Subscribe to our RSS feed

Popular News Stories

  • Tom Hanks in Philadelphia Changed my Life
  • Canadian AIDS Society’s AGM and PHA Forum in Ottawa: some scholarships for HIVers available
  • Semen goes viral – or does it?

Festivals

Oct03

TIFF - Louise's Documentaries, & Festival Stinkers Part Two

Monday, 03 October 2011 Categories // Festivals, Arts and Entertainment, Movies

This year I saw nineteen films at TIFF and generally had a good experience

 

This year I saw nineteen films at TIFF and generally had a good experience .

Documentaries

My favourite documentary was The Last Dogs of Winter, the story of a man named Ladoon who is running a programme to save the last 400 wild Husky dogs in Churchill, Manitoba. In 1995, there were 2500 Huskies but the government killed most of them in order to stop Innu people from being nomadic in nature. It was “successful”, destroying further the traditional lifestyle of these people.

This courageous man has only two people helping him to feed these animals, to provide them medical care, and to use them to breed further such animals around the world. He has very little funding and little support from the townspeople for his work, out of fear of these dogs and the polar bears they attract. He is also helping to save the polar bears by keeping them away from the town and the possibility o being shot by townspeople. The story is compelling, heart warming and uplifting.

Pearl Jam Twenty and From the Sky Down about the histories of Pearl Jam and U2 were fine, somehow to me like being invited to watch the visual equivalent of an inside joke. This is for musicians and diehard fans . I like U2 especially but didn’t really feel engaged by the film. Pearl Jam was at least more “out there” and fun to watch with all of their antics.

The last documentary was The Fatherland, an Argentine film shot in the Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires , where Evita is buried. The director has different unknown and unnamed people reading at the gravesides of different also unknown( to me at least) historical figures from letters or poetry they wrote. I was asleep in no time. Sound concept but poor execution( so to speak).

The Lady

The Lady is the personal side of the story of Sang Sui Khi who is being kept as a political prisoner in Burma and was under house arrest for many years. She was also the winner of the Nobel prize but was not able to collect it because she would not have been permitted to return to Burma if she left. Michelle Yoen does a creditable job in the title role and Tom Wilkinson puts in a good performance as her long suffering and supportive English professor husband. While I enjoyed the film as I was watching, I realized after I left that it left me quickly and didn’t satisfy my desire to admire and be inspired by this living legend. Her struggle should have touched me more but it didn’t. Perhaps it lacked enough feeling in the character to feel her suffering- she was a bit too stoic for me to connect with her. See for yourself. There is no question that she is an important political figure of our time.

HUGELY DISAPPOINTING , YOU HAD NO REASON TO BE –FILMS

Peace, Love and Misunderstanding- What is there to misunderstand in this stinker?

What was Jane Fonda thinking ? She surely cannot want to be remembered for this retro stinker. Hippy grandmother living in Woodstock, N.Y. has visit from uptight, judgmental lawyer doctor from NYC and her two pubescent teenage children. How many times do we need to see this theme of learning to accept our dysfunctional little family as it is? Not this time, that’s for certain. Just awful, predictable, boring and embarrassing for Jane Fonda and her fans. Jane,tip from a fan : please remake Klute if you must act and can’t think of anything original to say.

The Woman on the Fifth- Fifth What ?

What were Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott Thomas thinking ? Are they that hard up for money ? If you have insomnia . see this one. You’ll be cured.

Dark Horse- Biggest disappointment of the Festival

What was Todd Solondz thinking? He has been my hero- maker of edgy, dark, difficult and interesting films including Happiness and Life During Wartime. Suddenly he wimps out and makes this half-baked piece about an obese, nerdy boy-man looking for love in all the wrong places , actually anywhere at all. Such a waste of Mia Farrow and Christopher Walken’s considerable talents. Even they cannot save this boring middle of the road unfunny comedy. Another good insomnia medication.

Americano- Snore

Another dog that had no reason to be made. Sorry, another “chien” since it’s a French dog. A garbled meandering tale of love gone wrong. Or something, I regretted the waste of Selma Hayek and Geraldine Chaplin. Boring, pointless, lengthy. Avoid at all costs.

Heleno- Who cares ?

Another waste of time and cute boys, Heleno tells the tale of the rise and fall of famed Brazilian football player ( soccer to me) Heleno de Freitas. I’m sure his life was more interesting than it appears in this film. Even the eye candy provided by Rodrigo Santoro in the title role is not enough to redeem this boring film- 116 minutes of my life I will never get back. Don’t let this happen to you and those you love or at least lust after.

Restless- I got that way after 15 minutes of this film

I adore Gus Van Sant- Elephant was brilliant, MILK wonderful. So what happened here ? Another snore fest . Why, Gus, why ? This film had no reason to be. And I had no reason to have to be subjected to it. Warning to all who enter here : this way boredom lies , 95 long minutes of it.

Continue Reading

Sep28

Louise's Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) movie reviews Part One

Wednesday, 28 September 2011 Categories // Festivals, Arts and Entertainment, Movies

Some of Louise's Toronto film festival Reviews. Part one from great to lukewarm

Albert Nobbs- A must-see gender-bender

By far my favourite film of the Festival, this is a gender-bender that is brilliantly written, directed , cast and acted. Glenn Close plays the title role of Albert Nobbs. I could not take my eyes off her for a second. This was a real tour de force performance. The story was so credible and well crafted and there was not a false note in any of the supporting cast. A must.

The Ides of March- Beware you don’t want them

Okay Gosling again and George Clooney- two hotties. Also Philip Seymour Hoffman who is a great actor. Stir, don’t shake, and you have the ingredients for a great film. Add a riveting story line right out of the political headlines and you cannot miss.

This movie doesn’t miss a beat. The story is credible; the dialogue fast paced and believable and the directing bang on. I love political thrillers and this is a hot one. Great way to pass two hours in the dark- especially in the dark with Ryan and George, sigh. Oh yeah. Run, do not walk to this film.

Take this Waltz- It just needs a quicker beat

Sarah Polley is becoming a good director. I hope she will become a great one. This film is close but misses the mark in a few areas. I like the story- a “grass is greener” morality tale told in a low key, quiet kind of way. The characters are generally credible- nice young married couple, dysfunctional but harmless family members and a “normal” life.

Enter cute new boy across the street- weird, mysterious, sexy, playful. Okay so far but Polley takes too long to build up the romantic tension between them and uses questionable dialogue in their scenes together. That said, I admit to a soft spot for this film and its theme.

We have all been there- deciding between safe and predictable old shoes versus shiny and new. We know that everything new gets old with wear but it is worth being reminded in this disposable, fast food, instant gratification society of ours. Nice cautionary tale with a few flaws. So Canadian- it a good way.

Edwin Boyd

This was a great romp of a movie. Based on the true story of the Toronto-based Boyd bank robbery gang led by the charming and handsome Edwin Boyd, I enjoyed every minute. Scott Speedman, great eye candy, plays the title role with panache. Definitely an okay time waster.

Machine Gun Preacher

This movie is based on the true story of Sam Childers, an American bad ass from Pennsylvania who keeps on getting in trouble with the law. He finally finds religion with his wife’s help and then becomes a missionary. He is no traditional missionary though, of the peace, love and turning the other cheek kind. He has his own brand of charitable vigilante-style justice and help which he uses to shield Sudanese orphans, many of whom have been tortured and used as child soldiers.

Gerard Butler plays the title role and he is amazing. It is worth seeing just for his performance but there is so much more.

Drive

As my faithful readers well know, I am in love with Ryan Gosling. I would watch him recite the telephone book in total awe. Luckily, he is also a good actor and chooses great roles so I don’t actually have to endure this.

Drive is a beautiful little film- sparse in dialogue, no gratuitous action, fast moving storyline, good acting. Gosling’s character’s history is an enigma. We don’t know where he came from or how he got there.

Normally this would annoy me and make it hard for me to suspend my disbelief in the character. Not in this case. The Driver, as he is called, is a complete, self-contained scrumptious package. Nothing more need be known about him to make his character believable. Carey Mulligan does a nice, job as his neighbour down the hall. The story zips by and two hours are up before you blink. Another must see.

Continue Reading

Jun18

Saving the best ‘til last, Luminato’s Confluence is THE one to see.

Saturday, 18 June 2011 Categories // Festivals, Arts and Entertainment, Bob Leahy

I don’t usually use the F word in reviews, but this show about the process of artistic creation, collaboration and creativity expressed in dance, music and movement, is fucking amazing

Saving the best ‘til last, Luminato’s Confluence is THE one to see.

“Fucking Amazing”, I said to myself as I jumped to my feet along with an enthusiastic audience at the conclusion of Confluence. I said it to myself, albeit out loud, because Luminato, generous as they are , gives out only one ticket per accredited media outlet – most give two – so partner Meirion, my usual theatre companion, was left at home.

Of course, serious reviewers seldom revert to the F word to describe a show they’re writing about – they/we generally use a much more scholarly tone. But why not be frank? Why not break the mould? Because Confluence IS fucking amazing.

The show is an odd one. Program notes describe it as “an exploration of the nature and fabric of creativity”. That sounds like an abstract concept to pull off. The collaborators/performers here – Akram Khan, a dancer/choreographer and multi-talented musician Nitin Sawhney have stellar reputations in the UK but are not well know here in North America – so what to expect? We know from the program there will be five musicians on stage and six dancers, along with Khan and Sawhney – but exactly what will we see and hear that will clarify the abstraction that is creativity? This show sounds, in fact, like it has all the makings of those dance projects we love but ache to understand what is going on in front of us.

Not so Confluence. It wears its themes big on its sleeve. The themes of creativity, of collaboration and the nitty gritty of how these two work in reality are writ large. This show is in fact nothing if not accessible.

We are introduced very early on to two facts. The first is that both Khan and Sawhney know A LOT about collaboration. The second is that they are two virtuoso performers. Seated on a large, largely empty stage, they talk together briefly – charming English accents here, by the way – about who sits where - before launching quickly in to a synchronized talk/movement piece that oozes perfection. What they say in perfect unison – something about a lost passport – is not important. How they come together to create such a dazzling piece is.

We switch to a male dancer struggling with a rag doll of a female dancer. There is nothing happening here, the two are not working together at all. But this morphs in to another stylized movement piece, a bit like the work of dance legends Pilobolus, with arms and legs moving into structural shapes in unison that amaze and delight.

Some of the dozen or so vignettes which follow start off with anything but confluence of ideas. Sawhney sits next to Khan, for instance, and tells him a story – a very boring story it turns out – about meeting an aboriginal man. Khan is bored and distracted and leaves Sawhney sitting alone, but then picks up on the rhythm and meaning of his words and creates a dance piece around them as we watch, fascinated

Did I mention that Khan is an astonishingly accomplished dancer? The music, performed live by an exciting Eastern-infused ensemble which Sawhney sometimes joins on guitar or keyboards, is another jumping off place to observe him illustrate how performance evolves from a musical, visual or emotional clue. He does so sometimes with the poise and nobility of a flamenco dancer, standing in one place with his bare feet moving in astonishingly fast counterpoint, as music and movement once again fuse. Again, these are virtuoso performances to stand up and cheer about.

Staging is simple but powerful. There are some impressive projections on the back scrim which the dance occasionally interacts with – collaborations of a sort again  - and some delightful moments where the scrim is lit so that the musicians behind are made visible, and then not.

I said earlier that the show is accessible. It’s also a theatrical tour de force that left me breathless. Unfortunately there is only one more opportunity to see it. It’s three-night run, way too short, Luminato, for a show of this calibre, closes tonight, Saturday June 18. It’s playing at The McMillan Theatre, 8pm..

This one gets my four thumbs-up rating. It really IS fucking amazing. Go see it.

xbobcon2

Continue Reading

Arts and Entertainment Section

Read More from the Arts and Entertainment Section...

Activism Section

Read More from the Activism Section...

Current Affairs Section

Read More from the Current Affairs Section...

Events Section

Read More from the Events Section...

Features and Interviews Section

Read More from the Features and Interviews Section...

Health Section

Read More from the Health Section...

International Section

Read More from the International Section...

Legal Section

Read More from the Legal Section...

Lifestyle Section

Read More from the Lifestyle Section...

Living with HIV Section

Read More from the Living with HIV Section...

Media Section

  • Top ten

    Top ten

    From PrEP to porn. Bob Leahy looks at PositiveLite.com’s ten most popular posts in the last six months. How many of these did you miss?

    Continue Reading

  • Cancellation

    Cancellation

    Sad news. This is the last blog entry from Christopher Banks. Here Christopher explains why.

    Continue Reading

  • The wild birds win BUT . .

    The wild birds win BUT . .

    Megan DePutter isn’t angry. In fact she’s delighted that AIDS Committee of Guelph’s close second place finish in the Canada’s Worst Charity Website contest netted her agency a $15,000 website makeover..

    Continue Reading

Read More from the Media Section...

Opinion Pieces Section

Read More from the Opinion Pieces Section...

Population Specific Section

Read More from the Population Specific Section...

Sex and Sexuality Section

Read More from the Sex and Sexuality Section...

News Sections

MarketPlace