Parts of history. Films reviewed: Fanon, Train Dreams, Christy
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Toronto’s Fall Film Festival season continue with two series on right now. Reelasian features films from Asia and its diaspora, including two great ones from Canada: Min Sook Lee’s heart-wrenching doc There are No Words, and Koala Kid’s whimsical, animated Space Cadet. Cinefranco has movies in French from Europe, Africa, and Quebec, including many Toronto premieres: look out for la Venue de l’Avenir by Cedric Klapisch (Ma Part du Gateau), and le Dernier Souffle by the legendary Costa-Gavras.
But this week, I’m looking at three new films set in historical eras. There’s a lumberjack at the turn of the previous century, a psychiatrist in Algeria in the 1950s, and a female boxer from West Virginia in the 1990s.
Fanon
Co-Wri/Dir: Jean-Claude Flamand-Barny
It’s the early 1950s in Algeria. Frantz Fanon (Alexandre Bouyer) is a renowned psychiatrist from the French Island of Martinique. He is starting his new job at a mental hospital. But he’s shocked at how Algerian patients are treated there. In contrast to Europeans, the “savage” north Africans are kept shackled in filthy cells, because of their “barbarous and dangerous” nature. Fanon (who is black) insists his North African patients be treated like any others. He lets them walk in the garden, plant vegetables, play soccer and make friends. Their mental health quickly improves. He’s assisted by diverse Algerian interns and staff: Hocine (Mehdi Senoussi) Jacques (Arthur Dupont) and Alice (Salomé Partouche), all followers of his techniques. But he’s strongly opposed by traditionalists and the French military, who are increasingly violent in their tactics. (Algeria was annexed by France but most of the locals are not considered full citizens.) He and his wife Josie (Déborah François) are upper-middle-class French citizens playing their role supporting the sprawling Empire. Fanon fought the Nazis in WWII. He likes Sartre, elegant suits and and fine wine. But his views are changing. He now writes 
books (dictated to his wife) about the effect of colonization on the mental health of the colonized in Algeria. Their own self-image is denigrated by their oppressors, he writes, when they internally accept their status as “the other”. Word gets out and he’s invited to join the FLN, (considered terrorists by the French). But the threat of violence reaches his hospital, as personified by Sergeant Rolland (Stanislas Merhar), a particularly violent soldier who checks in as a patient. How can Frantz Fanon simultaneously balance his various roles — as a husband and father, as a Black man serving the French empire, as an innovative psychiatrist, and as an intellectual joining the Algerian struggle for independence?
Fanon is a vibrant biopic about a decade in the life of the renowned author. I find it gripping and fascinating. Alexandre Bouyer is strong and statesman-like in the title role. I’ve known of Fanon for many years — as the author of books like The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks — but never knew about his background in psychiatry. Though occasionally heavy-handed and hagiographic, this movie opened my eyes to the exciting and intellectually stimulating story of his life in Algeria and the history that surrounded it.
I like this one a lot.
Train Dreams
Co-Wri/Dir: Clint Bentley (Jockey)
It’s the early twentieth century in the US Northwest. Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) is a bearded lumberjack who rarely speaks. He earns his living chopping down trees at migrant lumber camps and building the railroad. He meets a woman named Gladys (Felicity Jones), they fall in love and build a homestead in a grassy patchl near a flowing river. He cuts all of the wood by hand. Gladys is good with a rifle and shoots foul and deer to eat. The rest they buy in town at a general store owned by Ignatius Jack (Nathaniel Arcand).
He spends lonely months away earning money, but always returns home in the end. He makes friends with a Chinese labourer named Fu Sheng — they don’t talk but that’s fine with Rainier who never has much to stay. But he is shocked when a crowd decides to murder Fu Sheng just because he’s a celestial. He later makes friends with an old-timer named Peebles (William H. Macy) who handles the dynamite explosions. He loves their new baby girl but his home and family are threatened when a wildfire sweeps through the forest while he’s away. What will Grainier do?
Train Dreams is a series of events in one unremarkable man’s life set along the early 20th century northwestern frontier. A folksy omniscient voice narrates the story, hoping to add profundity; it doesn’t work. The film is meandering, pointless and stupid. It gives token nods toward environmentalism and against racism but they’re not really part of the plot. I hated this movie from the first few seconds, with its over-produced images and inappropriate soundtrack. We see a guy sawing wood until the camera pulls back revealing…? Nothing, just more trees, as if we’re supposed to applaud the scenery! At times it’s twee, like a Wes Anderson film, but without the 
humour or intellect. The men all look like they’re posing for a Carhartt fashion shoot. I try to feel sympathy toward Rainier but he’s deliberately opaque. Worst of all are the Train Dreams of the title — we keep seeing the same montages of flashbacks from previous scenes… but the original ones are as short-lived as his memories of them.
You might enjoy the pretty pictures in Train Dreams, but I can’t see any other reason to watch this annoying blunderbuss of a film.
Christy
Co-Wri/Dir: David Michôd (The Rover)
It’s 1989 in West Virginia. Christy Salters (Sydney Sweeney) is a high school kid, and a star player on the girls’ basketball team. She’s also in love with her girlfriend Rosie (Jess Gabor), a relationship her mom (Merritt Wever) doesn’t approve. She ends up trying out as a novelty act at a boxing match, and, though she has zero training, she scores a KO on her first try. She’s a natural. She catches the eye of a middle-aged boxing entrepreneur named Jim Martin (Ben Foster). He reluctantly takes her on and lets her train at his gym, but he will not allow her to see — or even talk to — Rosie. He sets her up in a trailer park where he can keep an eye on her. Though a great fighter, she’s isolated and unprotected outside of the ring.
Christy is a powerhouse. Her career takes off, including a new hairstyle and a trademark pink silk hooded robe to make her look more “feminine”. She knocks out all contenders and after much pressure, the 22-year-old Christy sleeps with the middle- aged Jim… and they eventually marry.
Her career soars, she meets Don King (hilariously played by Chad Coleman) and is signed to Mike Tyson’s slate. She gains fans worldwide, but her life is micromanaged by her Svengali husband. She may be a professional fighter but he’s twice her size, unstable, and increasingly violent. And he tries matching her up with boxers way above her weight class; that’s just dangerous. Is there any way to escape this oppressive relationship?
Christy is a biopic about the first prizewinning female boxer, who paved the way for a new professional women’s sport. I was hesitant about this one — ugh, yet another boxing movie — but Christy is as good as Rocky. It’s exciting, thrilling and 
moving, and despite her flaws, Christy Martin’s life is super-sympathetic. Sydney Sweeney is amazing. Yes, it’s Oscar-bait (you can tell by the prosthetic teeth and mullet haircuts, playing down her image as a sex-object) but she totally gets into this role. And Ben Foster is superbly hate-able as Jim — I seriously didn’t realize it was him till the credits rolled; he’s that skillful.
Christy is a good, old-fashioned biopic and a hell of a great boxing movie.
Train Dreams and Christy both played at TIFF and are opening in Toronto this weekend; check your local listings. And Fanon is premiering today at Cinefranco, 4 pm at the Carlton Cinema.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Not always pretty. Films reviewed: I Really Love my Husband, Orwell: 2+2=5, Roofman
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
TIFF is over but Fall Film Festival Season continues in Toronto. FeFF or Female Eye Film Festival is entering its 23rd year, showcasing features, shorts and docs directed by women. This year’s theme is Always Honest, Not Always Pretty, so you can expect some challenging and surprising work from women around the world. Expect innovative screenings, many with the directors present, as well as pitches, workshops and tributes.The festival runs from October 14-19, at the TIFF Lightbox, the Women’s Art Associations of Canada and the City Playhouse Theatre in Vaughan.
So this week, I’m looking at three movies, one from FeFF and two from TIFF. There’s honeymooners in the Caribbean, a famous writer on a tiny Scottish isle, and an ingenious thief, who lives, undetected, in a big box store.
I Really Love my Husband
Co-Wri/Dir: G.G. Hawkins
Teresa (Madison Lanesey) lives in LA with her husband Drew (Travis Quentin Young). They’ve been married for a year but have yet to go on a real honeymoon. They both work at unfulfilling professions with little time for amorous interludes. But that’s about to change: Theresa and Drew are heading south for a week, to relax and spend time with each other on the sandy beaches of Bocas del Toro, Panama. It’s a chain of Caribbean islands known for their blue skies and warm waves. And even when the airline lose their baggage and the promised welcome meal is nowhere to be seen, they are still happy with the place. The manager, a boyish, non-binary beach bum named Paz (Arta Gee), is ready to help make their stay more comfortable, however they can. For Theresa, that means thinking outside the marital envelope. She urges Drew to join with her in seducing Paz. Though hesitant at first, Drew dives into the three-way, head first, and their marriage feels stronger than ever. And Paz promises to take them to 
their secret island for one final fling.
But the mood starts to shift when jealousy rears its ugly head. A fourth wheel joins the group to make things even more confusing. Kiki (Lisa Jacqueline Starrett) a ginger-haired influencer with a venomous tongue, is a reality-show reject voted off the island. But she stays on, planting bad ideas in the couples’ heads, Can Teresa and Drew’s marriage endure all these complications? Can the insecure Teresa keep her anger in check?
I Really Love my Husband is a funny, bittersweet rom-com about the doubts plaguing a couple of millennials on a belated honeymoon. It pokes fun at a whole generation — from breakfast fasting to mushroom edibles to friendship stones — exposing some of the worst and silliest trends and fads. The characters are as worried about ratings and social networks as they are about actual love and affection. For a first-time feature by a new director with a largely unknown cast, this is a fun slice of life. Madison Lanesey is nicely sardonic, Arta Gee appropriately chill, and Travis Quentin Young always sweet strumming his guitar. Though not totally original, I Really Love my Husband does seem to capture the zeitgeist of LA’s millennials.
Orwell: 2+2=5
Dir: Raoul Peck
It’s the late 1940s in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides on a tiny, inaccessible island called Jura. George Orwell is there to write a novel in an isolated home, inaccessible by cars. His young son, his sister and their housekeeper keep him company as he sits by his typewriter. He’s dying of tuberculosis but wants to make sure his last book is completed and published. The novel is called 1984 and becomes a crucial part of contemporary culture, even today. You’ve probably heard of Big Brother; or at least the surveillance based reality show it inspired. It has been made into many films and TV shows and is referenced everywhere, Words like sexcrime and concepts like doublethink are firmly imbedded in our culture. The book is about the perpetual war between competing totalitarian nations. But more than that, it’s about the propaganda, mass surveillance and thought- control ordinary people are subject to. The hero, Winston Smith, works for the Ministry of Truth propagandizing Newspeak to the nation. But eventually he too falls victim to the machinations of the government of Oceania, ruled by Big Brother. He is tortured because, although he accepts their ludicrous proposition that 2+2=5, and espouses their slogans (War is Peace!, Ignorance is Strength! Freedom 
is Slavery!), he doesn’t really believe them. This story shows that the contents and concepts of 1984 are as relevant today as when Orwell wrote them.
Orwell 2+2=5 is a combination documentary, docudrama and diatribe about Orwell, his writing and its influence on popular culture. It covers not just 1984 but Orwell’s earlier books, including Burmese Days, Homage to Catalonia (he volunteered to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War), and Animal Farm, his allegorical look at Stalinist Russia. It’s based on both his books and his private correspondence. The movie also uses clips from the many film adaptations of 1984 to tell that story. And finally, it includes a barrage of brand-new news footage of leaders like Trump, Putin, Orban and Xi Jinping. These are altered with Orwellian slogans superimposed in bright colours over the media images.
Raoul Peck is a well-known Haitian documentary filmmaker, and maybe it’s because I already know so much about Orwell and his writings, this movie — with the exception of his last days on Jura — wasn’t as mind blowing as it might have been if it were all new. And it can’t compare to other docs like Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, his biography of James Baldwin. Even so, Orwell 2+2=5 does stand as a historical document with a good dose of agit-prop.
Roofman
Co-Wri/Dir: Derek Cianfrance
It’s the early 2000s in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum) is the happy father of a young daughter and twin infants. He’s smart, nimble and observant. But he is underpaid and overworked as his job, and can’t seem to keep the family afloat. When he has to resort to regifting his own childhood toys for his daughter’s birthday party, he realizes something must change. He resorts to a life of crime, involving no violence. He robs McDonalds restaurants by an ingenious method: cutting a hole in the roof after dark, and stealing the cash. After dozens of such robberies the press subs him “Roofman”. His family moves up the social ladder, living the american dream of life with a swank car and and a nicely decorated home. Alas, he is finally caught, and sent to prison. His wife cuts him off, and he can’t even talk to his own kids anymore.
Later, following an ingenious plan, he escapes from prison undetected and looks for a place to hide. Most surprisingly he discovers an unsurveilled corner of a Toys R Us big box store with enough hidden space to make set up a tiny apartment. He initially survives on peanut M&Ms pilfered from the shelves, but eventually moves on to pawning video games and DVDs. And he learns the layout of the cameras and computers, making him virtually invisible… though in plain site. He 
surveils the store management instead of vice versa. He has a crush on one employee Leigh (Kirsten Dunst) a single mom with two teenaged daughters. They eventually meet, unexpectedly, at an evangelical church toy drive (he “donates” toys stolen from his Toys R Us). Sparks fly and they become very close, but with Jeff still concealing his life of crime and his current home. Can he start a new life in his own home town without getting caught? Or should he just get the hell out of there?
Roofman is an exciting adventure / romance / comedy based entirely on a true storytelling. It’s funny, clever and constantly surprising. Channing Tatum is brilliant as Jeff, displaying an acrobatic sense of movement and timing, climbing walls, crawling through ceiling tiles or swooshing around cars on foot to avoid detection. The rest of the cast is also great: former teen actor Kirsten Dunst has eased comfortably into middle age and her character is very empathetic; Lakeith Stanfield is Steve, his sketchy war buddy; Aussie Ben Mendelsohn as guileless Pastor Ron, and Peter Dinklage appropriately dislikable as toy store manager Mitch. Filmmaker Derek Cianfrance (he directed the passionate Blue Valentine and the dark The Place Beyond the Pines) hasn’t made a movie in ages, but if he’s looking for a comeback, this is it.
I like Roofman a lot.
Roofman and premiered at TIFF and open in Toronto, this weekend; check your local listings; and I really love my husband is coming soon to FIFF.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Men, music and sports. Films reviewed: The History of Sound, Him, EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
TIFF is over but the movies keep coming. So this week, I’m looking at three new American movies, two about music and one about sports. There are two men recording folk songs in the forest, an ambitious quarterback at a training camp in the desert, and a former teen idol wowing audiences on a Vegas stage.
The History of Sound
Dir: Oliver Hermanus
It’s the early 20th Century in rural Kentucky. Lionel (Paul Mescal) likes listening to his father sing while he plays the fiddle. Music for him is different from most folks: he has synesthesia. This means each musical note has a distinct colour, flavour and meaning. Eventually his love of music and beautiful voice wins him a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music. At a Boston pub one night, he recognizes a song his father used to play, coming from a young man at the piano. David (Josh O’Connor) knows every word. As an ethnomusicologist, he wants to collect as many distinct folk songs and ballads as he can, before they are lost forever. David has perfect pitch and a photographic memory. The two trade songs they know, and somehow, end up in bed together that night. That chance encounter turns into regular trysts at David’s apartment.
Later he invites Lionel to join him in a fieldwork project. They roam across the state of Maine, recording songs everywhere from logging camps to schoolhouses, And they record it all on wax cylinders (this is before flat discs are invented) carefully 
stored in a leather satchel. And each night they sleep together in a tiny tent. Is this true love? And what will happen to their relationship after the project is finished?
The History of Sound is a touching, bittersweet gay romance — before the word gay existed — set within the larger context of war and music. It’s directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus (Moffie) and its based on a short story by Ben Shattuck. I wonder if the characters are modelled on Alan Lomax, the ethnomusicologist who recorded thousands of songs and started the folk music revival in the 1950s. Paul Mescal is spot-on as the sensitive kid in a clapboard shack who grows up to be a cosmopolitan musician; as is Josh O’Connor’s portrayal of an enigmatic musical genius with hidden secrets. The images are as lovely as the music in this tender and moving film.
I really liked it.
Him
Co-Wri/Dir: Justin Tipping
It’s San Antonio, Texas, and their NFL team, the Saviours, is looking for a new quarterback to replace their MVP Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), due to retire in a year. Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers) is a young quarterback who lives for football — his father trained him for this since he was a little kid. When he’s offered the position if he agrees to an intense one-on-one, bootcamp with his idol Isaiah White, of course he says yes; this is the fulfillment of all his dream. Thing is, he recently had a serious injury that left him with a bad concussion and a track of staples in his head. If he aggravates his brain, it might end his football career before it starts. But as his father always told him, No Pain, No Gain. Cameron heads out to the training camp in the desert.
There he encounters absolute luxury: gourmet food and priceless art in a spacious brutalist palace. There are saunas and ice baths, and daily blood transfusions for Isaiah. Cameron too tastes this luxury — and sexual temptations — offered by Isaiah’s entourage, especially the grotesquely made-up wife Elsie White (Julia Fox), an influencer who sells her own line of sex toys. Isaiah is the GOAT — the Greatest of All Time — and his virulent fans wear goat horns on their 
heads. Cameron, on the other hand, holds onto silver cross. He’s given a series of Squid-Game-like ordeals he must endure before Isaiah gives him the nod. And as the tasks grow increasingly horrific, his morals are severely challenged. Can he pass the tests? And is he ready to give up his innate morality and embrace pro-sports and all it offers?
Him is a psychological thriller about a young man confronting his hero (who is also his nemesis) even as he uncovers the dark underbelly of pro football. It’s produced by Jordan Peele, so you might expect a suspense/thriller with mind-blowing surprises. If so, you’ll be sorely disappointed. What you’ll get instead is more like a highly-stylized, extended music video than a horror film. There’s lots of dazzle and flash — and an equal amount of blood — but it’s never scary or surprising. And director Tipping uses film techniques like a kid playing with toys. Why are people shown in in infrared X-rays? Why a long fashion shot sequence in what’s supposed to be a scary scene? Why do cowboy-hatted cheerleaders continue dancing in the face of horrific deaths? There are some great visual cues — like the aluminium stitches in his skull evoking the side of a football — but it’s all show, no substance in this cheap morality play.
Him is fun to look at, but there’s nothing there.
EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert
Dir: Baz Luhrmann
It’s the 1950s. Elvis is the King of Rock and Roll with a series of hits and the nation goes wild over his thrusting pelvis and his soulful voice. Later, he is drafted into the army where he serves two years. Afterwards he turns to Hollywood where hue churns out a series of hits alongside sex goddesses like Ann-Margaret. And late in the 1960s he signs a multi-year contract to perform before sold-out audiences at a Las Vegas Casino. He’s up there every day, dressed in eggshell blue jumpsuits, covered in silver studs, sequins and spangles, joking with the crowds, and sweating buckets. He is accompanied by a retinue of back up singers, musicians and elaborate lighting. And that is basically how Elvis spends the rest of his life, until he collapses and dies in Graceland, age 42.
EPIC: Elvis Presley in Concert is a combination documentary and musical performance. Just two years ago, we had both Baz Lurhmann’s biopic Elvis and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, two similar stories told from different points of view, neither of which were particularly good. And now, out of nowhere comes this third one. I’m not an Elvis fan, nor do I like the kitschy
Buzz Luhrmann at EPIC’s world premiere at TIFF50: Photo (c) Jeff Harris
and gaudy films of Baz Luhrmann. Which is why I’m shocked at how much I enjoyed this movie (I saw it on an IMAX screen at TIFF last week, almost by accident.) Ostensibly just a musical record it’s actually a succinct and tight history of the man, so much better than those bloated biopics.
It’s fantastic, a masterpiece of creative editing, colour restoration and music mixing. It’s absolutely stunning. The songs he sings are mainly hits from the 1960s cover-versions of Bridge Over Troubled Water, You’ve lost that Loving Feeling, and even gospel songs. And over the course of a single song, we see him on stage, in rehearsal, or in the recording studio, shot over many years, but without a break in the music. And despite Luhrmann’s gaudy excess, somehow his capture of Elvis in a psychedelic shirt or sparkling gold belt buckles just looks right.
EPIC is the perfect concert film.
Him and The History of Music both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings; EPIC: Elvis Presley In Concert played at TIFF and will be released soon.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Hot and cool. Films reviewed: Ne Zha 2, Honey Don’t! PLUS Canadian films at #TIFF50
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
This week, I’m talking about two more hot summer movies, one from China and one from the US. There’s a red-hot demon who wants to live forever, and a cool, hard-boiled detective who faces death on a daily basis.
But first a look at Canadian movies premiering at TIFF’s 50th anniversary.
TIFF Canada
This year, TIFF has programmed dozens of Canadian movies — far two many to mention, but here’s a brief survey of some films worth notice.
First some documentaries:
In Modern Whore director Nicole Bazuin and subject Andrea Werhun (she was featured in Paying for It: Interview last year) challenge misconceptions about sex work and sex workers. Ni-naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising by Shane Belcourt (Red Rover: review) with Tanya Talaga is about an indigenous youth-led, 90 day armed occupation in Kenora, Ontario, back in 1974. And Min-Sook Lee’s (Migrant Dreams: interview) deeply personal film There Are No Words looks at her own mother’s suicide when she was still a child.
How about some dramas? First, two Canadian films set nowhere in particular:
There’s Honey Bunch, by Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli, a psychological thriller about a couple in an isolated rehab centre; and Clement Virgo’s (Brother: Review; The Book of Negroes: Interview) Steal Away, the story of two princesses… of a sort.
From Atlantic Canada comes Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) Bretten Hannam’s (Wildwood: Interview) eerie thriller about two Mi’kmaw brothers confronting their past; And Andy Hines’ Little Lorraine, a crime thriller about drug-smugglers in a Cape Breton mining town.
Two Quebec movies look really promising. Philippe Felardeau’s (Monsieur Lazhar: Review) Lovely Day is a comedy drama about the events leading up to a wedding; and Mathieu Denis’ (Corbo: review) The Cost of Heaven, a shocking true-crime family drama that took actually place in Montreal in 2012.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what two young Toronto directors are up to next. Chandler Levack’s (I like Movies: Interview) Mile End Kicks is a romantic comedy about a music critic who moves to Montreal to get her life in order. While Matt Johnson’s (Blackberry: Review) Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is a comedy apparently about a failed cover band in Toronto want to play at the Rivoli.
Blood Lines is Gail Maurice’s (Rosie: Interview) singular, same-sex Metis love story from the Prairies. And Tasha Hubbard’s (Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up: Interview) Meadowlarks is a real-life drama about four indigenous siblings separated by the Sixties Scoop getting back together again in Banff, Alberta for the first time in 50 years.
And, finally, from the North comes Oscar-winner Zacharias Kunuk’s (Maliglutit: review) The Wrong Husband, an Inuit historical drama / folktale set 4,000 year in the past.
That’s just a sample of some of the Canadian films premiering at TIFF.
Ne Zha 2
Wri/Dir: Jiaozi
It’s hundreds of years ago in China, when demons and gods still roam the earth. Two supernatural beings, the fiery and impetuous Ne Zha and the calm and focused Ao Bing, once rivals, now find themselves in the same situation.They are both bodyless, floating around like ghosts. If they don’t get their bodies back soon, they will cease to exist. Once they’re reborn, if they pass three tests, they can drink the potion of immortality. Fortunately, a magical cure involving a giant lotus blossom drenched with semen-like fluid, can bring them back to life. Unfortunately, it works for Ne Zha but not for Ao Bing. And Ne Zha needs Ao Bing’s steady hand to pass the trials. So they come to a compromise: Ao Bing’s spirit will share Ne Zha’s body and they’ll try to work together. But can they pass the tests, resist the four dragons, cooperate with the old man of the south in his floating jade castle, stay out of the cauldron of fire, and fight off the thousands of evil demons who may try to eat them?
Ne Zha 2 is an animated kids’ movie straight out of China, about a rambunctious little red devil with pointy teeth, a wide mouth and fierce eyes. It’s a sequel, and is immensely popular in East Asia, even more so than the original. Ne Zha 2 has only played in IMAX in China but has already cleared 2 billion 
dollars. There’s tons of Chinese cultural and folklore and historical stuff you probably won’t understand, but I think kids will get it. Lots of jokes little kids will laugh at, about farts, piss, and vomit. There are dozens of characters voiced in English by stars like Michelle Yeoh. The animation is usually great, but there are scenes where the background doesn’t match the characters, which is off-putting. And it’s 2 1/2 hours long, which is a big chunk of your time. So if you curious about what the most popular animated film ever looks like, now’s your chance.
Honey Don’t!
Dir: Ethan Coen
It’s a hot summer’s day in Bakersfield, California; so hot you could fry an egg on the trunk of a car. But you wouldn’t want to do it on this one: it’s upside down in the desert, the wheels still spinning, a woman dead inside. An accident? Or murder? Honey O’Donohue, PI (Margaret Qualley) is there to investigate. And so is a police detective named Marty (Charlie Day) who practically drools whenever Honey is around. To his eyes, she’s a tall glass of water — and he wants a sip! — but he’s barking up the wrong tree: Honey only sleeps with women… and usually one night stands. And she’s not just a pretty face, she’s sharp, with a dry wit, a hard drinker who can deck any gunman without breaking a nail. She’s at the crime scene because the dead woman is her client — she hired Honey because she felt she was in danger. Turns out she was right, and dead bodies are piling up for unknown reasons. And all roads lead to a deeply corrupt and lascivious preacher named Drew Devlin (Chris Evans) who clearly has the devil in him. He has wanton sex with parishioners and a 
side hustle selling drugs for the French Mob. So Honey enlists a rough-looking gumshoe named MG (Aubrey Plaza) to help her catch the bad guys, and find her missing niece. They end up in bed together, repeatedly. Is this love? Or just lust? And will Honey ever find out who’s behind the crime wave?
Honey Don’t! is a very light and fun detective story, loaded with sex and violence, that spoofs old fashioned film noir movies. It quotes generously from Russ Myers’ films like Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill!, and other cult classics. It’s the work of Ethan Coen — one of the two Coen Brothers — and his partner Tricia Cooke. This is number two of a planned trilogy of Lesbian B-Movies (Cooke is bisexual). Admittedly, I walked out of this movie scratching my head — it’s highly entertaining, but very superficial and doesn’t neatly tie up all the loose ends. But you know what? After a day thinking about it, I kinda like the way it doesn’t completely finish… it feels like the pilot episode of a TV detective series. Margaret Qualley is terrific, and Aubrey Plaza looks and acts totally different from any of her recent roles. So if you’re yearning for 90 minutes of forgettable sex, violence and over-the-top characters, I think you’ll like Honey, Don’t.
I did.
Honey Don’t and Ne Zha 2 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.
Secrets. Films reviewed: Sweet Angel Baby, Nobody 2, PLUS TIFF50!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
As summer starts to wind down, I’m looking at two new movies that take you to places you’ve never been. There’s a drama about a young woman’s sexual secrets in a tiny Newfoundland outport and an action/comedy about a middle-aged man trying to keep his profession a secret while on vacation at a run-down amusement park.
But first I’m looking at more movies coming to TIFF in September.
TIFF Directors
TIFF is less than a month away, and I haven’t seen anything yet, but here are a few more movies — by international directors — that caught my eye.
Laura Poitras, has made two crucial docs so far: Citizen 5 about whistleblower Edward Snowden and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed about artist Nan Goldin’s fight with the Sackler family. Her newest doc, Cover Up, looks at the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who broke the My Lai massacre and Abu Ghraib stories.
Guillermo del Toro — who splits his time between Toronto and Mexico City — is a specialist in gothic horror, (Devils Backbone, Cronos, Pinocchio, Nightmare Alley, The Shape of Water, Crimson Peak ) so it’s no surprise he’s doing his own version of Frankenstein. This should be great.
You may not have heard of Christian Petzold, but he’s one of the most creative and distinctive German directors around. (Barbara,, Phoenix, Transit, Undine,, Afire) He makes mannered, artificial-looking movies, that still deeply affect the viewer. His newest pic, Miroirs No. 3 is about a woman who moves in with a witness to the accident that killed her boyfriend. I’m really looking forward to this one.
Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes who won an Oscar for his harrowing Son of Saul, and whom I interviewed on this show in 2018, is back with a new film called Orphan. It’s about a young man in 1950s Budapest who is raised idolizing his late heroic father, until he meets a brutish, horrible man who claims to be his real dad.
Raoul Peck is the Haitian filmmaker known for his powerful, political documentaries, like I Am Not your Negro about James Baldwin. His latest is Orwell: 2+2=5 a biography of that writer and how his book 1984 is still relevant.
I first encountered Annemarie Jacir’s film When I Saw You back in 2012, but it stuck with me. Palestine 36 — having its world premiere at TIFF — is about fighting the British in 1936, and it stars Hiam Abbas and Jeremy Irons.
Steven Soderbergh churns out several new movies each year — some great, some terrible. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on his newest one about art fraud, The Christophers — starring Ian McKellen and James Corden — cause it looks kinda good.
Director Claire Denis who grew as a white French woman in colonial West Africa has made so many great movies (White Material, Beau Travaille) that I’ll watch anything she produces. Her latest The Fence is in English, and stars Matt Dillon, Mia McKenna-Bruce (who I interviewed on this show last year) and Ivorian actor Isaach De Bankolé.
These are just a few of the movies premiering at TIFF50.
Screenshot
Sweet Angel Baby
Wri/Dir: Melanie Oates
It’s a cold Sunday morning in a tiny outport in Newfoundland. It’s a picturesque town, with brightly coloured wooden houses scattered on hills overlooking crashing waves at the foot of cliffs down below. But this day the town’s priest has some bad news. The Vatican is selling the church and the land it stands on to pay court-ordered restitution for the child abuse crimes of a previous generation. But the chapel has been there for centuries, built by the villagers’ own great, great grandparents. And though it’s the centre of their lives, they can’t think of any way to stop it from being sold. Until one voice asks: Why don’t we raise money ourselves to buy it on behalf of the town. That suggestion comes from the much-loved Eliza (Michaela Kurimsky). She has pale skin and long auburn hair, is savvy, kind and pretty. And still single. The men all hit on her — even Shawn (Peter Mooney) her high school crush who is married with children. What they don’t know is she has a secret lover named Toni (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) an out-lesbian who 
works as a waitress at the local diner and raises chickens for eggs on the side. They keep their relationship casual and hush-hush.
But Eliza has another secret even Toni doesn’t know about. She has an anonymous website — with many followers, worldwide — where she posts her artistic photos. They are all of herself — posed on the cliffs, in the woods, lying on lichen covered rocks. But these aren’t your usual selfies. In all these carefully composed pictures, she’s naked or scantily clad (with her face obscured, naturally.) But when someone in the village, somehow figures out she’s the woman in the photos, everything changes. Once one person knows, everyone knows, and her bucolic world collapses all around her.
Sweet Angel Baby is a moving drama about secrets, sex, frustration and cruelty in a small town in Newfoundland. It’s a lovely and touching story, filled with highly erotic — and occasionally absurd — images. Michaela Kurimsky is fantastic as Eliza a woman yearning to burst out of a culture that’s repressing her but still holds so many good parts of her life. I love the cinematography and art direction from the little red houses to a dead moose.
Sweet Angel Baby shows us a a new and different Newfoundland.
Nobody 2
Dir: Timo Tjahjanto
Hutch (Bob Odenkirk) is an average middle-aged, middle-class suburban guy, with a wife and two kids. He’s nobody, really. He goes to work each day, and comes home after everyone’s asleep. So what does he do all day? Fights and kills bad guys, sometimes 5 at a time. He’s good at it and likes his job. He works for a secretive syndicate that sends him out on death-defying assignments each day — he’s a professional killer, a hitman extraordinaire. But lately he feels like he’s missing out on life. He wasn’t there for his son Brady’s big game, or his daughter Sammy’s fleeting innocent years. And he barely sees his wife Becca at all (Connie Nielsen). So he decides to take his family to Plummerville, the same cheesy rundown amusement park his dad (Christopher Lloyd) took him and his brother to (RZA) when they were both kids. So they pile into the car and head out on the road for some good clean fun.
Problem is, trouble has a way of finding Hutch, wherever he goes. It starts with just a minor fight in a pinball ally involving the local highschool’s bully and his son. Hutch tries to stay calm, and not get involved, but it turns out the bully’s dad owns Plummerville, and the town itself is ridden with 
corruption and organized crime; they use the theme park to launder money and smuggle guns and drugs. The local Sheriff (Colin Hanks) is a bad hombre, and on top of the heap is a sadistic gangster kingpin (or queenpin?) named Lendina (played by the much-missed Sharon Stone). She’s as bloodthirsty as she is cruel, and takes notice when an unknown tourist starts interfering with her profit-making. Can Hutch fight off all the villains and protect his family while keeping them all totally clueless as to the nature of his work?
Nobody 2 is an action comedy about an ineffectual dad who is secretly a killing machine. It’s a sequel to the original movie a few years back. Think: National Lampoon’s Vacation starring John Wick. The violence is great, running from choreographed fight scenes (using fists, knives, guns, and improvised weapons) to bigger stuff like booby traps, gattling 
guns and hand grenades… all set against an aging, seedy amusement park (filmed near Winnipeg!). I know, we shouldn’t laugh at people being killed, but the humour — and the violence — seldom stops.
Nobody 2 is 90 minutes of violent fun.
Sweet Angel Baby and Nobody 2 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.
Beautiful. Films reviewed:Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day, Two Women, Bring Her Back
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: a historical drama, a sex comedy and a thriller/horror. There are four filmmakers facing censorship in Yugoslavia, two sexually frustrated moms in Montreal, and a pair of siblings in Australia who find themselves in a very strange foster home.
Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day
Wri/Dir: Ivona Juka
It’s 1957 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, where a group of filmmakers are shooting a drama. Lovro (Dado Ćosić) its director and Nenad (Đorđe Galić) its writer are both national heroes. While still university students, they led a revolt against the Nazis and Ustashe, the Croation Fascist Party and later joined the resistance. As did Stevan (Slaven Došlo), their cinematographer. But the government doesn’t like their movie; it’s not patriotic enough. So they send in an apparatchik named Emir (Emir Hadžihafizbegović) who specializes in propaganda. Emir is there to “fix” the movie, with a new storyline, dialogue and actors. But also to catch and punish filmmakers who aren’t towing the party line. Tito’s Yugoslavia, though a “non-aligned” country, is warming up toward the post-Stalinist Soviet government. And is also conducting a crackdown on dissidents and undesirables in the arts. In particular, homosexuals. And this includes long time lovers Lovro and Nenad, Stevan and other gay men working on the film, all of whom had risked their lives as anti-fascist partisans in the past.
The filmmakers are interrogated, bribed, threatened, and even tortured when asked to name names… but production continues. Emir treats it all like just another job… until, four of the men he’s spying on save his life. Now Emir faces a dilemma: follow the rules or his own conscience. Can the lovers stay together? Will they finish their film? Or will the 
administration gather enough evidence to convict them of the serious crime of being gay and sentence them to a penal colony?
Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day is a powerful drama about a group of gay men in 1950s Yugoslavia, and the harsh persecution they faced for their sexuality. It’s both tender and brutal, with touching scenes and horrific violence. Although the story is fiction, it’s based on director Ivona Juka’s own research she did for her PhD dissertation. Gay men did play an important role in the resistance, and hundreds were later imprisoned and tortured by the government.
The film boasts excellent acting and stunning B&W cinematography by Dragan Ruljančić. It sheds light on a topic which until now has been virtually non-existent in Yugoslavian cinema. This is an excellent indie movie that deserves to be seen.
Two Women (Deux Femmes en Or)
Dir: Chloé Robichaud
It’s wintertime in Montreal. Florence and Violette (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman, Laurence Leboeuf) are next door neighbours in a housing coop. They can be seen gazing longingly out their windows. Florence, a translator, has a 10 year old son with her common law husband David (Mani Soleymanlou). Vivi is on maternity leave taking care of their new baby daughter, while her husband Benoit (French actor Félix Moati) is on the road. He makes a good salary in pharma sales (and is having a secret affair with a younger woman he works with). But Vivi is losing sleep over a sound she keeps hearing: a Caaaw, Caaaw, Caaaw coming through her walls. Is it a crow? A crying baby? Or, the most likely reason, it’s her neighbour Florence loudly performing her orgasms through the thin apartment walls. She casually brings it up to her, but there the penny drops: Florence admits she hasn’t had sex for many years. It can’t be her; she’s on anti-depressants which totally destroyed her sex drive. But why should both their lives be so miserable?
They decide it’s time to have fun. Florence goes off her meds, 
and the two of them start hanging out in bars. They’re also viewing men differently than they used to. The exterminator, the cable guy, the housecleaner, the window washer, the linesman… why should these neglected moms pass on all these potential sexual adventures? But how would their husbands react to sudden changes in their wives’ behaviour? And what will happen to their marriages?
Two Women is a delightful, bittersweet comedy about a pair of sexually frustrated mothers in Montréal and how they deal with their non-functional marriages. It’s sexy, silly, satirical and savvy. The main characters are as likely to be seen seducing a plumber, as quoting Simone de Beauvoir or discussing the ramifications of the #Metoo movement on Facebook.
Count on Québec to thumb its nose at sexual prudishness in mainstream North America, meaning lots of casual full frontal nudity (as well as from every other conceivable angle). Now apparently this is a remake of Claude Fournier’s hit film from 1970 starring Monique Mercure. I’ve never seen the original but let me tell you, Two Women is a great one all on it’s own. Loved it.
Bring Her Back
Co-Wri/Dir: Danny and Michael Philippou (Talk to me)
It’s a normal day in Australia. Andy (Billy Barratt) is Piper’s (Sora Wong) step-brother; a few years older, but they share the same Dad. Piper is visually impaired but doesn’t use a white cane — she doesn’t like people staring at her. She’s funny and self-confident, but Andy still keeps an eye out on her at school; some kids can be cruel. But their lives are torn apart that day when they discover their father dead in the shower.
They’re immediately sent to child services, who attempt to send them to separate places — Andy has a juvenile record — but they insist on remaining together; he’s basically Piper’s caregiver. In the end the social worker sends them off to stay with a kindly foster mom until she can find them a permanent home. The house is cluttered and shabby, with a drained swimming pool in the back and a padlocked toolshed. Laura (Sally Hawkins) is funny, wacky, and more than a bit eccentric. She’s overjoyed to have them there since her husband’s gone, and her daughter — who was blind like Piper — is dead. She’s quick to introduce them to her favourite dog — but he’s stuffed! Taxidermy. And then there’s her son 
Oliver, a little boy with a shaved head and a vacant look on his face. He seems innocent… until he catches their cat and starts to eat it, alive!
He’s been a bit off since their accident, Laura says. Piper really likes her, so Andy tries not to interfere. But bad things start to happen. Andy is wetting his bed at night — he hasn’t done that since he was a little kid, and Laura is whispering stuff to Piper all the time, turning her against him. He knows there’s something really wrong here, but he can’t figure out what it is. Why is there a chalk circle around the house? Why is Oliver acting so strange? And what’s in that shed? But when he discovers the truth… is it too late?
Bring Her Back is a relentlessly terrifying horror movie about a frightened teenaged boy and his innocent step-sister. It’s every kid’s nightmare — trapped in a potentially dangerous place, ignored by authorities, and gaslit by a foster mom who is supposed to be on their side. The movie starts with a cold open, a horrific, found-footage VHS snuff film, that remains unexplained for much off the film. Frustrating and terrifying, this movie keeps you on tenterhooks till the end. The Phillipou 
brothers (identical twins) weave a contemporary fairytale as scary as the Brothers Grimm. Great acting, beautifully made, but quite difficult to watch.
Bring her Back is brilliant horror like you seldom see.
Two Women (which premiered at Inside Out), Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day, and Bring Her Back 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.
Big and small. Films Reviewed: Bad Shabbos, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning PLUS Inside-Out
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Movies tend to fall into two categories: big-budget blockbusters there to provide spectacles on enormous screens, and small, low budget indie films that tell an intimate story. This week, I’m looking at one of each: An action thriller about a secret agent protecting the planet from evil AI; and a dark comedy about an extended family trying to have dinner. But before that, I’m talking a bit about some new movies opening at Toronto’s Inside Out Film Festival.
Inside Out
This year marks the 35th Anniversary of Inside Out, Toronto’s 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival showing features and shorts from Canada and around the world. The Festival runs from May 23-June 1st. Here are a few of the films there that caught my attention.
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House
…is a new doc by Elegance Bratton (The Inspection: 2022) that uses historic footage and music tracks along with interviews with the pioneers of house music to trace the development of dance music in the 1990s from a single club in Chicago called The Warehouse to nightclubs in London, Tokyo and around the world. The doc concentrates on the lives of musicians DJs, producers and entrepreneurs who were mainly black and gay who treated House as an expression of race and sexuality in a segregated Chicago.
Starwalker
Co-Wri/Dir: Corey Payette
Star, a 2-spirited, Oji-Cree falls for Levi, a guy he meets in a Vancouver park who introduces him to a drag sanctuary called House of Borealis, ruled by Mother. It’s there that Star, who grew up in foster homes, comes out of his shell as an Anishnaabe princess. A musical dramatic romance Starwalker tells its story with all-original songs belted out by powerful voices in solos, duets and choruses, both onstage and off.
Lucky, Apartment
Co-Wri/Dir Garam Kangyu
A young lesbian couple in Seoul buy a condo together but are troubled by the bad smells rising from the apartment beneath them. While one is more concerned about her career, her lover wants to preserve something from the old woman who died there. A true tearjerker, about women in the workplace, queer invisibility, families and lost lives, Lucky Apartment is a deeply moving film.
These are just three of the films now playing at Inside Out.
Bad Shabbos
Co-Wri/Dir: Daniel Robbins
It’s Friday night on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and, like every Friday night a family is getting together for dinner. David (Jon Bass) is there with his fiancé, Meg (Meghan Leathers); Abby (Milana Vayntrub) with her boyfriend Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman), and Adam (Theo Taplitz) the youngest who still lives at home. They’re there to see their parents Ellen and Richard (Kyra Sedgwick, David Paymer). The candles are set, the brisket’s in the oven. But this is a special night, a look-who’s-coming-to-dinner night, because the meal is for the Jewish sabbath, but the guests, Meg’s devout Catholics parents, are driving in from Milwaukee. The future in-laws are going to meet for the first time, and David and Meg are worried about everything that could go wrong. You see, her parents don’t like arguments at the dinner table… but Abby and Ben are fighting, Adam (who’s on meds) sometimes explodes, Dad likes forcing his pop-psychology theories on everyone and there’s more than a bit of friction between Mom and Meg. Luckily, they all love their building’s doorman Jordan (Cliff Smith, Method Man in the Wu-tang Clan), who assures them he’ll drop by at an appropriate time to smooth the waters.
Meg’s parents are running late, but could arrive any moment, when… something terrible happens, leaving one of the dinner party guests dead… possibly even killed. And as each of the guests discovers what has happened, and who might be held responsible they decide to get the body out of the building before Meg’s parents arrive. But the longer it takes, the less possible it becomes.
Bad Shabbos is dark, drawing room comedy with personality 
conflicts, mistaken identities, and lotos secrets. It’s cute and funny, with excellent comic timing, good acting and enough quirky original characters that play against stereotypes to keep it interesting. I’s very much an ensemble, with each character getting their moment in the sun and no one hogging the camera, but a few stand out: Kyra Sedgwick and David Paymer as the parents, Catherine Curtin as Meg’s mom, Theo Taplitz as the coddled and neurotic youngest son, Adam, and of course Method Man as Jordan. Bad Shabbos is a good social comedy.
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
Co-Wri/Dir: Christopher McQuarrie
The world is on the brink: an aggressive AI program (known as the Entity) is taking over everything. And that everything includes the controls behind all atomic bombs. The entity doesn’t care if every human disintegrates. So it’s up to Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his Impossible Mission team — on direct orders from the US President — to stop it. His mission involves entering a defunct Soviet submarine where the AI programs was once kept, to locate a small but crucial piece of machinery that can stop it. His team includes Grace (Hayley Atwell) a notorious pickpocket and Paris, a cold-blooded assassin; plus most of his usual buddies, like Luther and Benji. But a mysterious supervillain villain named Gabriel (Esai Morales) is doing everything he can to stop him, so he can take control of the Entity for his own nefarious ways. And the entity itself has brainwashed millions to form an invisible army, ready to pop out of nowhere to stop Ethan’s mission. Can Ethan and his Scooby gang save the planet from nuclear destruction?
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is an action/thriller about big things like saving the world. It has atrocious dialogue and a ridiculous plot that makes absolutely no sense. The scenes with American politicians and generals are unintentionally hilarious. It’s about 3 hours long — they could easily have made it in 2. And like many contemporary movies, it doesn’t know how to deal with abstract, digital or AI 
weapons, so they replace it with something physical, a McGuffin the hero can hold in his hand. Which, again, makes no sense — you can’t stop a rogue computer program with just a special device, but, hey— it’s a movie.
So, putting all that aside, is it a good movie? Yes, it is. Not in the normal sense, but as entertainment. It’s spectacular, exciting and engrossing. I mentioned the corny dialogue, but the movie also has two very long sequences with no dialogue whatsoever. One has Ethan Hunt inside an abandoned Soviet nuclear submarine on the ocean’s floor in the arctic, that’s filled with seawater and is gradually rolling to greater depths. This scene is as eerie as it is spectacular, feeling as if you’re trapped inside a 1970s Tarkovsky movie. There’s also a scene straight out of a WWI movie, with two pilots aboard propeller planes have fistfights… in midair! Again, no dialogue but lots of exciting action. And I gotta admit, seeing it on a ginormous IMAX screen doesn’t hurt either.
So if you’re in the mood to travel from the north pole to South Africa, in every sort of strange transportation, check out Mission Imposisble.
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and Bad Shabbos both open in Toronto this weekend; check your local listings. And go to insideout.ca for information and tickets.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Hate and Love. Films reviewed: Another Simple Favour, On Swift Horses PLUS more Hotdocs!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
This week I’m looking at two new movies, a dark comedy and a romantic drama. There’s a true-crime writer in search of a killer on the Isle of Capri, and a dishonourably discharged sailor looking for forbidden love in the casinos of Las Vegas.
But first… with Hotdocs continuing through the weekend, here are some more documentaries playing there that caught my fancy.
Endless Cookie (Peter and Seth Scriver) is a highly original animated film that uses bright colours and stylized characters — in the form of elastic bands, or peaches — to retell the stories of two half brothers, one from the Shamattawa First Nation in Northern Manitoba, the other from Toronto’s Kensington Market.
Coexistence, My Ass by Canadian filmmaker Amber Fares (Speed Sisters: Interview, 2015) looks at an Israeli stand-up comic who uses her tragic hilarity — in Hebrew, Arabic and English — as a scathing critique of her own country’s policies.
My Boyfriend the Fascist (Matthias Lintner) is an intimate, personal film about a leftist Italian filmmaker in South Tyrol and his virulently anti-communist Cuban-Italian lover who is drifting further and further to the extreme right.
Supernatural (Ventura Durall) is about an MD forced to deal with the legacy of his own dad, who was famous as a shaman, and a telepathic healer who still has a grateful followers including one woman who swears he saved her life.
And finally…
Ragnhild Ekner’s Ultras is a stunning, impressionistic look at the shared subculture of superfans at soccer clubs on four continents, including chants and Tifos, both elaborate synchronized formations in the stands and the creation of massive cloth banners that span a stadium and then disappear in just a few minutes.
All of these played at Hotdocs, including some with additional screenings this weekend.
Another Small Favour
Dir: Paul Feig
It’s summer in Connecticut, and Stephanie, a writer and single mom (Anna Kendrick), is sending her son off to camp. Which gives her time to promote her latest book, “The Faceless Blonde” a true-crime saga of adultery, deceit and murder. She knows the story better than anyone since she’s the one who lived through it all (barely) and helped the police catch the murderess and lock her up.
So imagine her surprise when she receives a fancy invitation to a wedding on the Isle of Capri. It includes a private jet, a luxury hotel suite and a seat at the head table as Maid of Honour. What’s the catch? The bride is Emily (Blake Lively) the very same convicted killer who tried to murder her! Somehow, Emily’s out of prison and betrothed to a fabulously wealthy and powerful man.
Naturally, Stephanie is suspicious. How could she trust the woman who tried to kill her? But in the end, she decides to go — and film it all for her popular vlog. The location is lavish… but also dangerous, with a notorious cliff where many had met their maker. Guests include Sean (Henry Golding) Emily’s bitter ex-husband; Linda (Allison Janney), Emily’s conniving aunt and Margaret (Elizabeth Perkins), her batty mother; 
Dante (Michele Morrone), her handsome brooding fiancé; and Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci) Dante’s acid-tongued matriarch. The danger comes from the fact that Dante’s family are connected to the mob, and almost everyone at the party holds a deadly grudge toward at least someone else. Poor Stephanie is left fending off the eye-daggers that everyone is sending her way, but even so, some of the main characters are being killed, one by one. Who is behind these murders? What is their motive? And can Stephanie make it out of there alive?
Another Simple Favour is a dark comedy/thriller about killers killing other killers at a wedding. Apparently it’s a sequel to a similar movie that came out in 2018, but I can’t compare it to that since I never saw it. I can compare it to other high-budget movies made especially for streaming sites (This one is premiering on Prime). It shares their characteristics: famous directors, top stars, exotic locales, racy dialogue and designer costumes. Thing is, Another Simple Favour is a comedy but 2/3 of the jokes fall flat, and a mystery but highly contrived. The writing and directing are both mediocre at best. The characters are simplistic and just so-so, including a whole bunch I didn’t bother mentioning because they have no obvious role other than that they were in the original film. Blake Lively’s Emily tosses the C-word like party favours at a wedding. Her character just doesn’t seem believable. Henry Golding is irritating, and Elizabeth Perkins is embarrassingly bad. Happily, Allison Janney is fun and Anna Kendrick is truly delightful. And, yes, it’s crap but it’s fun crap, and it kept me interested even though I knew it was bad. If I had bought a ticket to Another Simple Favour in a theatre, I’d feel ripped-off, but since it’s a TV movie on a streaming site, it left me feeling mildly entertained.
On Swift Horses
Dir: Daniel Minahan
It’s the 1950s in San Diego after the Korean War. Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter) are a newly-married couple who moved west from Kansas to seek their fortune. While Lee is infatuated with his new wife, Muriel is more reserved. He wants to move into a new house in a suburban development, but she is reticent to leave the city… until she meets Sandra (Sasha Calle) a woman whose house borders the new development. She’s single, independent and mysterious, someone Muriel can spend time with. But they’re both waiting for Lee’s younger brother Julius (Jacob Elordi) to show up, and kick in his share of the mortgage. The problem is while Lee is an ordinary grunt, his brother is tall, dark and handsome with huge ambitions. He’s not like us, Lee says.
Indeed, he has moved to Nevada to make big bucks in Vegas as a card shark. But he soon realizes since you can’t beat a casino, so you may as well join them. They place him in the unfinished rafters immediately above the game tables where he looks down through holes to spot card counters and cheaters. There he meets Henry (Diego Calva) a Mexican who shares his duties. It’s hot up there so they strip down to white singlets. Soon they’re sharing an apartment and then a bed; secretly, of course. Is this love?
Meanwhile, back in San Diego, Muriel overhears regulars at 
the diner she works at, discussing sure-fire horses to bet on. She makes to he tracks to try her luck. And with some newfound earnings she feels confident enough to pay a visit to Sandra down the road. Is this just a fling? Or the real thing? Will Julius ever join them in San Diego? And what would Lee do if he ever discovered both his brother and his wife are flirting with same-sex partners?
On Swift Horses is a romantic drama about love in repressive 1950s America. It recreates the era with detailed period sets and music set against paintbrush desert sunsets. It’s passionate and erotic with a novelistic scope (based on the book by Shannon Pufahl). The main characters both find themselves doing illicit and mildly illegal things — gambling — to support their highly illegal actions — same sex relationships. Though never explicit, somehow Edgar-Jones as Muriel spitting an olive pit into Sandra’s open hand, or 
dancing to music in Sandra’s living room in her underwear seems much more sexualized than her having obligatory coitus with her husband. Likewise Elordi as Julius exudes sexual desire in every scene. While the film does verges on the sentimental with its gushing music and tragic near misses, by the end, you’ll be siding with the characters and hoping their love will be eternal.
On Swift Horses is now playing; check your local listings. and Another Simple Favour is streaming on Prime
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Two Couples and a Single Mom. Films reviewed: The Wedding Banquet, The Courageous PLUS Hotdocs!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Hot Docs Toronto’s International Documentary Film Festival, is back with a vengeance, next week after last year’s misadventure in potential ruin. The world breathes a sigh of relief! And there are tons of great films to see, many having their world premieres at the festival. And as aways, rush tickets for daytime shows are available for free for students and seniors. So this week, I’m talking about some of the docs I’m looking forward tov watching. And after that, two new movies, one from the US and another from France. There’s a romcom involving two couples and one fake marriage; and a drama about a struggling single mom and her three young kids.
New films at Hotdocs!
Here are some brief description of upcoming docs that look interesting:
Ai Weiwei’s Turandot is a record of the noted Chinese artist and activist’s production in Rome of Puccini’s opera set in a mythical China, and somehow combines ancient themes with modern politics.
Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance by Winnipeg director Noam Gonick is a comprehensive look at the history of queer politics in Canada from the 1960s to the present, focusing on Pride parades as a catalyst for liberation movements.
Virginial Tangvald directs Ghosts of the Sea about a life spent aboard her famous father’s sailing boat, and the dark secrets her family keeps.
Life After is director Reid Davenport’s examination of Medically Assisted Dying from the point of view of devalued, disabled persons, unwillingly pushed toward death to relieve their very real suffering caused by the absence of necessary care.
Spare My Bones, Coyote! (Jonah Malak) is about a volunteer couple who for years have scouted the desert borderlands to rescue migrants lost and dying in the extreme heat and cold.
Deaf President Now! (Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim) is about a 1988 student strike at a DC University for the deaf when they hired a hearing president. The protests inspired a generation of disability rights activists.
Sasha Wortzel’s River of Grass looks at the unique ecosystem of the Everglades.
The Dating Game (Violet Du Feng) looks at the crazy lengths unmarried men in China are going through these days to try to land a wife.
Heightened Scrutiny (Sam Feder) looks at ACLU attorney Chase Strangio preparing his landmark case on trans rights before the Supreme Court.
Unwelcomed (Sebastián González and Amílcar Infante) a Chilean film about the violent reaction to migrants who fled Venezuela to seek refuge there.
Shifting Baselines (Julien Elie) is about a small Texan town dominated by gigantic, 50-storey tall rocket ships that are part of the new space race.
These are just a few of the films playing at Hotdocs.
The Wedding Banquet
Co-Wri/Dir: Andrew Ahn
It’s present-day Seattle. Min (Han Gi-Chan) is a man in his twenties from South Korea. He was raised by very rich grandparents, who now expect him to take over the family business. But he doesn’t want to. Min’s an artist who cuts up colourful silk kimonos as his medium. And he’s in love with a guy named Chris (Bowen Yang) and wants to marry him. If his grand-parents ever find out, he’ll be written out of the will. And he’s in the US on a limited visa — he needs a green card. Meanwhile, Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), a science geek who does experiments with worms is in love with Lee, a social worker (Lily Gladstone). They want kids, and artificial insemination is proving to be very expensive. What’s the connection? Chris is good friends with Angela and Min thinks he can pull the wool over his grandparents’s eyes if he “marries” Angela and sends them the video. He gets a green 
card, she gets a baby, it’s as easy as pie. Not so fast. Granny (Youn Yuh-jung) is already on a flight from Seoul sending the four of them on a frantic clean up. Can they de-gayify Min and Chris’s home? Can Angela pass as straight? And what will this new wrinkle do to both those couples’ relationships?
The Wedding Banquet is a cute, screwball social comedy. Not uproarious, roll-on-the-floor comedy, but lots of quirky characters and unexpected plot twists. It’s adapted from Ang Lee’s movie of the same name in 1993, but quickly veers on a different path from 30 years ago. The original focused on a clash pf cultures involving a White and Taiwanese couple and the prevailing anti-gay taboos of that generation. In this version, Homophobia is alluded to but kept off screen, and the multi-ethnic humour comes from clueless Asian Americans navigating their way through the vagaries of a traditional 
Korean Wedding.The main actors don’t just play gay, they are gay. The cast is very impressive. Lily Gladstone was nominated for an Oscar for Killers of the Flower Moon, Youn Yuh-jung who plays Min’s grandmother, won one for Minari, and the legendary Joan Chen has a great cameo as Angela’s mom. Bowen Yang plays against type, while Kelly Marie Tran of Star Wars fame is endearingly awkward as Angela.
So while not terribly challenging, The Wedding Banquet presents a modern take on gay-asian relationships that is both endearing and gently funny.
The Courageous
Co-Wri/Dir: Jasmin Gordon
It’s a small town in northeastern France. Jule (Ophélia Kolb) is a single mom with three young kids in public school. Claire (Jasmine Kalisz Saurer) is the take-charge older sister. Loïc (Paul Besnier) is friendly, shy, and possibly on the spectrum; and Sami (Arthur Devaux) the youngest is prone to running around and getting in trouble. But one day the kids find themselves in a roadside diner with no mom. Their car is still in the parking lot, but she’s nowhere to be seen. So they take a long walk beside a highway back to their apartment. She shows up the next morning, but with no explanation. Instead she drives them to see what she says is their new home. It’s out of the way, and a bit run down, but much more spacious than their cramped apartment. But mom forces the kids to take cover and climb out the back door when strangers appear at the front.
You see, Mom isn’t completely honest with her kids. She has very little income, is way behind rent, and can barely find enough money to buy then basic food and clothes. And yet she struggles to provide them with normal kid lives: toys, sports and going to birthday parties. But her ventures with petty theft and shoplifting haven’t worked out well. She has an 
ankle bracelet to prove it. But their dream home is still up for sale. Can Jule come up with the down payment in time? Or will the law and the system catch up with her?
The Courageous is an amazing family drama about a mother who goes to great lengths to keep her family together. It’s told as a slice of life — starting in the middle and finishing before an obvious end. If you’re looking for an easy-to-watch, crowd-pleaser, you won’t find it here, but the bittersweet story-telling, endearing characters and shocking incidents make it much more satisfying.
Beautiful movie!
The Courageous and The Wedding Banquet opens this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. Hotdocs runs from Thursday Apr 24, 2025 – Sun, May 4.
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.
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