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2017 movies

Film Review: POOR AGNES (Canada 2016) ***

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Poor Agnes Poster
A serial killer and her next victim form an unexpected relationship.

Director:

Navin Ramaswaran

Writer:

James Gordon Ross

Stars:

Lora Burke, Karen Scobie, Amy Marie Wallace

 

The synopsis of POOR AGNES on imdb goes “A serial killer and her next victim form an unexpected relationship”.  That description of the movie would be enough to scare away many an audience but writer James Gordon Ross and director Navin Ramaswaran have concocted quite the movie.

The film opens with a few incidents involving Agnes (Lora Burke).  She is shown suffocating a victim by placing a plastic bag over his head.  The audience sees her pawning the victim’s gold watch and silk tie.  When the pawnbroker uses the ‘f’ word at her, she retorts by throwing him an insult.  He reduces the price of the gold watch from $200 to $150 which she takes, as she is broke and has no choice.  The segments tell a lot about Agnes and the route the film is taking.

Credit should be given to director Ramaswaran for the feat of having his audience root for as unlikeable a character as a non-repentant  serial killer.  He achieves this (feat) by several means which are interesting to note:

all the characters around her are either seedier or nastier than her, not only her victims

she is all by herself and one usually respects an independent woman

she is funny and she cracks the best jokes

she is smart

she knows what she wants and does it

she is neither annoying nor irritating in any of her conduct

This might be the reason the film is called POOR AGNES (instead of say NASTY AGNES) which makes the audience want to root even more for someone needing sympathy.

The first half of the film establishes Agnes’ personality while introducing her love/sex relationship with Mike (Robert Notman).   Mike is the private detective hired to find out more about a missing person a year ago that Agnes did away with.  After Mike hits on her, she kidnaps him but lets him go free in an odd love relationship.

One might imagine the film going out of steam after the first half.  But the film’s pacing is good and new events keep the audience interested throughout the entire film.  Agnes draws the reluctant and unsuspecting Mike into her evil deeds.  She kidnaps a previous trick, Chris (Will Conlon) and forces Mike to do away with him.

Credit goes to Toronto actress Lora Burke for an excellent performance as the serial killer/madwoman.  Robert Notman is also convincing as her reluctant partner.  Everything else in the other departments from music, to sound to sets to cinematography are to be commended.

POOR AGNES doe not slag in any way.  Despite the rather outrageous plot, the story and characters are kept believable.  Humour (especially black) is also injected particularly in the segment where Agnes attends a tortured victims support group.

Director Ramaswaran and writer James Gordon Ross make an excellent team.  The film won the Best Canadian Film Prize at the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0boeomU9anM

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Film Review: ONLY THE BRAVE (USA 2017) ***1/2

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Only the Brave Poster
Trailer

Based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of elite firefighters risk everything to protect a town from a historic wildfire.

Director:

Joseph Kosinski

Writers:

Sean Flynn (based on the GQ article “No Exit” by), Ken Nolan

Stars:

Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges

 

Warning: This review contains spoilers.  Spoilers are highlighted in italics

ONLY THE BRAVE, based on true events is a tough American biographical action disaster drama that tells the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots.  The Hotshots are an elite crew of firefights that have first rights in the front lines to stopping fires (in decision and execution).  A local Arizona firefighting team finally gain qualification as hotshots under the leadership of Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin).

ONLY THE BRAVE is a disaster film not unlike THE TOWERING INFERNO.  It is one of the better firefighting films compared to past successes like John Wayne’s THE HELLFIGHTERS and Ron Howard’s BACKDRAFT.   A well balanced script by Ken Nolan (the excellent BLACKHAWK DOWN) and Eric Warren Singer (AMERICAN HUSTLE) ties in the human drama to the action.  As the ad goes: “It’s not what stands in front of you; It’s who stands beside you.”

There are a few human dramas on display.  They seems superfluous at the start but the actors and script hammer at the material till it finally grows on you.  The main one involves the chief Eric Marsh and the sacrifice his marriage to his wife, Amanda (Jennifer Connelly) has taken.  She sees him only 10% of the time and she wants a change in their lives.  The other deals with hot shot youngster, an ex-addict, Brendan (Miles Teller) who joins the firefighters in order to support his daughter that has resulted from an unexpected pregnancy.    Brendan is given a chance by Eric who calls him ‘donut’.  The confrontation scene between Eric and Amanda strikes fireworks.

ONLY THE BRAVE marks the other kind of action hero film – the ones (like the recent PATRIOT’S DAY) that involve real life heroes in real life events.  These are the kind of heroes America needs these days, in times of terrorist attacks in a world gone crazy.   ONLY THE BRAVE celebrates true heroes and real people in an excellent executed film.  The fire scenes are authentic, as director Kosinski has said in an interview that he had gone for authenticity.

Great performances all around, particularly from Brolin and Jeff Bridges.  Miles Teller delivers another winning performance as a bad-ass character – annoying in the beginning, but capturing the heart of the audience by the end.

For such a serious topic, the script inserts a few metaphors (like the burning bear – a terrifying yet beautiful sight) and some needed honour.  The best and funniest line is the advice given by Duane Steinbrink (the Bridges character) to Eric: “You must know what you can live with and what you can die without.”  Even Duane does not know what it really means!

The climax of the film involves the Granite Mountain Hotshots (as they then call themselves) fighting the out-of-control Yarnell Hill Fire in the June of 2013.  Those who know the history will recall the sacrifice these firefighters made in order to control the fire and save lives.  Kosinski’s film ends up a tearjerker, so make sure you bring lots of Kleenex.  But these are tears well shed.  ONLY THE BRAVE is a worthy tribute, and as the words emphasize during the losing credits dedicated to the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE_GY6zccqc

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Film Review: HUMAN FLOW (Germany 2017) ***

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Human Flow Poster
Trailer

Human Flow is director and artist, Ai Weiwei’s detailed and heartbreaking exploration into the global refugee crisis.

Director:

Ai Weiwei

Writers:

Chin-Chin Yap, Tim Finch

Stars:

Israa Abboud, Hiba Abed, Rami Abu Sondos

 

Chinese artist Ai WeiWei’s ambitious film about refugees around the world has his clear impression stamp.  Ai was himself a political dissident in his own country, jailed for his openly anti-government and artistic displays (as observed in the documentary about himself – Alison Klayman’s AI WEI WEI – NEVER SORRY).

The film begins with the arrival of a boat full of refugees – a scene that is repeated at the end of the film, but then explained in greater and horrific detail.  HUMAN FLOW traces the plight of refugees, the most current being the Syrians, Afghanis and Iraqis as they escape war for a better life in any country they can find open to them.

HUMAN FLOW is unfortunately very long, close to two and a half hours and occasionally all over the place.  One particular example that stands out is the segment that comes out of the blue, of a tiger that is evacuated back to freedom in Africa.  (The tiger happened to escape through a tunnel just like a refugee.)

Ai’s artistry can be observed in many parts of his film.  The overhead shots of one of many makeshift refugee camps such as the back of trucks and the ending segment of colours are reminiscent of his art in his documentary, AI WEIWEI – NEVER SORRY.  His use of deafening silence is noticeable in the scene of a refugee boat sailing across the ocean as well as the devastating burning of the oil fields.  Ai is also fond of quoting poets of different nationalities as the refugees are (of different nationalities).

HUMAN FLOW could do with a tighter narrative with a head and conclusion.  Ai does also touch the topic of returning refugees.  He opens ones eyes to the problem of internal displacement – when refugees return home after too long a period and find that things have changed too much against them.  They no longer own their lands or know the people they once knew.

Refugees suffer a lot during their travels, often contacting diseases and undergoing sub-human living conditions.  Ai does not show these sufferings visually but they are described in voiceover or by the people interviewed verbally.  They are just as horrifying.  The people in the packed boats arrive, with diarrhoea, and scurvy (lack of Vitamin C).  Among them are children, babies and expecting women.

On the film’s more positive side, Ai includes interviews of people that work to help the refugees.  The Princess of Jordan talks candidly of human beings needing to do their part.  HUMAN FLOW also shows how certain countries like Germany and Sweden have done their part while others have not.

I remember a few months back when a friend asked my advice if he should take a refugee Syrian family to his home for a few months.  His wife was unsure of the kindness but I advised him against it as to be fair to his wife and not put his family at possible risk.  After seeing HUMAN FLOW, I regretted my advice.  Though Ai’s film is by no means perfect, it accomplishes its aim to make a difference.  If one cannot sacrifice a little for a suffering fellow human being, then, what are we?

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVZGyTdk_BY

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Film Review: LEATHERFACE (USA 2016)

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Leatherface Poster
Trailer

A teenage Leatherface escapes from a mental hospital with three other inmates, kidnapping a young nurse and taking her on a road trip from hell, while being pursued by a lawman out for revenge.

Directors:

Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury

Writers:

Kim Henkel (based on characters created by), Tobe Hooper (based on characters created by)

Stars:

Finn Jones, Stephen Dorff, Lili Taylor

 

Written by Seth M. Sherwood and directed by French horror masters Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, famous for their horror debut L’INTERIOR, LEATHERFACE, the main killer in the late Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, is a prequel to that film tracing the origin of the character LEATHERFACE.  Hooper executively produced the movie.

The film begins with a disturbing scene in the Sawyer household.  A birthday party is being held by the family matriarch Verna Sawyer (Lili Taylor) for the youngest member of the family Jedidiah. As his present and to induct him into the sadistic family rituals, Jed is presented with a chainsaw and forced to torture a man accused of stealing one of their pigs.  Jed refuses, visibly disturbed and the thief is killed by Grandpa.

A few months later a young couple Betty Hartman and Ted Hardesty are driving through the family territory when they come across a seemingly wounded Jed.  Betty follows him to a dilapidated barn where she’s promptly killed by the family.  Hours later her father Sheriff Hartman (Stephen Dorff) arrives to find her dead. As Verna arrives to protect her sons, Hartman quickly takes Jed into his custody as revenge, sending him to a mental asylum for disturbed youths.  The doctor of the asylum keeps the youths there indefinitely.  His reasoning is that if they are let out – they either come back or go to prison.

As expected in LEATHERFACE, audiences would expect to see disturbingly horrific scenes like the taking of the hammer to a victim’s head or a Sawyer family member cutting himself then laughing and taking a photograph of it.  Sadly there are no moments in Leatherface that can better these.  But the sheriff pressing his finger into a wound and pigs eating a wounded but live deputy come close.

It has been a long time – close to 50 years (how time flies when one is having fun with a chainsaw) that the Sawyer family used the saw and hammer as murder weapons.  Not many will recall what happened in the TEXAN CHAINSAW MASSACRE film, so LEATHERFACE could very well be a standalone film.  Hardly anyone, for example can remember grandpa in the original movie, taking a hammer to a girl’s head but too weak to kill her.  Grandpa is younger and alive in this prequel.  But LEATHERFACE also plays as a revenge film.  Sheriff Hartman goes crazy in exacting a revenge for his dead daughter.  The nurse at the mental institution serves as the new heroine at the mercy of the Sawyer family.   Though LEATHEFACE has a stronger narrative, anyone going to see film in this horror genre is not really interested in plot.  They would be more interested in horror and graphic violence pushed to some new psychological level.

Though the film establishes the reason Jed wears the leather mask and called leatherface, it does not reveal any clues on the reason the Sawyer family or the matriarch in particular came into being.  Why would they eat humans (not shown in this film) when they is plenty of pigs on their farm?  This prequel is ok for TEXAS CHAINSAW fans, but does the rest of the world need to see this?

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aiYQj2foHo

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Film Review: THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED) (USA 2017) ****

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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) Poster
Trailer
An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.

Director:

Noah Baumbach

Writer:

Noah Baumbach

Stars:

Adam Sandler, Grace Van Patten, Dustin Hoffman

 

The one of two Netflix originals that premiered at Cannes this year (with OKJA), THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES took critics by surprise (despite being booed at the screenings for being a NETFLIX film) with many hailing it as one of their favourite Top 10 at Cannes.

The film is so-called THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES as it revolves around multiple stories among the different members of the Meyerowitz family.  It starts off with Danny driving around the city with his daughter cussing while trying to find parking.  “Garage it,” the daughter says.  The family patriarch is Harold (Oscar Winner Dustin Hoffman sporting a full beard).  He is old, hospitalized at one point and is more interested in his art and coming-up museum showcase opening than in his family.  His new wife is alcoholic recovered, Maureen (Emma Thompson) wanting to seek the family house.  Their sons include Danny (Adam Sadler) who is recently separated and moving ingot he parents house and who has never worked a day in his life.  The successful son, making the money is Matt (Ben Stiller) who the family resents because of jealousy that he is capable to making the most money.  The daughter is Jenny (Elizabeth Marvel) into into making movies.  Everyone comes together in this dysfunctional family with drastic and comedic results.  Bambauch has mastered this genre with his film flowing smoothly.

Director Bambauch (THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, MISTRESS AMERICA, FRANCES HA) allow each actor their freedom to do their own thing and inhabit the characters they portray.  Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller in their rare serious roles shine in their performances.  They show both angst and desperation as men that been betrayed by the artistic father (Dustin Hoffman sporting a full white beard.)  Emma Thompson sporting elderly age makeup plays the step-mother reminiscent of a similar motherly role in the British film THE LEGEND OF BARNEY THOMSON. 

The film has a Jewish cast and crew, led by its director Bambauch.  The film has definitely a Jewish impression that leaves a fine imprint and is not overpowering.  It runs a bit long at 2 hours, but the free flowing characteristic of the film allows it to keep going, without it getting monotonous or boring.  One can always count on Bamnauch to add another story to his list.

The film’s best moments are in the script’s sharp dialogue.  The best line comes from Dr. Soni after the children abruptly questions her saying it isn’t fair for on her leaving for vacation in China while leaving their father in an induced coma.  (This current state of affairs is already really funny in itself)  Her reply: “yes, it isn’t!”  The response sums up what each of the siblings have gone through being a member of the Meyerowitz family.

THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES establishes Bambauch once again as the Master of films on dysfunctional families and quirky characters.

The film is available on NETFLIX for on-line streaming to subscribers.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czyMIIm12JY

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Film Review: OFFICE (Hong Kong 2015) ***

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Office Poster
A musical set mainly in a corporate high-rise. Two assistants, Lee Xiang and Kat, start new jobs at the financial firm Jones & Sunn.

Director:

Johnnie To

Writer:

Sylvia Chang

Stars:

Sylvia Chang, Yun-Fat Chow, Eason Chan

 

Hong Kong action director Johnny To (TRIAD ELECTION, BLIND DETECTIVE among 70 directorial credits) does a Chinese musical satirizing office culture in the mildly amusing but ambitious OFFICE.  OFFICE was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 before release though it never made it to Canada.  And OFFICE is full of unexpected surprises.

The story of OFFICE follows the IPO (Initial Public Offering) of shares by a major  company led by the Chairman (Chow Yun-Fat) and his CEO who also happens to be his mistress (Sylvia Chang).  Meanwhile, his wife is comatose in the hospital.   But they are clever people as they control money and not let money control them, as the CEO advises a newbie at one point in the film.

The film opens as two new interns show up at the posh financial company Jones & Sunn.  Lee Xiang (Ziyi Wang) and Kat-Ho (Yueting Lang), start new jobs but learn that there are lots of kissing asses and dirty business that need be done in order to be successful.  Lee Xiang is earnest and naive.  He goes about saying his name Lee is from Ang Lee (the Taiwanese director) and Xiang means thinking.   Two other characters that play a part in the plot are high flyers Sophie (Wei Tang) and David (Eason Chan) who forge financial figures.

OFFICE is pleasant to the eyes – great set decoration and design.  The fathomless office space with countess desks and faceless employees at each desk not only look stunning (credit to production designer William Cheung) but gets the point across.  Each office space is designed artistically and modern, often with crystalline and curved shapes.  Wardrobe, especially those worn by Sylvia Chang are haute couture.

The characters break into song at any time with the film looking a bit similar as a result, to LALA LAND.  But the songs are often clumsily inserted, and break the flow of the narrative, despite a few being really inventive, especially if one understands Chinese in order to get the innuendo.  Songs are by 1980s pop icon Lo Ta-yu.

OFFICE is based on the play “Design For Living” written (as is the film ) by screen veteran Sylvia Chang who also plays a lead as the company CEO.  The film is shot in both Mandarin (when they speak in the office) and Cantonese (when they speak more casually to friends and family).

OFFICE barely succeeds as a musical and satire and runs a bit long at just under two hours.  The novelty of the sets and songs wears off quite soon.  Being a Johnny To film, one feels that guns could start blazing at various points in the film.  Still for sheer courage of ingenuity, OFFICE is worth a look for its eccentricity.

OFFICE has a special screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on October the 28th at 930 pm.  OFFICE is screened as part of TIFF Cinematheque’s first retrospective on Johnny To entitled “Expect the Unexpected”.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFS1sdkSOwQ

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Full Review: 78/52 (USA 2017) ****

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78/52 Poster
Trailer

An unprecedented look at the iconic shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Psycho (1960), the “man behind the curtain”, and the screen murder that profoundly changed the course of world cinema.

Director:

Alexandre O. Philippe

Stars:

Alan Barnette, Justin Benson, Peter Bogdanovich |

 

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Full Review: BPM (120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE) (France 2017) ****

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BPM (Beats Per Minute) Poster
120 BPM. The average heart rate. The protagonists of 120 battements par minute are passionate about fighting the indifference that exists towards AIDS.

Director:

Robin Campillo

Writers:

Robin Campillo, Philippe Mangeot

Stars:

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel

 

Best known for being Laurent Cantet’s (ENTRE LES MURS, VERS LE SUD) scriptwriter, Robin Campillo is also responsible for EASTERN BOYS, never released in Toronto but clearly the best gay film of 2003, along with STRANGER BY THE LAKE in close second that year.  His shooting techniques (example overhead shots of a crowd) of his films are familiar and are put to good use as in his new film.

While EASTERN BOYS dealt with East European call boys invading Paris, BPM covers another controversial if not more non-fiction topic.  120 battements par minute (beats per minute) centres on the French chapter of the protest organization ACT UP, and the dynamics, personal and public, amongst this disparate group of men and women affected by AIDS.  The film begins with one of its protests followed by a meeting that analyzes its effectiveness.  In it, Campillo introduces his characters, its two leaders before concentrating on HIV positive Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart).  Sean (pronounced ‘shirn’ en Francais) is a charismatic and very oratorical young militant who wades fearlessly into action, bolstered by the courage of his convictions.   To make his film more personal as well as effective, Campillo puts faces into the organization of ACT UP.  Sean meets (at a rally) Nathan and has sex, beginning a relationship.

The film comes complete with uninhibited sex scenes.  The one with Nathan and Sean in bed is extremely erotic with full nudity and celebration of hot bodies.  The other one in  contrast, in the hospital is extremely grim.  Campillo love of contrast, is also observable with one seen in the dark and another immediately following in bright light.

In terms of history and non-fictional events, the film logs the fight of ACT UP against Melton Pharm, the pharmaceutical company that refuses to release their lab results.  The film, in its most powerful moments re-enacts the debate between the ACT UP members and the organizers.  “I am dying, my count is 87, I cannot wait,” are the desperate words of the protestors.

The film’s best moment is the Thibault’s visitation of dying Sean in the hospital.  Thiboult the ACT UP leader is always fighting with Sean, a founding member. They always argue on key points with Sean often embarrassing Thibault in public.  “We don’t like each other, but we are friends,” are very meaningful words uttered by Thibault that hit home.

The film also documents different reactions to the ACT UP activities.  When they break into a school to pass on information about safe sex, one teacher is angry and adamant while another tells the class to listen to the important information.

BPM, one of the best films of TIFF is definitely also its most powerful one.  Those who are HIV positive have the member of ACT UP and other activist groups to thank for the progress made a of today.  The film is a tribute to these people.

For a film that deals with the topic of death, BPM is full of life.  A film that deserves to be angry for the fact that the privilege of living for many has almost been taken completely away.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fhO2A4SL24

 

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Film Review: HAPPY DEATH DAY (USA 2017)

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Happy Death Day Poster
Trailer

A college student relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer’s identity.

Director:

Christopher Landon

Writer:

Scott Lobdell

Stars:

Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine

 

HAPPY DEATH DAY is a teen horror sci-fi comedy in which a college student Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) must relive the same day over and over again until she figures out who is trying to kill her and why.  The day is special because it is also the day of her murder, with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end, until she discovers her killer’s identity.  Why will this day stop repeating if she stops herself from being killed?  That theory is proposed by the script and other time loop movies like the recent BEFORE I FALL, and one should not argue with these rules established in film genres.  No one argues about garlic warding off vampires or sunlight destroying them.  As soon as Tree is killed by the man in a chuckling pig faced mask, she wakes up in the morning in the male dorm room of Carter (Israel Broussard) who took her home after she got sick at the party the night before.

Time loop films have became a genre on itself after the most famous of all, Ivan Reitman’s GROUNDHOG day with Bill Murray waking up everyday to the tune of  “I got you Babe”  by Sonny and Cher.  Another new rule is that the time loop always occur right after the death of the subject.  And it is assumed that if this death is prevented, the time loop will stop and life continues.  Oddly enough no film in this genre bothers to explain the origin of the time loop.  As in BEFORE I FALL, the lead character undergoing the time loop aims to be a better person as her are days repeated.  With this time loop concept, it is wise that the comedy element is added, as one can hardly take this incredible notion as a possible reality.

That said, Tree wakes up in the Carter’s room.  She leaves meets an assortment of characters as she walks across campus to her own girl dorm where she greets her roommate Lori (Ruby Modine) and Danielle (Rachel Matthews) the chief of her dorm.  While going to her surprise birthday party later in the evening, she is killed by the slasher in mask and awakes in Carter’s room again.  The process is repeated.

The good thing about time loop films is that for some unknown reason, no one cannot remember the exact plot of each film.  The most recent of these is BEFORE I FALL which is also about a teen girl undergoing the same demise.  The two films are very similar – both die and wake up the next morning; both are mean girls; both make the identical decision to become a better person.  While BEFORE I FALL is the film with a tighter narrative and arguably better film, this script by  Scott Lobdell is all over the place and contains a significant flaw in the identity of Tres’ killer being totally laughable.

However, as in all time loop films, HAPPY DEATH DAY is not meant to be taken seriously, credible plot or otherwise.  It serves its purpose to occasionally surprise and entertain and this is what these films are only good for.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NTaDm3atkc

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Film Review: LOTS OF KIDS, A MONKEY AND A CASTLE (Spain 2017)

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Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle Poster
Spanish actor Gustavo Salmerón steps behind the camera to capture the winsome eccentricities of his extraordinary mother Julita, who had three dreams: having lots of kids, owning a monkey, and living in a castle.

Director:

Gustavo Salmerón

Writers:

Beatriz Montañez, Gustavo Salmerón 

Stars:

Julieta Salmerón, Gustavo Salmerón

 

With a castle as a tim set and the film set in Spain, this doc called LOTS OF KIDS, A MONKEY AND A CASTLE plays like a fairy tale.

The film begins with the director’s mother, 80-year old Julita, talking to the camera expressing her three wishes.  Her three wishes form the title of the movie – children, a monkey and a castle.  She says she has 6 children and a monkey but getting a castle was the difficult part.  The film goes on.

The monkey part did not go so well. Julita purchased an aggressive monkey that ended up biting her and attacking another woman when it broke its chain.  They finally had to let it go.  The doc has pictures of the monkey but no live footage.

No one would imagine Julita’s middle-class family coming into money, enabling them to make the harebrained purchase of a castle.  All was captured on film as 15 years earlier, her son Gustavo began filming his eccentric family.  Even though since then they lost their property and castle to the economic crisis, the family members have not been deprived of the disarming spontaneity or the kindheartedness that mark their domestic squabbles.

So what is this documentary about?  It is a home movie of sorts but about the director’s mother.  Before one can dismiss the film as nonsensical personal crap, the film exhibits lots of charm which is the reason this documentary got a standing ovation from the audience during the screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The character of the Julita grows on the audience.   Oddly she shares a lot of common traits as my own mother – bless her! when she was still living.  She was a hoarder, she was a controller with very one serving her whims and fancies, she spoke loudly, she was fond of eating and she was loved by all her friends.  The first part of the doc has her son, the director and husband search for two vertebrae of her great grandmother.  He believes keeping the vertebrae is bad karma.  Of course, the hidden item is finally found, and hidden in the weirdest way. The granny is shown to be quite the hoarder,  As they go through hundreds of boxes everything from old teeth, to hat decorations to two urns of the mother’s parents ashes turn up.  It is an amusing revelation of the woman’s life history, while remaining amusing at that.  One inserted musical segment with her playing classical on the piano while her family members move around the house and garden is particularly  riveting, reminiscent of the song of CAMELOT sung by Richard Burton played with Jackie Kennedy going about the house in the film JACKIE.

The film contains sensitive material as well.  Julita speaks candidly of her husband not touching her any more once she became fat.  But old photographs reveals her quite the beauty when she was young.

The film is a glorified home movie – but at least it is an excellent one at that!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXk5pf-JsHI

 

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