Films reviewed: Your Monster, Drive Back Home, Conclave
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
More Film Festivals are coming up soon, with ReelAsian, Cinefranco and BITS, Blood in the Snow, just around the corner.
But this week, I’m looking at three great new movies. There’s a consortium of cardinals locked in their chambers; a monster discovered in a closet by a NY actress, and a Toronto man forced out of his closet by the police.
Your Monster
Wri/Dir: Caroline Lindy
It’s present day Manhattan. Laura (Melissa Barrera) is a triple threat — she can sing, dance and act. She’s helping her boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) write his breakout musical, soon to open on Broadway with her in the lead role. But when she gets sick — the big C! — and needs surgery, he dumps her — out of the blue — while still in hospital. And casts another actress (Meghann Fahy), in her part. The surgery is a success but Laura is a total wreck. She’s doubly devastated, both from the sudden end of her five year relationship and for being cheated out of her big break. Her anger, frustration and self pity are all ready to explode. That’s when she makes an unexpected discovery. There’s a monster in her closet!
The creature (Tommy Dewey) is an actual monster, bearded with long hair, sharp teeth and leonine features, who talks like a dude. Apparently he has lived there all her life (she grew up in this house) she just never saw him before. It’s hate and fear at first sight. He threatens to tear out her throat and eat her alive — and tells her to 
leave the place and never come back. Meanwhile, Laura shows up for the audition uninvited and becomes the understudy for her own role. But things gradually warm up at home, as Laura and her monster get to know each other. But can she take him to the Halloween Ball? Will she ever get to perform her role on stage? And will her boyfriend ever take her back?
Your Monster is a very cute, rom-com/horror with a fair bit of singing, too. It’s a riff on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast but with a funnier monster and brooding beauty with a lot of anger inside. Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey have lots of chemistry while Edmund Donovan is suitably villainous as the bad boyfriend. He looks strangely like Jared Kushner. The movie as a whole is enjoyable and adorable. It takes a funny concept to its extreme. I like the costumes, I like tight script — the whole movie is much better than I expected. There’s a play within the play (half the scenes are rehearsals or performances) but even the “real” home scenes are theatrical. Your Monster will make a great date movie, but just keep in mind there’s a bit of horror within this rom-com.
Drive Back Home
Wri/Dir: Michael Clowater
It’s 1970 in the village of Stanley, New Brunswick.
Weldon (Charlie Creed-Miles) is a mechanic who lives with his mom, his wife and his son in the house he was born and grew up in. One night he gets a long distance phone call from Toronto. His estranged younger brother Perly (Alan Cumming) — an advertising exec who he hasn’t heard from in many years — has been arrested for gross indecency (meaning consensual sex with another man). The cop lays it out. If you can pick him up and take him home, all charges will be dropped. If not, he’s going to prison for five years. So Weldon loads up his pickup truck with enough sandwiches and gasoline for a long trip and leaves his village for the first time in his life. He’s terrified of having to speak French so he takes a circuitous route avoiding Montreal altogether.
He picks up Perly from the cop shop but there is no love lost between them. Perly is a city boy who wears a jaunty cravat while his big brother is a hick, who’s never seen a high-rise apartment or an answering machine. He just wants to drive back home. Perly isn’t a happy camper either: His marriage is a shambles, his career has tanked and his dog is dead, since the cops arrested him. But what’s left for him in Toronto? And so they begin their long journey home. But what secrets will be revealed along the way?
Drive Back Home is a bittersweet drama about family and trauma. It’s done in the style of classic Canadian Road movies, like Don 
Shebib’s Goin’ Down the Road, but this one is about leaving the big city. Their trip through rural Ontario and Quebec alternates between scenic beauty, rustic kindness, and vicious, small-town bigotry. Canada was still rife with homophobic hatred at the time — it was only decriminalized a year earlier, and there are disturbing gay-bashing scenes in this film along with a lot of homophobic F bombs.
The two main actors are English and Scottish but both quite good, and maintain decent Canadian accents, gruff for Creed Miles and arch for Cumming. The rest of the cast features prominent Canadian actors, with Clare Coulter as Adelaide, the hard-ass mom, Guy Sprung, as a Francophone farmer, Dan Beirne as a priest and Alexandre Bourgeois as a young guy they meet in a roadhouse bar. Drive Back Home is a moving look at Canada’s bad ol’ days.
Conclave
Dir: Edward Berger
A hush hangs over the Vatican; his holiness the Pope is dead. And the world’s Cardinals, in red robes with white mitres, are congregating to choose the next pontiff from within their group. Ballots are secret, but until one receives 2/3 of the votes, they are literally locked-in, no contact with the outside world. What are their criteria for the next pope? He must be virtuous and humble, but also healthy and strong. And he must be honest as the Pope is infallible. Bishop Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is the Dean in charge of the highly secretive process. The most popular candidates: Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a modest liberal reformer, Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), a bombastic traditionalist, and the highly respected Adeyami (Lucian Msamati). But Lawrence is privy to new information just before the lockdown. A drunken monsignor alleges the Pope fired Tremblay (John Lithgow) just before he died. And mystery man, Benitez (Carlos Diehz), appears out of nowhere claiming to be the Cardinal of Kabul, Afghanistan. And then there are the nuns, including Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) who remain 
silent but see and hear everything. Which bishop will they choose to turn the conclave’s smoke from black to white?
Conclave is a stunningly- good thriller about secrets and subterfuge within the Vatican. The constant changes of political alliances as well as shocking revelations will keep your rapt attention until the very end. It presents a Vatican that’s both exquisite and decadent, with black mould spreading on it’s columns. It’s all the work of German director Edward Berger who made All Quiet on the Western Front, with Volker Bertelmann’s powerful music, and fascinating camerawork. It was filmed at Rome’s famous Cinecitta studio who are always deft at recreating the Vatican. I love this constant attention to detail — red sealing wax, Latin prayers, and tortellini soup.The acting is superb, especially Ralph Fiennes. I’ve never been a fan, but he is just sooo good in this role, maybe his best I’ve ever seen. Altogether, this makes Conclave a great night out.
Your Monster and Conclave both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. And Drive Back Home is having its Toronto premiere tonight at CAMH on Queen West as part of the Rendezvous with Madness film fest.
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 Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson about their new film Rumours at #TIFF24
Photographs by Jeff Harris
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Somewhere in Germany, the G7 is holding a summit at a chateau beside an archaeological peat bog site. The leaders of the top western economies — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — are working hard to write a caring communique pledging future improvements in our world. Until something strange happens — all of the support staff suddenly disappear, and this elite cabal of Presidents and Prime Ministers are left to fend for themselves. And there are strange creatures dancing in the woods. Can these hapless leaders band together in time to stop the dangers threaten this planet? Or will they be reduced to suspicious conspiracies and petty rumours?
Rumours is also the name of a bizarre and funny new feature that premiered at TIFF. It combines geo-politics with ancient mythologies and otherworldly forces. Throw in some sexual intrigue and the threat of global apocalypse and you have something very different from anything you’ve ever seen. Rumours is the work of award-winning Winnipeg (review) filmmaker Guy Maddin (Interview: Seances, 2013) and his collaborators Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. Guy Maddin is known for his uniquely baffling film images that range from unsettling Canadiana to creepy fantasies (Interview: Louis Negin, Keyhole, 2012) infused with perverse sexual neuroses… and more than a few laughs. Guy has worked with Evan and Galen Johnson for a decade now (Interview: The Forbidden Room, 2015).
I spoke with Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson in person, at TIFF24.
Rumours had it’s North American premiere at TIFF and is now playing in Toronto.
Unobtainable, unsustainable, inevitable. Films reviewed: Bookworm, Monkey on a Stick, Smile 2
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Toronto Fall Film Festival season continues with Rendezvous with Madness presenting docs and dramas, features and shorts, about addiction and mental health followed by in-person discussions, starting on October 25th.
But this week, I’m looking at three new films, a kids’ movie, a doc and a horror film. There’s a precocious girl looking for the unobtainable; a group of deranged gurus trying to hold onto the unsustainable; and a pop starch wants to escape the inevitable.
Bookworm
Co-Wri/Dir: Ant Timpson
Mildred (Nell Fisher) is a young girl who lives with her mom in New Zealand. She loves reading but hates school. Her desk is surrounded by leather-bound books alongside a microscope, a telescope, a typewriter and a record player. She talks like a grownup, and is obsessed by wild animals. Her dream? To catch on film a black panther said to be roaming in the woods (along with a big fat cash prize for anyone who can take a picture of it.) But her plans all change when her mother is sent to hospital in critical condition following an exploding toaster. That’s when her biological father comes into the picture. He flies in from America to save the day.
Strawn (Elijah Wood) is a professional magician — he prefers “illusionist” — who loves magic: like making small things disappear or pulling coins from behind someone’s ears. Most people are wowed by Strawn’s prestidigitations and puppy dog eyes, but not Mildred. She scoffs at magic and is quick to reveal all his tricks. They two are opposites at heart. If you say “David Copperfield” she thinks of Dickens while he thinks of the 
magician. Nonetheless, they are stuck together for now, so he agrees to take her camping. But little do they know of the exciting adventures and frightening dangers — like criminals, wild animals and crazy escapes — that lie ahead.
Bookworm is a very cute coming-of-age adventure about two strangers put together to form a makeshift family. It feels like a cross between a Roald Dahl Matilda and Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople. It’s shot in the New Zealand wilderness amidst stunning mountains, cliffs and lakes. Nell Fisher is adorable as the obnoxiously mature Mildred, while Elijah Wood is equally adorable as the man-child who won’t grow up. I wanted to see this one because I loved director Ant Timpson’s bizarre debut, the violent comedy Come to Daddy. Bookworm is as different as any film could be but just as enjoyable.
I liked this one a lot.
Monkey on a Stick
Dir: Jason Lapeyre
It’s 1965 and America is in high hippie mode. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada arrives in New York City from Calcutta. He’s there to sell books, including his own translation of the Baghdad Gita. But he ends up heading the Hare Krishna movement, a vast multinational phenomenon, a religion that espouses dancing, singing and chanting mantras in order to achieve a better afterlife. After picking up many devotees in New York, the movement exploded in popularity once he reaches California. Allen Ginzburg endorses it and George Harrison writes a song about it. Countless people join the religion, throwing away material possessions to dance, chant and collect alms in airports. But when the Swami dies, he leaves behind eleven gurus. That’s when things start to fall apart. This documentary — based on a bestselling book — exposes the crimes and excesses of the Hare Krishna movement in the 1970s and 80s.
One guru — in order to generate more money — sets up a drug ring of devotees instructed to smuggle hash from Pakistan to Canada. They have ties to the mob, leading to a series of violent crimes until it is finally exposed. Another guru collects automatic weapons, and goes on a shooting spree in California. A third guru — a self-declared Swami — the scariest of them all, builds himself an ornate golden castle in West Virginia, while his disciples — who have given away all their worldly 
possessions — live in a shanty town beside the castle without toilet paper or plumbing. He later plans murders and is suspected of molesting children.
In fact, the movement as a whole is riddled with problems. Women are treated as inferior beings who distract male practitioners from their religious obligations. Homosexuality is strictly forbidden as is all sex outside marriage. And heavy censorship prevails — no TV, magazines, newspapers, movies, or books are allowed, except for one official newspaper. And by the second generation — the 1970s and 80s, when most of the documentary takes place — kids are sent to schools with teachers who have no training. They lock kids in dark closets or dump them in trashcans as punishment, among even worse crimes.
Monkey on a Stick is a documentary that looks at crimes of the Hare Krishna movement. It’s told using talking heads — including former devotees — period footage, and many reenactments, with actors visually demonstrating what the narrators are talking about. There’s also a series of random people sharing their views on religion, God and the afterlife. Though quite disturbing in parts, on the whole, it’s a fascinating story that exposes events I had never heard about before.
Smile 2
Wri/Dir: Parker Finn
Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is a pop superstar, about to launch a worldwide tour. She lives in a luxury apartment on Park Avenue, and can buy anything she wants. She’s busy 24/7 at dance rehearsals, talk show appearances and autograph signings, under the constant supervision of her stage mom (Rosemarie DeWitt) and her PA (Miles Gutierrez-Riley). It’s her big comeback, after a year of rehab. This follows a bout of addiction culminating in a terrible car crash that killed her boyfriend and put her in intensive care. A year later, she still suffers from intense pain, pain so bad she is forced to buy opioids on the sly. But everything changes when she witnesses her high school friend (and drug supplier), Lewis (Lucas Gage) kill himself in front of her eyes in the most gruesome manner imaginable. And he dies with a rictus grin plastered on his face.
That’s when things start to go bad. Everywhere she looks she
sees that awful smile. It’s like she caught a disease by witnessing her friend’s death. She starts seeing people who aren’t really there, and experiencing events that never happened — even though they feel so real. She begins to doubt her sanity. It’s like some alien presence has lodged itself into her brain. Her friends, family and colleagues look at her in a strange way, even as she fears she’ll end up dead in a matter of days, with that same awful smile. Can she break this smile cycle? Or is she headed for insanity and death?
Smile 2 is a genuinely-scary psychological thriller/ horror about fame, celebrity, and a deadly condition passed on from person to person. It’s also one of those Hollywood rarities: a sequel that’s demonstrably better than the original. Naomi Scott is terrific as Skye, a punky, self-centred celebrity; Skye’s not just a horror movie screamer, she’s a real character, complete with a psyche and a believable back story. The movie itself is really well made, with beautiful art direction, cool choreography, and ingenious camerawork and editing, where a scene can flip, elliptically, from an elevator ride to an overhead view of the street. Warning: it’s quite violent, so if you don’t like seeing blood and guts, stay away. But otherwise, Smile 2 is a really good, heart-pounding genre movie.
Bookworm, Monkey on a Stick and Smile 2 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.
Assorted monsters. Films reviewed: The Apprentice, Piece by Piece, Don’t F**k with Ghosts
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Toronto’s fall film festival season is in full swing with Planet in Focus, celebrating it’s 25th anniversary. It’s running from Tuesday through Sunday next week, with international features and shorts on climate change, activism, environmentalism and indigenous issues. And on Friday, October 18, there’s a free screening at Hot Docs of We Will Be Brave, about Good Guise, a Toronto collective that sparks conversations around healthy masculinity through art. That’s part of the For Viola series honouring Viola Desmond.
But this is also October, when ghouls and ghosties flock to our screens. So this week, I’m talking about three new movies about various types of monsters. There’s a monstrously popular music producer from Virginia Beach; a notorious real estate developer trained by a monster in New York; and two guys searching for ghosts in Winnipeg.
The Apprentice
Dir: Ali Abassi (Review: Border)
It’s the mid 1970s, and New York is a wreck, with soaring crime, homelessness and bankruptcy. When the Mayor asks the feds for help, Gerald Ford tells them to “drop dead”. Into the world emerges an ambitious young developer. Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) was born rich, but cowers under his oppressive father’s rule. Fred Trump (Martin Donovan) a real estate developer from Queens, made his fortune building segregated public housing. Donald is stuck at crap jobs, collecting rent and evicting destitute tenants. But he has big ideas. His plan? To buy the venerable Commodore, an old hotel with 2000 rooms on 42nd street a hotbed of porn palaces and drug dealers. But how can he raise the money with his dad being sued by the feds for his racist rental practices? Donald has an idea. He joins an exclusive club with the hopes of meeting a certain lawyer he thinks can solve all his problems. The lawyer is Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) a notorious rightwing attorney with ties to organized crime. Cohn played a central role in the 
McCarthy Hearings, and still brags about executing the Rosenbergs. He agrees to take on Donald as his protege, and teaches him his three crucial rules: Attack, attack, attack (whether lawsuits, blackmail or intimidation) Deny everything , and always declare victory, even when you lose. (See: 2020 election). The club is also where he meets the beautiful and brash Ivana (Maria Bakalova), whom he is destined to marry. She will instill in him a love of garish, nouveau-riche interiors. The film follows these three people’s intertwined lives through the 70s and 80s until Cohn’s death.
The Apprentice (absolutely no connection to Trump’s much later reality show) is a very dark biopic about the origin of Trump’s bizarre motivations and strategies. Sebastian Stan gives an excellent portrayal of Trump; he’s actually sympathetic for his earnestness and naivety in the beginning, but who spirals into something deeply disturbing by the end. This is not an SNL parody, it’s a realistically developed character. Likewise, Strong plays Roy Cohn as a dead-eyed, sybaritic bully, hosting gay orgies, even while publicly denying his sexuality to the end. He doesn’t look like Roy Cohn, but he sure does act like him. With a great selection of 70s and 80s pop songs throughout the film, and the grotesque golden opulence of Trump’s homes captured on grainy colour film of the era, The Apprentice is a funny and disturbing biopic.
Piece by Piece
Co-Wri/Dir: Morgan Neville (Review: Best of Enemies)
Pharrell Williams is a highly successful music producer, musician, singer, composer and fashion designer. His work spans the genres from hiphop, to pop music and electronica. But his life hasn’t always been that way. He grows up in a working-class housing area in Virginia Beach, Va. and starts drumming at an early age using kitchen utensils. He’s into Star Trek, Stevie Wonder and Greek Gods (his apartment is actually named Atlantis!) He soon forms a band with his schoolmates, and later, starts working at a nearby recording studio, learning the ins and outs of music producing.
He soon rises in popularity, both for his own work, and that of the stars he works with, a who’s who of hip hop and pop. He has a succession of hits with Kendrick Lamar, Snoopdog, Timbaland, and Jay-Z, then branches out to include pop stars like Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Robin Thicke, and Daft Punk, all producing worldwide hits. They come to him for the tracks he creates and samples, as well as a certain je ne sais quoi he adds to their music. But how long will his popularity last?
Piece by Piece is a documentary about the life and career of Pharrell Williams. It’s narrated by Pharrell himself, in an interview with the director, as well as talking heads of most of the stars he’s worked with. What’s unusual about this doc is it’s all done using LEGO animation. Instead of the actual people, you see LEGO people who waddle when they walk and have basic faces 
painted onto cylindrical plastic heads. But does it work? I’m of mixed feelings. I was expecting a LEGO movie — fast moving, constant jokes, mind-blowing psychedelic animation — featuring Pharrell, but what I got was an interview with Pharrell using the style of LEGO. (Picture the movie Barbie, but without people just Barbie and Ken dolls) There are some cool creative parts. I love the animation of waves on the beach, the re-creation of video clips, and a cool conceit running through the story — Pharrell’s magic musical touch symbolized by glowing geometric shapes that he puts together for that perfect beat. And I loved the constant music. But in general the images and interviews were more or less the same as any music doc venerating its star— largely unremarkable. A LEGO recording studio is still just a recording studio. And those LEGO people are just irritating. This movie is OK, but I was not blown away.
Don’t F**k with Ghosts
Co-Wri/Dir: Stuart Stone
Stu and Adam (Stuart Stone and Adam Rodness, who co-wrote the script) are a pair of Toronto filmmakers pitching their latest project — Bigfoot! But their financiers have another idea in mind: put together a film proving the existence of ghosts, and it’s sure to be a hit. But, just in case, they take their contract to a ginger- bearded entertainment lawyer (Josh Cruddas) for help. He warns them to find some real ghosts or else they won’t get paid. So they head off to Winnipeg “the Murder Capital of Canada”. And to help them find the spooks, they enlist a series of experts to help them in their quest. It seems Winnipeg is also the capital of supernatural hustlers: ouija board specialists, psychics, aura readers, fortune tellers, magicians, clowns… even a “ghost sherpa” (Tony Nappo), who takes them on a strange journey involving smoking jackets, psilocybin and a 
jacuzzi. They finally locate a house where some grizzly murders once took place. But will they ever find any real ghosts?
Don’t F**k with Ghosts is a low-budget, semi-supernatural Canadian comedy, done in the form of a reality show. So there’s the usual bickering between the two main characters (who also happen to be in-laws), hot mic “gotcha” scenes, and various other embarrassments “accidentally” caught on camera. And no spoilers, but I will say there are some unexpectedly well-done special effects toward the end.
Is Don’t F**k with Ghosts scary? No, not a bit. But is it funny? Well, not too bad…
The Apprentice, Piece by Piece, and Don’t F**K with Ghosts 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 filmmaker Helen Lee about Tenderness at #TIFF24
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s the 2010s in Seoul, South Korea.
Yumi is a high school girl studying at cram tests to get into a good university. She spends her spare time hanging with a young guy named Yohan who works at a local convenience store. But hanging above her is news of a terrible ferry disaster that threatens the lives of hundreds of Korean students her age. She should go home, but it’s the one place she doesn’t want to be; her single dad is dating a gyopo — an English-speaking Korean woman — and Yumi isn’t happy. She’s also dealing with grief, trauma and puberty. Where can she find a little tenderness?
Tenderness is a coming-of-age film about a young woman’s emotions and conflicts as she deals tragedy and trauma. It’s beautiful, powerful and introspective, but threaded with unexpected humour. And it packs a wallop of content in just half an hour. The film stars Kim Sewon as Yumi 
and Jeon Chan Hyeong as Yohan. It’s written, directed and co-produced by filmmaker and theorist Helen Lee. Helen is an alumna of the University of Toronto, York, NYU, and the CFC, was a critic and journalist and has gone on to teach film aesthetics, screenwriting and directing at Queen’s, Yonsei University, Korea National University of Arts, and OCAD. She has also directed many films of her own, including My Niagara, Subrosa and Prey.
Tenderness had its world premiere at TIFF on Wednesday, September 11th at 915 PM, as part of the Short Cuts program.
I spoke with Helen Lee in Toronto, via ZOOM, during TIFF.
Americana, Canadiana. Films reviewed: Reagan, You Gotta Believe PLUS Canadian films at #TIFF24
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
The Toronto International Film Festival is less than a week away, bringing you the best of next year’s movies today. So this week I’m going to share a bit of Canadiana, an overview of movies playing at TIFF. But first, some Americana, two nostalgic biopics opening this weekend. There’s a president straight out of Hollywood, and a baseball team deep in the heart of Texas.
Reagan
Wri/Dir: Sean McNamara (The King’s Daughter, The Miracle Season)
Ronald Reagan is born in the town of Tampico, Ill, in 1911, to a bible-thumping mom, and an alcoholic dad. After summer jobs as a lifeguard he plays on a college football team for three years. His life in show business starts as a radio announcer, but he is eventually is drawn to Hollywood, where he has minor success in B-Movies. He marries Jane Wyman (Mena Suvari) a much bigger star than he is. They get divorced and he eventually marries Nancy Reagan (Penelope Ann Miller), who stays with him throughout his career, He rises in the union ranks till he’s head of the Screen Actors Guild. As his acting career tanks he turns to politics, and is elected Republican governor of California, from 1967 through 1985. And eventually becomes the 40th president of the United States.
He runs on an upbeat conservative platform, and wins he a landslide.
He cuts taxes to the very rich, brings a huge increase in military spending and a decimation of public welfare, while also running up the national debt. He pointedly ignores the AIDS epidemic, killing 100,000 mainly young people in the 1980s. And he brings the world to the brink of a nuclear holocaust, before switching to a more cooperative stance with the USSR’s new leader Gorbachev. He survives an assassination attempt, the Iran Contra scandal, and much, much more, all carefully noted in the film.
Reagan (the movie) is a comprehensive dramatic biopic about the life and career of this man. It’s hagiographic in its outlook and revisionist in its politics. It clocks in at 2:15 minutes but seems even longer, with its plodding retelling of every one of Reagan’s more famous moments or speeches. The costumes all look like recreations of Ralph Lauren fashion spreads in Vanity Fair. The acting varies widely. Dennis Quaid is adequate but not believable as the much older Reagan. Lesley-Anne Down is absurd as a genteel and elegant Margaret Thatcher. But Penelope Ann Miller is uncanny as Nancy Reagan, perfectly capturing her look, voice, and expressions. It’s chronologically precise but full of blatant opinions and half-truths. Were the Contras really freedom fighters? Was it Reagan’s speeches and policies that brought down the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Iron Curtain? If you think so, this movie is for you. The twist is it’s all narrated by Jon Voigt (with a heavy Russian accent) as a KGB agent who supposedly followed Reagan’s career. Which fits, given the Cold War propaganda vibe of the whole movie.
This one’s a clunker.
You Gotta Believe
Dir: Ty Roberts (12 Mighty Orphans)
It’s the early 2000s in Fort Worth, Texas. Bobby and Jon (Luke Wilson, Greg Kinnear) are best friends. They go fishing together and are the coach and manager of the local Little League baseball team. Both their sons are players. Unfortunately, the team is terrible, ranked last in their division. They can’t even make it to first base. They’re a gang of
oddballs and misfits. One with glasses, one with braces, a redhead, sleepy, happy, sneezy, doc… you get the picture. Due to some odd circumstances they’re asked to go to the playoffs. But both Jon and the team members are less than enthusiastic. Why subject ourselves to even more of this constant failure? Until they come up with a real reason to play, to try hard… and maybe even to win. Bobby has cancer. And he would love to see them in the championships. So they get together, enter heavy training, exercise and practice, practice, practice. And guess what? They make it all the way to the Little League World Cup in Massachusetts! But now they’re in the big 
(little) leagues… can they pull off a win? And can their enthusiasm help Bobby in his fight against cancer?
You Gotta Believe is a cute and funny family picture about kids and baseball. It’s based on a true story, and shows where the characters are now, 20 years later. The teams are all male, and so are most of the characters, except Sarah Gadon and Molly Parker as Jon and Bobby’s wives. I am the opposite of a baseball fan, but even I know the difference between a strike out and a home run. (Lots of both in this film, though strangely very few singles doubles or triples.) There’s nothing terribly new or original in the story, but it’s still watchable by kids and some grownups. If you like baseball, and stories of comradery and teamwork, you’ll like this one.
Canada at TIFF24
TIFF brings us great movies from around the world; here are a few Canadian movies that I want to see. From the classics there’s Young Werther a contemporary retelling of Goethe’s famous novel, minus the sturm und drang; as well as a new version of Bonjour Tristesse, based on the 1950s book written by a teenager. Guy Maddin’s Rumours is about the G7 leaders lost in the woods, while David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds has an inventor connecting with the dead. Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language envisions a bilingual Canada where everyone speaks French or Farsi; and Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Measures for a Funeral, about a renowned violinist. Sophie Deraspe’s Shepherds (Bergers) tells of a Montreal copywriter who flees to the alps; and Kazik Radwanski’s Matt and Mara about college friends reconnecting.
There are also some first features: Omar Wala’s Shook about a writer who falls for a barista, and Marie-Hélène Viens and Philippe Lupien’s Vous n’êtes pas seuls, about a pizza deliverer who falls for a musician but gets kidnapped by aliens. And Seeds, by Kaniehtiio Horn, about an influencer who signs a juicy contract promoting a multinational corporation only to discover they’re bad, bad, bad. And I’ve already told you about Sook-Yin Lee’s Paying for It. That’s just some of the Canadian films at TIFF this year.
Reagan and You Gotta Believe both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. TIFF starts next Thursday — go to tiff.net for tickets.
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 Sook-Yin Lee and Dan Beirne about Paying for It
Photographs by Jeff Harris
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s the late 1990s in Toronto.
Sunny and Chester — a VJ and a cartoonist — live together in a house in Kensington Market. Up to now, they’ve been in a loving, monogamous relationship but their sex-life is kaput. So Sunny suggests they broaden their sexual outlook, and seek new partners.
This leaves a void in Chester’s life: sex. Finding a new girlfriend is out of the question. Dating is costly, time-consuming and rarely leads to sex. So he decides to try a different path. What will happen to Chester’s and Sunny’s lives when he starts “paying for it”?
Paying for It is a new film about sex work and relationships, told from the point of view of the John. It’s brilliant, shocking, hilarious and touching. Based on Chester Brown’s graphic novel by the same name, it’s directed and co-written by Sook-Yin Lee. The film stars Dan Beirne as Chester and Emily Lê as Sunny. Dan is a prolific Canadian TV and film actor who is also one of the funniest and most underrated actors working today. Dan has starred in countless TV shows and movies including Great Great Great and The Twentieth Century. The multi-talented Sook-Yin is a producer, director, actor, and musician who began as a VJ on MuchMusic, and went on to direct films like Octavio is Dead, and starring in pictures like Shortbus.
Paying for It is having its world premiere at TIFF on Friday, September 6th at 930 PM.
I spoke with Sook-Yin Lee and Dan Beirne in-person and in-studio at CIUT 89.5 FM.
Fractured families. Films reviewed: Good One, Close to You
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy said “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”.
Sometimes this leads to families torn at the seams, impossible to repair. While others can find the happy side of life. This week I’m looking at two new movies about cross-generational, fractured families. There’s a teenaged girl going camping with her divorced dad, and a trans man repairing relations with his estranged family.
Good One
Wri/Dir: India Donaldson
It’s a summer’s day in New York City. Sam (Lily Collias) is a high school student who lives with her mom; her parents are divorced. She spends most of her time fooling around with her girlfriend who is heading off to University in the fall. But this weekend, she’s preparing for some quality time with her dad, Chris (James Le Gros). Chris is an uptight, clean-freak who resented his ex-wife’s affair, but loves his daughter dearly and unconditionally. That’s why he’s taking her on a camping trip, along with his best friend, and his best friend’s son. Matt (Danny McCarthy) is an actor-turned-salesman. He’s also a bit of a douche, known for his inappropriate comments. Don’t take Matt seriously, says Chris, he has no filter. But his son is mad at him, so he ends up coming alone. Matt’s also irresponsible — he forgets things like basic clothes, camping equipment and even a sleeping bag.
But soon enough, they’re at a camp sight, telling ghost stories and cooking instant ramen over a small fire. They reveal certain secrets from their past and share their deepest beliefs. But when Matt says something to Sam she considers deeply offensive, the tenor of the whole trip shifts. Will the adults learn from their mistakes? Or is it up to the children to teach them?
Good One is low-key, low-budget realistic movie about father/daughter relations. It seems at first like a traditional “generation gap” comedy, but it’s much more subtle than just that. It’s never in your face, you have to think about their facial expressions and what they’re really saying to get the full meaning. The acting is
great — James Le Gros and Danny McCarthy serve as a surrogate Oscar and Felix (the Odd Couple) but as real people, never exaggerated caricatures. I’ve seen Le Gros in dozens of movies, but this is the first I’ve heard of Lily Collias — it’s from her refreshing point of view that we see this film. It’s a lovely looking and sounding film, the dramatic scenes alternating with long nature shots of grey rocks, green leaves and flowing water. It’s lit by campfires at night and sunlight by day. And it’s laced with relaxing acoustic guitar. For a first film (this is India Donaldson’s first feature) this is really good. It may be subtle but it’s never boring.
The title says it all — it’s a good one.
Close To You
Co-Wri/Dir: Dominic Savage
It’s winter in Toronto. Sam (Elliot Page) is a transman in his thirties who rents a room in a friend’s house in Kensington Market. He’s thin and muscular with short black hair, often in a red toque. He likes his new life: single, bisexual, exploring the city, with a good job, and a sense of freedom he never knew growing up. But today he’s taking the train back to ground-zero: his hometown, Cobourg. He’s going to see his family for his Dad’s birthday. It’s also the first time since his transition four years earlier, and he’s really wound up about it. He’s a failure, he’s inadequate, he’s not married like his siblings, and his life in no way resembles his parents’s solidly middle class home. All these thoughts are swirling around his mind and he’s ready to throw in the towel’s but decides to go anyway — he can always leave. And on the train, he recognizes the face of someone important to him as a 
teenager. Katherine (Hillary Baack) was his best friend… will she remember him?
Cobourg, isn’t Selma Alabama in the 1960s. No one looks at him funny or calls him names. His parents (Wendy Crewson, Peter Outerbridge) are overjoyed to see him again. But one of his in-laws (David Reale) seems less than enthusiastic. Will they accept his changes? Can he survive this reunion? And will he ever see Cat again?
Close to You is a dramatic, personal portrayal of the anxiety facing a man’s first visit back to his family since his transition. There’s also some unexpected sex and romance (no spoilers). It’s well-acted and realistically told. Locations range from Toronto’s Kensington Market and Union Station to the picturesque streets of Cobourg. It’s co-written by Elliot Page, who you’ve probably seen in hit movies and shows like Juno and The Umbrella Academy. I think the story is partially based on a fictionalized version of Page’s own experiences — like Sam, he transitioned about 4 years ago, though as a major movie star and celebrity always in the public eye, Page’s life is very different from the introverted Sam. This is a very Canadian movie that casts actors who are deaf or black without out that identity ever entering the story line. In Canada, bigotry is quiet, not overt, but still there. It accurately portrays the pain of snide remarks, deadnaming and misgendering. It’s also sympathetic to other members of Sam’s family, struggling with their adult son’s changes.
There have been hundreds of coming out movies about lesbians and gay men, but very few about transgendered men in the same situation. So there’s a real thirst for films like this one.
I liked Close to You.
Close to You and Good One both 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 www.culturalmining.com.
Journeys. Films reviewed: The Fabulous Four, Doubles, Crossing
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Picture this: you’re watching a big-screen movie with your friends, but you’re sitting on the grass, not in a theatre. Huh? The Toronto Outdoor Picture Show (TOPS) lets you watch really great movies for free under the stars in parks across the city, in Fort York, the Corktown Commons, The Christie Pits and Bell Manor Park. Featured movies include Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, and Stephen Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, to name just three. And there’s the Toronto Palestine Film Fest, showing a free film on August 9th at the Christie Pits — with music, food and items for sale by local artisans followed by an outdoor screening of Alam, The Flag, directed by Firas Khoury.
But this week, I’m looking at three new movies about journeys. We’ve got four old college friends heading to Key West for a wedding, a Trinidadian flying to Toronto in search of his long-gone father; and a retired woman with a teenaged boy in Georgia going to Istanbul in search of a missing girl.
The Fabulous Four
Dir: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Marilyn, Lou, Alice and Kitty, are friends from university, who have stayed close — though separate — for over half a century. Now they are back together again, face to face in quaint Key West, Florida. Marilyn (Bette Midler) a flamboyant homemaker, is getting remarried there; her long-time husband died just a few months earlier. Her adult daughter is opting out; she thinks it’s too soon. Lou (Susan Sarandon), never married, who has devoted her life instead to her career as an accomplished surgeon. She’s earnest, stubborn and moralistic. When she’s not at the hospital, she’s probably playing with her beloved cats or reading a novel by Hemingway. Kitty (Sheryl Lee Ralph) is a successful cannabis grower and manufacturer, known for her powerful edibles. But she’s had a falling out with her daughter who joined a religious sect that strictly forbids sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. She wants Kitty to move into an old-age home. Finally, Alice (Megan Mullally), a successful recording artist, is an unapologetically free spirit. Like Lou, she never married, but unlike the uptight surgeon, Alice will bed any man she fancies — or as her friends describe her, she’s a postmenopausal wolf in heat. But there is tension among the four. Marilyn and Lou have been feuding since they were roommates in a Manhattan apartment after graduating. Kitty and Alice had to trick Lou into coming — she doesn’t even know about Marilyn’s wedding.
But things get better after a few days in Key West. The formerly sullen Lou is glowing now after a random encounter with a local bar owner named Ted (Bruce Greenwood). And the four of them have fun on boat rides, paragliding and exploring the restaurants and 
bars. But tension still remains between Marilyn and Lou, that threaten the wedding itself. What is their fight about? Why has it lasted so long? And can it be resolved?
The Fabulous Four is a comedy about a reunion of four aging women who get together for their last big blast. It’s goofy and a bit campy. The plot is paint-by-numbers with very few surprises. The drunk or stoned jokes are tired, but there are a few funny bits: like Lou taking down a bicycle thief using a sex toy. But it gets bogged down with predictable, age-related gags about incontinence and old people not knowing what TikTok is. So lots of eyerolling and a bit of cringiness, but luckily no extreme humiliation. And I was never bored — how could I be, with Susan Sarandon and Bette Midler in the same movie? It’s written and directed by women, which might explain why there was more niceness and less outrageousness than your average teen comedy.
Doubles
Wri/Dir: Ian Harnarine
Dhani (Sanjiv Boodhu) operates a doubles stand with his mother in Trinidad. (Doubles are snacks made of curried chana between two pieces of soft yellow fried bread.) Times are hard, and they really need more money. But their property is all in his dad’s name. He moved to Canada many years ago to advance his career, and never came back. Now he’s a rich man, a successful chef who owns a fancy restaurant and a big house, while his family back home is still struggling to get by. So Dhani buys a ticket and flies to Toronto for a week to work out the financials. But his mother stresses, don’t be like your father — he’s probably living with some other woman. Come right back.
But when he arrives on a cold winter day, he discovers it’s nothing like he expected. He visits his father, Ragbir (Errol Sitahal) at his Caribbean restaurant. Turns out he’s not the chef, he’s the dishwasher. He lives in a small house without any luxuries. And he meets Anita (Rashaana Cumberbatch) a greeter at the restaurant. She calls him her brother from another mother — a half sister he never knew about. And the biggest surprise: Ragbir is dying of 
cancer and needs a bone-marrow donor to save his life. Can Dhani accept his father’s unexpected condition? And is he willing to donate the needed bone marrow?
Doubles is a poignant drama about father-son relationships and the immigrant experience. It’s a rough story, harrowing at parts, especially as the father’s health declines (in a great portrayal by Errol Sitahal.) Visually, I found the movie very drab and plain looking — the locations, people, places — in both Trinidad and Toronto. I assume that’s intentional, but it amounts to the opposite of eye candy. At the same time, the characters and story seem sad but real, and it’s the first time I’ve seen Trinidadians explicitly portrayed in a Canadian movie before. And — no spoilers — despite the heavy topics, the film does close on a happier note. And it’s being released theatrically just in time for Caribana!
Crossing
Wri/Dir: Levan Akin
Achi (Lucas Kankava) is a young layabout in a beachside house by the Black Sea in Georgia, not far from the Turkish border. He lives with his abusive brother, his sister-in-law and their crying baby. He wants to move somewhere far away but he’s unemployed and flat broke. Ms. Lia (Mzia Arabuli) is a dignified, retired school teacher from the same village. She’s looking for her beloved niece, Tekla. She hasn’t seen her in many years, but is knocking on doors to find her, and apologize for something she did way back when. His brother claims he’s never heard of her, but Achi jumps at the chance to talk with Ms Lia. He says he remembers Tekla, a transwoman who lived in the place a few doors down. But she moved to Istanbul and gave him her address before she left. He offers to take her there and even do a bit of translating. With some reservations, she agrees, and buys their tickets. When they arrive they are both impressed by the city’s grandeur and beauty. And with the help of two street urchins, he finds the place in the red light district she’s supposed to be working at. But she’s not there, and no one has heard of her. Lia becomes increasingly anxious about locating Tekla, even as friction builds between Lia and Achi as he looks for ways to live in the new city and earn a living.
At the same time all this is going on, Evrim, a young woman (Deniz 
Dumanli) is following her own path. She works at a social welfare NGO called Pink Life, where she helps needy LGBT and other people in that area. She’s also passing through the byzantine legal process of transitioning her gender. As a transwoman, she is often harassed as a sex worker, but she’s actually an accredited lawyer, one of the few people who know how to confront the police when they overstep their bounds.
Lia and Achi eventually meet up with Evrim to try to locate Tekla. What will Lia do if she finds her? Will Achi stay in Istanbul if Lia returns to Georgia? And what about Evrim?
Crossing is an amazing adventure and drama following the lives of an unusual group of people navigating their way through the underbelly of of Istanbul’s culture. It’s a coming of age film about kinship and discovery. Great acting, beautiful cinematography and an excellent script. We get to see their encounters with the people they meet — Evrim on the street, Achi in a nightclub, and Lia in the night market. The characters are fascinating and multifaceted, revealing their hidden histories as the story progresses. At the same time, it’s a total tearjerker, with a number of deeply-moving scenes.
Interestingly, Crossing is only the second Georgian movie I’ve ever seen, and — surprise! — its by the same filmmaker, Swedish-born Georgian director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced).
I strongly recommend this movie.
The Fabulous Four and Doubles open in Toronto this weekend with Crossing playing at the TIFF Lightbox; check your local listings. This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website www.culturalmining.com.
Daniel Garber talks with Charles Uwagbai about Kipkemboi
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Kipkemboi is a young man who lives with his family in a small town in Kenya. His parents may be farmers but he has been a gifted mathematician since he was a child. He can tell you how many birds are flying in a flock in the sky, scored 100% on his SATs and has been accepted into MIT. But an unexpected family tragedy has kept him close to home. Instead, he has invented a new financial algorithm that allows him — with unbelievable accuracy — to predict stock market gains and losses worldwide. All operated out of a simple mud hut. But when word gets out, police, military, and foreign interests descend on his village to take everything away. He’s accused of being a criminal or even a terrorist. Can Kipkemboi outrun and outsmart the powers that be?
Kipkemboi is the name of a highly entertaining, dramatic film 
filled with humour, thrills and romance. Kipkemboi is the first Canada-Kenya co-production ever made and word is spreading. It’s directed by Charles Uwagbai and stars Thamela Mpumlwana in the title role. Charles is a Canadian-based director known for The Ghost and the Tout, Esohe and Charlie Charlie, and whose work has been seen on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Canal Plus.
I spoke with Charles Uwagbai in Toronto via ZOOM>
Kipkemboi recently had its gala premiere in Toronto, will be streaming on CBC Gem in 2025, and is currently showing in theatres at film festivals worldwide.
culturalmining.com 
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