gilbert seah

Film Review: SPLIT (USA 2017) ***1/2

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split_poster.jpgDirector: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson

Review by Gilbert Seah

 The first thing on the mind of anyone venturing to see a new M. Night Shyamalan film is whether the film is going to be a bomb like AFTER EARTH and THE LAST AIRBENDER or a hit like his early films THE SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS and UNBREAKABLE. His last film THE VISIT pleased the majority of filmgoers and SPILT should do the same.

The film begins with the abduction in a car in broad daylight of three teenage friends Claire (Haley Lu Richardson), Marcia (Jessica Sula) and difficult outsider Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy). The three girls get seated in the car while the father of one of them puts their gear in the trunk. “Can I help you?” the father says to a stranger whose face is off-camera.

From the car mirror, Casey senses something is wrong when she sees their bags on the road. She turns to get a glimpse of the man who has just moved into the driver’s seat and it is not her friend’s father. This is top notch camera work worthy of Hitchcock and proves a hard act to follow. True enough, none of the rest of the film can match the first 10 minutes of pure suspense.

Their captor Kevin (James McAvoy) locks the trio in a windowless room, then proceeds to frighten and baffle them. One minute he’s wearing eyeglasses and obsessive about cleanliness, the next he is presenting as female (PSYCHO style), and later he acts like a nine-year-old boy. It is revealed that Kevin exhibits 23 alternate personalities, and in order to escape, his captives must convince one of the personalities within him to set them free, before the arrival of the 24th and final personality, the “beast”.

James McAvoy delivers a really creepy performance worthy of Heath Ledger’s Joker. Teen actress Taylor-Joy need not have to do much. The film is scary enough and all she has to do is register fear in hr face. Shyamalan often has the camera in close-up.

To add more to the simple plot of abduction, the story of Casey’s life is told in flashbacks. Her father has passed on from a heart attack and she is looked after by a creepy uncle who may be a pedophile. Kevin is a patient under study by Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley) who hopes to rehabilitate him.

As in all Shyamalan’s films, there is a surprise twist – the best of which were in his first two films. There is a big surprise at the end of this one too, but only consequential to the goings-on. Still, Shyamalan fans should not be disappointed.

Shyamalan’s films all make money even his two big critical flops. SPLIT only cost a paltry $10 million to make, primarily for its use of inexpensive stars and absent unneeded special effects. SPLIT is expected to gross $20-25 million this weekend alone which means that there should be another Shyamalan thriller/horror the next year. No one should be complaining.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84TouqfIsiI

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Film Review: THE PASSIONATE THIEF (RISATE DI GIOIA) (Italy 1960) **** [The Films of Magnani]

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the_passionate_thief_poster.jpgDirector: Mario Monicelli

Stars: Anna Magnani, Totò, Ben Gazzara

Review by Gilbert Seah

This rarely seen Italian comedy gets a release after its recent 4K restoration.

THE PASSIONATE THIEF (RISATE DI GIOIA) marks the collaboration between dramatic actress Anna Magnani and famed comedian Toto. It is a perfect match as director Monicelli’s film is a perfect blend between drama and comedy. RISATE DI GIOIA literally translates to ‘laughter of Joy’, Joy also being the name of Magnani’s character.

The film follows two friends, Umberto and Gioia (Toto and Magnani) who live by their wits working as comedians and cabaret at Cinecittà (the famous cinema production studios centre in Rome), before being invited to friends’ parties or masked balls during New Year’s Eve in Rome. The two, however, even though they make people laugh all the time in public, live an inner conflict, namely that the two have always to be aware to give a smile to someone, but they can never be rich and happy because they are street artists and with a precarious wage. The meeting with another thief, the well-dressed Lello (Ben Gazzara who appears to speak perfect Italian) throws their relationship into peril. Lello is low-life, classy con-man, while Umberto tries to save Gioia from the wolf’s clutches.

Monicelli captures the plight of the poor. The segment where the trio enter a rich German party complete with ornaments emphasize the indifference of the rich. ‘The rich loves expensive ornaments that are useless,” says Gioia humorously.

Magnani is pure joy to watch – the perfect Italian drama queen. Wearing a gaudy evening dress complete with shiny spikes, her dress only underlines her loudness. The best scene has her screaming aloud when by accident, fireworks are thrown next to her during the New Year’s Eve celebrations.

The film is more drama than comedy. The audience can clearly sympathize with both the characters of Umberto and Gioia as they both grab at straws to escape the drowning from poverty. Gioia is hoping for love in the much younger Lello while Umberto finally goes clean in order to save Gioia from Lello.

The ending of the film is both sad and humorous. The audience sees the two after a major setback in their lives trying still to be happy and to enjoy the good life. They dance and laugh while hailing a taxi with comical results.

THE PASSIONATE THEIF looks like a simple film on the surface, but is deep in mood, atmosphere, feeling and life under deeper scrutiny.

The Passionate Thief screens on Sunday, January 29 at 2:45 p.m. as part of TIFF Cinematheque’s Volcano: The Films of Anna Magnani, running from January 27 to March 11. Curated by James Quandt, Senior Programmer, this deluxe series celebrates the ferocious Magnani, who was known as “La Magnani” or “La Lupa” (“The She-Wolf”) for her volatility and voraciousness. Equally at home in farce and tragedy, melodrama and comedy, she starred in films by some of the greatest auteurs of all time and won her country’s adoration for embodying characters that regular people could identify with, including fruit vendors, prostitutes, molls, convicts, stage mothers, film extras and (most frequently) long-suffering proletarian wives.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFwFYySSWS8

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Film Review: 20th CENTURY WOMEN (USA 2016)

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20th_century_women_poster.jpgDirector: Mike Mills
Writer: Mike Mills
Stars: Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig

Review by Gilbert Seah

Mike Mills hit it big with his coming out movie BEGINNERS based on his father who came out of the closet at the age of 75. Mills continues his personal films with 20th CENTURY WOMEN based on his upbringing by both his mother and her sister. The film has clout since, it is based on his life. This is a heartfelt feature.

The story is set in 1979, Santa Barbara, California. Single mother, Dorothea (Annette Benning) seeks the help of Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and Julie (Elle Fanning) to raise her son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). Abbie and Julie rent the rooms upstairs of Dorothea’s house.

Despite the film title, 20the CENTURY WOMEN is not solely about women. It is also about a boy being brought up by three women, only because the mother deems she needs help in his upbringing. So, the film should cater to a male audience though the ads and trailer do not make this point known. It is quite clear where the film is leading. Not only is the boy learning from the women, but the women are slowly influenced by the boy – by the boy’s reactions and deeds.

Mills demonstrates that minimal dialogue can also be used to highlight the drama in a confrontation scene. This is evident in the one where the boys argues with his mother after she chastises him on the ‘choking stinge’. The boy just walks away. The tactic of not using lengthy flowery arguments or screaming matches heighten the credibility of the story.
Mill’s film emphasizes details the characters indulge in that help the audience understand them. Dorothea smokes like a chimney – because it is stylish. But she smokes Salem menthols believing the harm is reduced. Julie sleeps with Jamie, sneaking into this room each night, but there do not indulge in sex.

A lot of effort seems to be put into the hairdo of the characters. Jamie and his mother have very curly hair while Abbie and daughter Julie noticeably straight hair. Abbie’s red hair symbolizes her desire to be different as she is.

The film is put into perspective by titles as well as Jamie’s voiceover. Still, one wonders where the film is leading to, and whether there is some hidden message.

Annette Bening shines in her role as the unsure mother. I am not really a Bening fan as she usually undertakes roles of unlikeable women like in AMERICAN BEAUTY and RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. But this sympathetic role suits her. Elle Fanning has been taking roles of and doing well with weird characters lately (LIVE BY NIGHT and THE NEON DEMON) and her role in this film will add to the list.

It would be interesting to see what kind of film Mills will be involved with next – after he has used up all the stories in his family and personal life.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JnFaltqnAY

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Film Review: NELLY (Canada 2016)

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nelly.jpgDirected by Anne Émond

Starring: Mylène MacKay, Marie-Claude Guérin, Catherine Brunet

Review by Gilbert Seah

Quebecois writer/director Anne Émond impressed cineastes with her first two features NUIT #1 and LES ETRES CHERS for their complexity and honesty. There is more of the same in her latest feature called NELLY which is based on the works and life of controversial writer Nelly Arcan (born Isabelle Fortier).

The film is bookmarked with Nelly’s performance on stage of the catchy well-known song “Those Were the Days” in French. At the start of the movie during the rendering of the song, the camera lowers to the front row of the audience where Nelly is signalled to lower her voice. It is a scene that impresses, that shows how details like these can capture the attention of a director’s audience.

Fortier published Putain (Whore) in 2001, causing a sensation in literary circles with a tale of prostitution based on her own experience in the trade. But with the success of that debut novel came crushing anxieties, all of which found their way into her work.

Émond portrays the onscreen NELLY as a composite of Arcan’s many personas and her fictional characters, bringing her to life in an astounding, kaleidoscopic performance by Mylène Mackay – and an excellent almost faultless performance at that. Émond blurs the line between the real and the fictitious character so that he audience is unaware what is happening is real or imagined. In this way, as the film moves from one striking passage of the author’s oeuvre to the next, from elating highs to desperate lows, the audience is immersed in her lush and punishing world. The character Nelly would do things in real life to test out for her characters in the book to do. There is a segment involving rough sex that is as sexy as it is deadly.

NELLY is not a biopic in the normal sense. NELLY is not portrayed from child to her death in her early thirties. In fact the cause of her death (an early one at 34) is not even mentioned in the film, illustrating the fact that, that fact is not the important point in the film. The film traces just the window of her life within a year where everything that takes place establishes the writer for what she is. Her relationship with her lover is also displayed in all its complexity. The one scene in which an argument ensues for the fact that he refuses to share a line of coke with her explains the volatility of their relationship, as also hinted in the disturbing scene in the swimming pool change-room. Here, Nelly is shown mentally unstable, writhing on the wet floor of the change room screaming at her lover. Nelly does spend some time in a sanatorium (which she describes as a rest house) which she deeply resents.

NELLY has been deservedly chosen as one of Canada’s Top 10 films and it sits as one of the better ones. It is a small budget production, efficiently made, effective and like her other works, complexed but honest.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/177441312

 

 

 

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Film Review: LIVE BY NIGHT (USA 2016)

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live_by_night_movie_poster.jpgDirected by Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Elle Fanning, Brendan Gleeson, Chris Messina, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Chris Cooper

Review by Gilbert Seah

Ben Afflecks’s fourth film (after ARGO, THE TOWN and GONE BABY GONE) is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane which like BURN,BABY, BURN is a novel that contains a lot of plot. But LIVE BY NIGHT contains too much plot dealing with as many issues as there are plot turns. Unfortunately, Affleck’s script is unable to cope and the film fails despite worthy efforts.

Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the story follows Joe Coughlin (Affleck), the prodigal son of a Boston police captain (Brendan Gleeson). Joe is a World War I veteran of Irish decent who is in love with Emma Gould (Sienna Miller), mistress of the notorious gangster Albert White (Robert Glenister), the boss of the Irish Gang of Boston. Joe’s father disapproves of Emma. Joe and Emma decide to move to California escaping the wrath of White, but to their misfortune the head of Albert’s rival Italian Mafia Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone) finds out about their affair and blackmails Joe to kill Albert. The story goes on, leading Joe to finally work for Maso and rising in the ranks. Success comes with a price with a lot of casualties in the process.

The best thing about LIVE BY NIGHT are its impeccable performances. Gleeson at his growling best, plays Joe’s chief of police, who unfortunately dies 20 minutes into the film. The gap, fortunately is filled by Chris Cooper as Irving Figgis, another chief of police, who is as pious as he is crazy. The other supporting cast members are uniformly good from Matthew Maher (as a creepy Ku Klax Klan member) and Anthony Michael Hall as an overconfident lackey for a crime boss.

Affleck’s script is all over the place and tries to handles too many issues like father/son relationship; romance; crime; good vs. evil; racism and loss of innocence just to name a few. The dialogue also includes a fair amount of ‘f’ words including the ‘mother f” words that are out of place in a film set in the roaring twenties.

The handsome mounted production from the vintage cars (in the robbery car chase) to the wardrobe, music and props make the film a memorable period piece. Affleck dresses himself very sharply, always in pressed white suits and hat.

As the story deals with war between crime families, LIVE BY NIGHT will inevitably be compared to Francis Ford Coppola’s GODFATHER films. Joe keeps his criminal activities from his wife, Gracilea (Zoe Saldana) reminiscent of how Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) hid his crime duties from his wife played by Diane Keaton. This is when one can detect the inferiority of of LIVE BY NIGHT. The power and bite are just not there.
LIVE BY NIGHT is well paced with a good speed in the first third of the film. The varying pace from the highly edited car chase to the slow paced meeting a a tea shop between Joe and Loretta Figgis (Elle Fannng)
.
The film also contains dialogue with heavy Irish accent (from Gleesona nd Miller) which is occasionally hard to understand.

The film could have done with some script doctoring. Affleck taking the co-producing, writing, directing and lead acting duties has obviously got his plate full in this $65 million production.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtFZcAuH-qI

 

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Film Review: MONSTER TRUCKS (USA 2016)

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monster_trucks_movie_poster.jpgDirector: Chris Wedge

Writers: Derek Connolly (screenplay), Matthew Robinson (story by)

Stars: Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Thomas Lennon

Review by Gilbert Seah

A monster truck is a vehicle (usually a pickup truck) that has been modified with a larger suspension and larger tires so as to compete in shows and mud bogs. While vacationing in New Brunswick years back, I was taken to a mud bog. It was the most boring time of that vacation. But there is no monster competition show in this film called MONSTER TRUCKS. But there is a real life monster living inside a truck, the one modified by the protagonist Tripp (Lucas Till) who drives it.

Looking for any way to get away from the life and town he was born into, Tripp Coley, a high school senior, builds a monster truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. After an accident at a nearby oil-drilling site displaces a strange and subterranean creature with a taste and a talent for speed who he names Creech, Tripp may have just found the key to getting out of town and a most unlikely friend. The rest of the film has Tripp rescuing the creature, embedded in his truck (don’t ask) and retiring it to its habitat, ET-style. The story was reported to originate from ex-Paramount President (reason he is now ex-President is obvious) and his 4-year old son.

Director Chris Wedge (who made ICE AGE and the forgettable animated features like EPIC and ROBOTS) appear to be just going through the motions with his latest feature. The film is cliched from start to finish. But the greatest fault of the film is the seriousness everyone seems to be taking of the material, despite the film’s really ridiculous plot of monsters surviving near oil wells and able to join in human beings and amalgamate with their trucks.

It is the same old cliched story of boy wanting to escape from small town with subplots of single mother trying to keep son in town; overbearing mother’s boyfriend (Barry Pepper) who must be the sheriff of the town; pining wannabe girlfriend; loner befriending monster and so on. With uninspired direction and writing, the film turns boring within the first 10 minutes. The silly message about caring for the environment does not help the film’s originally either.
Lucas Till (the X-MEN films and yes, in that teen awful film HANNAH MONTANA) is plain awful as the lead who appears o be hired for the job based on his looks. The sequence where he pretends to drive a truck in the garage proves how bad he is. Amy Ryan as is mother is totally wasted but Barry Pepper is at least watchable. Pepper is an actor from Vancouver and likely hired as the film was shot in the Vancouver Production Studios.

The film has so far garnered negative reviews (example 22% on Rotten Tomatoes as of time of writing). Paramount is reported to be taking a $115 write down for the film which cost $125 million to make, mostly for the special and CGI effects, which are the only impressive things about the film, despite looking silly (tentacles protruding from the body of the trucks). MONSTER TRUCKS turns out to be a big awful monster of a movie.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQrj2M-2Uiw

 

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2017 GOLDEN GLOBES Summary

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The 2017 Golden Globes Awards 2017 were held Sunday January 8th. Jimmy Fallon, the Tonight’s Show host is the MC of the Ceremonies held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills.

Different, from the Academy Awards, of course, as this is a dinner/drinks even compared to the Oscars stage show. So there are no spectacular dance presentations for the Golden Globes. But the glamour is definitely still present.

Most noticeable this year is the hosting of Fallon taking over from Ricky Gervais. Gervais made fun of everyone while Fallon made fun of himself. But the biting really funny atmosphere developed by Gervais is sadly missing, while Fallon does do an admirable job.

As expected, it is LALA LAND all the way, the film winning in multiple categories as in Best Actor (Ryan Gosling), Actress (Emma Stone) and director Damien Chazeelle a well as Best Picture (Comedy or Musical) and others.

The lifetime achievement award went to Meryl Streep who gave a moving speech on journalism. But the Awards Best moment was the tribute given to the mother/daughter’s recent passing away Debbie Reynolds and carrie Fisher.

The Best Speech was probably delivered by Hugh kauri whose speech was referenced by three other winners.

My favourite win was French actress Isabelle Huppert for best Actress in her role in Paul Verhoeven’s ELLE. Unexpected was the win for MOONLIGHT over MANCHESTER BY THE SEA for Best Drama. But both are excellent films.

An overall enjoyable Golden Globes presentation, but I personally miss Ricky Gervais who always made me laugh out loud. Hope they bring him back!

LIST OF WINNERS

BEST MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA
Manchester by the Sea

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA
Isabelle Huppert, Elle

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

BEST MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY
WINNER: La La Land

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Emma Stone, La La Land

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Ryan Gosling, La La Land

BEST MOTION PICTURE — ANIMATED
Zootopia

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Elle — France

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE
Viola Davis, Fences

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals

BEST DIRECTOR — MOTION PICTURE
Damien Chazelle, La La Land

BEST SCREENPLAY — MOTION PICTURE
La La Land

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE — MOTION PICTURE
La La Land

2017_golden_globes.jpg

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Film Review: MOANA (USA 2016) ****

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moanaDirected by Ron Clements and John Musker

Stars: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House

Review by Gilbert Seah

MOANA (pronounced MO-ANNAH) is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy comedy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, the first time the Studios have released two features in a year. No complaints here. Like ZOOTOPIA (or ZOOTROPOLIS as it is called in the U.K.), both are exceptional animated features full of wonder, magic and entertainment. The film features music written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i, and Mark Mancina. The songs are as original as they are catchy, especially the one entitled “You’re Welcome!”

MOANA the film tells the story of Moana (the excellent voice of newcomer Auli’i Cravalho) , the strong-willed daughter of the chief in a Polynesian tribe, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with a goddess. When a blight strikes her island, Moana sets sail in search of Maui (Dwayne Johnson, who yes, also sings in the film), a legendary demigod, in the hope of saving her people.

First and most important of all, the animation is nothing short of stunning from the depiction of water, fire, magic and in characters like the fiery lava monster.

Like ZOOTOPIA, the plot involves saving of the world the characters are living in. MOANA lives in an island paradise that is deteriorating. The fishing is depleting and the land is losing its fertility. Like in ZOOTOPIA that mirrors the problems of the modern world, MOANA also highlights the importance of the environment as seen in the oceans and islands.

Besides the seriousness of the plot, MOANA maintains the expectations of a Disney cartoon. MOANA contains lots of cutesy characters, like Moana’s pet piglet and her pet chicken – reported as the dumbest ever of all the Disney characters. The chicken called Heihei pecks at stones and rocks, that requires Moana’s saving and attention more than anything else. But Heihei is a winning inspirational character judging from the sounds of the chuckles of the children in the audience during the screening I attended.

The film contains frightening scenes that might not be appropriate for younger children. The sight of the lava monster attacking poor Moana and Maui might be too much, even though it sends the message across for older kids. The film also deals with death (the dying grandmother) and the hardship of living (as in fishing and farming).

The film plays like a fairytale. Who does not like a good old fairy tale? Moana is inched on by her late grandmother in the form of a stingray to accomplish the quest she was born to achieve – to save her tribe and perhaps all humanity while at it.

Dwayne Johnson, who can do no harm at any film he is in (watch out for him next in BAYWATCH) is excellent as the reluctant hero, Maui. I cannot imagine anyone better to voice the heroine MOANA than Auli’i Cravalho.

MOANA turns out to be excellent entertainment for both adults and children. It contains Disney’s most important elements – magic and wonder, which make the film stand out against all the other animation features from the other studios.

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

 

 

 

 

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Film Review: WEREWOLF (Canada 2016) ***

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werewolf.jpgDirector: Ashley McKenzie
Writer: Ashley McKenzie
Stars: Andrew Gillis, Kyle M. Hamilton, Bhreagh MacNeil

Review by Gilbert Seah

 
Cape Breton filmmaker Ashley McKenzie, who has won prizes for her short films in the past debuts here with an impressive first feature – a low budget but no-holds barred look at the hardscrabble existence of two homeless, twentysomething recovering drug addicts. Or are they recovering?

Films on the this topic are never an easy watch. WEREWOLF isn’t one too. 2016 saw the arrival of several drug centred films, the best of these being documentaries like the British CHEMSEX by directors William Fairman and Max Gogarty and the more recent THE STAIRS by Hugh Gibson. The decision for a fictional feature instead of a doc allows McKenzie to go deeper into the problem of drug users and guide the film to a more satisfying ending.

The drug users are the couple Vanessa and Blaise (Bhreagh MacNeil and Andrew Gillis). Both are in the process of rehabilitation but they still partake of the substance as part of a government program details not given. The film follows them as they sleep in tents,and fight with government bureaucrats. Blaise and Vanessa survive primarily through an underground economy. They harass people to let them cut their grass with a rusty old mower they haul over dirt roads and through rainstorms.

Of the two, Blaise is the more hostile, often negative about everything and always provoking whoever he is speaking to. He is suicidal and a bad influence on Vanessa. She, on the other hand, works at an soft ice-cream parlour and is largely positive, despite her dull job. She is advised by her social worker to breakup with Blaise, which she does not.

The film describes the lives of both with no positive or negative ending. This might be frustrating for those awaiting a happy ending such as the recovery of the couple – but this is what life is, no happy endings. The audience is understandably more sympathetic towards Vanessa than to Blaise.

McKenzie’s camera is fond of close-ups. In fact, there are too much of it. Often the audience sees the bad acne on the side of Vanessa’s face, a symptom of the effects of taking methadone. One wishes that the camera would occasionally pull back to show the whole picture. The film also contains lots of jittery images, from the use of hand held camera. Again, a few steady shots using a tripod would be welcome.

Ultimately, the success of the film depends on the two main leads, who thankfully achieves the credibility the film needs. One is the good rehab patient, the other not. just like the good cop, bad cop. It is difficult to feel sorry for Blaise for being such the self-destructive character and also occasionally for Vanessa who one wishes should take the advice of her social worker and leave Blaise. There is clearly no simple way out of addiction, especially without a good roof over their heads and a decent paying job. And then there is the temptation to go back to meth again.

McKenzie could also have provided more information about the rehabilitation program the couple is undergoing. Not much information is provided, but what they go through as seen in their actions. WEREWOLF is definitely a disturbing film and despite it having fictional characters, the film still hits home pretty hard with brutal honesty.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiNI83BMG4M
 

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Film Review: HOCKEY NIGHT (Canada 1984)

festreviews 2016 movies, movie, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

hockey_night.jpgDirector: Paul Shapiro
Writers: Jack Blum, Paul Shapiro
Stars: Megan Follows, Rick Moranis, Gail Youngs

Review by Gilbert Seah

 
While watching HOCKEY NIGHT, which has a limited release during the Christmas week at the Roncesvalles Cinema in Toronto, I was amazed at how accurate the film captured the 80’s look from clothes, to look to atmosphere to everything.

Upon researching the film, I soon realized that HOCKEY NIGHT is a 1984 TV film. Silly me! It has been given a full 4K restoration and a special engagement run.

The film is a small budget film with mainly newcomers except for a few heavyweights like Rick Moranis (SCTV) in a serious role and Maury Chaykin (WHALE MUSIC) who lend their acting talents. The film also made Megan Follows a household name. It is a proud Canadian film, not afraid of being Canadian with familiar street and town names like Queen Street, Oshawa, North Bay thrown into the dialogue. After all, hockey is Canada’s national sport. Though a teen movie, there are no teens cussing. This is a good-hearted family film that the whole family can enjoy – particularly at Christmas.

The film begins with two stories, one centred around hockey hopeful Spear Kozak (Yannick Bisson) and the other around Cathy Yarrow (Megan Follows), newcomer to his small town, Parry Sound. For the unaware, Parry Sound is located 160 km (99 mi) south of Sudbury and 225 km (140 mi) north of Toronto. It is the seat of Parry Sound District, a popular cottage country region for Southern Ontario residents. It is also the birthplace of hockey legend, Bobby Orr, who is given a small homage in the film. It does not take a genius to guess that Spear and Cathy will form a young romantic couple. Cathy is bored to death in the town and according to her, ”fun hasn’t been invented yet in the town. ” And where there is no girl’s hockey team? Cathy was champ in her team in the Toronto. The answer now is simple: strap on her goalie pads and try out for the boy’s all-star team.

Local broadcaster Bum Johnston (Maury Chaykin) does not think a girl’s place is in a hockey arena. Chaykin injects a few quite funny moments as the prejudiced announcer at the games, giving his 2 cent worthless input. Lumber magnate Bill Moss (Henry Ramer), the team’s sponsor removes Cathy from the team with disastrous results. But Cathy stands firm between the pipes, helping the team win games while winning herself loyal allies in star player Spear and coach Willie Liepert (Moranis).

Hockey Night is a story of adolescent relationships, the struggles of small-town politics and of triumph over the expectations and pressures of the adult world. It is not a big action film with action or special effects, which is the reason this is a TV movie. The hockey matches on the ice are well shot. And like the two young hockey players. the film has its charm. This charm creates a winning film.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLts9uo3Vto
 

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