Around the World. Films reviewed: Memoria, Downton Abbey: A New Era, Confessions of Felix Krull
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Toronto’s spring film festival season is on its way, with ReelAbilities Film Fest starting on Monday through June 10, bringing films by and about people with disabilities and deaf people. There’s a comedy night, workshops, panels and lots of films. This is a hybrid festival, with both digital and in-person events. And Inside-Out is just around the corner , starting on May 26th, featuring world premiers of films with 2SLGBTQ+ themes, actors and filmmakers. And tickets are going fast.
But this week I’m taking you around the world with new movies from the UK, Germany and Thailand There’s an aristocratic family on the Riviera looking at a villa, an ambitious young man in Paris seeking his fortune, and a woman in Colombia looking for an explanation to a strange noise she thinks she heard.
Memoria
Wri/Dir: Apichatpong Weerasathakul
Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton) is a middle-aged Scottish professional living in Bogota, Colombia. She’s helping out her married sister, Karen, who is in hospital after being struck by a mysterious ailment. But one night, she is awakened by a loud BOOM!, a noise that no one notices except her. So she decides to investigate. She is referred to a young man named Hernán Bedoya (Juan Pablo Urrego) who is a sound engineer in a recording studio. Hernan says he can locate and synthesize the exact sound she remembers based on her description alone. Sparks fly, and it seems like their professional relationship may turn personal. Jessica knows what the sound she heard was but not what it means, and she needs to learn more. So she leaves Hernan and travels inland toward Medellin. On the way she meets an older man (Elkin Díaz) who lives in an isolated cabin and does nothing all day except scaling fish. He’s 
not just off the grid, he avoids it like the plague, won’t go near a radio, TV or cellphone — the noise is too much for him. You see, he’s blessed or cursed with a unique ability: he hears every story from the beginning of time just by touching a stone where it took place. And what’s his name? Hernán Bedoya!
Memoria is a hauntingly beautiful art-house film about storytelling, mysticism and perception. Like all of Apichatpong’s movies (I interviewed him here in 2015) it’s not mainstream, so don’t go expecting a Hollywood fantasy. Scenes are long and pensive, often with no dialogue or camera movement for long stretches, and it’s full of mundane hospital rooms, and institutional hallways. But despite the mundane images and slow pace, it is still fascinating, with 
exquisite cinematography, amazing soundscapes, and terrific acting — Tilda Swinton, of course but many others you’ve never seen before. With lots of strange unexplained scenes you can just enjoy, even if you don’t understand them all. Apichatpong is a Thai master-director, and this is his first film outside his country with much of the dialogue in Spanish, but it doesn’t matter, it fits so clearly within his work.
What a lovely film Memoria is.
Downton Abbey: A New Era
Dir: Simon Curtis
It’s 1930 in Yorkshire England, and the aristocratic Crawley family, along with their many relatives, inlays and servants, are celebrating the marriage of a daughter to their former chauffeur., bridging the gap between upstairs and downstairs for the first time. Aside from the wedding, two other big changes occur at Downton Abbey, their manor: the family matriarch Violet (Maggie Smith) discovers she has inherited a villa in the south of France, possibly from the estate of a long-lost lover; and a producer wants to use their home as a location for a film he’s shooting — and even really rich people need money to keep the house in a good state. So half the family travels to the French Riviera to investigate their possible new property, while the other half stays home while a movie is being shot in their hallowed hallways.
But there are complications. It’s revealed that Violet may have had an affair there and her son, now the patriarch of Downton Abbey, may have been illegitimate! Meanwhile, the film they’re shooting has to turn into a talkie, halfway through. This is fine for the dashing male lead who speaks “Received Pronunciation”, but not for the beautiful female star with her shrill, working class 
accent. (Exactly like in Singin’ in the Rain). And many of the family and the staff are involved in clandestine love affairs on their own. What new changes are afoot at Downton Abbey?
Downton Abbey: A New Era is an anodyne soap opera that feels like two TV episodes linked loosely together and projected onto the silver screen. While the previous movie version of Downton 
Abbey (which I liked) was cinematic — with a royal visit, assassins, intrigue and and a passionate love affair — this one seems to exist only for diehard fans can catch up on all their favourite characters. It’s very predictable with few surprises. At the same time, the acting is great (including Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Tuppence Middleton, and too many others to mention) the dialogue is smooth, the stately home setting is fun, and the characters enjoyable. If you’re a fan of the TV series (personally, I hated it) I’m sure you’ll find lots to enjoy in this latest instalment. Otherwise, it’s just a comfortable, if uneventful, 90 minutes.
Confessions of Felix Krull
Co-Wri/Dir: Detlev Buck
Based on the novel by Thomas Mann
It’s 1900 at a grande hotel in Paris. Felix Krull (Jannis Niewöhner) is a handsome, charming, and eloquent young man with great ambitions. But he is not a guest in the hotel, he’s the elevator Boy. Though raised in a middle class family in Rhineland, he was left penniless and fatherless when the family wine business went bankrupt. So — after avoiding the draft, with the help of a beautiful woman named Zaza (Liv Lisa Fries), his only true love — he makes his way to Paris to seek his fortune. But though beautiful on the outside, the hotel is a den of corruption and inequity, though and through. Worst of all is Stanko, the Maitre d’with his hand in everyone’s pocket. He’s a combination pimp, extortionist, blackmailer and thug, who arranges trysts for all the young employees, male and female, to meet the rich and 
powerful guests carnally, keeping a large percentage for himself. And though Felix (now known as Armand the elevator boy) resists at first, he soon recognizes this side work as the only way to rise up in status.
He has secret affairs with a number of people simultaniously, including Madame Houpflé, a lonely woman married to an Alsatian toilet mogul, who pays him with her seemingly endless supply of pearl necklaces. He also meets a French Marquis, a Scottish Lord, an eccentric professor, and various other members of the upper crust. But though he becomes 
increasingly rich and well-dressed, can material wealth ever help him rise within the rigid class system? Or is he trapped in his class? Can he hold into his morals? And when Zaza reappears in Paris beside the same Marquis… things get complicated.
Confessions of Felix Krull is a wonderful adaptation of Thomas Mann’s unfinished coming-of-age-novel. When I was a teenager, I carried a hardcover copy of that book as I travelled across Europe, so I’m thrilled to see it on the big screen as a big budget movie. Most of the story is told by Felix to the Marquis, as part confession, and part con job — or so it seems. But Felix is not an immoral criminal; he is the most just and upright character in the story. All the actors, but especially, David Kross (Krabat, The Reader) as the Marquis, Liv Lisa Fries (Babylon Berlin) as Zaza, and newcomer Jannis Niewöhner, are just so much fun to watch. It’s an historical period piece about a long-gone world, but still feels so fresh, never turgid. I recommend this one.
And it’s playing as part of the Goethe Films series called The Art of the Con.
Memento just opened in Toronto at the TIFF Bell Lightbox; Confessions of Felix Krull is playing one night only, on May 19th, also at TIFF; and Downton Abbey a New Era, opens next week 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
Younger. Films reviewed: Cowboys, Night of the Beast, Saint Maud
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
February is the ugliest month of the year, but you can escape the misery of frigid cold and overcast skies with lots of festivals accessible from your home. The Toronto Black Film festival is on now, as is the TIFF Next Wave festival, offering free films, made by and for the quaran-teens and quartan-twenties among us. (Free digital screenings if you’re under 25). This week I’m looking at movies about children and youth. There’s a transgendered kid in Montana, two metalheads in Bogota, and a religious young nurse in Yorkshire.
Cowboys
Wri/Dir: Anna Kerrigan
It’s summertime in Flathead, Montana. Troy (Steve Zahn) is on a camping trip through the wilderness in a state park near the Canadian border. He’s with his young son Joe (Sasha Knight) who is kitted up like a true cowboy in boots, denim and a big belt buckle. They follow trails and eat beans right out of the can. And they’re riding a white horse they borrowed from Troy’s friend Robert (Gary Farmer). What they don’t know is their faces are appearing statewide on TV and in newspaper headlines. It’s an amber alert, and Troy is accused of kidnapping Joe. What’s going on?
The problem is Joe was born as Josie, and raised by his mother Sally (Jillian Bell) as a girl. Joe hates the dresses his mom makes him wear and the barbie dolls she gives him to play with. He secretly changes from dresses to jeans at school and wears his hair tied into a ponytail. Sally says she gets it, you’re a tomboy. Joe says, not a tom boy, I’m a boy. And only his father accepts it. Problem is Troy is on parole, separated from Sally, and heavily medicated to handle his erratic mood changes. He thinks he’s helping Joe escape. They’re heading for safety across the Canadian border, pursued by an armed SWAT team and Faith (Ann Dowd) a hardboiled local police detective. Who will be captured, who will survive, and can father and son stay together?
Cowboys is a nice, gentle family drama and adventure story about a trans boy struggling with his identity and how his parents treat him. It’s shot on location against breathtaking scenery in Montana. The acting is good all around (though Steve Zahn almost overdoes it in one of his trademark meltdown) and I’m not sure of young actor Sasha Knight’s gender, but he plays the part of a trans kid very believably.
Night of the Beast
Dir: Mauricio Leiva-Cock
Chuki and Francisco are best friends. Chuki is round faced with long curly hair, and lives with his deeply religious mom. He has a crush on the waitress at a local coffee shop. Francisco is more suave mature and streetwise — he has a girlfriend named Vale. His mom died, so he lives with his depressed dad. The two of them are metalhead who live in the city of Bogota, Colombia. They go to high school together, but not today. Today they’re playing hooky to attend the greatest concert ever by the greatest band in the world, Iron Maiden! And they stan that band to the umpteenth degree. They have tickets but the concert doesn’t start till tonight, so they spend the day exploring the city, its parks, record stores, and darker corners. But over the courseof their journeys they get mugged at knifepoint and lose their tickets. This leads to fights between the two fast friends, sending them off on separate paths. Will Chuki and Francisco ever 
make up? And will either of them get to see the concert?
Night of the Beast, (La Noche de la Bestia) is a short (70 min) coming- of-age story about a day in the life of two urban teenaged boys. It’s a simple story but a really interesting one, spanning family generations set against a a really cool city. It packs in tons of stories over the course of their picaresque journey, spanning railroad tracks, a planetarium, a stadium, and encounters with frat boys, police, and rock bands. And the film is punctuated by animation where black and white quivering lines, like the intricate pen-and ink doodles they write on their schoolbooks, appear at times around the people and places they see, adding rocker energy to their memorable day.
Saint Maud
Wri/Dir: Rose Glass
Maud (Morfydd Clark) is young a nurse who lives in a seedy seaside resort town in Northern England. She used to work in a local hospital but left after an incident. She lives in a tiny, spartan flat at the top of a twisting narrow alley. Maud lives a monastic life of penitence to address the sins from her past, guided by the voice of God inside her head. She works for a private company which sends out nurses to provide care for the terminally ill. Her latest patient is Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), who lives alone in a stately brick house.
She’s a celebrated middle-aged dancer and choreographer, whose days of glory are gone. Now she sits idly by dressed in an elegant turban, smiling like a chimney, surrounded by the paintings and posters of her youth. Amanda’s life is still saturated in her devil-may-care attitude, with past lovers, both men and women, appearing at her bedside to share laughs. Maud disapproves. She believes she was sent to save Amanda from eternal damnation before she dies. And she’ll do whatever’s necessary to set her on the right path. What is 
the root of Maud’s strange beliefs? Is she a potential killer or a saint sent from heaven? And are darker forces at play?
Saint Maud is a shocking and scary horror movie set in Yorkshire, England. There’s violence and blood, and it’s saturated in religious iconography and images. Morfydd Clark is stupendous as the monastic Maud, and the very different past personality she’s trying to escape from. Jennifer Ehle is also amazing as the cynical, world-weary dancer. As I said, this is a horror movie, but rather than slashers and screams, it’s shot like a softly glowing Rembrandt painting, viewed through Maud’s eyes. The costumes, hair, music, art direction, everything is absolutely perfect not what you expect from a boiler plate scary movie. And — no spoilers — be prepared for a shocking finish.
Saint Maud is one great horror movie.
Cowboys and Saint Maud both starts today, and Night of the Beast is part of the Next Wave film festival playing this weekend at the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com
Climb every mountain. Films reviewed: Abominable, Monos
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
The majesty and beauty of mountains makes some people stare in awe, while others see it as a personal goal – something to climb, claim or conquer. This week I’m looking at two new movies about mountains. There’s a group of kids in China on their way to a mountain as they protect a mythical beast; and a group of kids in Colombia holding a hostage on top of a mountain as they fight an inner beast.
Abominable
Dir: Jill Culton, Todd Wilderman
Yi is a teen who lives with her mom and her grandmother Nai-Nai in a downtown Shanghai apartment. She’s saving the money from three parttime jobs to travel across China in the path of her late father, a musician. But her life is turned upside down when an enormous furry creature appeared on 
her roof. He has white hair, a huge mouth and pale blue eyes that stare longingly at a nearby billboard advertising Mount Everest. It’s his home, and he wants to go back.
Standing in his path are Mr Burnish a billionaire CEO, and a zoological scientist named Zara. Everest is a Yeti, the legendary Tibetan creature, never captured until Beamish enterprizes nabbed him. They want their specimen back, dead or alive. But Yi has 
other plans. Along with her two neighbours – the selfie-obsessed Jin and the basketball dribbler Peng – they set out on a journey across China. Can they save Everest and bring him back to his homeleand? Or will they all end up captives in a corporate lab in Shanghai?
Abominable is a fun and exciting animated movie for little kids. It’s full of cultural references, from the 
classic Ming Dynasty novel Journey to the West (西遊記), to the classic ’80s film ET: Yi lures the creature with a trail of steamed dumplings instead of Reece’s Pieces, and the alien creature is “Yeti” not “E.T.”. But it’s also fun and original in its own right, with exciting magic, humour, action and the sentimental bits you 
need to make it worthwhile. I saw it with an audience of small children and they loved most of it, but were frightened when it looked like the heroes were going to die (Spoiler Alert: they don’t die… ’cause it’s a kids movie!)
Voices include Chloe Bennet (Crazy Rich Asians) as Yi, and Tenzing Norgay Trainor as Jin. Fun fact: if the name sounds familiar it’s because he’s the grandson of Tenzing Norgay, the Nepali-Tibetan Sherpa who climbed Mt Everest with Edmond Hillary.
Abominable is fun movie for kids that grown ups can enjoy too.
Monos
Dir: Alejandro Landes
On a mountaintop somewhere in Colombia a multi-ethnic, multi-gendered group of “monos” – cool, cute teenagers – are fooling around. They’re stylin’ with hip hairstyles and military outfits. They play games like blindfolded soccer, where you kick a ball with bells attached, into a net that makes noise. Or one-on-one wrestling matches, combining martial arts, modern dance and Capoeira. Everyone has a nickname reflecting something about them: Smurf 
is young and cute, Lady is pretty, Rambo’s a fighter, Swede is light-skinned, Lobo is wolflike… plus Dog, Bigfoot, and Boom Boom. Some even pair off as couples.
Their only contact with the outside world is a staticky two-way radio and a diminutive, muscular man who visits them every so often. He’s from The Organization, a cryptic paramilitary group fighting the government. Their assignment is to 
guard an American woman they call Doctora. The girls braid her hair and the boys invite her to play in their games. The problem is she’s a hostage of The Organization, and a potential source of power and money. So when things go wrong, the monos take 
sides and start fighting each other. And when the enemy bombards them with missiles. things turn into a co-ed Lord Of The Flies. Can they stick together in peace and harmony? Or will 
outside pressure, internal divisions, and harsh military culture lead to harm and even death?
Monos is an aesthetically beautiful look at a period of violence and death in Colombia. The ensemble cast play it as part melodrama, part dance performance, plotted against breathtakingly lush scenery. From sexualized wrestling, to scenes of struggle filmed underwater, to an exquisite pantomime of soldiers walking in the jungle covered in different colours of mud, this highly-stylized movie is as pretty as a Vogue fashion spread, but just realistic enough that you care about the kids and their fate.
Good movie.
Monos starts today at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, and Abominable also opens in Toronto; check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com.
Daniel Garber talks with director Cristina Gallega about Birds of Passage
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photos of Cristina Gallega by Jeff Harris
It’s the 1960s in the deserts of La Guajira in northern Colombia, where the Waayuu, a fiercely independent indigenous nation, make their home. A young man, Rapayet who wants to marry Zaida must bring a large dowry of cattle, goats and precious beads. He
sets out on a journey with his best friend, to earn the money he needs to pay for it. He finds his answer in the marijuana trade. Americans are willing to 
pay good money for sacks of it grown in the hills. But with the cannibis trade comes complications to the clan in the form of riches… but also of violence, rivalries and possible destruction. Will this new wealth destroy the Waayuu people? Or can the old ways coexist with 
the newfound money?
A dramatic new movie called Birds of Passage follows the characters over two decades as their lives change. It’s a chronical of life over two decades, in the 1960s and 70s, a crime story, and a study of indigenous ways. Its detailed, passionate, and epic units scope. The film was made by the creators of Oscar-nominated Embrace of the Serpant, and is co-directed by noted filmmaker Cristina Gallegos.
I spoke with Cristina Gallego on location in September at TIFF 18.
Birds of Passage opens today in Toronto.
Daniel Garber talks with filmmaker Lina Rodriguez about This Time Tomorrow
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Adelaida is a high school school student in Bogota, Colombia. An only child, she has a warm relationship with her parents, But her growing sexual awareness makes them uncomfortable — they don’t like their daughter growing up.
The delicate threads 
between parents and child are torn asunder by a sudden unexpected event. Communication grinds to a halt. Will they still exist as a family this time tomorrow?
This Time Tomorrow (Mañana a esta hora) is the name of a new art house film, a family drama that 
explores adolescent alienation. An intimate, personal and realistic look at life in Bogota, it focuses on the ordinary and mundane to reveal deeper, unspoken emotions. It played at Locarno and is finally opening today in Toronto. It’s written, directed and co-produced by experimental
filmmaker Lina Rodrigues.
I spoke with Lina Rodriguez about This Time Tomorrow in Studio at CIUT 89.5 FM.
Her film is now playing in New York and opens today in Toronto at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Bromance vs Romance. Movies Reviewed: The November Man, Are You Here, Señoritas
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM, looking at high-brow and low-brow movies, indie, cult, foreign, festival, documentary, genre and mainstream films, helping you see movies with good taste, movies that taste good, and how to tell the difference.
Can bromance ever trump romance? Do BFFs really last forever? Can friendship follow courtship or loveship? This week I’m looking at three movies that explore these themes. A thriller set in Belgrade has a former spyteam turned into enemies, an art house flick about a young woman in Bogota and her friends and lovers; and an American dramedy about best buds facing big changes.
The November Man
Dir: Roger Donaldson
Devereaux and Mason (Pierce Brosnan and Australian actor Luke Bracey) are a kill team team – mentor and mentee – working at the CIA. Devereaux chooses the spots, Mason takes the shots. But something goes wrong, they have a falling out, and Devereaux retires to Switzerland. Years later, he is brought back to rescue a female operative who works for a top Moscow politician. She carries crucial information: a name. Devereaux is known for his cold and calculated mentality. He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. But this woman is somehow different. In a tense car chase, the woman is shot, and Devereaux escapes. Turns out, she was his longtime lover. Also turns out the shooter is Mason! Now the former allies are arch-enemies, both based in Belgrade, with Mason out to kill Devereaux for the US Government. But that’s not all.
The name refers to a woman who holds secret information that could bring the Russian politician down. Only she knows all about his shady past. But the only one who knows how to find her is the secretive but beautiful Alice Fournier (Olga Kurylenko). She’s a French NGO worker, based in Serbia, who rescues victims of human trafficking. Devereaux has to find and hide her before a Russian assassin gets to her. He also has to deal with US congressmen and intelligence bosses, some of whom may be corrupt. And avoid Mason, the killer he once personally trained and who knows all his tricks.
Generally, The November Man is a good (if shallow) spy action/thriller. Pierce Brosnan is another cool-as-a- cucumber James Bond-type, but without the special gadgets. But there were some odd parts: for a movie supposedly dealing with female trafficking it sure shows a lot of stripper scenes, purely for audience tittilation. And I gotta say, Russia vs America spy movies just don’t have the same punch anymore. They just feel old.
Are You Here
Dir: Matthew Weiner
Steve and Ben (Owen Wilson and Zach Galifianakis) are best buds from schooldays. Lovers may come and go, but these two faithful friends stick with it. Steve works as a TV weatherman by day, and as a singles bar Lothario by night. In between, he’s usually with Ben in a rundown shack, smoking pot.
Ben is in a rut, still not progressing in his academic writing, and supported financially by Steve. He’s also unpredictable and unstable, prone to showing up at Steve’s TV studio looking like crazy, homeless person (which he basically is.)
But then the two of them return to their hometown in Lancaster County — Pennsylvania Dutch country — for Ben’s father’s funeral. There they have to deal with Terri, Ben’s bitter older sister (Amy Poehler.) She hates them both. Then there’s Angela (Laura Ramsey) the widow, a beautiful, young hippy in her early twenties, who lived happily with the octogenarian for five years before he kicked off. And he has a house, a store, and hundreds of acres of farmland to pass on to the next generation. Who will inherit what?
Steve has the hots for Angela… can this be love? Ben decides to move into the house and straighten himself up. He plans to confront his inner demons. But who will take care of him if Steve‘s not around? Can their bromance survive? And sister Terri thinks everyone’s plotting against her. She wants her slice of the pie – or the whole pie if she can get it.
The movie is directed by the creator of the TV show Madmen, but if you’re expecting slickness and high fashion, you’re looking at the wrong movie. It’s a bit of a mess. It’s not terrible, but it plods along as more of a social drama than the comedy it seems to be at first. Because it’s not actually funny. I think it tries to be deep and profound: Should we trade away our dreams for stability? Get rid of creativity to fit in to society? It’s trying to solve these big dilemmas… but it’s actually just a mush of meandering, unfinished storylines.
Senoritas
Wri/Dir: Lina Rodriguez
Alejandra (María Serrano) is a Senorita, a single woman in her twenties. She lives with her mom in Bogota, Colombia. (She’s an Amy Millam lookalike) seems to spend most of her time just hanging with friends, going to nightclubs, listening to music, and making out with guys she likes. She calls them all dudes. Sometimes she goes out shopping, or makes out in the front seat of a parked car. She floats in swimming pools, walks down long, long country lanes, and chats with her friends in a particular local dialect. And at a game of truth or dare, her friends and erstwhile lovers reveal some true feelings.
So, you might ask, where’s the plot? Well it ain’t in this movie. It’s more of an introspective look at one woman’s life. For example, one ten-minute scene has her walking down a deserted path. The camera follows her from behind. But when we hear a wolf-whistle off camera, her pace increases. We learn that despite her seemingly casual ways, she sometimes is insecure. And as a woman is never completely safe.
Take it as an introspective art house film and you won’t find it boring. It keeps my attention. There are a lot of sex scenes, dance scenes, party scenes, music scenes. But the scenes are very long, almost always in extreme close-ups. It takes place in Colombia, but it’s not full of panoramic city views, or natural vistas, that’s for sure. Just lots of close-ups… often with their backs to the camera.
November Man and I Am Here are now opening on the big screen or play-on-demand, and Senoritas starts today at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Check your local listings.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Friday morning on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website, culturalmining.com
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