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.