2018 movies

Film Review: 1945 (Hungary 2017) ****

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1945 Poster
12 August 1945, 11 AM. Two mysterious strangers dressed in black appear at the railway station of a Hungarian village. Within a few hours, everything changes.

Director:

Ferenc Török

Writers:

Gábor T. Szántó, Ferenc Török

Stars:

Péter Rudolf, Bence Tasnádi, Tamás Szabó Kimmel

 

The year 1945 is immediately recognizable as the year World War II ended.  While this might be an exhilarating year for most Europeans fighting the Germany and her allies, it certainly isn’t for a small Hungarian village.   Most of the villagers from the film’s unnamed village in Hungary fear that Jews will return after the War to reclaim their property that have been taken away from them and redistributed to these Hungarians.  And some unjustly.  The town clerk, Mr. István (Péter Rudolf ) had informed of his Pollaks neighbours while getting a fellow villager to testify as a witness.  Worst, he guiltlessly watched from his window as his best friend and family were taken away by the Nazis.  He also bribed to get his son out of the army.

Few films on World War II have depicted the effects on those left behind by those who went off to fight during the War.  The excellent recent French film, Xavier Beauvois’ LES GARDIENNES (which is a real crime that it was surprisingly not commercially released in Toronto) demonstrated in great detail how farmworkers survived without any males.  1945 is a Hungarian drama that demonstrates the evil that human beings exhibit as a result of that War, even when staying behind in the village and not going to fight.

Török, who also co-wrote the film directs it in a straight forward manner without resorting to cheap theatrical effects, realizing and relying on the strength of the film’s source material.   The film’s period atmosphere is greatly enhanced by the film’s stark and clear black and white cinematography.

The catalyst of the story is the arrival of two Jewish survivors of the Holocaust (there is a camera closeup of the concentration camp tattooed numbers on one of their arms) by train to the village – a father and son.  The purpose of their visit is unclear to the villagers and they assume they are back to reclaim land that had been taken away from them.  The individual villagers have different reactions, mostly unpleasant.

The story contains a sufficient assortment of characters in varying situations to keep audience’s interest piqued.  Besides the town clerk, his son is a coward about to be married to a woman who clearly does not love him, but the drugstore that his family owns.  She, Kisrózsi (Dóra Sztarenki) has an affair with Jancsi (Tamás Szabó Kimmel) who is unafraid to flaunt the affair as well as side with the liberating Russians in the village.  He is also flirting with a younger woman in front of her.  The town drunk is guilty of being the town clerk’s witness and his wife is hiding all the expensive rugs and silverware the family took from the Jews.  The priest is no Godly saint either, having stolen from the Jews.

This paragraph in bold italics contains minor spoilers: Interesting during the first half, director Török brings his film to an impressive climax where the clerk’s son leaves the village in despair and the deserted bride takes revenge on the groom’s family.  Despite all the gloom and despair on display, there is a bit of hope in the clerk getting his comeuppance and his son finally breaking away from his family’s hold.  When it is revealed the true purpose of the Jew’s visit, there is also some sympathy shown by the villagers.

The film was screened in the Panorama section at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and was awarded the 3rd place prize in the Panorama Audience Award.  1945, a sincerely made film about the emotional baggage left behind by WWII is one of the best foreign films released so far this year and indeed worthy of a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCg3jVRX85A

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Film Review: WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE (Canada 2018)

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What Keeps You Alive Poster
Majestic mountains, a still lake and venomous betrayals engulf a female married couple attempting to celebrate their one-year anniversary.

Director:

Colin Minihan

Writer:

Colin Minihan

Stars:

Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaac

Scanty clad female victim is pushed off the cliff and presumed dead.  But she crawls to safety, brutally tending to her wounds.  She then has to rely on her wits to outsmart her killer.  If this premise for the new Canadian thriller WHAT KEEPS YOU ALUVE seems familiar, it is also the premise of the recent French 2017 thriller by Coralie Fargeat REVENGE.  REVENGE premiered at TIFF’s Midnight Madness and had a commercial run and the truth is that it is a much better film.  The irony of it was that REVENGE is similar to another successful horror movie I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. 

The film begins with two women Meghan (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Julie (Britanny Allen) arriving at a cottage by a lake.  (The film was shot in beautiful, Muskoka,Ontario.)  It turns out that the two two women are celebrating their first wedding anniversary.  Julie discovers that Meghan is not what she seems.  Meghan has not only kept a secret from Julie but a sinister dark side.  It is then revealed that Meghan is a psycho.

The film is beautifully shot, the lake looking especially inviting.  The overhead shot of the canoe with the dark lake waters is worthy of mention, thanks to the film’s cinematographer, David Schuurman.

The story could have been told with a straight couple instead of a lesbian couple without much change.  In fact the script was initially written with a straight couple in mind.  The update is a welcome one (credit to the filmmakers for taking this route) though it might reduce the size of the film’s target market.

But all good intuitions aside, the film fails because of the credibility element.  The source of the terror is Meghan being a psycho.  There is no explanation for the origin of her disease.  With one year a a wife and wife couple, it  is quite unbelievable that Julie has never suspected anything wrong with her partner.  There is also too many opportunities for her to escape which she never takes.  Megahn and Julie get invited to a neighbour’s dinner party.  Julie has more than one chance to tell her hosts of the danger she is in but never does.  She could also have run off many times but does not.

The phrase WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE comes from Meghan’s father when a younger Meghan shoots a bear in self defence.  She was forced to eat the entire bear for weeks till finished as she was taught to kill only what keeps on alive.  The meaning of the phrase comes into effect again at the climax of the film.

The film’s two female leads Anderson and Allen are quite good, they being together before in the horror film JIGSAW.  Allen besides starring in the film, also composed the film’s musical score (which is not half bad).

The film is more violent that needs be.  While Fargeat’s REVENGE’s violence was entertaining, this film’s violence is just plain nasty.

The film has made its rounds at various film festivals:

Official Selection – 2018 SXSW Film Festival

Official Selection – 2018 Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival

Official Selection – 2018 Fantasia Film Festival 

The film is strictly for horror fans.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsZMwwpW6Bg

Film Review: MAISON DU BONHEUR (Canada/France 2016) ***1/2

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Maison du bonheur Poster
The day-to-day life of a Parisian astrologer, who has been residing in the same Montmartre apartment for over 50 years.

Director:

Sofia Bohdanowicz

Stars:

Albert Eddassouki, Manouk Kurdoghlian, Juliane Sellam

 

Subjects of documentaries are often famous people, but only a handful have been about ordinary everyday unimportant folk.  MAISON DU BONHEUR (translated in English to House of Happiness), an occasionally brilliant film is one of the latter.

It was not that long ago in 1975 that Belgian director Chantal Akerman stunned audiences and critics around the world with her 3-hour long art house epic on the daily chores of a housewife.   The film was called 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.  Though a fictional film that ended with the female protagonist committing suicide as did the director herself  recently, the film repeatedly showed the protagonist eating and cooking not once but repeatedly.  Similarly, in MAISON DU BONHEUR, this one an hour long documentary, Torontonian director Sofia Bohdanowicz shows that the daily chores and thoughts of an ordinary person can be just as interesting as a celebrity.

The doc’s subject is Juliane Sellam is a 77-year-old Parisian astrologer who has lived in the same pre-war apartment in Montmartre for half a century.   In this vibrant documentary, Toronto director Sofia Bohdanowicz focuses on Sellam’s daily life over 30 beautifully shot segments, which are narrated by both Sellam and Bohdanowicz. 

When the film opens, Bohdanowicz (she is revealed as a very young filmmaker) is leaving Toronto to stay in Paris with a person she has never met – Juliane Sellam.  Thus she begins filming Sellam’s life, thoughts and musings.

The matriarch’s life and rich inner world crystallize through her daily rituals of making coffee, applying makeup, and caring for her geraniums. 

Bohdanowicz devotes 10 minutes or so on each ritual.  Sellam describes desiring coffee as a young girl.  Her aunt denies her a taste saying that young girls do not drink coffee.  Her grandmother gives her a taste which she loves, just because she was initially not allowed to have any.  Up to the present, Sallen says she has loved coffee.  Bohdanowicz brilliantly shows, on cue, the slow pouring of steaming coffee into a cup.   Sellam puts on make-up daily, even to just take out the rubbish.  She confesses that she wants to look the best for everyone and that no one needs to see an ugly person in the morning  She goes again to the origin of her love for make up.  Her uncle used to be a nail polish salesman and he lets her try his wide array of samples.  The shot of the samples with dozens of painted false nails on  a platter is something I and not seen for 30 years.  Her ritual with gernaniums is just as interesting.  She waters them either late at night or very early in the morning so that people below her flat will not get wet from the water above.  Bohdanowicz never fails to impress her audience with Sellam and her chores.  And her doc goes on…..

The film has a special engagement run at the TIFF Bell Lightbox with the director present for a Q & A on the films opening day.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bInvPokMFH4

 

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Film Review: PAPILLON (USA 2017) ***1/2

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Papillon Poster
A prisoner detained on a remote island plots his escape in this second adaptation of the novels by Henri Charrière.

Director:

Michael Noer

Writers:

Aaron Guzikowski (screenplay by), Henri Charrière(based upon the books “Papillon” and “Banco” by) |2 more credits »

Stars:

Rami Malek, Charlie Hunnam, Tommy Flanagan

 

Why bother remaking the successful 1973 biography of French convict Henri Charrière nicknamed PAPILLON who escaped from Devil’s Island in 1941?  After all, that film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring two huge stars of the time Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman is still readily available on DVD.

A few reasons!  One would be that no one would likely remember anything about the 1973 film.  After all it is is is almost half a century ago.  I can only remember two things about the 1973 film – Dustin Hoffman eating a cockroach and Steve McQueen jumping off the cliff in the final escape scene.

The new PAPILLON is not too bad.  Despite not having as big star names, Charlie Hunnam (THE LOST CITY OF Z) and Rami Malek (I, ROBOT) inhabit their roles very convincingly.  There is no cockroach eating scene but the food served actually looks not half bad, like the consommé with diced vegetables in a tin can.  In fact, Papi (as Charrière is called in short) is tempted with the soup in order to reveal the name of his conspirator.  

PAPILLON is the nickname of Charrière likely from his butterfly tattoo on his body.  The film opens with his frolicking with his girlfriend, Nenette (Eve Hewson) in Paris after nicking some jewels from the big boss he was working for.  Thus framed for murder, Charrière, is unjustly convicted of murder and condemned to life in a notorious penal colony on Devil’s Island in French Guiana, South America.  Determined to regain his freedom, Papillon forms an unlikely alliance with quirky convicted counterfeiter Louis Dega, who in exchange for his protection, agrees to finance Papillon’s escape, ultimately resulting in a bond of lasting friendship.

For a film shot in Paris and set in France and French Guiana, not a word of French is spoken in the film.  The filmmakers must thing speaking English with a French accent is sufficient, though the 1973 original had the same flaw.  But true that commercial audiences rather hear dubbed dialogue than read subtitles.

If one can remember the 1973 version, this film is very similar as the new script by Aaron Guzikowski is based on Charrière’s autobiographies Papillon and Banco, as well as the former’s 1973 film adaptation, which was written by Dalton Trumbo and Lorenzo Semple Jr.  In fact, credit is given to the script by Trumbo and Semple Jr. in the closing credits.

PAPILLON 2017 moves fast enough for its 133 running time.  The film is not a film about escape but a film about the strained but lasting relationship of the two men.  But the film’s only escape sequence with Papi, Dega and two other prisoners (Roland Moller and Joel Bassman) is the film’s highpoint, especially trying to survive a storm in a broken boat in the wide ocean.  The hard prison conditions, though hard to watch make extremely intriguing fodder.  One wonders how inhuman human beings can be.  The film also demonstrates the triumph of the human spirit over mounting adversities.  So, despite the dim outlook of the film’s heroes, it is still a film of hope and not despair.

It would be interesting to watch both films back to back to observe the different treatment of each director and actors towards this timeless material.  Both films are equally well shot and absorbing and definitely worth seeing.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqj7XOv9mC8

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Film Review: DR. BRINKS & DR. BRINKS (USA 2017)

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Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks Poster
Trailer

After husband and wife aid workers, Dr. Brinks and Dr. Brinks, die in a plane crash, their grown children are reunited for the first time in years. It takes days for Marcus and Michelle …See full summary »

Director:

Josh Crockett

Writers:

Josh Crockett, Jonathan Pappas

Stars:

Kristin Slaysman, Scott Rodgers, Ashley Spillers

 

DR. BRINKS & DR. BRINKS must have been a project of love for writer/director Josh Crockett as he had to publicly raise funds to complete the film.  To Crockett’s credit, it is a worthy effort that is relatively entertaining but no masterpiece.

DR. BRINKS & DR. BRINKS is a dysfunctional family comedy/drama (too many Brinks spoil the broth) with more comedy than drama though the drama is still pretty intense in parts.  The title refers to the husband and wife doctor team who work with the Doctors without Borders.  They spend more time with children in underdeveloped nations that with their own.  This results in their own children not really knowing their own parents or family for that matter.  Two of the siblings who hardly see each other are brought together as a result of their sudden death from an airplane crash with disastrous results.

The story devotes almost equal screen time to the brother Marcus Brinks (Scott Rodgers) and sister Michelle Brinks (Kristin Slayman).  Marcus has a relationship with Alex (Ashley Spillers).  A bit more time is spent on Michelle with her character being right most of the time, likely because Slayman playing her is the film’s producer and the wife of the director in real life.  Marcus sports a thick beard and there is a lot of free sex (including bondage and kinky sex) involved so one can guess that director Crockett aims at the new age free spirited era of the forgotten 70’s.   The sexual encounters liven the film as well as reveal certain characteristics of the siblings.

To add fuel to the fire, Kristin begins a sexual relationship with Alex’s father Bill (Robert Longstreet).  She knows it is wrong but cannot stop it.  Bill thinks he is in love all over again and the best thing that has happened to him.  While Marcus finds out, he becomes visibly upset while Alex is unaware initially.  This incident makes up a good part of the film and is used as the catalyst to rock and then stabilize the various relationships.

The film’s main aim is the examination of the relationship between the siblings amidst varying circumstances.  Besides the problem stated, it is also revealed that the house that Marcus and Alex live in is still in the parents’ name and has to be liquidated to pay off their debt.  But this plot point could have been left out in the script without affecting much.  The actor playing the lawyer (Roger Guenveur Smith) is pretty good.

As Marcus’ vocation is singer/songwriter, the film has a nice break when a few of his catchy songs are performed.

The film lacks as strong conclusion thus creating an unsatisfying feeling for the audience  that the film is leading nowhere.  Though more comedy than drama, the comedy is light at best and the drama that escalates towards the film’s end is somewhat predictable. 

DR. BRINKS & DR. BRINKS opens in the U.S. this Friday in select theatres and is available video on demand on September 4th.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba4AD0Rrh3s

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Film Review: ALPHA (USA 2018)

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Alpha Poster
In the prehistoric past, a young man struggles to return home after being separated from his tribe during a buffalo hunt and finds a similarly lost wolf companion to start a friendship that would change humanity.

Director:

Albert Hughes

Writers:

Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt (screenplay by), Albert Hughes (story by)

Stars:

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Natassia Malthe, Leonor Varela

 

(This review contains one spoiler that is important to bring up in the reviewing of this film.  The paragraph containing the spoiler is highlighted in italics.)

An American film shot largely in Canada (Alberta and British Columbia) and in Iceland, ALPHA also includes lots of CG effects as evident in the endless long lists of names involved with CG in the closing credits.

ALPHA is set back in the Ice Age in Europe (it could be anywhere else for that matter) about a young man and his dog.   It all begins after a Steppe bison hunting expedition gone awry. A young man struggles against the elements to find his way home, all the while developing a friendship with a wolf. 

The film is co-produced and directed by Albert Hughes, with a screenplay by Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt, from a story by Hughes.  It is difficult to dislike a film about a man and his dog surviving the elements as evident by the rousing applause at the end of the promo screening.  But good intentions aside, ALPHA contains too many flaws.

The main flaw is continuity.  One major segment has Keda (Australian Kodi Smit-McPhee) hanging for dear life on a vertical rock face after falling off the cliff.  Rain pours.  The what seemed bottomless gorge is suddenly filled with water that allows Keda to fall in, to survive the fall.  The next scene shows him lying on the ground with hardly any water to be seen.  Following that, Keda, for no reason appears at the top of the cliff that he originally fell from.  The film does not show him climbing back up to that level.

The wolf dog first appears only after more than half the film’s running time.  Near the end, the canine is shown returning to the pack, but in the next scene is shown coming back to Keda.

The dialogue is incredibly corny.  Though the actors speak in a made-up stone age language, the subtitles read: “Lead with your heart, not with your spear.” And at the end of the film, the father tells Keda: “You earned it, my son.”

Warning Spoiler: It turns out at the end of the film that the canine is a female.  That is weird as the film title ALPHA implies the canine being an alpha male, especially when called to fight other larger animals to protect her master.  If this in part of Hollywood’s need to have more female centred themes, the idea is ridiculous.  Though personally, if I would have a choice of a male or female canine, I would pick the latter.

But in 3D and with all the location shots and CG effects, ALPHA is a feast for the eyes.  The screen also fills with green in one scene, likely from a shot of the Northern Lights as seen in Iceland.  The one famous glacier and waterfall in Iceland are both on display in the film as well.

ALPHA is all good looks but a total mess.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIxnTi4GmCo

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Movie Review: A PLACE IN THE CITY, USA, LGBT/Documentary

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Full to bursting with bright color and dazzling city scapes, A PLACE IN THE CITY follows three stories of three people living with HIV in New York. Taking a dive into the personal and intimate lives of three brave individuals, we see many of the compelling issues the surround HIV- from how healthcare can innocently act to isolate the person living with HIV from their community, to how housing itself is a type of healthcare, to how the world of art and culture accepts artist living with HIV.

 

What sets A PLACE IN THE CITY apart from films of a similar nature is the tone- this is a not a heavy, stark or ominous work. It is bright, it is light, it is brimming with hope and it is nevertheless meaningful and informative. A PLACE IN THE CITY, has been excellently composed by directors Nate Lavey and Stephen Vider, and thoughtfully put together to consider the wide variety of people that can be touched by HIV. Now considered a chronic condition, HIV still holds massive stigma is society. Films like A PLACE IN THE CITY shed much needed light on the condition- and most importantly, the humanity, support and social movement behind it. A wonderful film to see.

 

Review by Kierston Drier

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of the Short Film:

A PLACE IN THE CITY, 18min., USA, LGBT/Documentary
Directed by Nate Lavey, Stephen Vider

A personal and intimate look at how caretaking, housing, and family intersect with experiences of HIV/AIDS today. CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

Movie Review: THE LOVE INDUSTRY, USA, LGBT/Documentary

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This twenty minute documentary is a fascinating look into the world of professional online-dating profile writers. Following two different professionals who two drastically different methods, we see the ins and outs of a growing profession that targets people who want to find love online. Lisa Hoehn, takes a “gut” approach to profile ghost writing, reviewing people and tweaking what naturally feels best. She’s seen everything under the sun when it comes to online dating, from cheating lovers to terrible break ups. When she meets another online profile writer, who uses a more mathematical, data-based approach to his work, they completely clash- showing the love isn’t always easy to find- even when finding it is part of your job.

 

Our heroes are fascinating, engaging and loveable. The film paints an often humorous, honest and occasionally painfully familiar portrait for a vast numbers of people who have gone online to find their next partner. THE LOVE INDUSTRY is about a lot of things- our modern world, social media, niche business opportunities- but ultimately it’s about one incredible part of existence- the hurdles and rewards of meaningful human connection.

 

Review by Kierston Drier

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of the Short Film:

THE LOVE INDUSTRY, 20min., USA, LGBT/Documentary
Directed by Matt Cusimano 

Lisa Hoehn has an unusual job: she makes a living ghostwriting online dating profiles for a large and diverse set of clients, eager to put their best foot forward in the labyrinthine world of social media. CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

Movie Review: WHO I AM, UK, LGBT/Drama

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A seventeen minute UK film from director Monika Wilczynska, WHO I AM follows Eli, a young transgender teenager coming to terms with their identity despite their devoutly religious and unaccepting family. Facing isolation and ostracization from her family and community, Eli makes the final choice that is right for her.

 

It may be said that this short him has an unrealistically happy ending- that not all stories end so concretely, so completely, or so triumphantly- but WHO I AM is story about visibility in a community. Eli’s journey is about her relationship with God, and the strength is takes to acknowledge that the flaws of unacceptance are not within God or spirituality- that is a flaw that lies within humanity.

 

People who see themselves in Eli’s struggle may argue that not all stories end as easily as Eli’s does in WHO I AM- but our hero’s story ends, essentially, right at the beginning of the rest of her life- a life free from the judgement of those who treat her poorly for who she is. WHO I AM is an important film to see- it gives a voice to many stories that go unheard, and for that alone- go see WHO I AM.

 

Review by Kierston Drier

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of the Short Film:

WHO I AM, 17min, UK, LGBT/Drama
Directed by Monika Wilczynska

A coming of age tale about Elijah, a young transgender teenager from a very religious background, who has to try to reconcile their identity with their faith and their family’s expectations of them. With the help of anti-conformist Lisbeth and their friends, Elijah learns not to compromise their own integrity in face of prejudice and adversity. CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!

Movie Review: MASQUERADE, USA, LGBT/Drama

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A ten minute historical film about the Old South and the trails of race and freedom, MASQUERADE tells the story of a young black couple, enslaved by their master. When the master makes an advance on his male worker, the young couple decide to flee for their own safety. While the master of the house throws a masquerade ball, the couple attempt to pass as an elderly rheumatic man and his black attendant. When the wife, Ninny asks if they should run away, her husband answers “Master wants to run away to the city, so I reckon it’s normal for folks to want to run away.”

 

MASQUERADE is a film about “running away” and “passing”- whether passing as white or passing as heretosexual, running to the city, or running to the north, all the characters are looking for something similar- freedom. This is a film about the trapping of society and how they push us all to extremes, it is a film the ripples with tension from the first frame to the final credits. Wonderfully cast and performed, and stunning in its design and cinematography- creating a full period piece is not an easy task in a short film. MASQUERADE is dedicated to all the people who “Passed” as a way to reach freedom- and to all those who could not. It is a powerful piece worth seeing.

 

Review by Kierston Drier

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video of the Short Film:

MASQUERADE, 10min., USA, LGBT/Drama
Directed by Andrew Hawkins

1848 Virginia. Slave couple Sam and Ninny execute an escape after their slave master George makes an unconscionable advance. ‘Masquerade, A Story of the Old South’ is an uncommon slave narrative, capturing the experience of both African Americans and gay people during this complicated time. CLICK HERE – and see full info and more pics of the film!