levack.
I spoke with Chandler in Toronto via ZOOM.
I Like Movies opens on March 10, 2023.
60s, 70s, 80s. Films reviewed: Cocaine Bear, Jesus Revolution, Metronom
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
This week, I’m looking at three new movies. There are spiritual revolutionaries in California in the 1960s, teenaged dissidents in Bucharest in the 1970s, and a crazed animal in Georgia in the 1980s.
Cocaine Bear
Dir: Elizabeth Banks
It looks like a typical day in 1985 in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. Two little kids are playing hooky, three skateboard-riding teenage delinquents are looking for some petty crime to commit, a pair of Scandinavian backpackers are on a hike, and a middle-aged forest ranger is dressed to impress a guy she wants to date. But everything changes when a prop-plane pilot drops a dozen duffel bags of uncut cocaine into the woods… and then promptly dies. Suddenly the supply chain is broken, and out-of-state traffickers looking to retrieve their supply — and the cops who want to nab them — all descend on the park at once. And here’s where the 
actual movie starts: a huge black bear sticks its nose into the duffel bag and emerges as a frantic, delirious, coke head, forever on the lookout for more snow to blow. Who will find the drugs — the cops, the gangsters, the delinquents, or the children? And who will not be eaten by the bear?
Cocaine Bear is a low-brow, high-concept comedy that’s basically 90 minutes of extreme-gore violence. I was a bit dubious at the beginning, but about half an hour in it started to get really funny. I know it’s stupid-funny, but it still made me laugh. The all-CGI bear is one of the main characters, but there’s a great assortment of humans, too, played by an all-star cast: Margo Martindale as the forest ranger, the late Ray Liotta was the gangster, Alden Ehrenreich as his diffident son, O’Shea 
Jackson Jr as his henchman, and Keri Russell as a mom searching for the two missing children. It’s hilariously directed by TV actor Elizabeth Banks. Cocaine Bear easily beats Snakes on a Plane and Sharknado as best movie based solely on its title. Supposedly inspired by true events (yeah, right) it has lots of room for ridiculous 80s haircuts, music and other gags to good effect. Stoner movies are a dime a dozen and half of the movies coming out of Hollywood are clearly made by cokeheads, but this may be the first comedy about cocaine I’ve ever seen. If you’re comfortable laughing at blood, gore and gratuitous violence, along with lots of base humour, I think you’ll love this one.
Jesus Revolution
Dir: Jon Erwin, Brent McCorkle
It’’s the late 1960s in California, where young people everywhere are tuning in, turning on, and dropping out. One of these kids is Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), who attends a military academy but would rather be drawing cartoons. He lives in a trailer with his Mom, a glamorous but alcoholic barfly. He meets a pretty girl named Kathe hanging with the hippies outside a public high school, and decides that’s where he’d rather be. But Kathe is from an upper-class family whose parents frown on Greg. Meanwhile, Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), a local pastor, wonders why no one is coming to his Calvary Chapel anymore. It’s because your a square, his 
daughter tells him. So she introduces him to a unique man she met at a psychedelic Happening. Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) is a charismatic, touchy-feely type who talks like a hippie and looks like Jesus. He emerged from the sex-and-drug world of Haight Ashbury with a mission from God, and now wants to spread the gospel. Chuck Smith is less than impressed, but decides to give him a try.
Soon there are block-long lineups to hear what Lonnie — and Chuck — have to say. This includes Kathe and Greg, who barely survived a bad acid trip. Lonnie gives Greg a place to live and invites him to join the church. Calvary Chapel is attracting people from everywhere, 
culminating in mass baptisms in the Pacific ocean. But as their fame grows, so does the friction. The more moderate Chuck frowns on Lonnie’s in-your-face style — from faith-healing to his talk of being closer to God. Can Greg find a place in this world? Will Kathe’s family ever accept him? And is this a movement or just a flash in the pan?
Jesus Revolution is a retelling of the unexpected upsurge in grassroots Christianity among baby boomers in the 70s. The film is clearly aimed at evangelical church-goers, a subject in which I have absolutely no interest. Zero. Which is why I’m surprised how watchable this film is to a general audience. It’s not preachy — it shows, not tells. It’s well-acted with compelling characters and a surprisingly good story. No angels or miracles here, just regular — flawed but sympathetic — people. I think it’s because the Erwin Brothers (American Underdog, I Still Believe)have figured out how to make mainstream, faith-based movies that are actually good. The film is based on real people, so I was a bit surprised they never mention that Lonnie Frisbee was actually a gay man who later died of HIV AIDS. I guess it doesn’t fit the story they want to tell That said, if you’re involved in a church or a fan of spiritual films, this might be just what you’re looking for.
Metronom
Wri/Dir: Alexandru Belc
It’s 1972 in Bucharest, Romania. Ana and Sarin (Mara Bugarin, Serban Lazarovici) are a beautiful couple still in high school, and madly in love. They both come from “intellectual” families, who are given special privileges in Ceausescu’s communist regime. They go to an elite school together, and hope to pass their Baccalaureates to get into an equally good university. They meet in front of a WWII heroes monument dressed in stylish trench coats and school uniforms. So why is Ana crying? Sarin and his family are emigrating to Germany. That means they’re breaking up for good and will probably never see each other again. Ana is crushed — her world is broken. Which is why she has no interest in going to an afternoon party at a friend’s house, but changes her mind at the least minute. Her father, a law professor, is easy going, but her mother absolutely forbids it. So Ana sneaks out of the apartment and heads to the get-together. This is her last chance before he leaves to make out with Sarin and express her eternal love.
The party is centred around listening to music — Led Zepplin,
Hendrix, The Doors — as played on a radio show called Metronom on Radio Free Europe. Western music is underground, subversive and illicit. They decide to write a letter to the show and pass it on to a French journalist. But two bad things happened. When they make love behind a closed door, Sarin won’t say he loves her. And the party gets raided by the secret police and all the kids are arrested and forced to write confessions. But Ana is so caught up in her relationship she barely notices the interrogation she has landed up in. Who ratted them out to the authorities? And what will happen to Ana?
Metronom is a passionate story of young love in the 1970s under the omnipresent gaze of an authoritarian government. It’s a coming of age story, about heartbreak and the loss of innocence as the real world reveals its ugly face.
If you’ve never seen a Romanian film before (such as Întregalde, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Poppy Field, The Whistlers, The Fixer, One Floor Below), this is a good place to start. They all have this feeling of tension, corruption, mistrust and unease, whether they’re set during Ceaucescu’s reign or long after his fall. This one also has hot sex, good music, stark cinematography, and terrific acting, especially Mara Bugarin as Ana. It manages to be a thriller, a romance and a coming-of-age story, all at once.
This is a good one.
Metronom is now playing a the TIFF Bell Lightbox; Cocaine Bear and Jesus Revolution open nationwide 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.
Coming of age. Films reviewed: Lovely Jackson, Of an Age, Skinamarink
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s been a sad few weeks in the Toronto film scene. Ravi Srinivasan, a recent, young TIFF programmer, and Noah Cowan whom I knew way back in the 1990s, both recently died much too soon. And Harvey Lalonde, possibly the world’s most celebrated film festival volunteer, who had the inside scoop on everything happening at every festival in Toronto, and whom I’ve known and constantly talked with for at least 15 years, also sadly died well before his time.
On a more positive note, the Toronto Black Film Festival is on now through the weekend, showing a huge amount of original content, about being black in Canada from Halifax to Vancouver.
This week, I’m looking at three new indie movies: There are multiple apparitions in Edmonton; mutual attraction in Melbourne; and wrongful incarceration in Cleveland.
Lovely Jackson
Co-Wri, Dir: Matt Waldeck
t’s 1975 in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Rickey Jackson is hanging with a friend when a few blocks away a bill collector is shot down in cold blood. The killer escapes and no weapon is ever found. But based on the testimony of a 12-year-old paperboy who claims he saw Rickey (who has no criminal record) committing the crime, Jackson is tried, convicted and sentenced to death by electric chair. A few years later, on death row, only months away from his execution, a Supreme Court decision stays all capital punishment in the state. But all he has to look forward to is a life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. And therein lies the Innocent Prisoner’s Dilemma: when brought before a prison panel, he can either lie that he feels remorse for a crime he didn’t commit and be eligible for parole, or tell the truth that he is innocent and be sent back to prison. Although his case is eventually taken up by the Ohio Innocence Project he isn’t freed until after spending 39 years — from 18 to his mid 50s — wrongly 
imprisoned.
Lovely Jackson is a stylized, and highly personal look at incarceration, survival in prison, and his fight to win back his freedom. It’s filmed in a series of black and white vignettes as portrayed by a young actor, and co-written and narrated by Jackson himself. Prison bars collapse into fractals, while Escher-esque prisoners march in lock step in endless circles. Jackson is portrayed in a fetal position as the hands of a clock face, slowly ticking around the hours. It isn’t until he is finally released that you can begin to see him in full colour and real life settings.
Lovely Jackson is an extremely moving documentary of how our justice system has failed, and one man’s struggle to fix it.
Of an Age
Wri/Dir: Goran Stolevski
It’s Melbourne Australia, 20 years ago. Kol (Elias Anton) is 18 and bursting with energy. He’s finishing high school and embarking on a new life. And in just a few hours, he’s meeting with Ebony (Hattie Hook), his ballroom dancing partner, for their big audition. Its the culmination of years of practice and hard work. He’s already dressed in his costume and ready to dance, dance, dance. But then a call comes through from a payphone. Ebony has spent the night passed out on a beach, drunk as a skunk, and doesn’t know where she is. Its up to Kol to try get someone to pick her up and take them both to the audition in time. Fortunately Ebony’s older brother, Adam (Thom Green) comes to the rescue. They miss the dance but Kol and Adam both feel there’s something special between them. Could this be love? Perhaps, but Adam is flying off to latin America to start his PhD. Ten years later they meet again in Melbourne’s airport. What has happened to their lives and where will they go from here?
Of an Age is a bittersweet coming-of-age drama about hope, longing and 
desire. It’s also about Kol’s life as an immigrant with his widowed mother who escaped the wars in the former Yugoslavia. (Goran Stolevski also directed the intriguing Macedonian fairy tale You Won’t Be Alone) And about alienation, bullying, cruelty and coming to terms with his sexuality. I have mixed feelings about this film. I like its slice-of-life look at life in Melbourne with its diverse characters and personalities, and the sometimes emotionally-moving plot. But it feels disjointed. Its frantic opening scenes show Kol and Ebony in a never-ending state of panic shouting at each other non-stop. And the bookend scenes — set 10 years later — are too short, too pat. It’s only in the other parts — like where Kol crashes a neighbourhood party, or has to deal with his relatives — that the movie finally hits its stride. Of An Age is not a bad movie, but it’s far from perfect.
Skinamarink
Wri/Dir: Kyle Edward Ball
It’s late one night in a suburban home in Edmonton, Alberta, and four-year-old Kevin can’t sleep. So he starts wandering around. But things look weird. In the washroom, the toilet appears then disappears. And the doors and windows in the hall aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Mommy, my chatterphone is talking, and my Lego pieces are moving by themselves. Put them back! Turn the lights back on. Uh-oh, the floor is on the ceiling. Toys are on the wall, it’s very bad. Daddy, I don’t like what the TV is saying. Make it stop. Kaylee — will you play with me. Kaylee? What’s wrong with your mouth. Kaylee has no eyes. Mommy? Why won’t you look at me? Daddy? Where are you? Help me. Why is everything so weird. I don’t like it at all. Daddy, there’s a stranger in our house…
Skinamarink is an avant-garde, experimental horror movie about all the nightmares a little kid fears coming true one night. He can’t navigate the familiar routes around his home. All the things that bring him comfort — playing with his toys, watching cartoons — aren’t working right. His Mom and Dad — the ultimate refuge he can always turn to when things go wrong — aren’t helping him this time. They’re only half there. It’s the ultimate child’s horror, filled with confusion and abandonment.
The title comes from the Canadian kids’ song made famous by 
Sharon, Lois and Bram. The film is shot in dim light with grainy, staticky video images. Most of the dialogue is barely audible. The special effects are like what a 6-year-old with no editing skills might attempt: show something, pause, move it off camera and start filming again — hey, look: it disappeared! It’s filled with creepy old TV cartoon music and sinister but indistinct voices that twist familiar toys into scary monsters, with satanic and zombie-like faces appearing for just a split second. Although Skinamarink borrows certain horror cliches, it is not a normal mainstream movie. If you approach it as an arthouse or experimental film, you might like it. But if you’re expecting a regular horror 
movie, you’ll be disappointed and bored. Skinamarink makes Blair Witch Project look conventional. It’s extremely slow moving, and made on a tiny budget, but has generated an avid cult audience. What can I say? I liked this spooky, scary and weird look at childhood trauma.
Of an Age opens this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. Lovely Jackson was the opening night film at Toronto Black Film Festival, which continues through the weekend; and Skinamarink is now streaming on Shudder.
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 Enuka Okuma about Woman Meets Girl at #TBFF!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s present-day Toronto. Annabelle is a bookkeeper in her forties who lives alone and keeps a neat and tidy home. She is single, reserved and has never has been in love. Tessie is an 18-year-old sex worker who has lived on the streets for many years. She exudes sexuality from every pore. So what are they doing together? Annabelle rescued Tessie from an abusive boyfriend and invited her into her home, and now they’re sharing alcohol in a drinking game. But as they get to know each other, and their secrets are revealed, it’s hard to tell who is rescuing whom.
Woman Meets Girl is a sizzling short film about two black 
women during one night in Toronto. The film was written, directed and produced by Murry Peeters, and co-stars Chelsea Russell as Tessie and Enuka Okuma as Annabelle. Enuka is an award-winning actress, known for her extensive work on TV shows like Rookie Blue, Working Moms, Madison and Sue Thomas, FBEye, as well as guest roles on 24, Grey’s Anatomy, and NCIS: Los Angeles.
I spoke with Enuka Okuma in L.A. via Zoom from Toronto.
Woman Meets Girl has its world premiere on February 18th, 2023 at the Toronto Black Film Festival and at Queer Screen’s 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney, Australia.
From India to Iceland. Films reviewed: To Kill a Tiger, Godland
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
This week, I’m looking at two new movies now playing in Toronto: a documentary and an historical drama. There’s an underdog in India standing up to her oppressors; and a Dane in Iceland cowering in fright.
To Kill a Tiger
Wri/Dir: Nisha Pahuja
(I interviewed Nisha here, in 2012)
Ranjit is a poor farmer in a rural village in the Bero district of Jharkhand, in Eastern India. Together with his wife, they are raising his beloved children, whom they hope will advance to a better life through education. But everything changed late one night, after a wedding party. Their oldest, a 13-year-old girl. is attacked and brutally gang raped by men from the village. When their parents found out what happened, they rushed her to the police and eventually the men are arrested. But the authorities decided the proper response to this is for a 13-year-old girl — their beloved daughter! — to marry one of her rapists. It’s a hellish proposition, and the entire family rejected it. And with the help of an NGO, they 
decide to press charges and put the men on trial. She has the full support of her father, and agrees to testify in court. This is almost unheard of in India, and the trial became a cause celebre, with people across the country awaiting its verdict.
But the process is far from favourable. The family receives death threats, while local officials blame the victim for her attackers’ crimes. They are shunned in their home village, and strongly pressured to drop it. Can they go through with the trial? Will the girl testify? And do they have any chance of winning?
To Kill A Tiger is an NFB documentary about a young girl and her supportive family who question authority from within a strictly hierarchical society. Although the film estimates a woman is raped in India every 20 minutes, few cases are reported and fewer still are vindicated in trial. The documentary covers the family in their home, along with their many supporters — lawyers, NGOs, civil rights activists — and their detractors, including her unrepentant alleged attackers. The entire film was shot in India in the days leading up to around the trial, in the places where it was happening.
This strong documentary stands behind underdogs in their fight against the system, and provides a sliver of hope amidst very grave circumstances.
Godland
Wri/Dir: Hlynur Pálmason
It’s the late 19th Century in Denmark. Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove) is an earnest young priest with a seemingly simple mission: to travel to a Danish colony in southeastern Iceland, build a church there before winter comes, and then start preaching. But beware, warns his supercilious superior, Iceland is not what you expect it to be. They may look sort of like us, but they speak a different language, they believe in different things, and they are primitive in their ways, not civilized like us Europeans. And the landscape though 
beautiful is dangerous and treacherous, full of erupting volcanoes, flooding rivers and steep rocks. Not to be trifled with.
Ignoring him, Lucas sets out on his carefree journey, carrying his camera equipment, books and a giant cross. There’s also a large entourage of Icelandic workers. He takes an instant dislike toward Ragnar (Ingvar Sigurðsson) an older man who speaks no Danish. But he soon makes friends and bonds with his translator (Hilmar Guðjónsson), the only person he can talk with. But when things start to go wrong and the translator is killed, Lucas sinks into a deep melancholy. His depression grows deeper even as his anger, directed mainly at Ragnar, starts to swell. Can he survive until they reach the town and build the church? And will he be a suitable leader of the congregation?
Godland is an impressionistic historical drama about a clash of cultures. It follows a Danish priest’s journey into his own private heart of darkness. The film is full of love, romance, rivalry and revenge, as experienced by a group of strange and quirky characters. There is so much to love about this movie: they ride small horses with beautiful manes straight out of My Little Pony. Poetry, sagas, story-telling and Iceland’s oral history are still living things, part of everyday use, not something hidden away in dusty books. And around any twist in the trail. they might run into a breathtaking waterfall, a crackling glacier or an erupting volcano. Lucas photographs the people he’s travelling with, posing them before ethereal land- and seascapes. 
The pace is slow, but still dramatic: it takes the time to show the priest applying egg whites and silver to a pane of glass to take one of his wet plate photos. In real life a lost cache of these pictures was found there a century later — and that’s what inspired this film. The entire movie is shot to look like those photos, in an almost square shape with softly rounded corners.
And like any good Nordic film, Godland combines a dark storyline with a stunning aesthetic.
I recommend this movie.
To Kill a Tiger is now playing in Toronto at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema, and Godland at the TIFF Bell Lightbox; 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.
Religious horror. Films reviewed: Knock at the Cabin, Attachment
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
While some people find solace in religion, others avoid it like the plague. But what happens when religion intrudes on non-believers’ lives? This week, I’m looking at two such horror movies. There’s a dybbuk in Denmark, and an apocalypse in Pennsylvania.
Knock at the Cabin
Co-Wri/Dir: M. Night Shyamalan
Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) are a happily-married couple on vacation in rural Pennsylvania with their beloved adopted daughter Wen (Kristen Cui). They are renting a luxury cabin in the woods to spend some quality time away from their big-city careers. Wen quickly finds her place there, climbing in a treehouse, and catching grasshoppers to put in her terrarium. But her peaceful day is disturbed by an enormous man who approaches her, uninvited. Stranger danger! So when he tells her that he and some friends have some important news to tell them, Wen rushes back to the cabin to warn her dads. But soon there’s a Knock Knock Knock-ing at the cabin door, by a formidable foursome.
The huge man Wen met is Leonard (Dave Bautista), a school teacher; Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) is a registered nurse; 
Ardiane (Abby Quinn) is a short-order cook; and Redmond (Rupert Grint) is a bartender. Though dressed like normal people, they carry frightening weapons made of pitchforks, axe heads and scythes, all welded to long poles. And they’ll break door the door if they don’t let them in. Though the two dads fight back, they’re outnumbered, and soon they’re tied to chairs so they can’t escape.
The Four tell them they must choose one member of their family — Eric, Andrew, or Wen — to die. Why? To avoid an apocalypse. They say God will destroy all creation if this random family doesn’t obey an unexplained order. And they know this is true because of visions of the future they all received. Who are these crazies and why are they here on this day? Why was this family chosen? What does it mean? And should they be believed?
Knock at the Cabin is a high-concept thriller-horror with a pseudo-religious theme. It’s also a simplistic and pointless exercise in absolute stupidity. It’s both laboriously sentimental, and predictable, without M Night Shyamalan’s usual surprises and twists. The movie is ridden with plot holes which I’m going to try to mention a few without spoiling the story. Why should the fate of the entire world be decided by seven Americans in a cabin in Pennsylvania? Why would God make their visions identical to one channel’s TV footage rather than actual events? Shyamalan has made one great movie — The Sixth Sense — a few good ones, and a whole lot of clunkers. I’d place this one near the bottom of the pile.
Attachment
Wri/Dir: Gabriel Bier Gislason
Leah (Ellie Kendrick) is a PhD candidate from North London. She’s on a short visit to Copenhagen to do some research. That’s where she runs into one of Santa’s elves, all dressed in red. Well not really an elf; Maja (Josephine Park) is actually a former actress in costume for a book reading for little kids. But sparks fly, they wind up in bed together, and realize they were meant for each other. And when Leah breaks her leg (after an unexpected epileptic seizure) Maja helps her travel back to London. But Leah’s flat is not what she expected.
She lives directly above her mother, Channa (Sofie Gråbøl), a doting woman with superstitious beliefs. (Though born into a non-religious Jewish family in Denmark, Channa’s husband is ultra-orthodox, and kept her acquired beliefs even after he left the family years ago.) But what is disturbing to Maja are all the weird talismans scattered around the apartment: candles that light up mysteriously late at night; bowls with fertility goddess paintings placed face-down beneath furniture; and strange creaking noises that interrupt Maja and Leah’s love-making. And Channa is less than welcoming to her daughter’s 
new lover.
So in an effort to fit in, she ventures around the chassidic neighbourhood looking for advice. She stumbles on a bookstore run by a man named
Lev (David Dencik), an expert in Jewish mysticism. He tells her about the Kabbalah, and supernatural entities like golems and dybbuks, and how the dark arts can summon them. Turns out he has a closer connection than she thought: Lev is Maja’s uncle, and not on good terms with his sister-in-law Channa. Soon there’s a three-way struggle for Leah’s love, even while unexplained supernatural events start happening with increasing frequency. Maja decides it’s time to do something drastic to rescue Leah from this hell-hole… but who can she trust? Channa or Lev? And what is happening to her lover?
is a haunting look at a same-sex romance ensorcelled by folk religion, mysticism and black magic. Using relatively few special effects it manages to maintain a good level of tension. Dialogue shifts among English, Danish and Yiddish, depending on who is speaking and whom they wish to exclude. The characters are fascinating, especially Sofie Gråbøl’s Channa, a secretive, neurotic alcoholic trying in vain to influence her daughter’s future. Josephine Park is fun as the innocent fish out of water, and Ellie Kendrick — who from certain angles bears an uncanny resemblance to Anne Frank! — deftly handles her transition from normal young woman to something very different. By blending various genres, Attachment manages to add an unexpected twist to the conventional horror movie.
I like this movie.
Knock at the Cabin opens theatrically this weekend, and Attachment begins streaming later this week on Shudder; 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.
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