Shia LaBeouf gives a stellar performance as Jake in this fourth feature film by Andrea Arnold.
A host of new and exciting films and the addition of virtual reality awaits
For a festival that is about to have its 45th edition, the Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) is stunningly youthful. It all makes sense when you realize its founder, Claude Chamberland, seems to care not for prestige, but for rejuvenation. If the once-glamorous Montreal World Film Festival has crumbled under the weight of ambition, the FNC has only prospered.
“As extensive as [the Toronto International Film Festival], but completely different,” is how Chamberland described the festival during the press conference that unveiled this newest edition. Filmmaking is constantly changing and adapting to the market, technological progress and cultural trends, among other factors. If it wants to remain worthy of its name, the FNC must adapt along with it—if not run ahead.
In this spirit, several new sections have been added to this year’s program—the most noteworthy of which is FNC eXPlore. Its mission is to promote new mediums, including virtual reality, which is becoming a mandatory component at film festivals—not to mention art galleries—around the world.
Installations will be free, with 45,000 visitors expected daily. Another new section, Les nouveaux alchimistes, is a space of expression for the most experimental filmmakers who bring cinema down to its essence as the marriage of sight and sound.
That is not to say that the FNC is oblivious to the past. This edition is dedicated to recently deceased filmmakers André Melançon, Jacques Rivette, Abbas Kiarostami, Andrzej Zulawski, Ronit Elkabetz and Donald Ranvaud. Retrospectives are planned in several sections, most notably decicated to the late Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski. Several screenings will also mark the 100th anniversary of the Dada movement, an avant garde art movement that took place in Europe in the early 20th century.
As always, the programming is remarkable for the range it offers. It is no exaggeration to say any viewer will find something that will suit their taste—from the short Carte blanche films that precede most screenings, to the long Lav Diaz’ award-winning 4-hour and 8-hour films, and from the most innocent of the P’tits loups section aimed at younger viewers, to the most adult, Temps Ø section, which this year offers several films that explore pornography.
Even if you couldn’t make it to the Cannes festival this year, you’ll soon have an opportunity to see arthouse films such as American Honey, Sieranevada, Aquarius, Toni Erdmann, The Handmaiden (with French subtitles), After the Storm and Gimme Danger. Other festival successes to be featured at the FNC are Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Student and Ivan I. Tverdovsky’s Zoology from Russia and Studio Ghibli’s co-production The Red Turtle from Belgium—a sure-fire future Oscar nominee. In other news, notorious Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl will make a rare overseas appearance to present his new film, Safari, and deliver a masterclass about the film.
The festival runs from Oct. 5 to 16, with screenings in many venues across the city. Stay tuned for The Concordian’s coverage. For information on prices and programming, visit nouveaucinema.ca.
Southside with you, which will be screening at the festival, tells the story of Barack Obama’s first date with the FLOTUS to be.
The festival, which runs from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, puts the spotlight on black talent from home and abroad.
The Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) is celebrating its 12th year, giving Montrealers the chance to see new, creative and powerful black films from Canada and abroad.
“This is the necessary festival in Montreal. It complements all the other festivals in the city and gives a voice and a platform to artists who otherwise would not have been seen or heard here,” said Fabienne Colas, president and founder of the MIBFF. “It reflects the concerns and the true realities of Black communities from the four corners of the world through powerful films, distinguished guests, master classes, panel discussions, exhibitions and way more.”
The festival, which runs from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, has a strong line-up of films from all genres, including documentary, narrative feature, and shorts. In addition to the films being presented, there is also a master class on how to break into the film industry as well as the Black FEM’art exhibition, which runs the length of the festival and highlights work from ten young black women in Montreal on the topic of black femininity.
One of the big themes underscored at the festival is that of speaking up. The films, panel discussions and workshops all revolve around this theme of denouncing unfairness and injustice, in one way or another—be it through one individual, or through a story or cause.
The festival begins on Wednesday, Sept. 28 with the screening of Maya Angelou and still I rise, by Canadian director Clement Virgo. This is the first documentary on Dr. Angelou, and chronicles how the events in her life shaped her life, and how her work, in turn, shaped the world around her.
For more information on their schedule and ticket prices, visit their website.
At a time of questionable politics, music and rap bring a country together to oust a president-for-life
The Revolution Won’t Be Televisedtakes a look at how a president-for-life was brought down by democracy
The last five years have been politically eventful, starting in late 2011 with the unraveling of the highly mediatized Arab Spring. Every year since has seen its own political movement emerge, notably the Black Lives Matter and the Occupy movements of 2012. In the midst of those political events was a revolution in Senegal, one that was overlooked by the Western media. Senegalese producer Rama Thiaw took matters into her own hands by making a documentary about the political turmoil in her home country.
The Revolution Won’t Be Televised was screened on Sept. 19 at the season opening of Cinema Politica.
It tells the story of the Senegalese rap group Keur Gui that lead a political revolution in their home country. The groups’ members, Thiat (Cheikh Oumar Cyrille Touré), DJ Gardiaga and Kilifeu (Mbess Seck), were tired of the social injustice, the political corruptness, the endless cycle of poverty and the police brutality that plagued their country. Together, they created an association named “Y en a marre,” which roughly translates to “enough is enough.” Outraged, they planned peaceful demonstrations against the upcoming election campaign of President Abdoulaye Wade, a man who had enslaved his people for 12 years without any political opposition. The Revolution Won’t be Televised documents Keur Giu’s actions during the election and its aftermath.
At a time of questionable politics, music and rap bring a country together to oust a president-for-life.
What is highly refreshing about this documentary is its message and overall tone. It’s surprising lightheartedness showcases how commitment and self-sacrifice can reap social change. The interactions between the rappers are funny and quirky, and it is interesting to see a political revolution driven by music. The rappers are inspirational characters, speaking to their peers about how important it is to register and vote. Fans are asked to show them their voting cards during concerts and the group implores them to not sell their cards, a practice that is crippling their political system.
It’s also worth noting how these men completely transform once they are on stage. They become incredibly energetic, and Thiat becomes a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z, based on the look of his hair. Their rapping style is aggressive and conveys the anger they feel towards their government leaders. As shown in the documentary, it is no wonder people took to the street after listening to their songs. Their lyrics are politically charged, including such statements as, “We are the victims of the crisis and true discrimination/I am fed up of this corrupt justice system.” These lyrics come from their song “Coup 2 Geule.”
During protests, the rappers would frequently tell their supporters to project a good image and to respect the policemen by saying “these men are men like us.” Thiat also values education and there is a scene in the documentary of him speaking to a classroom full of university students about the importance of being educated. The trio had no interest in becoming politicians—they just wanted people to not be cynical anymore and to start speaking out against injustice. Defying all expectations, their movement successfully managed to oust the president by encouraging the masses to register and vote.
What is shocking is the lack of media attention this revolution received. When asked about the lack of coverage by the international press, Thiaw said it might be due to the fact France did not want a “black spring” on their hands, and thus overlooked the revolution in Senegal. It is worth noting that Senegal was colonized by the French and gained its independence in the 1960s. According to the BBC, as a rather young country, Senegal has had its share of political unrest, but has been one of the most stable countries in Africa.
Thiaw edited the whole film by herself—the herculean task took her two years. She also did the whole post-production on her own, and the entire film crew was young and inexperienced. This lack of technical knowledge is visible in some scenes but does not take away from the impact the movie has on its viewer. Much like the rap trio presented in her documentary, Thiaw is someone whose determination is admirable. It took Thiaw and her crew six years to make the documentary, and they struggled to find funding since: “[the] cinema industry does not trust women when it comes to technical jobs,” Thiaw said.
Cinema Politica will present 13 politically-charged documentaries throughout the fall semester, and often holds subsequent Q&A sessions with the filmmakers. Cinema Politica’s upcoming documentary is called Seed: The Untold Story on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m in the Hall building (room 110). The film looks promising, it tells the tale of the seed industry and how Monsanto’s monopoly has forever changed the face of farming.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s chemistry will make you believe in the old magic of cinema again
Somewhere along the way, the film industry forgot how to inspire hope, or decided it was no longer necessary. It used to be that, as the world grew gloomier, the movies grew happier. This was a natural counterbalance to the uncertainty and unquietness of real life.
Today, as the world approaches pre-WW2 levels of tension and confusion, the big screen is not being a source of comfort—gritty is still the new cool, and some like to speculate that cinema is altogether dead, with Netflix offering the hip alternative. This present context is what makes Damien Chazelle’s La La Land all the more significant, meaningful and timeless. The film will not be released until December of this year, but it already has the feel of an established classic.
The mood is set with a virtuoso opening dance sequence that takes place on a Los Angeles highway. You watch as dozens of people are kept waiting in a traffic jam, when suddenly magic happens, and irresistible joy is breathed into the most ordinary of proceedings. It is during this opening dance sequence that a chance encounter occurs between Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a struggling musician, and Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress.
They are two dreamers in a city that couldn’t care less about them, and yet it inspires in them visions of love and enchantment, of star-bathed backgrounds and lushly coloured skies. Life circumstances ensure that they continuously cross paths—they meet again and again. First they dislike each other, then like each other, and finally they fall in love. All that jazz. The duo have a chemistry so pure that you know it is fate that brings them together, and not a team of screenwriters.
Sebastian (Gosling) and Mia (Stone) are two happy-go-lucky dreamers in a world that forgot how to dream.
What a strange concept it is to make an old-school musical in our day and age—but it works, both as an ode to dreams and to the power of cinema. Gosling and Stone are not professional dancers or singers, but the film doesn’t require them to be. The music by Justin Hurwitz—a key collaborator of Chazelle’s—is out of this world, written to emphasize tenderness and melancholy over vocal prowess.
The film is made with such nostalgia, and Chazelle—known for the 2014 sensation Whiplash—has such love for the history of music and cinema, that you almost expect the characters to make a wrong turn and be transported a century back, like in Midnight in Paris (2011).
The way La La Land confronts cinema’s dying past in a largely indifferent present recalls Sylvain Chomet’s animated L’illusioniste (2010)—although the latter mourned the retirement of magic, while Chazelle’s film all but screams that magic is still possible, even though it may not always offer a path to happiness. La La Land packs in all the pleasures of a musical, while offering a depth of emotion and a richness of form. It is a triumphant, generous masterpiece that feels bound for serious Oscar glory. You are right to be excited for it. Until the next time I see it, my heart will beat to the tune of Hurwitz’ songs.
The puppet show was filmed on small box sized sets. Photo by Jessica Kinnari
Not just for kids: Nufonia Must Fall will teach you all about how films are made
Nufonia Must Fall provides an interactive look at how children’s films are made—a great example of new age children’s theatre. Complete with cameras, a DJ, a live four string quartet and lots of little puppets, the show kept the children’s interest and mine for the entire 90 minutes.
Created by turntablist Kid Koala, the story revolves around a robot and his love interest, Malorie. The show was directed by Oscar nominee K.K. Barrett (Her,2016), and is based on the graphic novel by Kid Koala of the same name.
Kid Koala, who has toured alongside Arcade Fire and the Beastie Boys, hails from Montreal, along with most of the show’s production team, including the director of photography and Concordia alumnus AJ Korkidakis. Due to their Montreal ties, a lot of the scenes take place in the city’s well-known locations such as Mount Royal, where the robot and Malorie go on their first date, or Moog Audio, a music store on St-Laurent, where the robot gets a job. These small references make it exciting, and create a nice sense of familiarity for local viewers.
While this was marketed as a children’s show, the production and underlying themes are definitely of interest to an adult audience. In the auditorium, there were four cameras in place, along with various miniature sets built on top of tables and laid out along the floor. Each scene had a different miniature set, and the varied sizes of puppets were controlled from underneath the tables by strings or magnets. The puppets were made out of white pieces of fiberglass, and other bits of material. I think the creators were going for more of a modern look—the puppets faces seemed robotic and unmoving. It was fascinating to see where the cameras were set up during different scenes—it peaked my curiosity. Throughout the show, I tried to figure out how long the delay was between the camera and the screen.
The unique use of lighting really brought the story to life. For example, a car’s headlights were mimicked by the waving beam of a flashlight. The angles of the puppets combined with the backgrounds created various scenarios—a puppet that was angled backwards with a moving background gave the illusion that it was running very fast. Watching the story that the cameras were filming on the sets unfold from the sets to the big screen gave me an insight into how stop motion movies such the Wallace and Gromit seriesare created.
The story’s underlying themes of fear and love are relatable to viewers of all ages. Twice during the show, the robot gets fired from his job and begins to feel like a failure, but his love for Malorie later makes him realize that those jobs are not everything. While children cannot relate to losing a job, they do learn that work isn’t everything. With both the quintessential love story and a relatable plot, Nufonia Must Fall is a great show to see if you are studying intermedia, film production or you just enjoy seeing what goes on behind the scenes of stop motion films.
The show ran from September 2 to 5 at Place des Arts, but you can find the trailer on Kid Koala’s website.
The graphic novel Nufonia Must Fall, as well Kid Koala’s other works can also be found on his website.
Renowned Métis director Benjamin Ross Hayden brings his distinctly Canadian film home to Canada
After a few hurdles and a lot of phone calls, the all-Canadian film The Northlander made its North American debut on September 2 at the Outremont Theatre in Montreal.The Northlander was entered in this year’s Cannes Film Festival as a part of the Perspective Canada category.
Set in the year 2961 after nature has reclaimed the land, a hunter named Cygnus must journey through a desert valley to protect his people from a band of invaders. Along the way he must find the key to his people’s existence, and return from the journey with a purpose that he finds along the way.
The Northlander was written, directed and produced by Benjamin Ross Hayden, the youngest Canadian filmmaker to be accepted into the Telefilm Canada Micro-Budget Production Program as a director, writer, and producer. The film is a futuristic epic that features an all-First Nations cast, something Hayden cared deeply about.
“It was very important to have a cast who are representative of the characters in the story,” he said. Seemingly by “coincidence based on serendipity,” Hayden added, all of the actors had previously worked together on the Canadian television series Blackstone, and therefore already had chemistry. Lead actor Corey Sevier worked alongside executive producer Adam Beach on the film Path of Souls, written and directed by another Canadian, The Northlander’s executive producer Jeremy Torrie.
Even the inspiration for the film comes from Canada. “The film is inspired by a distinctly Canadian event, the 1885 Battle of Batoche, … where Louis Riel challenged the colonial ways of life,” Hayden said. “This same struggle is reflected in the film.” Principal cinematography took place in the Alberta Badlands near Montana, where Riel took refuge before returning to lead the Métis rebellion of the 1880s.
An unmistakably Canadian story, the film explores the theme of identity, something that Hayden said he believes is important to Canadian cinema. “Canadian cinema is unique in the fact that it has three strong sectors of cultural cinema: Anglophone, French Canadian and Aboriginal cinema,” said Hayden. According to Hayden, Canadian cinema has the ability to strike a unique chord on an international level. “We can connect to Hollywood because we have a commercial and cultural film industry,” he said. “Images are worth a thousand words, and films help to explore what makes Canada distinct, in the sense of Canada’s own identity.”
One of the reasons that Hayden chose Montreal for The Northlander’s North American premiere also ties back to Louis Riel. Hayden said due to Riel’s significant impact on Montreal’s history and culture, the film will resonate with those who see it. Just like how Riel fought to protect the Métis people’s identity, the lead character, Cygnus, fights to discover his own people’s identity and keep it alive.
“It makes sense to have the North American premiere in Montreal because it is one of the oldest cities in Canada, and it was all a part [of a] journey,” Hayden said. The journey that he’s referring to reflects the basis behind the film which is the, “Metis identity, exploring the journey that is part of the legacy of that culture.” This is one Canadian film where “eh” is not the punch line of every joke.
This film isn’t just another futuristic-themed low budget movie filmed on a video tape in someone’s backyard. The quality of the production was just as important to Hayden as the story. Having studied film production and film studies simultaneously, Hayden said he feels he can now create, “thought provoking cinema, with a mindfulness of both the art form and the craft.”
With The Northlander backed by Canadian film industry hard hitters Adam Beach and Jeremy Torrie, it was made not only to explore cultural identity, but to display the beauty and capabilities of Canadian-produced cinema. This level of production quality is not new to Hayden since his previous short film, Agophobiapremiered at over 20 film festivals worldwide including the Cannes Film Festival.
The Northlander has a few more stops at other film festivals this fall. It will be screened at the ImagineNative Film Festival, which runs from October 19 to 23 in Toronto, as well as the Feratum Film Fest from October 5 to 9 in Tlalpujahua, Mexico. Hayden has an agreement with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) to screen the film on the network for the next three years. It will also have a limited theatrical release next year in major Canadian cities. After the theatrical release, The Northlander will be released digitally by Spotlight Pictures within the next year.
Together, Masao and Kikujiro embark on an unlikely adventure.
Kikujiro draws parallels between a boy’s quest and the transition to adulthood
Kikujiro (1999) is an essential summer movie, but it’s all about when you decide to watch it. This summer was a time for me to break away from the last few years of stressing over adapting to adulthood. Watching Kikujiro at this time in my life really validated what I was going through.
Kikujiro is about a little boy, Masao (Yusuke Sekiguchi) who embarks on a journey with his elder neighbour Kikujiro (Takeshi Kitano). Together, they have a very random, yet life-changing summer adventure. The movie pulls you in with the innocence and sadness of young Masao, but it takes you on a trip that lets you reflect on the value of the people you meet throughout your life. Written and directed by Takeshi Kitano, who also stars in the film, Kikujiro was entered in the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.
The sad tone of the film is balanced by the light-hearted nature of Kitano’s character, and the bizarre encounters he and Masao have along the way. As a viewer, you are introduced to a rather despondent nine-year old boy who lives with his grandmother.
When his summer vacation begins, Masao has nothing to do and no one to play with, since all of his friends go on trips with their parents. Masao doesn’t know much about his parents—the only thing his grandmother tells him is that his mother is working hard. One day, he stumbles upon a picture of his mother. Written on the back of the picture is an address in Toyohashi, several hundred miles away. He decides to take a trip to meet her.
A lowly neighbourhood thug, Kikujiro becomes Masao’s companion. His wife, a former neighbour of the boy, convinces him to accompany Masao on his trip.
Their trip starts off a little shaky, with both parties forced into travelling together. After winning a bicycle bet, the pair stumbles into several messy situations, such as hitchhiking after their taxi breaks down, that help the two grow closer.
Watching this movie, I realized there are special people you meet that can change your life and how you view yourself. Regardless of how you feel about this movie, Kikujiro perfectly captures a pivotal journey in the characters’ lives. Kikujiro reminded me of my childhood, when I was a bored kid living in the city with a working parent, trying to find any way to amuse myself. The film also reflected my current situation, as I struggle to transition into adulthood.
Each of the ten episodes of the miniseries loosely revolves around
one of the Ten Commandments.
A Polish masterwork makes a stop by Montreal’s Cinéma du Parc
This September, Cinéma du Parc will be showcasing Krzysztof Kieślowski’s newly restored 1989 Polish TV drama Dekalog, a miniseries which presents a timeless look into ageless aspects of the human condition. Janus Films has finally delivered a restoration to this masterwork that will now be screened for a month at Cinéma du Parc in collaboration with the Festival du nouveau cinéma.
Filmed in 10 separate hour-long segments, Dekalog is a quintessential European epic in cinephile circles alongside the likes of Sátántangó(1994) and Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980).
But rest assured it does not demand to be viewed like a regular TV show. Despite being a television series, it functions as 10 individual short films. Each part is connected by theme only, not by linear narrative structure. At Cinéma du Parc, each ‘episode’ is screened during five two-hour blocks over the span of three weeks.
The miniseries’ director is two-time Oscar nominee Krzysztof Kieślowski.
It is also worth noting that while the series is themed around the Ten Commandments, a strong or weak connection to religion is not required to enjoy these works. The themes serve only as inspiration to 10 intimate portrayals of everyday life.
A two-time Oscar nominee, the late Kieślowski is a giant in Polish cinema. He holds the distinction of being one of the most revered directors of his time, with Sight and Soundnaming him the second greatest director of the modern day in 2002. Kieślowski’s prime years were in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s in which he directed, in addition to Dekalog, the Three Colors Trilogy films (1993-1994) and The Double Life of Veronique(1991). Despite being remembered for his narrative works, Kieślowski cut his teeth in the field with 21 documentary credits to his name before his transition into auteur cinema.
The screenings should serve as a welcomed alternative to those starved for an art house cinema fix in the wake of the summer blockbuster season. It also presents a great introduction to the style of European Art Cinema and even post-Cold War Eastern European Cinema as many of the episodes, such as Part V: Thou Shalt not Kill (1990), feature allusions to anxieties of a post-Cold War society.
Cinéma du Parc will be releasing their scheduled list of screenings each week on their website.
Last month, the world lost Chantal Akerman. The Belgian auteur is mainly known as a feminist and experimental artist, but she carefully avoided labels throughout her life—it is simply as a distinguished filmmaker that she will be paid tribute by the RIDM, Montreal’s International Documentary Festival.
Her last film, No Home Movie, is not the kind of documentary that throws data at you or reads you a lecture. It’s a deeply personal and demanding video essay that presents you with images and words and rarely explains what the meaning behind them is.
The subject of the film is the director’s mother, a Holocaust survivor who lived some of her last days in the presence of Akerman’s camera. By the time the film is over, her mother has passed away, which is, as many things in Akerman’s work, implicit—her voice gets deeper; her cough gets stronger; she becomes oblivious to her grown children’s pleas to tell them a story; and her apartment eventually empties itself of her.
All of this is intercut with ambiguously long shots of nature. A four-minute shot of a tree in the wind opens the film. Another one, captured from a moving car’s window, shows a desertic landscape. What is Akerman trying to say? Is she commenting on the fact that her mother, from her cosy Brussels apartment, will never be able to witness these sights? No voiceover is provided, and the viewer is left on their own to reflect on how many mysteries died with both of these women.
“Tell me, why are you filming me like that?” asks Akerman’s mother in one of their Skype conversations. “Because I want to show that there is no distance in the world,” answers Akerman. Her camera later zooms into her mother’s face as if that could help shorten the distance between them—they speak from different continents.
Much of the film was shot at the mother’s home in Brussels, but the title should tell you that this is not what you’d call a home movie. The camera captures conversations, some involving Akerman, others without her, some inconsequential and barely audible, while others scratch the surface of the mother’s wartime trauma.
This isn’t a home movie, and I’m not even sure that it’s cinema, but it expresses a daughter’s feelings for her mother in the way she intended it. If geographical distance has been in part vanquished through technology, death, concisely illustrated by a vacant space, cannot be helped. Or perhaps as long as a film exists, a person can live on, in a perpetual loop—there lived in Brussels a woman by the name of Natalia Akerman. As No Home Movie starts, she is alive. As it ends, she has passed away. One of the pleasures of a film is that it can be rewound.
The RIDM runs from Nov. 12 to Nov. 22. No Home Movie will be screened at the Excentris Movie Theatre on Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. and Nov. 20 at 8 p.m.
The Montreal International Documentary Festival pays tribute to the late Belgian icon
Last month, the world lost Chantal Akerman. The Belgian auteur is mainly known as a feminist and experimental artist, but she carefully avoided labels throughout her life—it is simply as a distinguished filmmaker that she will be paid tribute by the RIDM, Montreal’s International Documentary Festival.
Her last film, No Home Movie, is not the kind of documentary that throws data at you or reads you a lecture. It’s a deeply personal and demanding video essay that presents you with images and words and rarely explains what the meaning behind them is.
The subject of the film is the director’s mother, a Holocaust survivor who lived some of her last days in the presence of Akerman’s camera. By the time the film is over, her mother has passed away, which is, as many things in Akerman’s work, implicit—her voice gets deeper; her cough gets stronger; she becomes oblivious to her grown children’s pleas to tell them a story; and her apartment eventually empties itself of her.
All of this is intercut with ambiguously long shots of nature. A four-minute shot of a tree in the wind opens the film. Another one, captured from a moving car’s window, shows a desertic landscape. What is Akerman trying to say? Is she commenting on the fact that her mother, from her cosy Brussels apartment, will never be able to witness these sights? No voiceover is provided, and the viewer is left on their own to reflect on how many mysteries died with both of these women.
“Tell me, why are you filming me like that?” asks Akerman’s mother in one of their Skype conversations. “Because I want to show that there is no distance in the world,” answers Akerman. Her camera later zooms into her mother’s face as if that could help shorten the distance between them—they speak from different continents.
Much of the film was shot at the mother’s home in Brussels, but the title should tell you that this is not what you’d call a home movie. The camera captures conversations, some involving Akerman, others without her, some inconsequential and barely audible, while others scratch the surface of the mother’s wartime trauma.
This isn’t a home movie, and I’m not even sure that it’s cinema, but it expresses a daughter’s feelings for her mother in the way she intended it. If geographical distance has been in part vanquished through technology, death, concisely illustrated by a vacant space, cannot be helped. Or perhaps as long as a film exists, a person can live on, in a perpetual loop—there lived in Brussels a woman by the name of Natalia Akerman. As No Home Movie starts, she is alive. As it ends, she has passed away. One of the pleasures of a film is that it can be rewound.
The RIDM runs from Nov. 12 to Nov. 22. No Home Moviewill be screened at the Excentris Movie Theatre on Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. and Nov. 20 at 8 p.m.
Maybe my tastes are too singular, but this fifty shades of sucked
Full of self-loathing and holding our heads low, my date and I sauntered into the AMC on Valentine’s night to join the throngs of bored vanilla couples and gaggles of barely-legal girls going to see Fifty Shades of Grey.
We were off to a bad start before the preview reels even began: the theatre, packed to the brim, had seats left in only the three front rows—not the ideal viewing spot for anybody, as you’re forced to crane your neck and stare into the distorted giant faces of the cast, but even less so for a farsighted individual like myself. I never thought I’d feel so intimately connected with every little bump on Dakota Johnson’s nipples.
Then the film started, with a long establishing shot showing Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey, putzing around his millionaire’s walk-in-closet, going for a jog, and generally setting him up as a filthy-rich, put-together, virile-type person.
Then we see Johnson as Anastasia Steele, looking doe-eyed and waif-like as we would expect, in an ill-fitting cardigan and wispy bangs. Because, as everybody knows, all virgins must wear glorified sacks and gratuitous floral prints (and white underwear as we will soon see). Luckily, once she’s deflowered her wardrobe is no longer highly dependant on florals.
I came into the theatre with very low expectations. I’d read excerpts of the novel and enough reviews of both the books and the movie to know to keep an eye out for the psychological manipulation and emotionally abusive tendencies of Grey, the misrepresentation of BDSM practices, and the overall lack of chemistry between the two leads who have more than once openly admitted to despising each other.
I expected, however, despite my own reservations about the plotline and relationship between the characters, to be at least slightly tantalized if not semi-aroused throughout most of the film. This was being billed as softcore erotica, after all, and if nothing else I expected delivery on that front.
Sadly, even my most meagre of expectations were not met. Of the four or five sex scenes in the film, two were decently hot, and really only because it’s pretty hard not to get at least a quarter-arousal going when there’s an attractive woman writhing around, bound-up and suspended from ropes while the now-infamous slower, deeper, headier version of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” swells in the background. Unfortunately, that was about one minute of pleasure out of 122 minutes of cringeworthy pain.
Now, let’s just skip past the whole psychological abuse thing, Grey’s unhealthy tendency to stalk Steele like she’s his prey, and his obsession with owning her and controlling her (see her confession of being a virgin, to which he responds “Where have you been?” as if this is the greatest gift he’s ever been given; also buying her a new wardrobe, computer, and car; and setting up quarters in his home for her. Strangely though, he does not replace her ‘90s throwback flip phone).
We can also look past the fact that Steele never did sign that contract agreeing to be his submissive, despite them engaging in a dominant/submissive relationship throughout the film—a relationship that she was skeptical of, if not outright terrified to partake in (and was quite vocal about these reservations throughout the film). And hey, I guess it also isn’t a big deal that there were no instances of aftercare, even after Grey goes too far and leaves Steele crying on the floor as he whips her and, when she confronts him about it, responds that he’s “fifty shades of fucked up” so, I guess it’s not his fault. Nobody understands him, poor baby.
All these things are fine though, because he’s like so intense and like so hot and she just loooves him so much. And how can he be blamed when she has the audacity to bite her lip like that in front of him because she knows what that does to him.
Yes, perhaps all these slight details could be ignored if the actors had even an ounce of chemistry between them, or said their lines with any sort of inflection or feeling. The script, which was no winner to begin with, completely flatlined under the monotone delivery of both Dornan and Johnson. It was like they were speaking at each other the whole time, and were bored doing it. The hatred between them was palpable, and not in a hot, tense, Ryan Gosling-and-Rachel McAdams-hatred-for-each-other-circa-The Notebook-type-way, but rather in an “I’m completely bored and disgusted to have to be in the same room as you let alone have to simulate sex with you”-type way.
Moments that were presumably meant to be fraught with tension were so cringeworthy that the entire theatre alternately laughed and groaned out loud pretty much every time Grey revealed a new kink or made a new request, and likewise every time Johnson seemed to be climaxing before Grey even began to touch her.
The entire film came off like a bad spoof. It was so incredibly awful that I have to wonder if director Sam Taylor-Johnson perhaps intended it to be that way. Maybe the film is actually meant to be a meta-experience of sadistic pain, masquerading as pleasure, for the audience itself. Maybe we’re all Steele, wanting so hard to feel something that we’ll accept any kind of horseshit that hits us first.
In the end, I cannot possibly do justice to this spectacle in words, and I urge you all to arm yourselves with a bottle or two your poison of choice, and illegally download (for the love of God don’t make the same mistake I did and actually pay for it) this shipwreck to see for yourselves.
And hey, maybe I do have more masochistic tendencies than I gave myself credit for, because a deep, dark part of me can’t wait for the sequel.
How to get fifty shades of fucked up for Fifty Shades of Grey (which is really the only way to experience it):
You will need:
an alcoholic beverage of your choice, perhaps Fifty Shades of Grey wine?
a receptacle for said beverage
a liver of Steele (see what I did there?)
Rules:
Take a sip when…
there is a gratuitous shot of Dakota Johnson’s boobs
she bites her lip
Christian Grey appears topless
Anastasia is naked while Christian is clothed
There’s a shot of a full bush
There is phallic imagery (skyscrapers, pencils being sucked etc.)
He buys her something
They stare into each other’s eyes
She rolls her eyes
He threatens to punish her
She appears innocent and virginal
She tries to assert herself by sassing him
he plays piano
she cooks
he alludes to being psychologically damaged
he recoils at her touch
she whines about their sleeping arrangements
someone makes an astute observation (ex.: is that a car? do you play piano?)
Chug throughout any sex scenes (these are fewer and farther between than you’d think)
The 86th annual Academy Awards are set to air on Sunday March 2nd.
He got them all right last year—how will Elijah fare in 2015?
Graphic Jenny Kwan
Well, folks, another year has gone by, and despite the Doomsday Clock being at its closest to midnight since 1984, we are still here. A lot has changed since February 2014, but some things remain the same. Isn’t that a reassurance, to know exactly what you’ll be doing at a given time, every year? I know what I’ll be doing on February 22nd 2015 – like millions of others around the globe, I will be tuning in to the 87th Academy Awards ceremony.
Last year, I wrote: “The truth is that the Academy is undergoing a period of serious transition. In only a few years, we’ve seen a woman win a Best Director award, more ethnical groups represented than ever before, and people seemingly destined for a life of anonimity pulled out of their ordinary lives by well-deserved nominations.”
I stand by that, but I may have spoken too fast. This year has been, some say, too male-centric. Too white. #OscarSoWhite became a popular trend on Twitter, in apparent payback for the omission of “Selma” in the Best Director and Best Actor categories. Yes, no woman was nominated for Best Director. Yes, all Acting nominees were white. Does that mean that racism or sexism is in play?
I wouldn’t be so sure. What if a snub is just that – what if Academy members genuinely prefer one movie, or one performance, to another? Should they nominate a person solely to appease a certain community? Vote for someone solely on the basis of their ethnicity or gender? Wouldn’t that be just as bad as not nominating them in the first place? In both cases, that person would be given an unequal treatment.
The problem with art is that it is inherently subjective. Academy members found “Selma” worthy of a Best Picture and a Best Original Song nomination. They chose to reward other films in other categories. They are entitled to an opinion, and we shouldn’t try to force their hand. If anything is to be learned from this controversy, it is that perhaps not enough African-American and female filmmakers are given an opportunity to make the films they really want to make. People rallied behind “Selma” precisely because it was perhaps the only film to have been given that opportunity in the last year.
But enough polemics. Let’s get down to Oscar predictions! Read no further if you wish to avoid spoilers! Last year, they all came true.
Best Picture
There are eight films competing for the award this year, all of them worthy of consideration. When you think of the kind of films that win Oscars, you typically think of heavy historical dramas – commonly known as Oscar bait. But sometimes, you’re in for a surprise. The two front-runners are unlikely candidates, notable for their bold artistic choices: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Alejandro G. Iñarittu’s Birdman.
Boyhood is a tender look at the life of a young boy and his family. Admirably, it was filmed over 12 years – a first for a fiction film, and possibly a last. When it was first rumoured to be a major Oscar contestant, the idea seemed absurd – Oscar voters love big, important stories, but Boyhood is a collection of mostly passive and seemingly unimportant moments in a child’s life, as he grows up and his worldview is shaped. Yet, Boyhood was the best-reviewed film of 2014 and is the likeliest to become the next Best Picture winner.
Birdman is a very different beast. A carefully scripted and choreographed explosion of emotions, both repressed and expressed on screen. A jazzy, dreamy caricature of show business. A strange and deeply confounding film, it is made to look like a single, continuous shot, as we follow an aging movie star’s descent into hell and back. It is, in my humble opinion, the most deserving of the two, but it may prove too much for the Academy voters. I feel they might prefer the calm, contemplative Boyhood to such a relentless, furious roller-coaster.
Best Director
The showdown between Boyhood and Birdman continues in this category. It could be the third consecutive year when the Best Director award doesn’t go to the Best Picture winner. It has become a trend to reward the most visually ambitious nominee for its visionary directing and this year, it is Iñarritu’s Birdman that fits the description. Filmed in very long, audaciously constructed shots that require uninterrupted acting and movement, it envelops you, and watching it, you feel like you’ve landed on the stage of a play. An exceptionally well-directed play, I might add.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Much like his character in Birdman, ex-superhero Michael Keaton has made a glorious comeback after a decade of near-oblivion. His character is seen battling family and career issues, as well as a perfidious alter ego who attempts to lead him astray, back on the path of commercial moviedom. There are several references to Keaton’s own life throughout the film, but he claims this is the character he could least identify with, out of any he has played. It is a challenging role, and Keaton gave it his all. He deserves to win.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
There is little doubt as to what name will come out of that particular envelope : Julianne Moore, sometimes called “the Meryl Streep of not winning Oscars”. Nominated 4 times before, hers is a classic case of overdue. Her performance in Still Alice as an Alzheimer’s-afflicted linguist is as stellar as you’d expect. She hits all the right notes, showing the changes her character goes through with subtlety and flair.
In a perfect world, however, it is Rosamund Pike who would get the gold for her sensational breakthrough performance in Gone Girl. Rivaling every great psycho in the history of film, her character is terrifying because she is deeply unknowable. What is she really thinking? How far can she go? The movie opens and closes with the same shot of her, and by the end we understand more about her, but overall she remains a mystery. It is hard to say more without spoiling anything; if you haven’t seen Gone Girl yet, you absolutely should.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
There can be no doubt – J.K. Simmons will win. He has always been good, for example as Spider-Man’s scene-stealing editor in Sam Raimi’s franchise, but in Whiplash, he is simply too good to ignore. This is an award often given for villainous performances, and Simmons’ character is a masterclass in cruelty and emotional abuse. As a teacher in a prestigious music conservatory, he is a shapeshifter, sometimes deceivingly flattering, at other times a violent despot – all in the name of art. Simmons is chilling and unforgettable as he commands the screen with an iron hand. If this isn’t an Oscar-worthy performance, I don’t know what is.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
The first name that comes to mind is Patricia Arquette. Unlikely that she would be considered an Oscar frontrunner in 2015, but she can thank Boyhood for that. She was still a popular star in 2002 when filming started, but soon after that she began to take years off in between films and eventually focused on television. Now, fast-forward to 2015, and she is once again on everyone’s lips. In many ways, watching Boyhood is like opening a time capsule – her performance is one of the many good things we found inside.
Best Original Screenplay
The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of the year’s best-written films. Hard to say whether it is original—what is these days?—and it was admittedly inspired by Stefan Zweig’s works, but it is insanely clever and deeply rewarding. It has the usual traits of a Wes Anderson screenplay: bright characters, witty dialogue, and an engrossing and hilariously complicated story. But it also covers new and surprisingly dark territory: shoot-outs, gruesome murders and mutilations, and dead cats. All of that portrayed with Anderson’s trademark childlike innocence. It is also immensely tender in recounting a love story and a friendship, as well as Anderson’s love for an era, a writing style, and a time lost. The key to the film is in this line, “To be frank, I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it—but, I will say: he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvellous grace!”
Another possible winner is Birdman, which is also well-written. So much happens every second that it is an action movie in terms of intensity. It makes you fall in love with movies again. It makes you marvel, laugh, spit out your popcorn in surprise, or hold very still when someone’s life is in the balance. All of this may sound like a given but how often does that happen to you anymore? How often do you feel that there are no boundaries to what could happen on the screen? When was the last time you truly felt a film’s heartbeat? The Grand Budapest Hotel deserves to win, but if Birdman does, I’m sure there will be no hard feelings.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Now let’s come back to the most Oscar-ish movie on the list—The Imitation Game. I call it that for two reasons. First, it follows a formula made popular by past Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind: real-life eccentric mathematician deals with personal problems and espionage, real or imagined. Second, it is an “important issue” movie, showing a true story of persecution. It is fairly well-written, but perhaps too traditional in its storytelling. It brings up interesting questions, but doesn’t know how to deal with them because the screenwriter is limited by Hollywood conventions. Yet the movie will probably win, because it is undeniably a story that needed to be told.
The one that should win, but perhaps won’t, is Whiplash. It is competing in the Adapted Screenplay category because it is based on a short film made by the director in order to get financing, but apart from that, it is wholly original. An intricate psychological drama, or a musical thriller, it explores the pursuit of greatness. As a student, what sacrifices are you willing to make? As a teacher, should you be allowed to do just about anything it takes to unlock a student’s potential? We never get to know the characters very well and there’s no need to, because the moral dilemmas posed by the movie are universal, as is the battle of wills at its core. Whiplash is written with gusto, and its final sequence is all-time great material.
Let’s not forget to congratulate our fellow Canadians and Montrealers nominated for Oscars this year! In animation, Dean DeBlois from Aylmer, Quebec, nominated for directing How to Train Your Dragon 2; Graham Annable from Ontario, nominated for co-directing The Boxtrolls; Torill Kove, who was born in Norway but has lived in Montreal since 1982, a Concordia graduate, nominated for her short animated film Me and My Moulton; in visual effects, Cameron Waldbauer and Nicolas Aithadi from the Vancouver area, nominated for X-Men: Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy, respectively; in production design, Dennis Gassner from Vancouver, nominated for Into the Woods and presently hard at work on the new James Bond film; in sound mixing, Craig Mann from Ontario, nominated for his electrifying work on Whiplash.
Another year in movies is now officially past us. As always, there were casualties—Robin Williams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and many others. It seems impossible to imagine the movies without them but, somehow, things will go on. Let them never be over.
Take a look back at the best of 2014 in film by tuning in to the 87th Oscars ceremony, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris!
The silent screening of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame will leave you speechless
Feel like experiencing a film as audiences did during the silent film era? Well,The Film Society has you covered with its screenings of silent films. On Oct. 3 and 4, the society screened The Hunchback of Notre-Dame accompanied by live musicians. Presented by Le Cinéclub with the Westmount Park United Church providing the venue, The Film Society pulled out all the stops to make the audience experience a classic masterpiece the way it was meant to be experienced.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is originally based on Victor Hugo’s classic tale first published in 1831
Audiences were greeted by the high-walled, main hall of the old gothic church, a perfect venue for this film, and presented with a reproduced version of the original program shown to audiences at the New York Loew’s State Theatre in 1924. Before the start of the film, a member of Le Cinéclub took the podium to give the audience an introduction to the show. The Film Society, established in 1992, provides film fans in Montreal with everything from classic to modern cinema, with screenings taking place every second Sunday at Concordia University.
For The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, the host explained that audiences were about to see the 16 millimetre version of the film, which was the case because Universal Studios allowed the original 35 millimetre prints of the classic film to disappear. The film gained massive popularity all over North America at the time of its release, even though, as the presenter said, there was “no green-screen, no CGI: what you see, is what you get.” As for the music, the ensemble was led by Shayne Gryn at the piano and the organ, Beth McKenna playing the clarinet and the flute, and Erica Bridgeman playing the percussion instruments.
Following the introduction, the lights were dimmed and the film began. Directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney Sr. in the title role of Quasimodo and Patsy Ruth Miller in the role of Esmeralda, it is easy to see why this film saw the success it did upon its release. The acting was brilliant across the board. The skill required from actors, who at the time had to rely upon facial expressions to express emotion, are much appreciated in this classic film. Also, the brilliant use of makeup, mainly on Lon Chaney Sr., the magnificent sets, the subtle use of lighting and the villainous figures lurking in the shadows, all come together to set the appropriate mood for audiences to become invested in the telling of this classic tale, based on the novel by Victor Hugo.
These elements, combined with the jazzy, gothic inspired score provided by Gryn and company, the perfect venue and even the clicking sound of the film projector contributed to transport a 21st century audience to a different era of filmmaking.
All in all, the passion of Le Cinéclub / The Film Society was easily witnessed and appreciated by the full house audience that night.
For more information on future screenings, visit cineclubfilmsociety.com.
