Daniel Garber talks with Zacharias Kunuk about The Wrong Husband at #TIFF50
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photos by Jeff Harris.
It’s 400 years ago in the north. Kaujak and Sapa have known one another since they were babies and they were promised to one another. But when kaujak’s father dies suddenly — at the sometime as a stranger, Sapa leaves for a hunting trip. While he is gone, a man with no wife who is a figure of fun, arrives by Kayak. He takes her and her daughter Kajuak away. In the new area people are not kind and life is bad. But Kaujak continues to fight back. And always lurking in the background is a terrible beast, a giant troll who takes people away.
Will the proposed young couple ever see each each there again? Or will Kaujak be forced to marry the wrong husband?
The Wrong Husband is a new film from Nunavut that interprets ancient stories and the oral tradition with traditional ways of life. It combines the supernatural; with religion to make a moving emotional Romeo and Juliet story. The story is told in Inuktitut with an Indigenous cast. The film is directed and co-written by award-winning Inuit director Zacharias Kunuk. His feature Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner 
won the Camera d’Or at Cannes and countless Canadian prizes, and was a critical and commercial success. Other notable films include The Journals of Knud Rasmussen and Maliglutit or Searchers. The Wrong Husband had its Canadian Premier at the Toronto International Film Festival.
I spoke with Zacharias Kunuk on site during TIFF50 at the Royal York Hotel.
The Wrong Husband is opening in Canada on Nov 28, 2025.
Winner: Best Canadian Feature Film Award, TIFF ’25.
Outcastes. Films reviewed: The Mastermind, Regretting You, Bugonia
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
There are a ton of movies opening this weekend with lots of choices for every taste. This week I’m looking at three of them, all about outcasts and rebels. There’s a self-styled art thief in Massachusetts, a daughter fighting her mom when two families are brought together by tragedy in North Carolina, and a pair of cousins trying to save the earth… by kidnapping a CEO they think is an alien.
The Mastermind
Wri/Dir: Kelly Reichardt
It’s 1970 in Framingham, Massachusetts. James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor) is an architect who is down on his luck. He loves his wife Terri (Alana Haim) and their two bright sons, Carl and Tommy (Sterling and Jasper Thompson), but he’s just not earning a living. He has no clients, and is forced to borrow money on the sly from his high-society mom. (Don’t let your father know about this.) He is smart, savvy and full of ideas but spends most of his time puttering around with his ne’erdowell pals. But now he has a get-rich-quick scheme he’s sure will solve all his family problems: stealing modern paintings from his small town art museum.
He tests and calculates every step: a sleepy unarmed guard, no alarms, clear exits, art easily taken off walls. He even has a stolen getaway car, and two henchmen with pantyhose to pull over their faces. It’s foolproof, and they pull it off with barely a hitch. But things goes south when one of the robbers gets caught at another job and spills the beans to the cops. James is labeled the mastermind behind the crime and is forced to flee the town and his family for an uncertain future. Where will he go and how will he survive on the lam?
The Mastermind is a brilliant period piece, a portrait of an America full of sketchy bus stations and flophouses, totally free of patriotic nostalgia. It’s set against — but separate from — the widespread antiwar protests of 1970. Josh O’Connor portrays James as a flawed antihero, who is nevertheless sympathetic. He commits his petty crimes wearing wooly sweaters and corduroy pants. The details in the production design are astoundingly precise. Kelly Reichardt is one of the best American directors you’ve probably never heard of. She 
makes films, not high-concept schlock and if you haven’t seen her movies, this is a good one to start with. The Mastermind is one of those movies that starts in the middle of things and ends suddenly, before you think it’s over, but it all makes perfect sense.
This is a really good movie.
Regretting You
Wri/Dir: Josh Boone
It’s 17 years ago on a hot summer night in North Carolina. Two teenaged couples are at a pool party: Morgan and Chris, and Jonah and Jenny. Morgan and Jenny are sisters, Chris and Jonah best friends. They say opposites attract; Chris and Jenny are wild partiers, who like getting drunk and having wild sex, while Jonah and Morgan are smart, conscientious and non drinkers. Fast forward to the present.
Morgan (Allison Williams) has been married to Chris for 17 years, and they have raised their daughter Clara (Mckenna Grace) since they were still young. Jonah (Luigi-Mangione-lookalike Dave Franco) left town soon after graduation but came back recently and restarted his relationship with Jenny, soon leading to a newborn son. And then there’s Clara: everyone loves her. She’s a high school senior who dreams of becoming an actress after college. She tells her aunt Jenny all the things she can’t tell her mom; she’s like her best friend. She adores her dad Chris, and respects Jonah, who is also her high school teacher. And Clara is crushing on Miller, a popular guy at school,(Mason Thames) who lives on a farm with his gramps, cause his dad is in prison. He likes movies, sucking lollipops and moving roadsigns. But he has a girlfriend so he’s a no-go for Clara.
But everything is messed up when Chris and Jenny are killed in a terrible car crash, leaving Clara without her Dad and her Aunt, Jonah without his lover and the mother of their baby, and Morgan without her sister and the only man she’s ever been with. So Jonah turns to Morgan to form a make-shift family to deal with shock, grief, and the temporary raising of their two kids. (Clara and her Mom aren’t talking.) And while all this is going on, Clara and Miller start hanging out. Can 
these estranged family members adjust to the drastic changes? What secrets will be revealed and what hidden loves awakened?
Regretting You is a very conventional drama/romance about two families recovering from unexpected loss. It’s also a coming-of-age story, along with some unrequited love. Based on a popular novel, it’s a very easy movie, with nothing transgressive: its set among church and proms and school plays and going to the movies. The characters are pleasant, and its directed in an easy-to-watch way: texts sent between Clara and Miller are also voiced, so no need to read. The story is divided between the grown ups and the teens, with the teens the more interesting half. But what’s weird about this one is the catastrophic events all happen off-camera, and toward the beginning. The rest of the movie is just about mending relations and recovering from the shocks. So instead of building up to a satisfying emotional purge, this one starts with the dramatic shock and then just coasts.
While I don’t regret seeing Regretting You, it’s not my preferred type of movie.
Bugonia
Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
High-strung Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and shy, neurodivergent Don (Aidan Delbis) are cousins. They share a dilapidated house they inherited along with an attached farm, where they eke out a meagre existence — dressed in filthy Hazmat suits — through the cultivation of honey bees. But the bees are disappearing. What’s happening to their colony? They also work at a shipping station for a nearby big pharma corporation that specializes in lethal pesticides. Teddy holds a special grudge toward that company for past digressions it inflicted on him and his family.
The company is Auxolith and its CEO is Michelle (Emma Stone), a high-power, alpha careerist. She lives a magazine-like lifestyle in her modern mansion equipped with high security. She is a perfectionist, who only eats heathy food and insists her hair, makeup and power suits are always flawless. She works out using the latest machinery and is fully trained in martial arts. At work, though surrounded by a retinue of 
yes-men, she seems oddly sterile and detached from all her employees.
But everything changes when Teddy — with Donny’s help — kidnap Michelle and drag her, undetected, to their lair. They shave her head, tie her to a bed, and cover her skin with weird emollients. Does they want money? Fame? A platform for their manifesto? No! Teddy is convinced Michelle is personally responsible for widespread ecological destruction of the planet — including his bees. And her motive? He is convinced she’s an alien from Andromeda with ties to a mothership parked just outside of the earth. Where do his bizarre theories come from? How can Michelle escape their clutches?
Bugonia is a weird movie pitting an eco-terrorists against a cold billionaire industrialist. Like all of Yorgos Lanthimos’s movies, Bugonia is simultaneously hilarious and disturbing. Grown adults talk like stilted children saying profound but outlandish statements. It’s laden with conspiracy theories, that are no less ridiculous than the corporate-speak the other half uses. Lanthimos likes to cast the same retinue of actors from his past pictures, so Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are back again playing more quirky oddballs (though Aidan Delbis is entirely new). Bugonia is comical and absurd but also dark.
I really like Lanthimos’s style, but some people hate it; he’s not for everybody. But if you’re looking for something wack and dark and weird, you’ve got to see Bugonia.
Bugonia, Mastermind and Regretting You 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.
More popcorn movies. Films reviewed: Together, The Naked Gun PLUS #TIFF25 films to look out for
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
There’s something new at Hot Docs Cinema that has nothing to do with documentaries. It’s called Pillow Fright!, which the programmers Emily Gagne and Danita Steinberg describe as “a sleepover-themed, creep-tastic series for fellow friendly freaks – the girls, gays, and theys who crave a good scare in a safe, inclusive space.” It starts next Friday with a screening of the original Final Destination. That’s Pillow Fright! at the Hot Docs Cinema.
So this week, I’m looking at two more summertime popcorn movies — one about a couple with a strange attraction, the other about a cop with a strange distraction — but first here’s a look at some of the movies coming to TIFF this Fall.
TIFF Movies
Tiff is more than a month away, but they’re already releasing many of the titles. Now, I haven’t seen any of them yet but here are some movies made by international directors whose past movies I really liked. (I’ll be looking at Canadian Directors soon).
Gus Van Sant — who made Good Will Hunting and Mala Noche — has a new film about a hostage taking called Dead Man’s Wire.
I loved Moroccan director Maryam Touzani’s Blue Caftan in 22. 
Calle Malaga is about an elderly Spanish woman in Tangiers.
Agnieszka Holland (In Darkness, The Burning Bush, Mr. Jones. Green Border)— the celebrated Polish director who studied film in Prague — has a biopic about Kafka titled Franz.
Jafar Panahi (No Bears) is that subtle and funny Iranian 
director whose film at TIFF will be It Was Just an Accident, about a small mishap that causes a chain reaction.
English director Ben Wheatley (A Field in England, In The Earth) makes weird and baffling movies, so, of course his movie at TIFF — called Normal — is sure to be anything but.
Mamoru Hosoda, whose Japanese anime (like Wolf Children and Mirai) are always fantastical and moving, is back with Scarlet about a princess who transcends time and space.
I’ve been watching director Joachim Trier’s 
(Oslo August 31st, Thelma, The Worst Person in The World) detailed, angsty Oslo dramas for a decade and half so I’m really looking forward to Sentimental Value, about family, memories, and the power of art.
Benny Safdie who, with his brother Josh, brought us outrageous films like Good Time and Uncut Gems, is going solo this round with The Smashing Machine, a biopic about a UFC fighter, played by The Rock.
Did you see The Brutalist last year? Co-writer Mona
Fastvold’s newest pic is The Testament of Ann Lee, a historical drama about the Shaker movement.
Wake Up Dead Man is Rian Johnson’s latest Knives Out Mystery (Glass Onion, Knives Out), which is sure to be highly entertaining.
These are just some of the movies slated for TIFF this year.
Together
Wri/Dir: Michael Shanks
Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie) are a couple in New York City, about to make a big change in their lives. They’re moving out of their cramped apartment into a spacious house in a remote village. She’s a lot more into it than he is. Tim is a professional musician in a band about to go on tour again, and it’s hard to rehearse or perform when you’re out in the woods. Their house is old and creepy, and Tim is spooked by a rats’ nest he finds in a light fixture. Millie, on the other hand, has an actual job as schoolteacher. It advances her career, and she likes it here, despite the eccentric staff at the school, including Jamie (Damon Herriman) who lives down the road.
One day, something unexpected happens. They’re going for a hike down a trail in the woods, and they fall into a pit, dug straight into the ground. No one comes to their rescue — they’ve heard about another young couple who disappeared — so they end up sleeping there overnight, drinking water from an underground source. And in the morning they’re both covered in some sticky fungus — they literally have to pull their legs apart from each other like ripping off a bandaid.
No biggie, right? But when Millie drives off to work, Tim gets tossed around inside his shower. Is this ghosts or spirits playing with them? When they ask for advice from Jamie He;’s says don’t worry it’s nothing. But as time passes, Tim
finds it virtually impossible to stay away from Millie. As he gets more and more clingy, their boundaries are ever more challenged. Is he stalking her or going nuts? Or is something bigger calling the shots?
Together is a romantic, body-horror thriller about a couple’s relationship — both attraction and repulsion — whose boundaries are challenged after a walk in the woods. No spoilers here, but the story is highly original and probably like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Dave Franco and Alison Brie have noticeable chemistry with impeccable timing in their interactions. It wasn’t till after seeing the movie that I realized Franco and Brie are a married couple in real life. That explains it. But they’re really good at it, including simulated sex scenes in unexpected locales. There is sex, nudity, violence and truly grotesque special effects, so if you don’t like being shocked and titillated, stay away.
Cause Together is probably the most exciting relationship movie you’re ever going to see.
The Naked Gun
Co-Wri/Dir: Akiva Schaffer
The LA Police Squad is a special unit formed to stop crime and catch criminals. Their most famous detective is Lt Frank Drebin Jr (Liam Neeson). Like his father before him, he’s known for his single-minded, relentless pursuits and gruff, hardboiled nature. He can thwart a bank robbery and take down a dozen thieves with his bare hands. Unfortunately, those robbers are complaining about Drebin’s brutality, so
the police chief (CCH Pounder) has re-assigned Frank to another case; an apparent suicide. It’s open and shut until Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson) an elegant femme fatale, shows up at his office. It’s not suicide, she says… it’s murder. And the victim was my brother! That morning’s bank heist was masterminded by the evil industrialist Richard Cane (Danny Huston), who made his fortune selling self-driving, electric cars. He ordered the bank robbery to secure a device invented by the dead man. With it, Cane thinks he can wipe out the earths population and then rule the planet. It’s up to Drebin and Beth to solve the mystery and catch the criminals. But will it be too late?
The Naked Gun is a stupid-funny comedy, a reboot and 
update of the TV show and movie series from the 1980s and 90s. (With Liam Neeson taking over Leslie Nielsen’s role). The story is juvenile and simplistic, populated with exaggerated, comic-book caricatures. At the same time, it’s very funny. Most of the humour doesn’t come from witty dialogue, it’s mainly visual gags, with a new punchline appearing on the screen every three or four seconds. (The jokes continue non-stop, even during the closing credits: look for hidden puns among the names). The humour is bawdy and salacious, with more visual double entendres than you can shake a stick at. Pamela Anderson does a great film noir pastiche, even scat-singing at an LA nightclub. And Liam Neeson — after a career playing gruff action heroes fighting terrorists — is finally allowed to parody himself.
The movie is hilarious.
The Naked Gun and Together 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.
It’s dangerous! Films reviewed: Daniela Forever, Apocalypse in the Tropics, We Were Dangerous
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Guillermo del Toro, the celebrated director who splits his time between Mexico and Canada, has curated a series of classic Canadian horror movies called From Rabid to Skinamarink: Canadian Movie Madness, playing at the TIFF Lightbox this weekend. I happen to have seen everyone of them myself, and I totally agree with del Toro’s selection. You can catch Canadian gems like the feminist werewolf drama Ginger Snaps, Vincenzo Natali’s cult-hit Cube, Kyle Edward Ball’s experimental Skinamarink, and many more.
But this week, I’m looking at three new movies from abroad: a surreal fantasy from Spain, a politically documentary from Brazil, and a period drama from New Zealand.
Daniela Forever
Wri/Dir: Nacho Vigalondo
It’s present-day Madrid. Nicolas (Henry Golding: Crazy Rich Asians) is a popular DJ at the city’s hottest nightclubs. But he is thrown into a deep depression when his girlfriend, an artist named Daniela (Beatrice Grannò: The White Lotus) is killed by a negligent driver just outside his home. But things take a turn for the better when a good friend of his, Victoria (Nathalie Poza), tells him of a new, experimental drug that might be just what he needs. But it’s top secret, filled with non-disclosure clauses, and requires regular visits to the pharmaceutical labs. The scientists there tell him each pill, if taken just before bed, will produce lucid dreams, real visions where he can control the content and won’t forget about them when he wakes up. This means he can bring Daniela back to life, at least while he sleeps. But he soon discovers its limitations: he can’t dream about something he’s never seen. If he turns down an ally he’s never visited, it will be covered in unformed, writhing grey matter. Kinda creepy.
Daniela seems artificial at first, but as time progresses, she starts turning real. She even produces creative ideas and thoughts that he doesn’t remember ever experiencing in the awake world. And far from seeming etherial, his lucid dreams are now wide- screen images in living colour, while awake 
time is small and drab. He can take Daniela to new places just by thinking about them and opening a door, and change the city of Madrid into something out of one of her paintings. But he soon realizes, not everything is going the way he planned. And when things from his dream world start appearing in awake time, he has to wonder what is real? Can he be in love with someone who doesn’t exist? And can she ever really love him if she’s just a figure of his imagination?
Forever Daniela is a highly- creative science fiction romance about love, death and reality. While it sounds like a Black Mirror jump-scare thriller, it actually avoids most “bad” things except for the sadness of mourning. It also has a very surprising twist at the end (no spoilers). The film is Spanish, but most of the dialogue is in English. Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) is appealing as the leading man, but runs into a bit of acting trouble when he tries to do a full-fledged meltdown. The special effects are excellent, fooling around with unusual concepts like daytime light and shadows in a nighttime environment. I quite like the writer/director Nacho Vigalondo
for the way he incorporates horror movie elements within an otherwise realistic context (like his film Colossal a few years ago.) So if you’re looking for something that’s surreal and supernatural but told in a positive, though bittersweet, way, I think you’ll like Daniela Forever.
Apocalypse in the Tropics
Wri/Dir: Petra Costa
Brasilia — a capital city designed, planned and built from the ground up — was meant to be modern, secular and democratic. But after a coup-d’etat in 1964, Brazil became something other than democratic: a military dictatorship which ruled for the next two decades. So when a new, populist right-wing leader with military ties emerged in the 2010s, many Brazilians were wary of democracy falling again. But Jair Bolsonaro was different, a politician who changed his power base when he forged ties with evangelical Christians.
Apocalypse in the Tropics traces Brazilian politics over the past decade and the rise in religion within government policies. It also gives background, from the building of the capital, through the military coup, American evangelist Billy Graham, the return to democracy, and more recent developments. It uses beautiful period footage, lush music and symbolic paintings — like Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights — as a metaphoric portrayal of millenarian changes in Brazilian politics. It is narrated by the filmmaker and includes her one-on-one interviews with Bolsonaro, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the wildly popular televangelist, Silas Malafaia, who served as 
Bolsonaro’s right-hand man. We witness Malafaia’s sermons before huge crowds — shouting his opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and feminism — as well as intimate conversations aboard his private plane. The doc also shows new footage of the beloved capital Brazilia occupied and trashed by massive demonstrators, who called for a coup after Bolsonaro’s defeat.
Apocalypse in the Tropics is a follow-up to Petra Costa’s 2019 film The Edge of Democracy with similar footage, style, and topic but concentrating this time on religion’s role in government policies. I’m not sure if this is a sequel, a reshoot or a continuation, but either way, it’s as aesthetically beautiful as it is disturbing.
We Were Dangerous
Wri/Dir Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
It’s the 1950s on a small island somewhere off the coast of New Zealand, where three girls share a cabin: Daisy, Nelly and Lou (Manaia Hall, Erana James, and Nathalie Morris). They were sent there by the authorities or their parents. Te Motu is a school for “incorrigible” girls or, as the administrators call them, “whores, queers, delinquents and sexual deviants.” Many are orphans or runaways caught stealing food, like Daisy or Nelly. Lou is the exception. She comes from a rich family but was caught making out with her (female) tutor. The school operates under the strict rule of Matron (Rima Te Wiata), who has a cruel streak a mile long. Raised by nuns, she feels the only way to cure these girls’ bad attitudes is through the bible and the lash. Naturally the girls all want to get the hell out of there, but it’s hard to escape from an isolated island in the south pacific. The purpose of the school is to turn bad girls into happy homemakers. They are given lessons in diction and manners but not reading or math. 
Matron is frustrated by their outcome: She says they are “too stupid for school, to uncivilized to be maids and too barbaric to work”. Every so often, Matron is visited by men in suits from the mainland, one of whom suggests a horrifying treatment. But when Nelly find out, the three girls decide they have to do something to stop it.
We Were Dangerous is a moving, coming-of-age story about girls surviving in 1950s New Zealand. It’s bright and exuberant, full of playfulness and dancing, Haka and history, and though fictional, it tackles the very real issue of the mistreatment of indigenous girls. The acting is excellent all around, full of subtle clues and delightful details. For a first film, Stewart-Te Whiu avoids many potential stumbles and instead gives us a solid film that’s fun to watch. It played at ImagineNative this year, and is definitely worth seeing.
Apocalypse in the Tropics is playing this weekend at HotDocs and will be streaming on Netflix this coming week; Daniela Forever opens this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings; and We Were Dangerous is available now on VOD.
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.
Sensory extremes. Films reviewed: Black Bag, Novocaine
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
March break is coming to a close, so I have two genre movies — an action comedy and a spy thriller — you might want to watch this weekend. There’s a London spy who suspects everyone, and a San Diego bank manager who feels nothing.
But before that I’m going to tell you about some other movies you might not know about.
Unusual movies to catch in Toronto
If you’re into the indie music scene, there’s a special screening tonight at the TIFF Lightbox. We Forgot to Break Up is a movie about the rise and fall of a small-town gender queer band that goes from performing in a barn in rural Ontario to attempting to make it big in downtown Toronto. Its headed by rising young actor/musician Lane Webber, the songs are by Torquil Campbell, and the soundtrack includes Peaches, Gentleman Reg, and The Hidden Cameras. I saw this one at Inside Out last year, and I quite liked it.
Also playing at the Lightbox is the new Goethe Institute’s series Extra.Ordinary showing three great new German flics. I haven’t seen any of these yet (two will be Toronto premieres) but GoetheFilms programming is always top-notch. Similarly, the Japan Foundation is screening Still Walking, a classic by fave director Kore-eda Hirokazu, next week.
And finally, I bet you’ve never heard of Terrible Fest, have 
you? Well it’s a Super 8, B-Movie short film festival at Eyesore Cinema on March 25 and 30th, including titles like these: Wallet Monster, Dirty Show with Video Hoser, Air Fryer Slaughter, and of course that future cult-classic Girls Just Want to Have Kill. You can get a pass to all the films for just 12 bucks.
So, if you feel like going to a movie, but don’t want something too conventional, there are still alternatives to see.
Black Bag
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
George (Michael Fassbender) is a high ranked bureaucrat at Mi6, London’s international spy agency. He’s trying to find the identity of a suspected double agent. But instead of one name, the asset gives him a list with five names on it, and only one is the traitor. So he invites them all to a dinner party. Interestingly, four of the 5 are couples: Freddie and Clarissa (Tom Burke, Marisa Abela) and James and Zoe (Regé-Jean Page, Naomie Harris). And the fifth? It’s his own wife Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) whom he loves dearly, but if she’s the double agent, it’s his duty to catch her in the act.
Apparently, one of them possesses information about a top secret weapon and is peddling it to the Russians. This weapon is so terrible it could kill tens of thousands and plunge us into WWIII. And to George’s dismay, Kate is on a secret mission on the Continent, exchanging information for cash. Can George uncover the truth? Is Katherine the villain? And if so, will he turn her in?
Black Bag is a classic British spy-thriller, with everything 
going for it. It’s done in the style of a Le Carre novel. Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett and Naomie Harris provide star appeal. And the director/writer team of Steven Soderbergh with David Koepp are a winning combination (they released another movie Presence, just a few weeks ago, which I liked). So why does Black Bag suck so bad? The script is terrible, with an array of dull, unsympathetic characters, and a cookie-cutter plot. The witty repartee you expect from a British spy movie is totally missing. But I manly blame this one on Soderbergh himself, its director, editor and cinematographer. He’s like a film student with his first video camera, fooling around just for fun as he figures out how it works. The opening scene follows George around from behind until it finally reveals his face. Why? No reason, it doesn’t surprise 
you or advance the story, it’s just there. In other scenes we get to watch all the characters looking up from below their chins. Overly-bright candles at a dinner table obscure the characters’ faces. (What do audiences want to see? Candles or faces?) The music seems off-kilter with the mood. It’s all just so sloppy, distracting and off-putting, making the whole movie feel like a rush-job.
Admittedly, the story does get interesting in the last 15-20 minute, but it’s way too late to redeem this dud.
What a shame, Black Bag could have been so good.
Novocaine
Dir: Dan Berk, Robert Olsen
Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is a mild-mannered assistant manager at a San Diego savings bank who lives a highly- sheltered life. He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t go on dates, he doesn’t even go out at night. All sharp corners in his office are blunted by tennis balls. He won’t even chew sharp foods — anything that hasn’t been through a blender will never get past his lips. Why? He’s afraid he’ll hurt himself and not know it. You see, he suffers from a rare medical condition called CIPA; he can’t feel pain. When he was a school kid, bullies beat him up just for the novelty of it; they called him Novocaine.
When Nate’s not at work, he spends most of his time playing video games with online friends, including his best buddy Roscoe (Jacob Batalon) a guy he’s never actually met. But everything changes one day when Sherry (Amber Midthunder), a woman he has a major crush on at work, 
shows genuine interest in him. They actually go on a date, and it’s like a door to a whole new world opens up for him. He tries solid food (Is this what pie is? I love pie!) and has sex for the first time. He decides Sherry is is his life partner, the love of his life, the reason for his existence… and he will never let her go. That’s why he’s so upset when a gang of murderous thieves (dressed in Santa suits) storm into the bank, kill the manager, clear out the safe and drive off with Sherry as their hostage. The cops seem uninterested in catching the criminals — they even suspect Nate. He decides to throw caution to the wind, and hunt down those criminals himself, using his medical condition as sort of a super power. They can’t stop him because he feels no pain. Can he defeat the bad guys through willpower alone? And will he get to Sherry in time?
Novocaine is a brand-new take on gory action/ comedy, with a twisted plot, funny characters and surprisingly good acting. Jack Quaid is the ultimate Hollywood nepo-baby, the offspring of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. Awful, right? No — in Novocaine, he’s amazing, both endearing and self-effacing. Amber Midthunder (who is currently starring in two different movies) is very appealing, and together they have obvious chemistry.
Novocaine has all the requisite action sequences — fight scenes, shoot outs and chases — but it manages to combine them in new ways. I can’t stand “gorno” or torture porn; it’s upsetting to watch people suffering from excessive, constant pain. And there’s tons of it in this movie: Nate gets shot by arrows, scalded with boiling oil, tortured with knives and scissors, muscles bruised and bones broken. But because he is totally oblivious to pain, he turns squirms into laughter. Obviously the violence is explicit and plentiful, so if you can’t stand it, stay away. But there are so many clever, disarming twists that the violence never overpowers the laughs.
I found Novocaine totally entertaining.
Black Bag and Novocaine 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.
Daniel Garber talks with Toshiaki Aoyagi about Cinema Kabuki
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
When you hear the word “kabuki”, you’re probably familiar with what it looks like, perhaps the costumes and makeup, or its movement. You might think it’s complex, performative or inscrutable. But it’s actually a living and breathing performance art form, a medium still practiced and popular. But, unless you’ve been to Japan, you’ve probably never seen a performance of a kabuki play. Well, now’s your chance.
Cinema Kabuki is a series of three kabuki plays filmed for the big screen, starring some of its biggest stars. They are full of love, romance, tragedy and glory. The first is the salacious-sounding Love Letters from the Pleasure Quarters; the second show is Princess 
Sakurahime, Part I, full of death, tragedy, lust and a fair bit of supernatural LGBT content; and the third performance is Lion Dance, Kagami-jishi, a one-man, or one-animal performance.
The series is co-presented by the Japan Foundation and the Consulate General of Japan in Toronto and programmed
by their program officer Toshi Aoyagi, known for his love of the arts, from origami to performing art. This is a rare opportunity to see kabuki in a Toronto theatre.
I spoke with Toshiaki Aoyagi in person at CIUT 89.5 FM.
The films are playing at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto on Sunday, February 23rd, from 1 pm until the evening.
Blockbusters. Movies reviewed: Gladiator II, Wicked, PLUS Scared Sh*tless at #BITS
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
What’s a blockbuster? Apparently they were named after the American bombs in WWII that were so powerful they could flatten a city block. And as winter holidays approach, the big studios are releasing potential blockbusters; real movies not just Disney, Marvel and Star Wars drivel. Two new movies, Wicked and Gladiator II, open this weekend perhaps in an attempt to duplicate the way Barbie and Oppenheimer drew crowds into theatres. If they’re both hits, I wonder what people will call them? Wick-iator? Gladwick? Who knows? (Since recording, “Glicked” has become the word of choice.) This week I’m looking at those two big-budget Hollywood films: swords and sandals in ancient Rome and songs and dances in the land of Oz. But before that, for something completely different, a low-budget horror comedy about Toronto toilets.
Scared Shitless
Dir: Vivieno Caldinelli
Sonny (Daniel Doheny) is a depressed college drop out. Since his mom died of an unspecified infection, he’s suffered from a pathological fear of germs. He relentlessly washes his hands after touching almost anything and is always armed with small plastic bottles of Pepto-Bismol to keep himself from being sick. He lives with his dad, Don Donahue (Steven Ogg), the owner and sole employee of Donahue plumbing. Unlike Sonny, Don has no qualms about getting his hands dirty — it’s part of his job. So he decides to take a leap, and bring his germaphobic, OCD son with him on his next assignment. Maybe the shock of plumbing will pull him out of his stupor.
Luckily, it’s an easy one. Old Mrs Applebaum (Marcia Bennett) 
calls him almost weekly to help with a dripping faucet or a backed up toilet. “I think she just likes the company” he says. Sonny gets the dry heaves from look at a toilet, never mind touching one. But he agrees to do it. Meanwhile, all is not well at the Palmer Estates, that low-rise 1960s apartment building with questionable plumbing. Turns out, one of the tenants is a mad scientist who has created an apocalyptic monster, which is living within the building’s pipes. (The biologist is played by Kids in the Hall’s Mark McKinney channelling Captain Kangaroo). The beast is shaped like a giant fleshy tadpole, but with four lethal appendages dangling out of its razor sharp gullet, big enough to bite off your head or your nether regions.
And when blood starts appearing in the toilets, Sonny realizes this is bigger than he thought. He turns to the building’s superintendent to call 911. But Patricia, the super, (Chelsea Clark) who coincidentally was Sonny’s classmate at university, refuses to call. The building belongs to her parents, and she doesn’t like any 
bad PR. So the two of them — and his Dad — bravely set off to find the trouble before it gets any worse. But are they two late?
Scared Shitless is a crude and funny comedy/horror movie about a monster who lives in your toilet. Since it takes place in an apartment, you get to meet all sorts of weird and kinky characters, like an elderly couple into S&M role play. I think it’s trying more for the funny than the scary, and that’s fine with me. It’s also very much a Toronto movie, with both the main actors and the supporting ones — including perennial horror favourite Julian Richings — are recognizable as locals. Ogg, Doheney and Clark are all fun in their roles, as is the monster, known as Project X. It’s the creation of the legendary Steven Kostanski who previously brought us Manborg and Psycho Goreman. So if you’re the kind of person who keeps copies of Fangoria hidden under your bed, you will love Scared Shitless.
Paul Mescal plays Lucius in Gladiator II from Paramount Pictures.
Gladiator II
Dir: Ridley Scott
It’s the early 200s in ancient Rome. Lucius (Paul Mescal) is a gladiator preparing for a fight in the coliseum. But he’s not there for the coins he might win or the chance of buying his freedom in the future. He wants revenge and he wants it now. He’s a slave, captured after a battle in Numidia where his wife was killed. And he blames Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), a much-admired general. Lucius was discovered by entrepreneur and kingmaker Macrinus (Denzel Washington) who thought he noticed rage in Lucius face — just what a great fighter needs. But others are interested in Lucius too. The crowds cheer for him, the Senators scheme for him, and the two emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and his brother Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) have ideas of their own. But it’s Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) — a major character in the first Gladiator movie — who has personal reasons for him to stay alive. Who is Lucius? Why is he so important? And will he get the revenge he seeks?
Denzel Washington plays Macrinus in Gladiator II from Paramount Pictures.
Gladiator is an epic action drama set within a decadent ancient Rome, complete with senators, citizens plebes, gladiators, slaves and the Pretorian Guard. I have a low bar when it comes to action movies; as long as they have good fights and chase scenes, it’s acceptable. This one has so much more: a compelling plot with unexpected twists, great characters and excellent acting. Paul Mescal plays the driven gladiator as a classic hero on a quest. Denzel Washington is nicely
Pedro Pascal plays General Acacius in Gladiator II from Paramount Pictures.
slippery, and Pedro Pascal is truly majestic as the military hero. The cast is rounded out by Derek Jacobi — who brought ancient Rome to a generation as I,Claudius — and Little Britain’s Matt Lucas as the MC. There are even quotes from Virgil in the dialogue — not your usual action movie fare. Gladiator II is not perfect. There was no romance or love aside from filial piety. I thought the CGI animals — especially a vicious troupe of man-eating monkeys — was ridiculously fake. And though it harkens back to the sword and sandal flics of the 50s and 60s, Gladiator is no Spartacus, and Ridley Scott ain’t Stanley Kubrick. But Scott still knows how to craft a totally watchable, old-skool Hollywood drama like almost nobody else.
What can I say? I had a great time watching Gladiator II.
Wicked
Dir: Jon M. Chu
It’s the land of Oz. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is a new student at Shiz, an exclusive boarding school like Hogwarts but without much magic. Her Dad — the governor of Munchkinland — sent her there to take care of Nessarose, her beloved little sister. Elphaba doesn’t get along with her roommate, the most popular girl in school. Glinda (Ariana Grande) is everything Elphaba is not. She’s a rich, frivolous, self-centred airhead, who cares more about fashion than thinking. She wears pink frocks, and tosses her blond tresses from side to side, to get whatever she wants. Elphaba is smart, diligent and pure-hearted. She dresses only in black, so as not to draw attention to herself. Why then is Glinda adored and envied, while Elphaba is mocked and feared?
It’s because of her skin colour; as Kermit the Frog said, it’s not easy being green.
But one person does like her: Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). She believes Elphaba possesses magical powers she just needs to keep them under control. If she does, perhaps the kind and benevolent Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) may even allow her to visit him in the Emerald City. When Glinda hears this, she decides it’s time to kiss and make up. .. and maybe she’ll get to learn some magic, too?
But their relationship is complicated. Glinda is dating a dashing young prince (Jonathan Bailey) who seems more intrigued by the green-faced and moody Elphaba than by her. And Dr. Dillamond, their history teacher, is a goat. Animals once were equal to humans, but not any more. While Glinda is indifferent to their plight, Elphaba thinks the animals must be respected and 
protected. With all these ideas whirling around Elphaba’s head, what will happen next? Is Glinda her friend or her rival? And will she ever get to meet the Wizard of Oz?
Wicked is a spectacular musical about the origin of a misunderstood young girl who later becomes known as the wicked witch of the West. It’s a whopping 2:45 long, but you wouldn’t know it; it whizzes by at a very fast pace. Even so, it’s only part one of a two-part saga. It’s based on a broadway musical, which was adapted from the novel Wicked by Gregory Maguire , which in turn was a riff on the movie The Wizard of Oz and the L Frank Baum books. Apparently, the musical was a huge hit and has a fanatical following — at my screening there were people in at my screening loudly applauding after every great solo. And I bet they also liked a scene where Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel — who starred in the original stage production — sing a duet, sort of a play within a play.
But I went in an absolute beginner, knowing nothing about it. Didn’t matter.
Wicked is an excellent movie. It’s all shot on a set, but is cinematic, not theatrical. There’s seamless editing, great acting, and impressive art direction. Dozens of professional dancers twist and leap across the stage. Cynthia Erivo is a powerful singer whose Elphaba is nicely empathetic. We can feel her. She’s amazing. Ariana Grande may be a pop star but she shows genuine talent here: a skilled actor with a beautiful voice.
I am not a devotee of Broadway musicals, but I really enjoyed Wicked.
Wicked and Gladiator II open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. And Scared Shitless is playing tonight (November 23) at 9:30 pm, as part of B.I.T.S. Canadian horror festival.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Twentieth century troubles. Films reviewed: White Bird, Hold Your Breath, Saturday Night
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Lots and lots of movies coming to Toronto. Opening this weekend is the monster comedy Frankie Freako by Toronto’s own Steven Kostanski; and next week, look out for the Goethe Films, Aftermath: Echoes of War series featuring classics by Fassbinder and Wim Wenders at the TIFF Lightbox.
But today, I’m looking at three new movies, all set in the 20th Century. There’s dustbowl horror in 1930s Oklahoma, Nazi occupation in 1940s France, and the opening night of a live TV show in 1970s New York City.
White Bird
Dir: Marc Forster
It’s 1943, during WWII, in a picturesque French village near the Swiss border. Sarah Blum (Ariella Glaser) is a happy middle class kid in her school with high marks and many friends. And she loves drawing pictures in the margins of her notebook. One young boy clearly has a crush on her. Julien (Orlando Schwerdt) is smart and kind, but also a victim of bullying. Not only does his father work in the sewers but Julien has a brace on one leg and uses a crutch to get around, making him a ready target for cruel bullies. But things change rapidly under the Nazi Occupation. Sarah and the other Jewish kids are pulled out of class one day to be deported to the camps. She alone manages to escape and hide in the woods. But the former class bullies are now classroom Nazis and they’re always on the look out for Sarah. Luckily she has a saviour — it’s Julien, of course, who lets her hide in the hayloft of his barn. As the months go by, he serves as her one-man classroom, relating the lessons she misses each day. And as they get to know each other better, they grow closer — is love at hand? And can they keep her hidden during the Nazi Occupation?
White Bird is an historical romantic drama. Adapted from a YA 
graphic novel by R. J. Palacio, it’s a sequel to an earlier book (also adapted into a film) called Wonder. The historical plot is framed by a kid named Julien in present-day New York, whose French Grand-mère (Helen Mirren) is telling him a story from her youth. I found the movie OK, with some real weepy moments. It does have odd details: why is the French resistance’s oath Vive l’Humanité!? But I like the graphic novel feel of the whole thing, with rapid story development and unexpected twists and turns. If you’re looking for a good, historical, teenaged tearjerker, check out White Bird.
Hold Your Breath
Co-Dir: Karrie Crouse, William Joines
It’s 1933 on the Oklahoma panhandle. Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson) lives with her two daughters on a farm. Life is miserable. Once their land was covered with acres of wheat, the cows and horses thriving in the barn. But years of drought has turned their land into a giant dustbowl. It’s so bad that you can choke to death in a dust storm. Her husband Henry is in Philadelphia looking for paid work, leaving the three women alone, waiting for his first paycheque to arrive so they can join him. Rose (Amiah Miller) the older daughter is yearning to see a big city, while little sister Ollie, who is deaf (Alona Jane Robbins) is shy and easily frightened. Especially so since Rose read her a scary book about The Gray Man, a mythical bogeyman who embodies the terror of a dust storm. The neighbours are nervous, too — rumours abound that a drifter made his way into someone’s home and killed all the women.
So Margaret is on high alert, her rifle cocked and ready to fire, 
when a drifter appears in their barn. Wallace Grady (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) calms her down, saying he knows her husband who told him to check up on his family. I’m a man of the cloth, he says, and a faith healer. But strange unexplained things start happening. Is he a killer or a pastor? Does he have supernatural powers? Or is he the mythical Gray Man?
Hold Your Breath is a psychological thriller in a gothic setting. It’s spooky and creepy, and a little bit scary, full of feelings of suspicion and psychosis. the acting, especially Sarah Paulson, is quite good. One thing I found interesting is, though it’s ostensibly set during the Great Depression, it feels like an allegory of the recent pandemic. The family puts on elaborate white face masks to protect from the lethal dust whenever they go outside, are afraid to leave their home, and they are terrified of an unknown invisible enemy who can “get inside their home and their bodies unnoticed, just by breathing”.
Nothing is very surprising here, and the story seemed less scary than tragic, but if you’re heavily into southern gothic horror, I think you’ll appreciate Hold your Breath.
Saturday Night
Co-Wri/Dir: Jason Reitman
It’s October 11, 1975 in New York City, and in a few hours a new show will be broadcast live across the United States. It’s a new concept; not the “live” part; that was a staple of TV programming from its earliest days. What’s new are the guests — Jim Henson and his muppets — the comedians — Andy Kaufman and George Carlin — the controversial topics, the live musicians, and the “not ready for prime time” players. The show is meant otherwise be produced on the fly with minimal rehearsals — they plan to read their lines from cue cards or just wing it. The show is Saturday Night Live, and up until the moment it airs, no one’s sure whether the show will be canceled even before it starts.
It’s up to the creators Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) and Dick Ebersol to get the show ready in time. Lorne is working closely with his writer (and partner) Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennot). But he’s badgered by network VPs who seem to be determined to make it fail. On top of this, John Belushi has passed out somewhere, the union crew refuse to put the set together, they can’t find a live 
audience to sit in a studio at midnight, snd all the local station bosses are there with their own gripes.
What can a guy do?
Saturday Night is an instantly forgettable but warmly nostalgic look at the start of an iconic TV show. More surprising is the movie is genuinely funny. A lot funnier, in fact, than the TV show it’s celebrating. This is not a documentary; it’s a comic dramatization of what might have been going on that first night, exactly 50 years ago next week. There’s an enormous cast, with every producer, writer and comic portrayed by people who weren’t even born when that show started.
I love the frenetic energy running through this film, as the camera flies around the set following a plethora of characters all talking at once as they try to get the show on the air. It has a cast of thousands, it’s fun to watch and never boring. Like I said, there’s nothing much to it, but I enjoyed Saturday Night.
Saturday Night and White Bird both open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. Hold Your Breath is now streaming on Disney+.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
World premieres at #TIFF24. Films reviewed: Relay, We Live In Time, Hard Truths
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
TIFF is on its final weekend, but there are still many movies left to watch, including free screenings on Sunday of all the the Peoples Choice winners. So this week, I’m only talking about movies that had their World Premieres at TIFF. There’s an overly angry woman, a secret agent for hire, and a love affair that turns serious.
Relay
Dir: David Mackenzie (Review: Starred Up)
Ash (Riz Ahmed) runs an unusual business in New York City. It’s for whistle blowers who are afraid for their lives and their family’s and want to make peace with their previous employer and return the incriminating evidence. The genius of Ash’s work is that neither side — the whistle blower and the corporation — know who he is… and both sides pay him. A win-win situation, at least for him. He relays information using an intermediary phone service connected to an ASL keyboard for the deaf that can’t be traced. And he always keeps one copy of the evidence just in case the employer ever reneges on the deal.
His latest client is a biologist named Sarah (Lily James), a would be whistle-blower who has proof of malfeasance by a big agro conglomerate she worked for. But now she wants out, because she’s afraid a gang of thugs working for the company (Sam Worthington, and three others) are going to kill her. Problem is Ash — who never lets his guard down — is smitten by the beautiful and sympathetic Sarah, who he goes out of his way to protect. Can Ash keep her safe from unknown forces? And is there something deeper going on between them?
Relay is an ingenious action film that doubles as a corporate spy flick. It’s full of complex schemes involving the postoffice, telephone services and communication devices. As well as lethal fights. Riz Ahmed is one of those actors who is so good that you can just go and see anything he’s in. Luckily, Relay is a super-taut thriller, with constant suspense, near-misses and clever chase scenes. Beware: you’ll be his with an enormous twist near the end (no spoilers) that will totally blindside you. I’m still trying to figure out whether it’s plausible ir not, but either way, this is a great thriller.
We Live In Time
Dir: John Crowley (Reviews: The Goldfinch, Brooklyn)
Almut (Florence Pugh) is a chef in London whose restaurant is taking off. She had a long-term relationship with a woman, but eventually separated. Tobias (Andrew Garfield) works for Weetabix — yes the breakfast cereal — and has been living with his dad since his first wife divorced him. The two meet with a bang. Literally. She runs him over with her car. But this is no hit and run. She sticks around until he gets out of hospital, and invites him for dinner at her restaurant. Sparks fly and their relationship begins. But certain obstacles lie in their path. Is there any point to marriage? Should they have kids? And what happens when she is diagnosed with cancer?
We Live In Time is a surprisingly good romance. Most romances veer either toward slapstick comedy or treacly cornball. This one does neither. The time in th entitle is reflected in it’s narrative, which hope back and forth between different stages of their lives. And it’s full of evocative details, like when Almut — the chef — teaches Tobias the best way to crack an egg (on a flat surface, she says) While it’s clearly Oscar bait (what with the cancer and baby details artfully placed), it’s also a fully enjoyable and moving film to watch. Irish director John Crowley knows what he’s doing; he brought us movies the classic Brooklyn. Frances Pugh does Almut as tough but lovable while Andrew plays it goofy and sweet.
This is good one.
Hard Truths
Co-Wri/Dir: Mike Leigh (Reviews: Peterloo, Mr Turner)
Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a middle-aged woman who lives with her family in a quiet London suburb. Her husband Curtley (David Webber), a plumbing contractor, is away most of the day, while their son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) in his twenties locks himself in his room with his ear phones on playing video games. Perhaps because Pansy is so hard to deal with. When Moses goes for a walk, she yells at him to stay away from police or he’ll be arrested for walking while black. And when Courtley is home she subjects him to a non-stop abusive barrage of complaints and insults about his work, the neighbours, a baby down the street, animals, germs and being disrespected.
Meanwhile, Pansy’s sister Chantal (Michele Austin) lives with her two successful daughters. Chantal is kind and amiable, listening to problems and gossip as she does her clients’ hair. And she — like everyone else — wonders why her sister Pansy is so angry bitter and paranoid all the time. And can she get her to visit the cemetery on Mother’s Day?
The topics — kinship, loss, mental illness — seem ordinary but the movie is anything but. Hard Truths is a searing comedy-drama about two black families in London. By comedy-drama I mean you will be laughing uproariously through the first half and then crying through the second. It’s just fantastic. The character development, the dialogue, and the acting are dead on. Marianne Jean-Baptist is so funny and so real and so moving, she’s a phenomenon to behold. If she doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for this, I will be shocked. She co-starred with Brenda Blethyn in another Mike Leigh movie, Secrets and Lies, thirty years ago, and this one is even better.
I would call Hard Truths a perfect movie.
Relay, We Live in Time, Hard Truths, all had their world premieres at TIFF .
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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