“B” movies. Films reviewed: The Boy in the Woods, Blackwater Lane, The Bikeriders
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
In weather like this, don’t you want to be watching a movie in an air-conditioned theatre? I sure do. This week I’m looking at three new “B” movies, as in the letter B. There’s a biker gang in the 1960s; a serial killer on the loose on Blackwater Lane in an English town; and a boy trying to survive in the woods in WWII.
The Boy in the Woods
Wri/Dir: Rebecca Snow (Pandora’s box: Interview)
It’s 1943 in Nazi-occupied Poland. The city of Buczacz is home to Poles, Jews and Ukrainians who lived together in relative peace, until the German invasion. But by 1943 the Jews were in captivity, soon to be executed or deported. 12-year-old Max (Jett Klyne) wants to stay with his mother and younger sister, but when they are loaded onto trucks, she insists Max escape. His aunt has arranged for him to stay on a farm until the war is over. Joska (Richard Armitage) helps him out by burning his clothes, dressing him in peasant garb and hat, and giving him a new name and history: if you want to survive, he says, you must totally change your identity. But following a near-death experience when the police come knocking at his door looking for hidden Jews, Joska decides it’s too dangerous to keep him there any longer. He finds him a cave in the forest to hide in, and gives him lifesaving advice: where he can find running water, which mushrooms or berries are safe to eat, and how to snare a rabbit and light a fire.
Max has no possessions except the knife Joska gave him and a 
white feather he finds. After many close calls, he meets an even younger boy, Yanek (David Kohlsmith), who has lost his family. Now Max has someone else to look out for. Together they try to fight the elements and escape their many potential enemies. But how long can two children survive alone in the woods?
The Boy in the Woods is a moving dramatization based on the memoirs of Canadian artist and writer Maxwell Smart. It’s similar to Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird. I found it quite touching in parts; it’s a holocaust movie but with a different look — none of the expected ghettos or concentrations camps. It’s also a Canadian film, so, to me, the woods themselves — the trees and plants and streams — feel nice and familiar, not scary and alienating, despite the harrowing episodes he experiences there. I also don’t understand why everyone speaks English but put on heavy, generic European accents. But these are quibbles. In general I thought it works well as a gripping personal history about a 12-year-old kid trying to survive in wartime.
Blackwater Lane
Dir: Jeff Celentano
Cass (Minka Kelly) is a strikingly beautiful young woman who teaches theatre arts at a posh English private school. She likes G&Ts and tarot cards. She lives in an isolated but beautiful manor house — surrounded by a lush forest, a verdant pond and tall hedges — with her husband Matthew (Dermot Mulroney), a business executive. When there are problems with her home life, she can always turn to her best friend and confidant, Rachel (Maggie Grace). They’ve known each other since they were kids. And she enjoys flirting with the seductive John (Alan Calton), a fellow teacher at her school. But her peaceful life is disrupted when she sees a woman in a car on Blackwater Lane in a thunderstorm. Turns out the woman is dead, and her murderer — possibly a serial killer — is still on the loose. That’s when strange things start happening to her. Edward, (Judah Cousin) a student who seems to have a crush on her, keeps showing up unexpectedly. A sketchy builder knocks on her door saying she asked him to repair the alarm system — which she has no memory of. She starts hearing strange creaks and knocks all around the house, and strange shadows appear just out of sight calling her name. An inquisitive police detective (Natalie Simpson) comes around when she calls, but sees nothing. And her husband keeps reminding Cass of her frequent memory loss, and wild imagination, as he calls it. But when dead birds, a fox and a blood soaked knife keep appearing and disappearing, she realized something is going wrong. Is she encountering ghosts in the old haunted house? Is the serial killer out to get her? Is 
he someone she knowns? And is she being gaslit by a stranger, or losing her mind?
Blackwater Lane is a psychological thriller, about a woman who can’t convince anyone else that her life is threatened. It’s loaded with classic suspense and mystery — almost gothic in story, but not in style. It’s based on a bestselling novel by B.A. Paris. Thing is, it has a movie-of-the-week feeling to it, good but not great, loaded with many clichés. The acting varies from OK to mediocre, and there are way too many scenes that end with slow fades. And the ending is a messy attempt to try to tie up all the loose ends. Even so, I always find it fun to watch this kind of psychological thriller late at night.
Bikeriders
Wri/Dir: Jeff Nichols
Kathy (Jodie Comer) is a working-class woman in the mid 1960s.She lives in the midwest near Chicago. One day she wanders into a tough local bar and is smitten by a young guy playing pool. Benny (Austin Butler) is the sort of bad boy she knows to stay away from. But when a tough, fatherly figure, Johnny (Tom Hardy) tells her she should feel safe, they’re just a bunch of guys in a motorcycle club, she lets her guard down a bit. Benny takes her for a ride on his hog, heads out on the highway… and they fall in love. Eventually Benny moves in with her and they start a normal happy life. Thing is, Benny is not the kind of guy who likes to be tied down — he’s a free spirit, never happier than when he’s on the road with his buds. He’s also a firecracker, and neither the threat of violence or jail will calm him down. 
Johnny, the leader of the Vandals, doesn’t look for trouble. But if anyone challenges his leadership, he’s always ready for a fight — fists or knives, your choice. But as the years go by, Kathy tells Benny he has to choose — keep riding with Johnny and the boys, or stay with her and their baby. But with teenagers who don’t know the rules trying to join the gang, its hierarchy starts to crumble. Which way will Benny turn?
The Bikeriders is an historical drama about the rise and file of the Vandals motorcycle club. Though it concentrates on those three characters — all very well acted — it’s really an ensemble piece with a dozen other characters: Zipco (Michael Shannon), Wahoo (Beau Knapp), Cockroach (Emory Cohen), Funny Sonny (Norman Reedus), Corky (Karl Glusman), The Kid (Toby Wallace) — each with their on quirks and personalities. It’s based on a famous collection of pics of motorcycle gangs in the 60s and 70s taken by photographer Danny Lyons. Naturally, the cinematography is of top quality, as are the clothes, hair, tats, and music. What it doesn’t have is much of a plot, just a series of linked vignettes. Instead, for reasons unknown, they bring the photographer (Mike Faist) into the story, thus alienating the viewers by keeping us at arms length from the characters. The thing is, Jeff Nichols is not just good, he’s a great director. And he redeems himself in the last third, where there are some really powerful scenes. With great acting and a huge talented cast — though far from perfect, the Bikeriders is a good movie to watch.
The Bikeriders and The Boy in the Woods both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. And Blackwater Lane also opens, both theatrically and VOD.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Authoritarian. Films reviewed: Humane, Occupied City PLUS Hotdocs!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
This is a busy weekend, with tons of new releases, so many that’s it’s hard to keep them straight. Like these two, I covered last fall at TIFF: a first feature about a man sexually assaulted on the streets of Toronto called I Don’t Know Who You Are; and a sharp social satire from Romania about a woman who takes on the offensive persona of Andrew Tate online, called Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. I dare you to remember those two titles: I Don’t Know Who You Are, and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World.
But this week, I’m looking at two new movies set in totalitarian regimes. There’s a city in the future where medically assisted death is mandatory, and a city in the past under Nazi occupation.
But first, some more news about the Hot Docs festival, on now.
Hot Docs
Films are showing now through next weekend in Toronto, with daytime screenings free for students and seniors, and many of the filmmakers and subjects on hand for a Q&A. Here are some I’m looking forward to seeing: The Ride Ahead is a coming-of-age look at a young disabled man navigating dating, love, and sex. Fly looks at the extremely dangerous sport of base jumping and the people who do it. And Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story about a Nashville-born soul singer who became a chart-topping trans entertainer in Toronto… before disappearing. All of these and many more are playing now at Hotdocs… and students and seniors can see daytime screenings for free.
Humane
Dir: Caitlin Cronenberg
It’s the near future, in a huge mansion in a city like Toronto. Charles York (Peter Gallagher) is a famous TV anchorman, someone everyone looks up to and trusts. Tonight he’s having his dysfunctional family — four adult children — in his home for a special announcement: Rachel (Emily Hampshire), the selfish oldest child, who works for big pharma; Jared (Jay Baruchel) an arrogant professor, known for his right-wing cable news punditry; Noah (Sebastian Chacon) a neurotic piano prodigy turned drug addict, now in a 12-step program; and the youngest, Ashley (Alanna Bale), an insecure and unsuccessful aspiring actress. Charles’s second wife, Dawn, a restauranteur, who is there too, has prepared an exquisite meal. But why are they all there? Charles and Dawn have agreed to “enlist” in a heavily promoted government program to serve as role models. Enlist is a euphemism for voluntary death. After an ecological disaster, the worlds’ governments have declared there are too many people, so 20% of the population is expect to die to save the planet — voluntarily of course (the government sends a cheque to families that enlist).
The York family is shocked they’re planning to die right after dinner. But when Charles goes through with it, Dawn is nowhere to be seen — she got cold feet and ran away. And that’s when armed guards appear at the door. Bob (Enrico Colantoni), a former prison guard now working for a private agency that enforces these laws, says he’s there to claim two cadavers. And if Dawn isn’t there, it has to be another body from the family — and he doesn’t care whether it’s Rachel, Jared, Noah, or Ashley. It’s up to them to decide who dies. What will happen
to the York family?
Humane is a dark, drawing-room horror-thriller about a futuristic, dystopian world. It deals with class issues, kinship, racism and authoritarian laws. It’s told in a creepy, tongue-in-cheek manner, reminiscent of movies like Robocop, and never loses its dark, ironic humour. It is horror, though, so be be prepared for a fair amount of violence and blood. It’s Caitlin Cronenberg (David Cronenberg’s daughter)’s first feature and it’s surprisingly good. Well paced, low-budget, with a good, largely Canadian cast, it neatly captures the widespread helplessness, suspicion and fear spawned during the Covid years.
I’m impressed.
Occupied City
Dir: Steve McQueen
What happens to a city after a major event by an occupying power wipes out a large portion of its population? A new documentary looks at the city of Amsterdam under the Nazi occupation from 1940-1945. It’s a geographical look at various places and addresses during that period, but without any footage, photographs or recordings from that era. Instead, it films exactly what Amsterdam is today with a narrator’s voice describing what happened to the people who lived there under the Nazis. So we see things like people dancing or doing yoga, kids at school, an art museum, and the elderly at a musical performance. But we hear about how that location was once a prison, or a site used for deportation. Children hid — like Anne Frank — in one home; in another, a collaborator sent them to their deaths in a concentration camp. Each segment ends with a simple description of the building today, like “demolished”. The building no longer stands but the history remains.
Occupied City is a meticulously precise journey through that city, 
played against a history of occupation and genocide.
The unseen camera spins its way through Amsterdam, from the red light district to public squares, along streetcar tracks and up to rooftops looking down at the peopler below. It covers all types of current demonstrations, including angry anti-vaxers, and anarchists pursued by swarms of police drones. Did you know the Germans melted down most of Amsterdam’s church bells to make munitions? It’s filled with obscure historical facts like that. 
Amsterdam-born Bianca Stigter wrote the script based on her book, Atlas of an Occupied City: Amsterdam 1940-1945. It’s directed by the great UK filmmaker Steve McQueen. The two are a couple and frequent collaborators, which gives this a highly personal feel. One thing you should know, though: the film is over four hours long! Four hours!!
Even so, it wasn’t a strain to watch, I found it warm and enveloping, offering a constant, soothing contrast between horrific words and mundane images.
I liked this film, but be sure to dress comfortably and bring lots of water.
Hotdocs is on now, Humane and Occupied City both open this weekend at the TIFF Lightbox and elsewhere; 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.
Dark movies. Films reviewed: Night Swim, The Zone of Interest, All of us Strangers
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
With winter comes grey skies and cold winds that can chill you to the bone. So this week I’m looking at three new movies with a dark theme. There’s an evil swimming pool, a Nazi Commandant, and a man visiting his parents… who died decades earlier.
Night Swim
Co-Wri/Dir: Bryce McGuire
Ray and Eve Waller (Wyatt Hawn Russell, Kerry Condon) are moving into a new home in suburban Minneapolis-St Paul. Their two kids, Izzie and Eliot, are less than pleased to be moving again. Izzie (Amélie Hoeferle) is popular and athletic, so she’ll have no trouble making new friends, but her little brother Eliot (Gavin Warren) is shy and withdrawn. But they are all happy their new home has a huge, built-in swimming pool, whose water comes directly from an underground hot spring. Ray used to be a pro baseball player but was forced to retire because he has Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. He hopes exercise and physio will help him recover and return to pro ball, though his doctor thinks that’s unlikely. Until Ray starts to improve — with a great gain in strength and stamina — which Rayattributes to the waters in their pool. But all is not well in swimming pool-land. There’s something strange in those waters. Apparently, a little girl drowned there 30 years earlier. Next, Eliot’s cat disappers. And now everyone in the family is seeing creatures — and hearing voices! — when they spend too much time underwater. What is going on? Is this pool haunted? Do its waters hold magical powers? And can it be trusted around Izzie and Eliot?
Nightswim is a thriller/horror where the unlikely villain is a swimming pool. While the title “night swim” hints at skinny dipping (or other vaguely erotic plot devices) this film is strictly P.G. No sex, no nudity, just all around spookiness. Even Izzie’s crush is on a squeaky clean Christian swim club member. It’s all about families and little league. But is it scary? Maybe a little. There are some disturbing and violent scenes, but for the most 
Night Swim is not bad, but it’s not very scary, either.
The Zone of Interest
Dir: Jonathan Glazer
It’s the 1940s in Poland. Rudolph Höss (Christian Friedel) is a careerist member of the Nazi SS who is doing very well for himself. He lives a comfortable, middle class life in a nice suburban home with his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and his daughter and two sons. There are attentive staff to serve their every need, along with all the luxuries of modern living. Rudolf is later transferred to an office job in Germany, but his family stays behind to enjoy their cherished home. He eventually is transferred back again and they continue to live their wonderful lives. Except there’s a twist. His job is Commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a death camp where 1.1 million people were being murdered.
But except for a few small hints of what’s going on inside the camp, it’s pretty easy for the Höss family to ignore all of that. The subtle hints include women fighting over newly-arrived stolen clothes; Rudolf having clandestine sex with a female prisoner; and human body parts floating past Rudolf and the kids while they bathe in the river. In one poignant scene the daughter plays a piano piece she found scrawled on a piece of paper by one of the prisoners. She leaves apples tucked into shrubbery by the wall in the hope of helping the music’s composer. But it all ends up with him and other prisoners killed because of what she did. And that scene is filmed using a green, night-vision camera, presumably from the point of view of the guards.
Zone of Interest is a drama about the lifestyles of the SS during the
Holocaust. It’s loosely based on a novel by Martin Amis, and wholly embraces Hannah Arendt’s concept of the “banality of evil” — that the men who carried out mass murder were just boring, ordinary bureaucrats. But it’s really about the supposition that everyone already knows everything there is to know about the Nazi death camps, so why not make a Holocaust movie all about the Nazis, instead. And Glazer (review: Under the Skin) does that very well. He’s an innovative and fascinating filmmaker. But let me ask you this: do you really want to spend one hour and 45 minutes watching a boring but creepy Nazi family living their mundane daily lives just outside of Auschwitz?
I sure don’t.
All of Us Strangers
Wri/Dir: Andrew Haigh (Lean on Pete, 45 Years)
Adam (Andrew Scott) is a guy in his forties who lives on the 27th floor of a new condo in London. He’s working on a screenplay. Adam is gentle quiet and a bit depressed. One night, when a fire alarm goes off, he has to step out of the building, and he realizes he’s the only one in the tower, except a man he sees in a window. Later, Harry (Paul Mescal) the guy he saw, shows up at his door. He’s a real charmer in his 20s, and talks his way inside. They chat, flirt, and eventually end up in bed together.
But aside from Harry and the script he’s writing, there’s something else on Adam’s mind. One day he spontaneously hops on a train out to the London suburb where he grew up. He walks to his childhood home and thinks he sees a boy in his old bedroom window. So he knocks on the door. And to his surprise, it’s his Mum and Dad (Claire Foy, Jamie Bell) still living in the same house. Except “living” isn’t quite right; they both died in an accident in the 1980s when he was twelve, 
leaving his as an orphan. But here they are, the same age as they were then, now younger than Adam is now, but still his parents. They don’t know how long they’ll still be there but they want to make use of this time. Could he take Harry to meet them? How will they react if he tells them he’s gay? Or is this just a fleeting dream?
All of us Strangers is a lovely fantasy drama about isolation and alienation vs family, companionship and love. It’s languidly paced and elegantly presented, though with a surprising end. It’s full of wide, panoramic sunsets, open fields, and empty parks. I’ve never thought of London this way, but in All of us Strangers, this city is nearly empty and 
full of natural beauty, seen through the window of his high-rise condo. From the excellent tiny cast — Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jane Bell — to the exquisite cinematography, this is a well-crafted film that manages to be —simultaneously — eerie, dreamlike and romantic.
I like this one.
The Zone of Interest is now playing, with Night Swim and All of us Strangers 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.
Daniel Garber talks with Doron and Yoav Paz about PLAN A at #TJFF
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s 1945, just after WWII in Germany. Max, a man in his 30s, is wandering through the woods back home hoping to be reunited with his wife and young son. But, to his horror, his house has been taken over by a neighbour, and his wife and child were murdered in mass graves. After surviving a concentration camp, everything Max knew and valued is gone. But he discovers and infiltrates a secret military unit called Nakam, made up of holocaust survivors who were looking for revenge in the killing of millions of Germans. Can Max stop 
this mass murder before it happens? Or does he want to join in on “Plan A”?
PLAN A is the name of a new movie about a plot to poison millions of people in and around the city of Nuremberg, Germany. This dramatic thriller is based on actual — though little-known — historic events. It’s written and directed The Paz brothers, Doron and Yoav Paz. Critically acclaimed and wildly popular among horror aficionados, their previous films, including Jeruzalem and The Golem, have hit top-ten lists on sites like Netflix.
I spoke with Doron Paz and Yoav Paz via ZOOM.
PLAN A is having its Ontario premiere on Thursday, June 9th at TJFF.
Experiences. Films reviewed: The Painted Bird, Avengers: S.T.A.T.I.O.N., Martin Eden
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Fall film festival season continues in Toronto with the EU Film Festival. This week I’m looking at two European historical dramas vs one Hollywood “experience”. There’s a working-class writer in pre-WWI Italy, a wandering kid in WWII Europe, and superheroes in a 2020 suburban shopping mall.
The Painted Bird
Wri/Dir: Václav Marhoul (Based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski
It’s WWII in Eastern Europe. Joska (Petr Kotlár) is a quiet, little boy living in a wooden house in the woods with his grandmother. He was sent there by his parents to escape the Nazis. His dark features suggest he may be Jewish or Roma. But when she dies and her house burns down he’s left all alone. So he sets out on his own. His 4-year trek takes him across fields, over frozen rivers, into tiny villages and small cities. He meets a cruel witch, a lusty bird catcher, a violent miller, a lascivious farmer’s daughter, vengeful soldiers, and a hideous churchgoer. He’s a witness – and often the victim — of gut-wrenching horror, animal killing, bestiality, pedophilia, torture, flogging, indescribable cruelty and mass murder. As he approaches maturity, can Joska survive this time of death and destruction?
The Painted Bird, based on Polish writer Jerzy Kosinski’s novel, is a stunning work of art shot in black and white. It’s like the scariest fairytale ever because it’s based on actual recollections of the war. The characters all speak a “pan-Slavic” language, not native to 
anyone but understandable to the Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, and Czechs in the movie, without placing blame on any one group. The film was shot in sequence over a few years, adding a sense of reality as Petr Kotlár matures. There are actors like Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands, Barry Pepper, Stellan Skarsgard, and Udo Kier in what may be his best performance ever as the cruel miller. Like I said, it’s a great movie but so shocking and disturbing it’s difficult to watch. To give you an idea, it starts with local bullies beating up Joska and setting his little white puppy on fire. That’s just the first scene of a three-hour movie. I saw it at TIFF at a private screening last year and by the time it was over, only 5 or 6 people were still watching. The Painted Bird is an engrossing, stunning film, with explicit sex and violence that is also a hard film to watch.
Avengers: S.T.A.T.I.O.N.
What would you do if you were invited to join Ironman, Captain America, Black Panther and Hulk to join in their fight against the bad guys? Would you scream and run away? say Yessir! Sign me up! or maybe just yawn in boredom? Well if you’re in group number two, you’ll probably like the Avengers: S.T.A.T.I.O.N. It’s definitely not a movie, its not an exhibition, it’s not a theme park, it’s not a video game, it’s what’s known as an experience. You enter the site, you’re inducted into this army, and you can view the costumes, props weapons, and gadgets – either replicas or the ones actually used in their movies, all beautifully lit up. You can also play games. In one you stand in front of a giant video screen and watch 
yourself become Ironman. Then you move your hands and arms around to kill all the silvery people running or flying in your direction. In another game you’re asked to choose a little device with your favourite hero’s logo – I grabbed one at random and unwittingly turned into Scarlett Johansen!
Toronto’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. is one of four versions touring the world. This one came direct from Bangalore. It’s Covid-resistant, equipped with mandatory masks, hand sanitizers, online booking, physical spacing, high power ventilation and two story ceilings. They’re 
operating at 1/10th capacity so no crowds. You’re handed a stylus to access what used to be touch screens. I felt safe there. Is it any good? I’m not a Marvel fanatic so seeing a genuine Captain America shield from a movie doesn’t do it for me. And I was turned off by the blatant militaristic tone of the whole thing. Should 5-
year-olds be called “recruits” and encouraged to kill people on orders from attendants dressed in uniforms? Some of the games are about matching weapons with the fighters that use them. It’s all kill, kill, kill. But…
At the same time, what can I say? I love blowing things up and shooting fire from my bare hands! It really is fun. That’s what gaming is. So if you’re a Marvel fan, and you don’t mind forking out 30 bucks, I think you might like this.
Martin Eden
Dir: Pietro Marcello (Based on the novel by Jack London)
It’s the turn of the previous century. Martin Eden (Luca Marinelli) is a sailor and self-taught poet from Naples. He’s been travelling at sea since he was eleven, and is now a confident yound man. So he’s quick to rescue a lad being attacked by a tough longshoreman at the docks. In gratitude the teen takes him home to meet his family. Martin is hesitant to set foot inside the Orsini’s fancy home. But when he sees his sister, Elena (Jessica Cressy), a beautiful, young woman with blonde hair and an elegant manner, it’s love at first sight. She is educated and an accomplished piano player. She is impressed by Martin’s bravery and good looks. Problem is, she’s from a bourgeois family while he is working class. But he’s willing to learn. He spends all his money on books in a quest to become a professional writer. Luckily, when his brother-in-law kicks him out – get a job! – he is taken in by a single mom in the outskirts of town. You can pay me rent once you’re a successful writer, she 
tells him. Problem is, his work is constantly rejected by publishers. He needs a mentor. He is taken under the wing of an accomplished but depressed writer named Russ Brisenden (Carlo Cecchi). Will he ever be published and can he and Elena ever be together?
Martin Eden is a fantastic novelistic movie about a young man trying to make it as a writer. Based on the Jack London novel, it’s transplanted from America to Italy, and although it takes place before WWI, interestingly, the look of the movie — clothes and cars – is post-WWII. Sounds strange, but it works really well.
Eden is part hero, part anti-hero, an idealist who is led astray by Social Darwinist ideologies – the individual above all – that were popular at the time. Marinelli’s portrayal of Martin Eden is perfect, and the whole movie has a classic feel to it while also relevant to the here and now.
I really liked this historical drama.
Avengers: S.T.A.T.I.O.N. opens today at Toronto’s Yorkdale Mall and runs through Jan 31; The Painted Bird is screening on Monday, November 23 at Toronto’s EU film festival; and Martin Eden is now playing at the virtual TIFF Bell Lightbox.
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 producer Robert Lantos about The Song of Names
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photo of Robert Lantos by Jeff Harris.
Martin is an aspiring youg musician, the only son of a concert impresario in prewar London. Then Dovidl, a Jewish-Polish boy his age – who is also a violin prodigy – is left in the care of his family. As war rages across Europe, the two boys grow up together, first as rivals, best friends and almost like brothers. Then, on the evening of his solo debut in a sold out concert, Dovidl just disappears. Where has he gone, Is he living or dead, will Martin ever see him again, and what is this “Song of Names” that may be the reason behind his 
disappearance?
The Song of Names is the title of a new film that looks at identity, family, friendship, memory, and mourning. It’s directed by Francois Girard, stars Tim Roth and Clive Owen, and its producer is Robert Lantos.
Robert Lantos is one of Canada’s most famous producers – he founded and ran Alliance Communications and later Serendipity Point Films. His production credits are a veritable history of Canadian cinema: Atom Egoyan’s Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter; David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises; Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces, Istvan Szabo’s Sunshine; an adaptation of Mordechai Richler’s Barney’s Version, among many many others.
I spoke with Robert Lantos in studio at CIUT 89.5 FM.
The Song of Names opens in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver on Christmas Day.
Back from the Dead. Films reviewed: Pet Sematary, The Invisibles, Amazing Grace
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
We all know people are born and they die, things come and go. But every once in a while things and people we believe are long gone seem to come back to life. This week I’m looking at three very different movies about coming back from the dead. There’s Aretha’s gospel concert buried since 1972; a documentary about young German Jews who hide in Nazi Berlin till 1945; and a horror movie about pets who come back from their graves in small town Maine.
Pet Sematary
Dir: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
(Based on the novel by Stephen King)
Louis (Jason Clarke) is a Boston doctor suffering from ER burnout. He’s overworked, overstressed, and overtired. So to relax and spend more time with his family he takes and easy job in the quaint small town of Ludlow, Maine. He’s there with his nervous, religious wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz), and their two kids, little Gage, and his pride and joy Ellie. Ellie (Jeté Laurence) is an eight year old who loves ballet dancing and her furry cat Church 
(short for Winston Churchill). Their old wooden house is on a sprawling estate in a small forest with a high speed highway running through it. But their quiet lives are disrupted by some strange events. First, when a young patient of Louis dies in his care after a car accident, the dead boy seems to return, over and over to talk to him in his dreams.
Then Ellie sees kids from town in spooky animal masks burying dead pets on their property. It’s an ancient custom, explains kindly old Jud (John Lithgow) their nearest neighbour. He’s lived there all his life and understands the local lore. So when Ellie is despondent when her beloved cat is run over Jud tells Louis a secret. There’s powerful magic up on the mountain beyond the pet cemetery. Bury the cat under a cairn and he will come back to you from the dead. Sure enough, Jud is right. But it isn’t cute and loveable 
anymore. When you play with the the forces of good and evil, of life and death, bad things will surely happen.
Pet Sematary – a remake of the movie based on the Stephen King novel – is suitably scary. The small, excellent cast nicely contained in a single location give it a good cabin-in-the-woods quality, but it’s scariness is less adventurous. It uses the age-old techniques – spooky dreams, little “boo!” moments, even twists on the overused images of the mirror in medicine cabinet, and the dark room in the basement. And then it degenerates from scariness into outright, Bride-of-Chucky kitsch. I enjoyed Pet Sematary as a good, old-skool horror movie, just don’t expect anything new.
The Invisibles
Dir: Claus Räfle
It’s 1943, in Nazi Berlin, and Joseph Goebels has officially declares his Germany’s capital judenfrei – free of Jews. But he doesn’t realize that 7,000 Jewish Germans still lived their hidden in plain view. This docudrama tells four true stories about young people who 
survived the Holocause while living in Berlin. They don’t hide in an attic like Anne Frank’s family; instead they continue their lives right in the middle of everything. Cioma (Max Mauff) sells all his possessions and poses as someone whose house was bombed in Köln, moving to new vacant rooms each day. He finds work for a high placed civil 
servant forging ID papers. Hanni (Alice Dwyer) bleaches her hair, calls herself Hannelore and hangs out in dark movie theatres in the Kurfürstendamm. Ruth (Ruby O. Fee) and a friend find jobs as maid and nanny for the kids of Nazi officers. And Eugen (Aaron 
Altaras) is placed with former colleagues of his dad, a doctor, dressing in a Hitler Youth uniform. But there are informants and Gestapo agents everywhere, searching for people like them. Who will survive?
The Invisibles is a fascinating retelling of largely unknown stories. It’s part documentary – the film regularly cuts to interviews in German with the actual people it happened to – and part drama with the thrilling stories replayed by well-known young actors.
Fascinating and thrilling stories, well told.
Amazing Grace
Dir: Sydney Pollack, Alan Elliott
Its 1972 at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, LA.
Reverend James Cleveland is leading a very special service for his devout parishioners. None other than the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin herself will be performing, alongside the Southern California Community Choir. The congregation is urged to feel the spirit, clap their hands, and get up 
from their seats and dance. But wait a minute — since when has pop sensation Aretha Franklin beena gospel singer? The answer is: all her life. Her father is the famous Detroit Baptist preacher C.L. Franklin, and she was touring churches with her amazing voice since the age of six.
This concert became a huge hit album – many people say it’s Aretha’s best recordings – and the movie includes her back-up musicians, the choir, and the audience, including some very 
famous people, like Mick Jagger, gospel singer Clara Ward and lots of others I couldn’t quite recognize. A beautiful, intensely moving concert and church service. Interestingly, it’s been sitting in film cans, unscreened until now. For some reason, Aretha blocked its 
release her whole life, perhaps because it is so personal to her, perhaps because the sound and images were never synchronized. That’s all fixed now.
It’s a grainy hyper-realistic verité-style film that shows everything: retakes, the cameramen, the soundboard, the director running around pointing, and Aretha in a sparkling white gown, sweating under the hot lights. If you’re a fan of Aretha Franklin, and want to experience those two days of 1972, you must see Amazing Grace.
Pet Sematary and The Invisibles both open today in Toronto; check your local listings, and you can see Amazing Grace beginning next Friday.
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 filmmaker Barry Avrich about Prosecuting Evil
Barry Avrich
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Ben Ferencz was a diminutive boy, the son of a bootmaker, who spoke no English, living in Hell’s Kitchen. 25 years later he’s heading a legal team as a chief prosecuter at the Nuremberg Trials in post-war Germany. How did he get from here to there? And where did he take his of belief in international law and the responsibility of governments for their war crimes?
Prosecuting Evil: the Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz is the title
of a new documentary that tells Ben Ferencz’s story in his own voice, from the Nuremberg Trials to the International Criminal Court. He narrates his own life in a series of interviews, illustrated with ample period photos, news footage and personal pics and documents. Supplemented by words from family, colleagues and famous lawyers (like Rosalie Abella and Fatou Bensouda) the film deals with justice on an international level.
It’s written and directed by award-wininng Canadian producer and filmmaker Barry Avrich, well known both for his documentaries (Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story; Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World) and his films of Shakespearean plays.
I spoke to Barry in studio at CIUT 89.5 FM.
Prosecuting Evil premiered at TIFF18 and is opening today in Toronto at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs CInema.
Daniel Garber talks with filmmaker Ferenc Török about 1945
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s a beautiful summer day in a small town, with many exalting in their new prosperity. There’s a wedding planned for the town square, and the pretty young bride is looking forward to her new home. The town clerk is especially proud, since 
all his hard work is finally paying off. He’s the king of the castle… until everything starts to unravel when two strangers are spotted at the local train station. Two men with beards. The place is rural Hungary, and the year?
It’s 1945.
1945 is the name of a new drama set just after WWII. A short fable, shot in real time about greed, death, treachery, betrayal, 
and guilt. it played at the Berlin Festival and was the opening feature at Toronto’s Jewish Film Festival, 2017. It’s directed by Ferenc Török. Ferenc is a noted Hungarian writer and film director who is the winner of the Béla Balázs Award for outstanding achievement in filmmaking.
I spoke to Ferenc in studio at CIUT 89.5 FM.
He talks about WWII, Hungary, history, “Freedom Year”, fascism, communism, discrimination, Jews, Roma, High Noon, Béla Bartók, xenophpbia, Béla Tarr, De Sica, Rossellini, Viktor Orbán, and more…!
1945 opens in Toronto on Aug 24, 2018.
culturalmining.com 
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