FILM REVIEW: Ghost Town Anthology

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Monday, 18 March 2019 00:45

Written by Gilbert Seah

GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGY ( Répertoire des villes disparues)(Canada 2019) ***
Directed by Denis Côté

Before appreciating the small budget pensive drama GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGY, a bit of background on its writer/director Denis Côté should be worthy of note.

Denis Côté is a Quebecois direct born in New Brunswick.  He is known as an experimental filmmaker with five of his previous film with no scripts and 5 with scripts.  In films like his documentary BEASTAIRE, he had lots of footage he shot at the zoo and wondered what to to with the footage before assembling the footage into a coherent film.  The films of  Denis Côté have been respected over the years and a number of cinematheques around the world have already organized retrospectives of his work.  Personally, I  admire Denis Côté's work.  They are pensive, meticulously crafted and intelligently conceived.

His latest work, GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGY has its experimental roots but is arguably his most accessible wok to date.  The film bears  his trademarks like carcasses of dead animals that are frequently found in the story - in this case a dead deer.  The film can be described as a different kind of zombie (or ghost) film.  Zombies appear in the film but no one is hurt.  No one attacks the zombies and as a result the zombies do not attack the town folk either.  But they appear and the villagers recognize them as being previous dead residents.  If all this sounds too weird or feels that this is not your kind of  movie that stay away - but the film definitely has its rewards.

The film is set in the small town of Sainte-Irénée-les-Neiges, Quebec with a population of only 215.  The film opens with a car on a road that swerves to the side hitting stacks of hard objects casing the death of its driver, revealed soon to be a leading respected citizen of the town who everyone loves.  The town is shocked and speechless.  They claim the death as as suicide but from the scene, it looks more like the car took a deliberate turn, implying a suicide.  Suicide or accident?   The inhabitants of the town struggle to cope with the death of Simon Dubé, the teenage son of the family.  The odd thing is that two figures wearing masks witness the crash and are seen running away from it after.   More figures wearing these ‘ghostly’ masks appear later in the film as well.  It is a small town where everyone knows everybody as she does, prides the mayor, Simone Smallwood (Diane Lavallee) who becomes visibly upset when the county sends a stranger to her town to help the people cope with the tragedy of a death.  Director Cote knows how to grab and hold the audiences attention despite the film’s slow pace.  More odd incidents occur as well as more characters are introduced into the story.  A welfare teen is the first to see the zombies.  The dead Simon appears to both his brother and mother.

GHOST TOWN ANTHOLOGY is another of Cote’s pensive teasers, so don’t expect any resolutions to the zombie crisis.  Also: great sound effects and occasionally great gothic atmosphere.

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

Film Review: Woman at War

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Friday, 15 March 2019 03:59

Written by Gilbert Seah

WOMAN AT WAR (Kona for i strio) (Iceland/France/Ukraine 2018)***
Directed by Benedikt Erlingsson

Those who have visited Iceland (myself included) will find extra pleasures in watching the Icelandic film WOMAN AT WAR shot in Icelandic.  The residential shots are typical what one would see around Reykjavic and the heroine moves into the countryside where the landscape shows typical Iceland - the barren outcrop, the moss and the hills.  Iceland is known as in other Scandinavian countries to be ultra-modern and more ecologically and environmentally friendly so a film that centres on an eco-terrorist is totally appropriate.  And a woman at that, makes the film even more politically correct.

The film opens with lots of promise.  A middle aged woman later revealed as Halla (Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir) who conducts the local choir, is in the mountains with a bow and arrow (the modern kind), taking refuge from the police.  She takes down a huge transformer pole carrying key power lines causing havoc in outages.  Funnily, a Latino tourist nearby gets arrested and blamed for a terrorist act.  The story is quite simple, revolving around he woman and later with her new-age twin sister (also played by the same actress).  Both sisters are intent to adopt a girl from the Ukraine which explains the film as a Ukrainian co-production.

The only complaint of the film is its predictability, particularly in the story’s main twist.  It does not take a genius (I guessed it) to figure what happens when the sister visits Halla in prison, but not everyone is like me, who sees about 400 films a year.

The script co-written by the director with Ólafur Egill Egilsson pokes fun often at Iceland.  There are scenes with Halla with her face on moss, common in Iceland’s vegetation.  The part about the population of Iceland being so small that everyone is somehow related to each other is used in the film when Halla meets a farmer who hides her.  He claims that he could somehow be related, tracing verbally all his ancestral roots.  The country’s many sheep is also used to hide Halla from the cops in one scene.

The Chinese are the main villains in the film.  They are the lot to blame, taking away the blame from the Icelandic government for the anti-environment projects that Halla is so angry about.

Director Erlingsson utilizes a band of musicians and singers (in Icelandic and in Icelandic native garb) in the background of most scenes to deliver the soundtrack, which gives the film a surreal (Greek Chorus) look, adding to the film’s quirkiness and bit of humour, though the tactic is a bit distracting.

The film premiered at Cannes and won Geirharðsdóttir the Best Actress prize at Montreal/s 2018 Festival of New Cinema.  The film was Iceland’s Official Entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar though it did to make the short list.  Worth a look for its quirkiness and topicality but nothing really out of the ordinary.  But the film won 10 Edda Awards (Icelandic Film Awards) including the coveted Best Film, Best Actress and Best Director and Best Cinematography prizes.

Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7279188/videoplayer/vi2484779545?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_1

The Canadian Film Festival 2019

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Friday, 15 March 2019 04:26

Written by Gilbert Seah

The Canadian Film Fest 2019

  The Festival will open with Shane Belcourt’s Red Rover, starring Kristian Bruun and Cara Gee following a lonely geologist qualifying for a one-way mission to Mars with the help of an offbeat musician, and will close with Jaren Hayman’s documentary This is North Preston about the economic and racial struggles in the largest black community in the country. Continuing the Festival’s commitment to support Canadian independent films, this year the CFF 

introduces a second Homegrown Shorts programme. Nine features and 28 shorts will screen over the five-day event including six World Premieres, ranging in stories from deep exploration to historical satire, intense thrillers to warm romances. The 13th edition of CFF will take place March 19-23 at Cineplex’s Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto. Tickets can be purchased at canfilmfest.ca.

“This year’s lineup is one of the most entertaining programmes yet and we’re 

delighted that once again we can give Toronto audiences the opportunity to see 

them on the big screen,” said Bern Euler, Executive Director, Canadian Film 

Fest. “We are also honoured to welcome award-winning film producer Don 

Carmody to our first Producing Masterclass, inspiring and supporting a network 

of Canadian artists.”

This year’s feature film highlights include the Toronto Premiere of compelling 

documentaries Alone Across the Atlantic about Canada’s greatest living 

explorer, Adam Shoalts’ 2017 4,000 km solo journey across the Canadian Arctic, 

and Wolves Unleashed: Against All Odds about world renowned animal 

trainer, Andrew Simpson and his difficult task training wild Mongolian wolves in 

China for the film Wolf Totem; as well as the World Premieres of Gord Rand’s 

biting satire Pond Life about suburban dreams and family nightmares.

CFF will also present two incredible Homegrown Shorts programmes for the first 

time including the Toronto Premieres of Shelley Thompson’s drama Duck Duck 

Goose about an elementary school teacher and her students coping with fear 

and guilt during a school lockdown; Juan Riedinger’s A Snake Marked about a 

convict forced to examine his own place in the world when his estranged father 

visits; and Shane Day’s directorial debut The Desolation Prize, a throwback to 

the 60s style hammer horrors, but with a modern edge. The Festival is pleased to 

screen seven shorts that will have their World Premieres including Chala 

Hunter’s directorial debut Moon Dog with Martha Burns and Alice Snaden.

The Festival will host a number of engaging industry events and workshops 

including the first ever Producers Masterclass with legendary producer Don 

Carmody exploring small and large budget films; a panel discussion on 

transitioning from the big screen to the small screen; and a panel with film festival 

programmers on how they programme their events. Visit canfilmfest.ca for details 

on the Industry programme in the coming days. 

For the complete list of titles for this year’s festival, click on canfilmfest.ca

CAPSULE REVIEWS OF SELECT FILMS:

POND LIFE (Canada 2018) ***
Directed by Gord Rand

POND LIFE settles on a couple at home - a seemingly happily married couple, Dick (Ryan Blakely) and Sandy (Jeanie Calleja), high school sweethearts.  The relationship is about to be tested.  As Dick makes sexual advances towards his wife (showing a still healthy marriage), Sandy reveals that her sister or foster sister as Dick corrects his wife, Daisy (Kerry McPherson) and boyfriend, Richard (Ryan McVittie) are on their way to visit.  Two couples.  Two secrets.  And a night to celebrate a pregnancy goes haywire. As the film progresses, more plot points are revealed.  It seems that Richard and Dick have known each other quite well and in fact have some shady business going, despite many disagreements.  The story grows more sinister.  POND LIFE turns up a an entertaining quirky tale about couples, the type Canadian films are well-known for.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/189524970

RED ROVER (Canada 2019) **
Directed by Shane Belcourt

Shane Belcourt performs triple duty as director, co-writer and director of photography about an odd ball geologist (Kristian Bruun) and his relationship with a pretty musician (Cara Gee).  Damon, the geologist spends his waking hours searching for that elusive something. Whether it is for deeper meaning, love, or just “treasure” on the beach with his metal detector, it is to no avail.  So when Damon meets an offbeat musician named Phoebe handing out flyers for a one way trip to Mars, a bond quickly forms.  She’s going to help him find that thing he is looking for by sending him 33.9 million miles away, even though what he needs might be right in front of him.  The film hints at a love relationship rather than a plutonic one, and one can hardly tell where everything is heading even half way through the movie.  But the waywardness of the two individuals are nothing out of the ordinary and their gatherings grow tiresome quite soon.  Bruun and Gee carry the film for all that is worth.  The film is shot in Toronto with may familiar sights that should please audiences watching the film at the Canadian Film Fest for which this film has been chosen as the Opening Film.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/294847271

Film Review: Climax

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Category: Cinéma - Movies

Published: Sunday, 24 February 2019 00:52

Written by Gilbert Seah

CLIMAX (France 2018) ****
Directed b Gaspar Noé

French auteur Gaspar Noé excited audiences with his first two films, the excellent CARNE and the sequel SEUL CONTRE TOUS which were both an hour or so long.  But Noé pushed the limits with ENTER THE VOID and IRREVERSIBLE and he continues to do so with his new film CLIMAX about a troupe of dancers on acid.

What can one do with a troupe of real dancers?  Noé proves that more than everything can be done.  His film can be divided into 5 parts - the interviews; the group dance; the mingling of the dancers; the individual dances; the sex that occurs after the acid takes effect and the climax (aftermath).   Even if all else fails, the dance choreography is so good, many done with one long take, that watching these dance segments is worth more than the ticket price.  I myself, would watch the film again just for the dance sequences.

The film begins with the dancers being interviewed by an unseen male and female interviewer.  This sequence takes about 15 minutes and the audience sees the obsession of the dancers. “Dance is everything.” “I will commit suicide if I cannot dance.”  “I would do anything to be able to dance in the troupe.”  To the last comment, Noé pursues the implications further, bringing light to the current sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, but with an intelligent difference.  The two dancers who make the identical last comment are probed further to the point that their sexual offers might be accepted.  Noé uses the males instead of the females to be accosted and the possible guilty party to be one male and one female.

The troupe’s dance number is nothing short of stunning.  Forget the dances in any other television show or dance movie.   This is the real thing - real dance from the streets, expertly choreographed by gifted dancers.

When the dancers start mingling, the audience discovers more about each individual, their sexual orientation, who each has the hots for and how one might be related to another.  This is the time the dancers take to the spiked sangria. The LSD (acid)  takes about a hour to take effect.

The film breaks out into dance again.  This time it is individual dance where each dancer is given the chance to perform solo.  Noé uses the overhead shot.  The camera displaced above and each dancer moves in a and then out of the spot, with the dance performance seen from a bird’s eye view.  It is uncommon to shoot dance numbers this way, but it is nevertheless inventive and effective.

The last two segments are not so easy to watch.  Once the dancers start to feel the effect of the drug, their emotions come loose and sex begins leading to the films climax which unfortunately is not so entertaining as the dance sequences.   Noé’s camera goes upside down with lighting going on and off so that not every scene can be deciphered clearly.

Noé never fails to shock and to push his filming limits.  CLIMAX shows Noé at one of his most effective, disturbing though not disgusting.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AuDB8pskGs