Numerical titles. Films reviewed: Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, One More Shot
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
When you watch hundreds of movies a year, you start to notice certain trends, like avoid movies with numbers in their titles, especially sequels. But it doesn’t always work. Some people say The Godfather 2, Toy Story 3 or Rocky IV, are the best of their series.
So this week I’m looking at a couple more movies with numerical titles. There’s an Aussie who can travel in time using a swig of magic tequila, and an American who can bring automatons to life in a defunct pizzeria.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
Dir: Emma Tammi
(Based on the game by Scott Cawthon)
It’s some time in the not-so-distant past, somewhere in Middle America. Mike (Josh Hutcherson) is a guy in his twenties who takes care of his 11-year-old sister Abby (Piper Rubio). Abby is lonely because no one at school believes the stories she tells. Mike is a lonely former security guard. He used to work in the ruins of former family restaurant Frank Fazbear’s Pizza. In its heyday, the place was wildly popular with children because of its giant, grinning animal-puppets who performed mechanically on a small stage. But the chain was shuttered for good 20 years ago when the animatronics went rogue and killed some kids. Then, one year ago, Mike and Abby barely escaped with their lives when the animals came back to life. Now, if Mike never sees another animatronic monster in his life, it will be too soon. But Abby holds a special affection for them; she considers them her only real friends. They talk to her, understand her problems and look out for her. And it’s hard to get away from them in this town, since everybody knows about them: there’s a festival devoted to Freddy Fazbear and a robotics contest both just around the corner. Meanwhile, Mike is flirting with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), a former cop who helped save Mike and Abby in last year’s bloodbath. She also happens to be the daughter of a deranged megalomaniacal 
serial killer who built the original automatons, and who was personally responsible for the hideous crimes they committed. And it goes without saying that Vanessa hates her psychotic father.
But despite all their precautions, Abby is hellbent on returning to the the crumbling restaurant, and in the mayhem that follows , the creatures are set loose to seek vengeance on their perceived enemies in the town. Can Mike, Abby and Vanessa fight them off and save the city? Or will the robots win out in the end?
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is the sequel to last years hit movie based on a video game by the same name, about an evil Chucky Cheese-style restaurant. It has some cool special effects, a few scary moments, especially involving a spooky villain known as the marionette. And I love the old 90s computers and the restaurant-gone-to-ruins motif. The main actors reprising their roles are all good. The problem with this movie is its meandering pointlessness, just a series of random episodes that have virtually no affect on what follows or precedes it. So an important character might be brutally murdered by animatronic creatures in one scene, and then 
they drop out of the movie and are never referred to again.
This happens over and over, which makes you wonder is their any coherence or point to this movie, other than chase scenes, brutal killings and jump scares? I went to a screening packed with fans dressed in cos-play cheering and shouting whenever a familiar character from the game appeared on the screen. They seemed to like it. But for the average viewer, like you or me, who’s never played the game, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is just another schlocky knock-off.
One More Shot
Dir: Nicholas Clifford
It’s New Year’s Eve, 1999, in Melbourne, Australia. Minnie (Emily Browning) is invited to a costume party to usher in the new millennium. She’s a doctor in her thirties, single and attractive. Many of her friends — and ex-lovers — will be at that party. She even has the words “party time” tattooed on her skin. But for some reason, she’s not in a partying mood. Her past relationships all went sour, and she’s been alone, and celibate, for far too long. At least her go-to sex buddy Joe (Sean Keenan) is back in town, so at the very least she’ll get some (Joe sports a matching tattoo which bonds them as sex partners forever.)
But when she arrives at the party, everything seems to go wrong. Joe has a new lover — an American bartender or “mixologist” as she calls herself (Aisha Dee) — and it looks serious. The hosts, Rodney and Pia (Ashley Zukerman, Pallavi Sharda) have a beautiful house and young kid, but they seem somehow at odds all the time; Flick and Max (Anna McGahan, Contessa Treffone), whose apartment she’s sharing want to 
kick her out; and the only stranger at the party is a douchey OB-GYN (Hamish Michael) who is also a coke-head. And at midnight, everyone anticipates a computer crash due to the Y2K. Can things possibly get worse?
Oh yes they can. Minnie keeps messing everything up, and alienating all her friends just for a chance to get laid. But then she discovers she has the solution: the ancient bottle of Tequila she’s brought to the gathering. For some reason, each gulp brings her back again to the first time she tried it, right at the door to the party. Can she right all her wrongs and erase all her mistakes before the bottle is empty? Or will she just end up as a drooling hot mess on someone else’s couch?
One More Shot is a very light social comedy about Australian millennials at play. It’s a cute, somewhat funny riff on the Groundhog Day theme. Which makes it more than a little 
repetitive. The cast is attractive and mildly clever, though I couldn’t really sympathize with any of them. But I do like time- travel comedies however they happen, and this version is pretty original. Kept me interested till the end.
While clearly no masterpiece, I enjoyed watching this one.
5 Nights at Freddy’s 2 opens this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. One More Shot is now available on VOD.
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 Eric San (Kid Koala) about Space Cadet at ReelAsian
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s the near future in a major North American city. Celeste is a graduate of the space academy, studying rockets since she was a little girl. Her mother was a famous astronaut who disappeared on a space mission. So she is raised by a robot, who serves as her best friend and her parental unit. Now it’s her turn: she’s heading out on a six month trip into the far reaches of the galaxy… and beyond. Can Celeste travel to new planets, collecting samples for 
scientific research and return safely to her home? And will her beloved robot still be waiting for this space cadet?
Space Cadet is a new animated film entirely without spoken dialogue. It’s a funny, poignant and bittersweet look at our futures. It’s the work of Montreal-based composer, musician, graphic novelist, scratch DJ, and director/producer Kid Koala, aka Eric San. His music has appeared on everything from NFB films to Sesame Street, movies like Scott Pilgrim and Baby Driver, and even Nintendo games. Space Cadet played at TIFF and Berlin to great acclaim.
I last spoke with Kid Koala on this show in 2014.
Precarious relationships. Films reviewed: Lurker, The Roses, Splitsville
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Some couples are made in heaven. Others seem like accidents waiting to happen. This week, I’m looking at three new movies about strained relationships. There’s a power couple whose marriage has lost its strength; a pair of couples whose open marriages are closing up fast; and a Stan who wants to be closer to his idol.
Lurker
Wri/Dir: Alex Russell
Matthew (Théodore Pellerin: Genesis, Solo) is a young man who lives with his mom. He likes music, fashion and art, and loves shooting videos using an obsolete camera. He works in an LA clothing store — along with an even younger guy named Jamie (Sunny Suljic: mid90s) — and devotes a lot of his spare time to updating his socials. But his life is changed forever when Oliver (Archie Madekwe) wanders — seemingly at random — into his store.
Matthew seizes the day, and subtly change the music tracks being played to ones he knew would appeal to Oliver. Why? Because Matthew has been stanning him for years — he’s a superfan. And it seems to work: he is invited to hang with Oliver’s entourage in his swank home. He’s insulted and belittled but is gradually accepted into that crowd (and he never tells them he’s a Stan for Oliver). He shoots videos and starts doing crucial work for the band. They become — almost — good friends. He’s in hog heaven. And as he rises up the ladder in his precipitous climb to peripheral stardom, he discretely stabs his rivals — that is, anyone who threatens his newfound status — in the back. He ends up accompanying the band on their trip to London… but he takes one step too far, and once again he is just a normal person. But he has one 
more trick up his sleeve. Can he work his way back into the sphere of that celebrity? And at what cost?
Lurker is a fascinatingly eerie psychological drama about the rise, fall and rise of an ordinary person within the life of a celebrity. (It’s in the style of classic movies like All About Eve or A Star is Born. But it’s not about someone trying to replace a star, but rather to be closer to the star, a part of his life.) And there’s a non-sexual homoerotic subtext to the whole film as Matthew and Oliver’s power dynamic keeps shifting. Madekwe is an English actor in movies like Midsommer and Saltburn, and Pellerin is a fantastic young Quebecois, in movies by Sophie Dupuis and Xavier Dolan, and they work well together. This is writer-director Alex Russell’s first feature ( he’s best known for TV shows like The Bear) but he clearly has something going here that works.
Lurker is a good (and kinda creepy) movie.
The Roses
Dir: Jay Roach
Ivy and Theo (Olivia Coleman, Benedict Cumberbatch) are a happily married professional couple in northern California. Theo is a prize winning architect, while Ivy is a chef. They met at a business meeting in London where they had impromptu, furtive sex in a walk-in fridge — instant kismet. They left England forever and set up camp in America, to raise their twin kids whom they both love dearly. That was ten years ago.
Theo’s careers has blossomed: he has built his magna opus; a modern nautical museum with a sailboat planted on the roof. Ivy mainly cooks at home but recently opened a sleepy crab shack on the beach. But one evening unexpected gale-force winds drastically alter both their lives. The winds blow down his masterpiece, leaving the glass and wooden building, and his reputation as an architect, in ruins. But that same night a leading food critic braved the storm and ate a meal at her restaurant… and the rave review launches her career.
Soon Theo is taking care of the twins (training them for some athletic prize) while Ivy’s food empire continues to grow. The busier Ivy gets, the more depressed and resentful Theo becomes. Their marriage in tatters, they try counselling and other measures, but nothing seems to work. Can the Roses get back together? Or is their marriage doomed to fail?
The Roses is a remake of the hit 1989 film The War of the Roses, a dark comedy about the tooth-and-nail fight over a house by a divorcing couple. This version leaves out the war, and concentrates more on the laughs. Unfortunately it’s not very funny. There’s a bunch of Saturday Night Live veterans (Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg), and famous comic actors (like Jamie Demetrioum, Zoe Chao, and Sunita Mani) who read their lines before the camera, but they’re extremely unfunny. I love Olivia Coleman (The Favourite, The Lost Daughter, Mothering Sunday, Empire of Light) and usually like Benedict 
Cumberbatch ((Doctor Strange, Spiderman, The Power of the Dog) but their usual dry, caustic wit is not evident here. And any War of these Roses is left until the final 15 minutes.
The Roses isn’t terrible, but it’s not very good, either.
Splitsville
Dir: Michael Angelo Covino
Carey and Paul (Kyle Marvin, Michael Angelo Covino) have been best friends since they were kids. Carey’s scruffy, messy but always sympathetic; he works as a teacher in a private school. Paul is a hotshot real estate dealer, putting together huge ventures in Manhattan. They both “married up”, ordinary guys with beautiful women. Carey’s partner Ashley (Adria Arjona) is a counsellor, and a firecracker in bed. They’ve only been together a short time. Julie (Dakota Johnson) is a professional potter who looks like a model. She and Paul have been married for awhile, and have a rambunctious son to show for it. Carey and Ashley are on their way to visit Paul and Julie in their lakeside villa for a summer vacation, when a chain of events changes their lives. Ashley performs a sexual act on Carey as he’s driving the car, but it’s witnessed by another car driving past, leading to a major accident, death, and Ashley wanting a divorce. (Hence the title Splitsville.) Carey arrives at Paul and Julie’s a complete mess. They comfort Carey and tel him they have an open marriage. And when Paul drives back to the city, Carey sleeps with Julie since it doesn’t matter anyway. But it does matter, which leads to a major dustup between the best friends. And puts Paul and Julie’s marriage into question. Can either couple get back together? Can Carey and Paul’s friendship be repaired? And who will end up with whom?
Splitsville is a cute sex-comedy about relationships. Apparently Covino and Marvin, the actors and co-writers, are friends in real life, which comes through both in their patter and their physical interactions; you get the feeling they’ve been having no-holds-barred punch-outs and wrestling matches since they were toddlers. Some of the scenes are totally original — like when Carey is trying to hold onto a 
bunch of goldfish in plastic bags while on a roller coaster ride. And there are novel situations, too: Carey decides to continue to live with Ashley after they split up, and he takes pains to make friends with each guy she sleeps with, so all the guys end up sticking around in their tiny apartment. There are lots of amusing scenes that make you chuckle, but it rarely makes you laugh. And way too many dick jokes (including a lot of visual ones).
Splitsville may not be the best date movie, but it’s not bad, ether.
Splitsville, Lurker and The Roses 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.
Short & sweet. Films reviewed: Bride Hard, Pins and Needles, His Father’s Son
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
The Toronto Arab Film Festival — which is on now through June 29th — has shorts and features from 40 countries, including Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon, that show the diversity of the Arab world.
But this week, I’m looking at three new movies that are short and sweet: all under 2 hours and two under 90 minutes! There’s family trouble at a dinner table in Toronto, robbery at a wedding party in Georgia, and murder at an isolated cabin in the woods.
Bride Hard
Dir: Simon West (review: The Mechanic, 2011)
Sam and Betsy (Rebel Wilson: Cats, The Hustle, Anna Camp) were best friends as kids but lost touch as adults. So he is overjoyed to be chosen as Betsy’s Maid of Honour at her upcoming wedding. She’s marrying into “old money”; Ryan’s family has a southern plantation where they have brewed whiskey for centuries. But the bachelorette’s destination party in Paris is ruined when Sam cuts out in the middle of a lap dance from a team of male strippers so she could take care of some work duties. You see, what Sam can’t tell them is she’s a secret agent, and the only one who can save the world from weapons of mass destruction. The other guests, including the jealous Virginia (Anna Chlumsky), and the dry Lydia (Da’Vine Joy Randolph: The Holdovers, Shadow Force) don’t buy it, 
and convince Betsy to dump Sam and make Virginia her new Maid of Honour.
The wedding is opulent, on a lush green island with Irish moss dripping from willow trees owned by the groom’s family. Feeling unwanted, Sam turns to the best man for comfort, the handsome but cynical Chris (Justin Hartley). In her red dress and high heels she says she feels like a dancing girl emoji. But just as the wedding is about to begin, a gang of heavily-armed organized criminals storm the ceremony, led by their evil kingpin (Steven Dorff). They are there to grab the fortune from the family’s vault, and then kill all the guests. Can Sam take on a couple dozen trained killers… and free her best friend and her family?
Bride Hard (geddit? Like Die Hard?) is an action comedy with a slightly novel premise: a powerful female hero fighting crime at a wedding alongside her wise-cracking girlfriends. Sort of like Bridesmaids but with guns and bombs and chase scenes.I think they traded action for a less-funny script — a lot of the jokes were real duds. Luckily, the mainly female cast is very funny despite the lame lines they’re forced to say. Rebel Wilson can make you laugh with just a pose or side glance. And watching all the characters doing their thing is hilarious.
Bride Hard is silly but fun to watch.
Pins and Needles
Wri/Dir: James Villeneuve
Max (Chelsea Clark) is in a bad mood. She’s on a field trip collecting insect specimens as a grad student in biology, but a fellow student she likes has made her furious. So she’s heading back to the city, along with classmate Keith and his sketchy friend Harold, a part-time drug dealer. It’s a long haul. But after a run in with a cop, they’ve been taking the long route, in unknown territory, to avoid potential trouble. But trouble finds them. First their phones stop working. Then they pop two tires, leaving them stranded.
Keith and Harold stay with the car while Max heads toward a nearby house to ask for help. There’s no-one there… but when she looks back she sees something awful. She sees a couple who appear to be offering a hand to her friends. But as soon as Keith and Harold turn their backs, they are brutally murdered! Max is shocked… and terrified. She runs into the tall grass behind the home to avoid being caught. She figures she can run away and find help. Problem is Max suffers from Type 1 Diabetes… meaning she always keeps her insulin kit close at hand. But it’s in the car, that’s now in that couple’s garage. Though she can never fight off two deranged psycho-killers, she does have one advantage: they don’t know she’s there. Can she fight them off long enough to grab her kit and run away? Or will this fight be more complicated — and deadly — than she ever imagined?
Pins and Needles is a short, taut cat-and-mouse thriller about an ongoing battle between a desperate woman and two ruthless killers. Clark is good as Max who shifts between 
wimpy escapee to teethbaring fighter. And Kate Corbett and Ryan McDonald are totally hateable as super villains who are not only sadistic killers who laugh as they murder people, but equally detestable as businesspeople. They both do that deranged killer face really well. While the movie is a rehash of the oft used “cabin in the woods” theme, this one is in a glass and wood mansion, not a creaky cottage. Perhaps Max is checking her insulin levels a few times too many, but other than that, Pins and Needles is a good horror/ thriller that keeps the tension on high till the final credits roll.
His Father’s Son
Wri/Dir: Meelad Moaphi
Amir (Alireza Shojaei) is a cook in an upscale French restaurant in Toronto. He has a degree in Engineering, but finds that kind of work boring. His dream? To open up his own place as the executive chef. In the meantime he works long, gruelling hours in the kitchen. His younger brother Mahyar (Parham Rownaghi) has no creative drive — his dreams centre around symbols of wealth: a beautiful woman, a Ferrari to drive or a Rolex watch on his wrist. He’s a crypto bro, who still lives in their parents’ home. Amir regularly eats family dinners with Mahyar, his Mom (Mitra Lohrasb), and his Dad (Gus Tayari) The rest of his free time he spends with his lover a married woman with whom he’s having a secret affair. But his life — and that of his family — comes in the form of an unexpected death. His and his brother’s childhood doctor — who they haven’t seen in decades — has left his entire substantial fortune to Mahyar. There is a new degree of tension in the family, between Amir and his father, and between his parents. Only Mahyar seems blissfully unaware. What is going on, and why won’t his parents talk about it? And can a trip to Niagara Falls provide the answers to Amir’s questions?
His Father’s Son is a family drama set within Toronto’s large Iranian-Canadian community. It feels at first like another look at the immigrant experience in North America, and the clash between traditional parents and their sons who want to break
free. But wait! This is not how it turns out at all. It gradually gets more complex, emotionally powerful and surprising. And these changes are not sudden or in your face, they’re subtle, unspoken, in the spaces between what you see, the elliptical passage of time.
The acting — with dialogue in Farsi and English — is terrific all around, but especially Gus Tayari, Mitra Lohrasb, and Alireza Shojaei in the lead role. This is Moaphi’s first film, and though quite short (under 90 minutes) it shows an unexpected maturity, the kind you’d see in films by Asghar Farhadi or Kore-eda Hirokazu.
His Father’s Son is a well-made drama.
Bride Hard and His Father’s Son both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. Needles and Pins opens theatrically next week in the US, and on VOD in Canada.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
When to stop. Films reviewed: Friendship, Hurry up Tomorrow, The Old Woman with the Knife
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 — an action thriller, a dark comedy, and a fictional music biopic — all about people who don’t know when to stop. There’s a middle-aged dad looking for a friend, a super-fan looking for the object of her obsession; and an elderly hitman in her declining years who refuses to retire.
Friendship
Wri/Dir: Andrew DeYoung
Craig (Tim Robinson) is an ordinary guy in the suburbs who works at a tech communications firm. He’s geeky and boorish with marginal social skills. He spends time with his wife Katie (Kate Mara) who is in remission and their teenaged son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). He likes watching TV or for a real treat ordering the dinner specials at his favourite chain restaurant. But everything changes one day when a package is delivered to his house by mistake. He carries it over, rings the bell, and meets his neighbour for the first time. Austin (Paul Rudd) is everything Craig is not. He’s suave, handsome and self-confident. He’s even a minor celebrity as the weatherman on the local TV station.
And he smiles at Craig. Wow… Craig is ensorcelled. And when Austin takes him under his wing for an adventure in the woods, he is absolutely thrilled. A real friend! But the bromance is short-lived, when he makes a number of unforgivable faux pas at a get together with Austin’s entourage. He’s cancelled and so is their friendship. But Craig refuses to accept it, and vows to do anything to get Austin back. And as his obsession grows so does his hazardous behaviour. Is Craig a stalker or just an unrequited friend. And how far is too far?
Friendship is a very dark and very funny comedy about adult male friendships. Tim Robinson — best known for his show I
Think You Should Leave — is famous for his uncomfortable style of humour. This is comedy that makes you squirm, cringe or look away. You can see the results of his terrible mistakes coming a mile away but there’s you can do to stop it and it’s still painfully funny. Paul Rudd is good as his “straight man” but this is all about Tim Robinson.
I haven’t laughed this hard or this often at a comedy movie in at least six months.
Hurry up Tomorrow
Co-Wri/Dir: Trey Edward Shults
It’s the green room of a huge concert hall. The Weeknd (Toronto musician Abel Tesfaye) is a superstar in the midst of an exhausting world tour. He depends on his mellifluous voice to perform the songs his fans come to see. But he’s tense tonight and his throat is contracting. He’s upset with a voicemail from a woman he knows who recents his selfish and cold behaviour. Now plagued with self-doubt, he doesn’t feel up to performing. But his ever-present manager (Barry Keoghan) convinces him — through a combination of confidence-building words plus copious drugs and alcohol — that he owes it to his fans. But once on stage his voice fails him in the middle of a song and he runs off in disgrace.
There he collides with a super-fan who somehow got past bouncers and security. Anima (Jenna Ortega) offers words of love and comfort. They spend an enchanted day together far from his source of stress. But the next morning brings unanticipated and perilous consequences. Can The Weeknd return to his tour as of that day never happened?
Hurry Up Tomorrow is a complex but deeply flawed look at one day in the life of a singer on his world tour. The story is told at least four times through elliptical points of view. Anima sees herself as The Weeknd’s soulmate who only she can understand. But she is portrayed by the neutral camera as a deranged sadistic arsonist determined to erase her past problems by burning them down — literally. Ortega is allowed to run wild here. Keoghan as his manager sees himself as his best bud, almost his brother, the only one who can save The Weeknd from self-destruction (there are countless shots of him gazing longingly into his eyes.) Neutral camera? A sleazy, mercenary drug dealer. Then there’s the star himself. His mind drifts into hallucinatory depictions from deep in his psyche conveying, paranoia, claustrophobia and childlike helplessness. Neutral camera? A self-obsessed narcissist. So watching it with all these different points of view floating around, it’s hard to tell what’s real and what is a fantasy. Are the frequent tear-filled eyes actual or in one of their 
imaginations? I’ve seen director Trey Edward Shults’s features It Comes at Night and Waves, both excellent movies — he’s highly skilled, but this one seems more muddy with less of an identifiable narrative. And it starts with a shockingly inappropriate music video… why? Why? On the other hand, the references to Stephen King movies like The Shining and Misery are much more interesting.
I’m glad I watched Hurry Up Tomorrow, but I wish it were a bit better.
The Old Woman with the Knife
Co-Wri/Dir: Min Kyu-dong
It’s winter in Seoul in the 1970s. A starving young woman, barefoot and dressed in rags is desperately searching for food in the drifting snow like The Little Match Girl. A kindly couple save her life by inviting her into their tiny diner for a meal, and later take her on as a dishwasher in exchange for room and board. But her relatively stable new life is shattered one night when she is cornered by an American GI in the cafe’s kitchen. She manages to fight off his sexual advances until he turns violent and starts to choke her to death with his barehands. In desperation, she grabs a nearby knife and stabs him. He dies. This is witnessed by a man named Ryu (Kim Mu-yeol) who invites her to join a secret organization that specializes in pest control. That’s their euphemism for the murderers, rapists and torturers, the scum of the earth, whom they are hired to kill.
Fifty years later and she’s still at it. Now known as Hornclaw (Lee Hye-yeong), she’s the hitman with the best reputation in the business. No one suspects an unassuming old woman — she can get away from any murder scene without anyone noticing. But she’s showing compassion — a complete taboo in the business — for a stray dog she finds. Her doctor is telling her to slow down, and her boss wants her to retire. Hornclaw, retire? Nevah!
But things really start to change when a brash newcomer 
walks in. Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol) doesn’t know the codes or rules, he just plays it by ear. He’s violent fearless and will stop at nothing to get her out of his way. Can he usurp her seat on the throne? And what grudge does he hold against his rival?
The Old Woman with the Knife is an action thriller with an elderly woman as the protagonist. And if you think this is a Murder She Wrote with little handguns and stilettos you couldn’t be more wrong.
She’s tough as Helen Mirren, and can take down and slice up a room full of thugs singlehandedly. And since it’s a Korean action movie, you can bet there’s a melodramatic subplot and at least one character whose motivation is revenge. (No spoilers.)
I liked this movie a lot.
Friendship, Lady with the Knife and Hurry up Tomorrow all open in Toronto 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.
Canadian Film Fest! Movies reviewed: The Players, To the Moon, Skeet
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
With the warmer weather, spring film festival season comes to Toronto, starting with the Canadian Film Fest. It features world-, national- and local premieres of great Canadian movies that will be opening later this year. It has a wide variety of genres and topics — sci-fi, comedies, dramas and documentaries — from across the land. They’re very accessible and a lot of fun, and they bring to light current topics unique to this country. And each screening includes a feature and a short film along with the filmmakers themselves in person.
So this week, I’m writing some shorter-than-normal reviews to give you an idea of what’s playing at the CFF this year. There’s a teenaged girl in Toronto trying to broaden her horizons, an ex-con in Saint Johns, trying to follow the straight and narrow, and a middle-aged single dad in Halifax who does ritual dances to the moon.
The Players
Wri/Dir: Sarah Galea-Davis
It’s summer in the early 1990s in Toronto. Emily (Stefani Kimber) is a naive but listless 15 year old girl who wishes her parents would get back together. Her dad moved when her mom returned to University and started sleeping with her prof. But Emily thinks she’s found her calling when she runs into an experimental theatre group in a park, and successfully auditions for a show. But this is no ordinary theatrical troupe. It’s run by a Svengali-like director named Reinhardt (Eric Johnson) and his girlfriend actress Marley (Jess Salgueiro). Rehearsals last for hours, full of primal screams and heavy body contact. Emily is in heaven, viewing herself and the world in brand new ways. Reinhardt pays special attention to Emily, giving her readings in French literature so she can really “understand” the art their creating (an eight-hour version of Hamlet). Even when she spends days at the studio without going home, and strange bruises start appearing on her body, she accepts that it’s part of becoming an actor. But the cultish nature of the group, and Reinhardt’s increasingly dangerous, abusive and sexualized behaviour starts to gnaw at Emily’s psyche. Should she see it through, or get the hell out of that place while she still can?
The Players is a gripping, coming-of-age drama about life as a
young actress in the 1990s, long before the #MeToo movement. It’s first exhilarating and then horrifying. Stefani Kimber is excellent and well-rounded as Emily, through whose eyes the entire story is told. And though it’s director Sarah Galea-Davis first feature, it’s powerful and prescient.
To the Moon
Wri/Dir: Kevin Hartford
Sam (Jacob Sampson) is a corporate executive in Halfax, Nova Scotia. He has recently moved to a picturesque suburb with his rudderless teenaged daughter Ella (Phoebe Rex); his wife died soon after Ella was born. Since then he has given up all sex and dating. Instead, each morning, Sam and Ella do an elaborate dance ritual, ostensibly to stop the moon from crashing into earth! But everything changes when Sam’s sexuality begins to reveal itself when he meets an attractive man at a lunch spot. Is Sam gay? Ella, meanwhile, auditions for a play at her new school, in the hopes of meeting a guy she has a crush on… but is thwarted at every step by a cruel, bully-girl named Isobel. And all of Sam and Ella’s lives are observed by Claire (Amy Groening) a neurotic and nosy next-door neighbour novelist, facing writers block. Can Ella find 
satisfaction at her new school? Can Sam come out as gay, even to himself? And what will happen to their lives if they stop doing the sacred moon dance?
To the Moon is a funny, oddball comedy set in Nova Scotia. It’s the kind of comedy where every character is quirky and armed with a quick witty comeback. It’s cute though hard to believe, but what’s truly hard to believe is the totally unexpected wack ending (no spoilers here.) This may be the first film of Kevin Hartford I’ve ever seen, but it has the blessing of Thom Fitzgerald, the film’s producer, who is an icon in the world of LGBT movies and directed two classics: The Hanging Garden and Cloudburst. If you’re looking for a zany gay comedy from down east, check out To The Moon.
Skeet
Co-Wri/Dir: Nik Sexton
St John’s, Newfoundland. Billy Skinner (Sean Dalton) is a skeet, a tough-guy enforcer who did three years hard time for violent crime. Now he’s out again, back in his sketchy neighbourhood, still ruled by a gangster-poet named Leo (Garth Sexton). But things look worse than what he left. His brother can barely walk, his former crime buddy collects empty beer cans, his mom’s a fentanyl head, and she snorted all the money he was sending her to take care of his teenaged son Brandon (Jackson Petten). But Billy is determined to turn his life around — no more crime or fighting. He’s gets a job mopping floors at the chicken plant, spends time with his son, stays off drugs and attends an obligatory support group. And strangest of all, makes friends with his neighbour Mo (Jay Abdo), a taxi driver, one of many Syrian refugees recently 
housed in his neighbourhood. Can Billy shake off the cursed Skinner family name? Or will he revert to life as a skeet?
Skeet is a moving and hard-hitting drama about a ne’erdowell trying to make it in the tough parts of St Johns. Well acted and shot in glorious black and white, it gives us a sympathetic portrayal of the bleak parts of Newfoundland we rarely if ever see. Luckily, director Nik Sexton — who has honed his craft for years at the Rick Mercer Report and This Hour has 22 Minutes — doesn’t know how not to be funny, so there’s enough humour to keep it from being a drag. I guess you could call Skeet Donnie Dumphy’s evil twin.
Great movie.
Skeet won People’s Pick for Best Flick (Nik Sexton) at CFF.
The Players won Best Director award (Sarah Galea-Davis) and Best Acting award (Stefani Kimber) at CFF.
Skeet, To the Moon, and The Players are three of the movies premiering at the Canadian Film Festival, running Monday March 24th through Saturday, March 29 at the Scotiabank cinema in Toronto. Go to canfilmfest.ca for tickets and showtimes.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Freedom or death? Films reviewed: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, The Room Next Door PLUS Canada’s Top Ten!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Mark your calendars, boys and girls, because the annual Canada’s Top Ten film series starts in just a few weeks. If you’re into highly original movies, you really gotta check this out. I’ve already reviewed many of them, or interviewed them already, but there’s lots left to discover. Things like David 
Cronenberg’s The Shrouds, a truly bizarre mystery about an entrepreneur who invents burial shrouds that allow you to see in real time the decaying buried body of your loved one. It stars Vincent Cassell, Diane Kruger and Guy Pearce. Or Kazik Radwanski (Interview: 2013) & Samantha Chater’s 
brilliant Matt & Mara, with an almost totally improvised script follows old friends (Matt Johnson, Deragh Campbell) who suddenly meet each other again, opening a real can of worms. There are also short films at this festival — I can’t wait to see NFB animator Torill Kove’s latest short Maybe Elephants; her films are just enchanting. And I’m 
curious what Canadian actor Connor Jessup is up to now with his short film Julian and the Wind. He starred in the movies Blackbird (2013) Closet Monster (2016) and the Netflix series Locke and Key (2021) but I have never seen his own work. These are just a few of the great movies in Canada’s Top Ten and they’re all showing at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto.
But this week, I’m looking at two new movies, one from Iran (via Germany), and another one from Spain (via the US). There are three female activists looking for freedom in Tehran; and two female writers looking for peace in New York.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Co-Wri/Dir: Mohammad Rasoulof
Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) and Iman (Missagh Zareh) are a happily married couple in Tehran. They live out their two daughters, Rezvahn (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki). The kids fight a lot, but the family is still close and trusting; no secrets here. But everything changes once their Dad — a government bureaucrat — gets a promotion. He is issued a gun for protection, due to the nature of his new position. You see, he is now sort of a judge within the Islamic Revolutionary Court. This means convicting and sentencing anyone accused of disobeying religious or political laws, ranging from women who expose their uncovered hair, to anyone caught insulting the Supreme Leader or the government itself. And especially anyone caught at a pro-democracy demonstration.
But when Rezvahn’s best friend Sadaf gets beaten up at a demo, and they hide her in the apartment they have to keep it from her Dad. Is he responsible for this crackdown? And when his gun disappears, Iman suspects everyone. Has his family turned on him? A wall of distrust divides the family, threatening its very existence. Can they reconcile or is it too late?
The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a powerful and harrowing drama about distrust and betrayal, within a family torn apart by the 
influence of an authoritarian government on all of their lives. It was shot entirely in Iran, on the sly, by noted director Mohammad Rasoulof who smuggled it out of the country. (It was edited in Germany.) He fled for obvious reasons: he was sentenced to 8 years in prison, and corporal punishment — that’s whipping — for his film work.
Two thirds of it was shot within a claustrophobic apartment in Tehran, two years ago, right when a women-led, pro-democracy movement was in full swing. The final third was shot outdoors in a spectacularly eerie lunar landscape, shifting in tone from tense psychological drama to a genuine action/thriller. This movie is neither short nor easy to watch, but it is amazing.
I recommend this one.
The Room Next Door
Co-Wri/Dir: Pedro Almodovar
Ingrid (Julianne Moore) is a successful novelist who lives in New York. At a book signing — her latest one is about her fear of dying — an old acquaintance approaches her. She tells Ingrid that Martha (Tilda Swinton), her old friend from University days, is dying of cancer. Can’t she visit her in hospital? Ingrid hasn’t seen her in decades, though they had been quite close. They even once had a boyfriend in common, Damian (John Turturro). And while Ingrid stayed close to home, Martha (Tilda Swinton) became a renowned war reporter for the NY Times. Her travels took her around the world covering frontline battles in West Africa and the Middle East. They are both happy to see each other again, and Ingrid loves keeping Martha company as she recounts some of her past adventures.
That is until Martha makes a big request. Her death is inevitable, but she hopes Ingrid will stay with her in the room next door (hence the title) so someone will be around when the inevitable happens. (Ingrid is estranged from her only 
daughter). And though deathly afraid of death, Ingrid agrees. They move to a gorgeous isolated wood-and-glass country home. But what will happen next?
The Room Next Door is a touhing, gentle story about two old friends reunited under bittersweet circumstances. Though clearly an Almodovar movie it differs in two ways. This is his first English language feature, and the dialogue seems stilted and clumsy, at least at the very beginning, but interestingly, I stopped noticing it after the first few minutes. Second, the passionate melodrama, the sex, the outrageous humour I expect to see in any Almodovar movie aren’t there. Any conflicts, secrets, betrayals or revelations are few and far 
between. Instead it is subtle, soft, and gentle. And yet it still clearly is Almodovar’s work. The set design, colour palette, camerawork, the structure and the music are instantly recognizable. I love the gorgeous, two-coloured wooden lounge chairs by the swimming pool, the clothes they wear, the soundtrack. Almodovar loves long, intricately told flashbacks, and stories within stories like The Arabian Nights. It satisfies your brain and your heart. And Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore are just right in their roles.
So in the end, though The Room Next Door was not the Almodovar film I expected to see, it was still satisfying to watch.
The Room Next Door and The Seed of the Sacred Fig are both opening 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.
Returns. Films reviewed: All We Imagine as Light, The Return PLUS Streaming Sites!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
As the days grow shorter and colder, people tend to snuggle up at home. I’m here to tell you to get off your collective asses and go see a real movie on a big screen! But I know some of you are going to stay at home so today, I’m going to talk about some of the streaming sites out there you might want to join. And I’m looking two new dramas. A warrior king in ancient Greece returning to his island, and three nurses in Mumbai returning to Kerala.
Streaming Sites
Here are some streaming sites you might want to try.
First the free ones: CBC Gem, Kanopy and Tubi. CBC Gem has ads, but also plays some great docs, including There are no Fakes. You can find Tubi — a commercial site — online, again with irritating ads but a huge selection of middlebrow films. You can check out terrific movies on Kanopy using your library card, but you’re limited to a certain number per month. Britbox and Acorn TV both specialize in British TV series, especially detective mysteries. If you want Miss Marple peeking over your shoulder, this is what you want. Apple TV produces all their own stuff, including Slow Horses and the great Steve McQueen’s new film Blitz. On the other hand, the Apple TV app itself is extremely aggressive — you can only watch full screen and it flips back to the main site every time you navigate away.
If you’re into horror, thriller and the supernatural Shudder is the site for you. It’s exceptionally well-curated, with excellent art-house movies right beside slashers. Paramount+ has a seemingly endless supply of cop and military shows, plus CIA, FBI, firemen, navy, and — count ‘em! — 7 different NCIS spinoffs! Not my thing, but they do land some good movies like Smile 2, playing right now. Crave gives you access to everything HBO makes, as well as Canadian movies you might otherwise miss like the NFB doc Wilfred Buck. Criterion has the rights to some of the best movies of all time, from early Kurosawa to recent releases. MUBI streams new movies likely heading for the Oscars this year, including Maria, Girl with the Needle and The Substance.
And finally Netflix, the grande-dame of all streamers, has the most consistent and sheer quantity of good TV and self-produced movies, like Emilia Perez… but it’s getting way too expensive! They even have a new website called netflixinyourneighbourhood.ca which takes you to
THE MADNESS. The Donut Shop, 617 Parkdale Avenue, Hamilton, Ontario, featured in Episode 107 of The Madness. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2024
locations where their movies are shot: in places like Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Brockville, Dundas and Oshawa!
I still think movies should be seen in theatres but if you’re determined to stay at home, those are some of streaming sites you might want to subscribe to.
All We Imagine as Light
Wri/Dir: Payal Kapadia
It’s present-day Mumbai.
Prabha (Kani Kusruti) is a middle-aged hospital nurse. She is skilled at her job, teaching young trainees how to get over their feelings of revulsion. She spends time with a starry-eyed Doctor Manoj, who writes poems to her, but she is still very much married. Her husband moved to Germany to work in a factory, and he may as well not exist. Prabha shares an apartment with Anu (Divya Prabha), a vivacious young nurse at the same hospital. She likes shopping, fashion and romance, and most of all her secret boyfriend Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon). They’re in love (or at least young lust) but frustrated; it’s hard to find a private space to be together. More than that, she’s Hindu and he’s Muslim, and never the twain shall meet – their families will prevent that. Finally, Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), an older nurse and a close friend of Prabha’s, is facing eviction from her home. Developers want to tear it down to build a high-rise condo. Since she’s a widow and doesn’t have the proper papers to 
prove the place is hers, they’re sending goons to her door to kick her out.
For all these reasons the three of them end up back in Kerala, the place of their birth in southwest India. They stay in a beautiful beach town, where the three of them can finally shake off the heavy responsibility and stress of life in that big city. But how long will this last?
All We Imagine as Light is a personal, intimate drama about the lives of three women in Mumbai. It’s notable for a number of reasons. This is director Payal Kapadia’s first feature, and tells her story from a distinctly feminine gaze. It deals with big contemporary political and social issues — like Parvaty attending an angry tenants’ rights meeting — but also the importance of personal friendships among the three woman. In look and style, this film is strictly European cinema verite, about as far from Bollywood as a movie could possibly be. But it is set in Bombay and exults in that city, from the slums to the skyscrapers, with stunning aerial views of rooftop clotheslines and raucous street festivals. There’s amazing footage taken through the window of a fast-moving commuter train. Some scenes have documentary-style unidentified voices, expressing their bittersweet love and hatred for that 
city that never sleeps, spoken in a plethora of languages: Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, and Bengali. I liked this movie for it’s emotions, but found much of it bleak and slow-moving; the story drags you down until it finally shifts from Mumbai to the beaches of Kerala, two-thirds of the way through.
But by the end it redeems itself with an unexpectedly satisfying finish.
All We Imagine as Light has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes.
The Return
Dir: Uberto Pasolini
It’s 1200 BC in ancient Greece, and the island of Ithaca has no ruler. Decades ago, it was a mighty kingdom, ruled by the hero Odysseus — known for his bravery, fighting skills and intelligence. He devised the Trojan Horse and led the army that defeated Troy. But the soldiers — and their leader — never came home, and Ithaca has gone to seed. The queen, Penelope (Juliette Binoche) sits alone in her tower, weaving cloth, as she patiently waits for Odysseus’s return. Their son, Telemachus (Charlie Plummer) doesn’t know his father except from legends. The palace is filled aggressive brutes from abroad, each wanting to marry the widow Penelope so they can take over the kingdom. But is she actually a widow?
Around this time, the battle-scarred body of a soldier washes up on shore. He’s barely alive, but is nursed back to health by an honest pig farmer named Eumeo (Claudio Santamaria) and his sons. It is of course Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes), but without any uniform or weapon. He’s actually naked. He wraps himself in a blanket and carries a bowl — the clothing of a homeless beggar. And when he approaches the palace, almost no one recognizes him. Only Eurycleia (Ángela Molina), both his and his son Telemachus’s nurse as a child, realizes who
The Return, directed by Uberto Pasolini, with Ralph Fiennes (Odysseus), Juliette Binoche (Penelope), Charlie Plummer (Telemachus), Marwan Kenzari (Antinous), Claudio Santamaria (Eumaeus).
that beggar is. Is he still fit to be king? Can one man, tired and old, confront a bloodthirsty mob of young toughs? And will Penelope ever forgive him for staying away so long?
The Return is a magnificent retelling of a chapter in Homer’s The Odyssey. But it’s not about triumphant heroes; it’s more about the grinding effects war has upon both the victors and the vanquished. It contrasts Odysseus’s shame and self-doubt with Penelope’s eternal fidelity. Yes, this is an ancient greek story, with swords and sandals, but it feels very immediate. Parts of it even resemble a Hollywood action/thriller, with chase scenes and some very bloody fights.
The film was shot among the rocky cliffs of Corfu and the ruins of an ancient castle, which is echoed in the soundtrack. I love the dramatic look and sound of waves crashing on the sharp rocks. Though the women are all wrapped up, most of the male actors are dressed in togas or prancing around half naked, with Ralph Fiennes going full monty at the drop of a hat. I didn’t used to like him much, but after Conclave and now this one, I gotta admit, he’s a really good actor. Juliette Binoche is skillfully understated as Penelope, and Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari is very creepy as Antinous, the threateningly oleaginous suitor closest to Penelope.
The Return is a really good movie.
The Return and All we Imagine as Light is on at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto; and Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties, A Trailer Park Boys movie featuring Bubbles and his band on tour, is now playing; 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.
Bullies and the bullied. Films reviewed: Memoir of a Snail, The Line
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Fall Film Festival Season continues in Toronto with ReelAsian and BITS. ReelAsian, which is on right now, brings features docs and shorts from East and South Asia, and from the Diaspora in North America. Many of the films are premieres! BITS — Blood in the Snow — is an all-Canadian festival of horror, genre and underground films that shatter taboos and conventions — including the second season of David J Fernandes’ TV series Creepy Bits. The festival runs from November 18th-23rd.
But this week, I’m looking at two new indie movies, from Australia and the US. There’s a frat boy in Oklahoma caught between the horns of a dilemma; and a bullied girl in Canberra who wants to curl up in her shell.
Memoir of a Snail
Wri/Dir: Adam Elliot
Grace and Gilbert are twins who live with their dad in a high-rise tenement in a big Australian city. Their mom died in childbirth, so they’ve only ever known their father, a former Parisian street busker known for his pyrotechnics. Gilbert embraces his love of fire and gunpowder. Grace models herself after her mother, a specialist in snails; she always wears antennae over her knit cap, and thinks of herself as a mollusk. And since she still shows the scars of a cleft palette, she is constantly bullied at school and called rabbit face. Gilbert is always there to defend her, and the two are best friends. Until their father dies, leaving them both as orphans. The twins are separated and adopted on opposite ends of the country.
Grace ends up in the nation’s capital, Canberra. She’s adopted by a dull, beige couple with no kids. They also happen got be nudists and swingers. Grace’s only friend is an elderly woman named Pinky she meets at the library where Grace spends all her time. Pinky is both warm and eccentric and shares her lusty history with Grace who participates vicariously.
Gilbert finds himself on the other side of the continent in an isolated apple farm, outside Perth. He is put to work at a Dickensian conveyor belt controlled by his dictatorial, bible-thumper of a stepmother named Ruth, and her troglodyte sons. 
The two survive only by sending one another letters. Gilbert wants desperately to leave, while Grace becomes a recluse holed up in her home surrounded by the kitty snail-like objects she hoards. Can they survive in their dystopian prisons? And will they ever see one another again?
Memoir of a Snail is a dark animated comedy about coming of age of a shy and introverted young woman. It’s entirely made of stop- motion figures and locations. The stories take place within a wonderful, wabi-sabi world of the crumbling and dingy detritus that Grace compulsively collects. And you can’t call this a kids’ movie, as it deals with all sorts of squirmy adult concepts including bodies and sexuality. And it’s not disneyfied happy stuff either; it’s hilarious and quirky, Roald Dahl meets Tim Burton.The voices are provided by fave Aussie actors Sarah Snook and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the twins, Jacki Weaver as Pinky, with Eric Bana and Nick Cave in other roles.
Memoir of a Snail is a wonderfully depressing comedy with a satisfying end.
I like this one a lot.
The Line
Co-Wri/Dir: Ethan Berger
It’s 2014 at a university in the deep south. Tom (Alex Wolff) is a student there, paid for by his single mom’s savings (she’s a nurse). But his grade point average is low, and his interests are focused mainly on snorting coke and getting laid. He shares a room with his best friend Mitch (Bo Mitchell) who calls Tom “Sunshine”. He is constantly hugging and touching Tom. Mitch is rich, but he’s a total wreck —irresponsible, slovenly, self-pitying and undependable. They met the year before while being pledged at a powerful frat house and have had each others’ backs since then. He’s even met Mitch’s father (John Malkovich) who promises to set him up with a good job after graduation — one of the benefits of “Greek” life. They live inside the frathouse now.
As sophomores, they are full members of KNA, and Tom is being groomed as their next president. But things start to deteriorate as this years pledges start their initiation. The problem is Mitch has a hate on for a new pledge named Gettys O’Brien (Austin Abrams). O’Brien is totally chill and publicly mocks the ridiculous hierarchy, and homo-erotic rituals. He also disrespects Mitch’s insecurities about his own looks and body. So Mitch despises the popular freshman and goes out of his way to make his life miserable… but to no avail.
Tom, meanwhile, is ambitious. He wants to improve his grades and he’s crushing on a smart woman in his class. Annabelle (Halle Bailey) is extremely self-confident, hates frats, and dares to publicly denounces the university’s biases. But Tom persists, even while knowing his all-white ultraconservative frat will never accept him 
dating a black, feminist who doesn’t shave her armpits. And the university itself is coming down hard on the Greeks, following reports of dangerous practices going on there. They lay down the law: a total ban on hazing and off-campus retreats. Of course Mitch ignores all this and immediately plans the ultimate hazing retreat adventure, where he can get revenge on O’Brien. The frat’s president makes Tom goes to keep it all safe. This puts Tom between a rock and a hard place. Can he calm the waters? Or are they heading toward a genuine Hell Week?
The Line is a very dark and unsettling drama that gives an inside look at the secretive world of fraternities. It’s also about friendship and obligation, hierarchy and the chilling power of money over basic morality. The title refers to a hazing ritual where pledges are hooded and tied together in a dangerous setting. I saw this movie because Alex Wolff is in it, and he only seems to be in worthwhile movies. In an interesting performance, he puts on a deliberately-acquired, heavy southern drawl — interspersed with extended mumbling — a style of talking apparently de rigueur at frats. Bo Mitchell is also very good. The plot is told without easy solutions and obvious heroes and villains; it’s more subtle than that, but this is not a feel good movie. And while a good film, it’s quite disturbing with unexpected violence and is not for the faint of heart.
Memoirs of a Snail and The Line 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 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.
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