Fantasia Film Festival '24 Film Review - The G

Elder exploitation turned revenge takes the spotlight in Writer-director Karl R. Hearne's film The G. Legal guardian care is big business in the US. Opportunists target vulnerable seniors that seem to have no interaction with relatives. A doctor in that the scheme that declares senior unfit allowing the Guardian to go to court and take control of the their life and assets. In this case, the opportunist Rivera  (Bruce Ramsay) picked the wrong senior Ann Hunter (Dale Dickey) as his latest target. Ann is as tough as they come, born into a family that is familiar with violence. She has connections back in her home state of Texas that are still active in the crime world.

At the film's opening Ann is grumpy and mouthy as she visits the doctor for what she thinks is a regular check-up. Her Granddaughter Emma (Romane Denis)  waits for her appointment to finish showing some feistiness of her own. Once home Ann cares for her bedridden husband Chip (Greg Ellwand) the best she can. Then in the middle of the night, her court-appointed guardian appears. hustles Ann and Chip to a stark care facility that is more prison than a senior residence. Rivera moves to liquidate the couple's assets under the guise of paying for their care.   A tragic event soon after the couple's arrival brings Ann's violent roots to the foreground soon to turn the tables on her would be group of oppressors. 

Dale Dickey commits fully to the role of  72-year-old grandmother Ann Hunter. She is a full value lead performer that drives hard at everything that she does. From being a foul-mouthed chain-smoking hard drinker who got her kicked out of her sewing circle to embracing all aspects of a womanhood in a budding new relationship at the care facility. Roc Lafortune as Joseph adds a counterbalance as a resident with some outdoor privileges that quickly learns Ann's range of full-on qualities. 

Director Karl R. Herne sets the film in an unnamed Northern City in the harshness of winter a true  match to the title character's harsh exterior. The file exudes gritty goodness with a healthy dose of crime family activity sprinkled throughout the narrative. Dickey plays a role that would normally go to Liam Neeson or other older gentlemen with a particular set of skills. Here Ann Hunter has those skills and is willing to use them to protect her family in a way that will satisfy the viewer. 

*** Out of 4

The G | Karl R. Hearne | Canada | 2024 | 106 Minutes. 

Tags: Legal Guardian, Senior Care, Money,  Map, Crime Family, Sewing Circle, Buffalo. 

Well Go Entertainment Film Review - Escape

Fast, rapid quick, and relentless are a few of the words that come to mind when watching the opening sequences of the new Korean thriller Escape. An instant box hit office in its homeland, Escape tells the story of a North Korean Army Sargent  Lim- Kyu-nam (Lee Je-hoon)  in the last few days of his 10 - year mandatory military service looking to take his final opportunity to escape to the South as he will likely not have his current freedom of movement or knowledge of the mine placements in and around the demilitarized zone ever again.  Lim has been plotting his departure for a while. He was sneaking out of the barracks every night and marking the mine locations on a homemade map. One of his juniors Kim Dong-hyuk (Hong Xa-bin) knows what's up and when an impending rainfall moves up the timetable. Kim demands to go as well or will expose Lim to superiors as the strict regime vigorously encourages soldiers to do. 

Lim's initial plan is thwarted mainly because of Kim but a chance to survive is extended to Lim by an unlikely source. The notorious Field Officer Li Hyun-Sang ( Koo Kyo-hwan) a childhood acquaintance of Lim's as his dad worked as a driver for the Li family. Lim has to constantly recalculate his moves as the film progresses as different obstacles are thrown at him. He often looks to his hero refers to his  The Tenacious Explorer Amundsen author of an adventure novel that read repeatedly as a child. His other prized possession is a small radio where he listens to a ROK Radio broadcast from the south that speaks to the opportunities available in the promised land. 

Director Lee Jong-pil creates a world underpinned with a phenetic pace that will have the viewer thinking of similar adrenaline thrillers Run Lola Run  or another German film Victoria and even Ethan Hunt's need to run in the Mission Impossible films. The cinematography is sharp and crisp as well. The gun play has stylish elegance. One scene of spectacular lighting stands out as Lim and Kim attempt to stay hidden near a fence as a searchlight from a sniper tower pans to find them. The story is about two North Koreans at it centre but its audience is South Korea with a message of Making the best of the opportunities you have, not being afraid to fail, and being thankful that you do have that opportunity to fail at what you want to do. 

The ensemble cast all perform well. The cat and mouse play between Lee Je-hoon's Lim and Koo Kyo-hwan's Li at the centre. Childhood acquaintances bordering on friends pitted against each other with one needing to stop the other not because he wants to but knowing the personal consequences if he doesn't.  The film is a heart thumper that I can recommend. 

*** Out of 4

Escape| Lee Jong-pil | Korea | 2024| 94 Minutes. 

DMZ, Mines, Piano, Military Service, Map, Driver, The Tenacious Explorer Amundsen, ROK Radio, Necklace.

Well Go USA Entertainment Film Review - Ride

Grit, Family, and Desperation are the three words that repeatedly come to mind when watching Director Jake Allyn's Ride. Three generations of Championship bull riders in Stephenville Texas battle themselves and each other as they all do anything they can to raise money to get John Hawkins' (C. Thomas Howell) daughter Virginia (Zia Carlock) to a better cancer hospital. Addiction plays a major part in the proceedings. Granddad Al ( Forrie J. Smith) had a major alcohol addiction that almost ruined his bull riding career. That addiction skipped a generation to Grandson Peter played by Director Jake Allyn as at the film's opening he is released from prison having served for years for vehicular homicide causing the death of a young local girl with Virgina in the car at the time. 

John and his wife Monica (Annabeth Gish) get the news that Virginia is not coming home as expected but, an open spot is available at a leading oncology centre that will be costly with 40K needed upfront. John tells Monica he will handle it mainly by obtaining his part-time teaching pension early. He also overturns every loose asset and loan he possibly can think of to raise funds. When his early application for his pension is denied the level of desperation increases as the facility begins to show signs that they will not hold the spot for Virginia much longer. Fresh out of jail Peter has slipped back into old habits. He's hooked up with his old cellmate Tyler (Patrick Murphy) using again and promising his yet unearned winnings from a local P.B.R. contest as payment for Oxy. 

C Thomas Howell is almost unrecognizable as John Hawkins. Especially if you have not seen him for a while and still picture him from his peak days in the early eighties The Outsiders,  E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. and the underrated Red Dawn era.  He's a dad that will go to any lengths for his daughter. The director disappears into the role of Peter. He's an addict who has let himself, his family, and his community down and deeply wants to redeem himself.  Only his Granddad Al and younger sister Virgina are unconditionally in his corner. His Dad is so opposed to him that he throws a generous gesture to help out the fundraising efforts back in his face. When a final last-ditch effort is proposed by Peter to John the elder sees no other option but to take it. It's a major step outside the law that results in  even bigger one. The job of investigating the aftermath falls to Monica, who is the local Sheriff and her eager Deputy Ross Dickons (Scott Reeves) who has a thing for Monica, has never liked Peter, and doesn't care much for John.

Ride is at its' heart a story about family. Built on four pillars that span three generations who are all in very different places when this family crisis arises. Annabelle Gish is perhaps the most conflicted as  family matriarch Monica. Her eldest son just spent four years in jail where she never visited him. Her only daughter may die if she can't get into the new treatment centre and she's leading a major police investigation where she may have to pick her family over her career. Writer -Director Jake Allyn has crafted a simple straight ahead yet compelling story that I can recommend. 

***1/2 Out of Four.

Ride | Jake Allyn | U.S.A. | 2024 | 114 Minutes. 

Tags: Cancer, Bull Riding, Rodeo Clown, Addiction, Ex-Con, Robbery, Homicide, Stephenville Texas, Champion Bull Rider. Unicorn. 

Low Sky Productions / Shudder Film Review - In a Violent Nature

Writer - Director Chris Nash brings a new vision to the slasher film genre with his debut title  In A Violent Nature. The VFX specialist's film is shot from the killer Johnny (Ry Barrett) point of view.  There is little to no score. Atmospheric sound reigns instead a calming mix of whistling birds and Johnny's boots trudging over leaves, soil, gravel and branches in the forest. The other constant  is the echo of voices off in the distance getting louder as Johnny approaches. In a pivotal scene towards the end birds chirping frantically in the forest are used creatively to create an elevated level of tension . At open the camera focuses in on a pendant hanging on a rusted pipe from some long unused structure that nature has reclaimed. The owner of one of the two voices carrying on a non-descript conversation reaches out and grabs the pendant. After further silence the ground begins to rumble and out pops the behemoth that is Johnny. Once free from the soil below he begins a steady march over an extended period of no dialogue in the direction of that hand that grabbed the pendant. 

Johnny soon acquires his signature weapons. An Axe that he wields, then recovers a kin to Captain America's shield and a chain link metal rope with a hook on one end that he expertly deploys yielding brutal results. Followed by his last piece of kit a 19th century smoke helmet that he snatches from a fire lookout station. Our killer marches around the forest like an apex predator. Coming across people usually in pairs or the customary group of exuberant teens away at a cabin in the woods for the weekend.  You can almost hear him thinking as he formulates a plan of attack on the unsuspecting humans as he approaches. Then the plan is executed and people die. Three kills rank above all. One takes out a swimmer in a lake. The second snuffs out the Ranger (Reece Presley) who's linked to imprisoning him in that tomb below the rusted fire tower many years ago. The third and signature one from the film is thrust upon a seemingly random victim quietly doing her open air yoga practice. To say any more would ruin the epic nature of the act. 

Amongst the potential victims Kris (Andrea Pavolic) emerges as the foil to Johnny's rampage. She hears the back story from a fellow teens around a fire at the cabin the group is occupying. Apparently Johnny was bullied by the locals as a youth. He was tricked into climbing up the fire tower where he suffered a tragic accident, the ones involved covered it up.The pendant his mother's hanging it above his burial plot had kept Johnny in place. 

In a Violent Nature is a unique entry into the slasher film genre. There is no soundtrack present to build a sense of urgency or fear. Instead, people are going about their lives unaware of Johnny's lumbering approach. Surprise comes next, followed by fear then and the realization that they are about to die. Nash's method is simplistic yet effective resulting in a film that I can highly recommend. 

**** Out of 4.

In A Violent Nature | Chris Nash | Canada | 2024 | 94 Minutes.

Pendant, Tomb, Bullying, Fire Tower, Vengeance, Axe, Chained Hook, Forest, Teens, Cabin In the Woods, Smoke Helmet,Sawmill, Bear Trap, Gasoline, Toy Truck. 

Fantasia Film Festival 2023 Film Review - Sometimes I Think About Dying

A celebration of the mundane and venturing out and away from isolation and loneliness are the  main focuses of Rachel Lamberts' Sometimes I Think About Dying. Fran (Daisy Ridley) of Star Wars fame is an office worker in a small Oregon town. Her daily routine consists of going into the office in muted colours keeping to herself as conversations and debates occur amongst her colleagues around her. Fran stares at her computer screen filling generic orders, working on spreadsheets attending meetings where an e-mail could have sufficed. After work, she heads home to her small residence preparing her usual microwave dinner to consume alongside an ever-present glass of wine.

A large crane is placed at eye level outside of her office window leading Fran to imagine being lifted up by the crane and hanging from it. That image joins her more regular nightly thoughts of lying lifeless in a dewy forest with bugs crawling over her skin or dead tangled in a driftwood pile at the beach. New employee Robert (Dave Merheje) arrives at the office and not knowing any better engages Fran in conversation. The topic of film comes up and Fran agrees to meet Robert at the local theatre. He has his own routine as well, seeing movies and visiting a local restaurant nearby for dessert after a screening. 

Robert seems genuinely interested but Fran cannot understand why anyone would be so she unwittingly sabotages things at an early opportunity. Fran gets a moment to shine during one of their outings attending a Murder Mystery dinner party. She gets to tell the attendees how she died in one of the set pieces. Her fantasies about death come to the fore to the delight of the entire party. 

Writer Kevin Armento Adapts his play Killers for the screen. The theatre roots are evident in the production. The original live-action short director Stefanie Abel Horowitz also gets a credit. Lambert lingers on the most minuscule unglamourous parts of Fran's existence. So much so that when she steps completely out of her character buying donuts for the office one morning the viewer can easily understand what a big step it is for Fran and fully believe the level of excitement her gesture creates. Marcia DeBonis features in the small role of Carol. Her going away party at the office opens the film and serves as the first glimpse into Fran's status as a true outsider. Fran runs into Carol by chance later in the film and again DeBonis dominates the space as they catch up.

Daisy Ridley does a lot with the minimalist outline of her character Fran. She doesn't speak for a good chunk of the opening sequences despite being constantly on screen. She instead communicates with her body and through her eyes. Her daydreams are elaborate and her awkwardness papabile. She lurks in the background looking over her shoulder at normal interactions between colleagues from safety behind the walls of her three-sided cubicle. The rest of the ensemble cast pull their weight in this small feature which is a different style of filmmaking that hits its mark. 

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

Sometimes I Think About Dying| Rachel Lambert| U.S.A. | 2023 | 91 Minutes.

Tags: Office Work, Daydreaming, Death, Murder Mystery, Retirement, Cruise, Movie & Dessert. 

Fantasia Film Festival 2023 Film Review - Aporia

What if you could go back and change a catastrophic event that devastated your family? But to do so would have a lethal effect on the perpetrator of the event. Would you worry about the effect on other aspects of your and your loved ones' lives? Would you care about the consequences on the perpetrator's  family? Does making one change in the recent past have a lesser ripple than multiple or changes further back in time?  These are the questions debated and agonized over amongst the characters in Writer-Director Jared Moshe's latest film Aporia. 

Sophie Rice (Judy Greer) has seen her life crumble since the death of her husband Mal (Edi Gthegi) He was killed by a drunk driver while crossing the street and despite showing up for repeated court hearings the driver is not being punished. Her daughter Riley (Faithe Herman) is skipping classes and has lost interest in her one true passion science that she shared with her Dad. Sophie works in a Long-Term Car facility. She is dedicated to her patients but the strain over everything has grinded her down. Her friend Jabir (Payman Maadi) who was best friends with Mal, bonding through their love of science. Jabir reveals to Sophie a machine that he worked on with Mal. It looks like a 70s muscle car engine on a metal stand with too many batteries and wires attached. But the machine can reach into the past and send a projectile to a specific GPS-targeted location with the force of a bullet. The payload able to write the wrong that devastated Sophie's family before the accident even occurred. When it works the real hard questions begin. 

Moshe crafts a practical science fiction film with zero VFX.  A time travel story where the main characters never leave the room where the machine fires up and sends its accelerated particle projectiles back into the past then the participants step out of the room to an altered timeline all around them. The differences can be subtle; a change of duties at the Long Term Care facility, different living room furniture and throw pillows picked put by your returning spouse, or something greater and vastly more significant. The homemade science project has moved from the theoretical to real-world impact bringing with it life-altering implications. The foreboding soundtrack that underpins the story is a constant reminder of the high stakes and potential consequences of everyone's actions. 

Judy Greer commands the screen in the role of Sophie. She is overwhelmed with grief at the outset of the film. She is not getting justice. Her daughter is spiraling downward losing interest in everything and anything she used to hold dear. Edi Gathegi serves s connective tissue is in the role of Mal. He understands exactly what has occurred when Sophie and Jabir level with him on what they have done? His scientific mind works out all of the combinations and permutations. Faithe Herman plays multiple versions of the couple's daughter each time the machine is fired up. She is despondent at first then downright joyful once Sophie tracks her down in a new timeline after emerging from Jabir's household lab. The bottom line appears to be firing it up once you can get the desired effect. But human nature won't stop there meaning cataclysmic change is likely inevitable. 

*** 1/2  Out of 4. 

Aporia | Jared Moshe | U.S. A. | 2023 | 103 Minutes. 

Tags: Drunk Driver, Widow, Grief, Court Case, Long Term Care, Physicist, Time Travel, Rocket Ships, Ponzi Scheme, Birthday Party, Hamlet. 

 

Fantasia Film Festival 2023 Film Review - Raging Grace

Grace (Jaeden Paige Boadilla) is a curious, impetuous, prankster of a schoolgirl living in London, England with her mother Joy (Max Eigenmann). Joy is an undocumented Filipina immigrant working cleaning homes and as a caregiver to London's upper crust trying to gain funds to make her residency in London legal. Resources stretched, she often resorts to squatting with her daughter in the homes of clients that she knows are on vacation. On occasion only managing to vacate the premises moments before the family turns the key to enter the home upon their return. She is getting close to her intended dollar target but her source to get her papers has given a fast-approaching deadline to provide the money in total. Into this vulnerable timeline, a too- good-to-be true job offer pops up.  Katherine (Leanne Best) the Niece of a rich dying landowner (David Hayman) will pay Joy a large salary in cash to clean her Uncle's large country estate and care for him. The only task  Katherine will not give up is the administration of medication to her Uncle. Joy will get her own large room with an ensuite as part of the arrangement. Joy moves in sneaking Grace into the home in a large suitcase. Katherine does not want Joy to use Employer housekeeper formalities but constantly snaps at Joy when she feels that she steps out of line. 

The job is going well until Grace while exploring the home from the shadows notices the real reason that Katherine wanted to maintain medication duty. Joy dismisses her daughter's concerns at first but begins to notice odd things as well. When Katherine has to leave for business Joy becomes in charge of the pills and makes some changes that lead to surprising results especially to Katherine upon her return home. Joy is firmly on Mr. Garrett's side seeing him as the victim then slowly sees a different dynamic as she learns more about her new aging benefactor. A throwaway comment about cock fighting in the Philippines can be seen later upon reflection as a metaphor for the Upper-Class view of those in a lower state. Mr. Garrett continues to charm Grace. Giving her freedom on the grounds, listening intently to her in conversations. He eventually becomes a source of conflict between Mother and Daughter. 

Writer/Director Paris Zarcilla brings two completely opposite worlds together at an English country estate in this film. Joy and Grace are transients hovering near the lower rungs of society. They operate  at the grey edges to survive and get along. Mr. Garrett and his niece Katherine have a large Estate to roam with pictures of relatives three and four generations back staring at them on the walls. World travelers, Barristors, Old money. The top rung squarely below them. Zarcilla flips the dynamic on its head. The working class class immigrants don't need the money of the rich. Rather the rich need them to do just about everything for them and their families from cradle to grave.

Max Eigenmann is in just about every frame of the film as Joy. She may seem passive and obedient but underneath that public front, she is adaptive, smart,and a fierce advocate for her daughter. Jaeden Paige Boadilla steals just about every scene she is in as Grace. Leanne Best and David Hayman shine in their supporting roles. Natural villains of the piece, they both have nuance and moments when they play ally to Joy and Grace. Their scenes together are a battle of equal imposing wills, with the upper hand changing regularly throughout the film. Raging Grace is a horror-thriller with a strong socioeconomic thread at its centre. Well written, and shot featuring a superb staccato score in the Hitchcock tradition. It's a film that is well worth a watch. 

***1/2 Out of Four. 

Raging Grace | Paris Zarcilla | U.K. | 2023 | 99 Minutes. 

Tags: Domestic worker, Philippines, Single Mother, Citizenship, Terminal Cancer, Caregiver, Uncle, Niece, Country Estate, Over Medicating, Declared Dead. Immigration Authorities. Church Choir. 

Hot Docs 2023 Film Review - July Talk: Love Lives Here

Toronto Indie band July Talk want their band, fans, audiences, and ultimately their band to be inclusive, a safe space where everyone has a voice and can be heard. Their reputation was built though touring starting with the smallest and growing steadily upward mainly by word of mouth, some airplay but mainly by audiences seeing the band in person. The Pandemic took away the live show so for their only show of 2020 they decided to try something different. Play a Central Ontario Drive in Two raised large screens  a good distance from the stage, multi-cameras broadcast out to their fans and everyone on site theoretically in their cars facing the stage. The events leading up to the live show are the foundation of the documentary. 

One of the two poignant moments that crystalize what the band is about occured at a show in Buffalo at the Towne Ballroom in December of 2016. A lout in the crowd hurled a sexist derogatory remark at co-front person Leah Fay Goldstein. She pounced, The band and audience backed her up. The culprit was quickly identified and turfed. The other James Bailey recruited by Leah from a spiritual service who brought along Kyla Charter to back up and sort though the harmonies.  The result of the collaboration produced the song Champagne digging into how privilege works from two very different perspectives. When the song is played; James and Kyla take centre stage as true collaborators. The visuals as the back story is told in a live frenetic concert sequence causing chills. There are many such instances throughout the piece. Especially with the lens falls on Leah. The monochrome tone invokes an Andy Warhol performance art feels. 

A major theme during the lead-up to the concert is co-front person Peter Dreimanis' health. He was inexplicably losing weight. down about 30 pounds. His bones were clearly visible. The weight loss was not covid related making the other band members worried. On top of the health concerns, Peter was pushing hard to make the drive-in show a reality along with fourteen hours a day of  post-production work on the newly completed album. Four days before the August 12, 2020 concert. Peter got confirmation of a type one diabetes diagnosis along with a plan of insulin therapy to treat it.  Accompanied with a warning of doing two shows full on back to back in four days could lead to low blood sugar, hypoglycemia shaking sweating and potentially passing out in the middle of nowhere at the Stardust Drive-in. Not to mention a covid scare with another of the band members. 

July Talk: Love Lives here tracks the rise of an indie rock band from their first EP sessions in 2012 after a prologue announcement of the Drive-In dates, time-lapse set build and last words before hitting the stage. Their process front and mission statement are always at the forefront. Covid-19 telltale signs are everywhere. Along with the true message, that the band needs this, their fans need this show and society in general by August 2020 needed reasons for people to get together to begin to share common experiences again. 

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

July Talk: Love Lives Here | Brittany Farhat | Canada| 2023| 83 Minutes.

Tags: Concert, Covid-19, Indie Rock, Touring, Studio Sessions, Type 1 Diabetes, Collaboration, Stardust Drive-In. 

Hot Docs 2023 Film Review - Iron Butterflies

Piecing together the sequence of events leading up to the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, 2014, then on to and the investigation afterward are the push and the pull of Roman Liubyi's documentary film Iron Butterflies. The director had a premonition that the making of this film would serve as a warning to head off a potential future war. In reality, the war in Liubyi's home country of Ukraine has been raging for more than a year as the film has hit the festival circuit.  Only his thought of a larger conflict has yet to take place. A Dutch court in November of 2022 found Russia responsible for the incident. The missile that struck flight MH17 was Russian made and the fateful strike was fired by a four person anti-aircraft team or Russian BUK missile-launcher made up of 3 Russians and one Ukrainian based in Eastern Ukraine. Western powers' reaction to this event plus the invasion of Crimea  was part of Vladimir Putin's calculus that he could march into Ukraine unopposed in February 2022. Expect to be in Kyiv in a few days, remove the sitting government, and put in a Russia-friendly one without any involvement except maybe empty rhetoric from the West. 

The information communications and media clips gathered, organized, and presented by Liubyi and his team is staggering. The audio intercepts alone show the joy of the ground from the initial thought that they had hit a military target, to justifications based on the plane being used to smuggle weapons to the truth that children and civilian bodies and luggage were all that were found at the scene then the panic and plan hatched to avoid and shift blame being forming in real-time. The Russian propaganda machine shifts into overdrive. Discrediting the scientific findings. Calling independant footage from multiple sources of Russian equipment movement as doctored. Even going as far as doing their own recreation to get to the expected favourable conclusion. 

Liubyi's film plays more like a defense attorney laying out exhibits to garner a conviction rather than a writer's storyline. The title comes from the shape of the shrapnel fragments embedded into the nose and front section of the Malaysian serving as fingerprints leading the investigators to Russian missile stock. Also included for reference are old 80's era instructional videos on the BUK and the roles of the four unit members. A narrative contradicted by the Russian in-house reconstruction. A first-person account from the debris field to the courthouse in The Hague by former Dutch soldier turned musician Robby Oehlers. He had a cousin who was with her boyfriend on the plane at the time of the attack. Oehler probes smartphones, takes video at the crash site and shows film of happier times with his relatives. He also poses important questions at the time that peaked at the start of the current war. If the courts found Russia responsible resulting in scores of Dutch causalities.  Why are the Netherlands and the rest of Europe still buying their oil filling their coffers?  A telling shot towards the end of the film shows flight paths across Europe. In most countries, you can see below a bee hive activity of planes above. Except for one noticeable spot above Russian and separatist-controlled Ukraine is a gaping hole. 

***1/2 Out of 4

Iron Butterflies | Roman Liubyi | Ukraine/Germany| 2023 | 84 Minutes.

Tags: Flight MH17, Eastern Ukraine, Malaysian Airlines, Russia,  BUK Missile Launcher, The Hague, War Crime, Video Footage, Intercepted Audio, Crime Scene, Butterfly shaped Shrapnel, Reconstruction,  Disinformation, 

Hot Docs 2023 Film Review - Smoke Sauna Sisterood

Nestled in an Estonian forest lies a wooden sauna beside a small lake.  A group of female regular inhabitants seeking refuge with the knowledge they can speak freely and openly on any topic that comes to mind. This tradition is elemental to the Estonian Voro community. Bodies of all shapes and sizes on display. This particular peer group is into or approaching  middle age still scared by stinging comments about their looks hurled at them by their mothers decades ago. The story starts in the wintertime as the women go from their discussion inside the smoke sauna trekking through the snow and into a  swimming hole cut in the nearby freezing lake for a different physical experience. They chant,lay on the wooden sauna benches, and out in the snow. Pour buckets of water on themselves and each other and use birch whisk bundles to massage each other to clean the skin and improve  blood flow and circulation.  

Water and steam are the lifeblood of the experience. droplets fall everywhere. Beads form on all sections of the sauna and dot every body part. Director Anna Hints' lens is closely trained on each moment of activity as it unfolds. Men and the patriarchy are as expected major topics. Struggles to survive in a male-dominated society. Even a survey on who has received dick pics.The conversation probes today's issues and tales are told dating back to the women's grandmother's time. Including the reality of no clear path to escape a loveless or evan an abusive marriage two generations back.   

Ants Tammik's cinematography is particularly stunning. The small windows to the outside world are bathed in light. A stark contrast to the dark shadowy interior of the sauna full of bodies and steam clouds rising. Sound also plays a vital role. Whether it's the rhythmic chanting. Smacking of birch whisks on skin. Water and wooden buckets being filled overflowed and spilled. Or the rising and falling of voices as stories are told.  Director Hints takes her time with her vulnerable subjects. Each is allowed to put as much of themselves on film in line with their individual comfort level. 

Two stories stand out amongst the tales told in the film. The first, a bather tells the details of coming out to her parents. The viewer can hear the anxiety and trepidation in her voice as she vividly remembers the event. The cumulation of which was her father's reaction which she feared the most but amounted  no big deal at all. The other was a recount of a teenage rape followed by a second sexual assault that same evening. The bather lying on her back with the crook of her arm across her eyes gives a specific chronological account of those terrifying events with the others in the communal group fixated on every word. She is surrounded by encouraging support then the bathers exit out into the lush green grass of the forest and into a much warmer summertime lake. The smoke saunas of Southern Estonia  are UNESCO listed Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Structures as noted in the closing titles.  They are a place of healing of the physical and the spiritual in unison.

***1/2  Out of Four.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Italy/Norway | 2023 | 89 Minutes.

Estonia, Smoke Sauna, Pregnancy, Forest, Lake, Steam, Birch Whisks, Motherhood, Nudity. 

Hot Docs 2023 Film Review - Satan Wants You

If history is not heeded it is bound to be repeated. A refrain that you will hear over and over again. That message is very applicable as when referring to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s that is being played out again right now with the Conservative factions whipping up the base when discussing  Liberals linking them to Satanic and Pedofile activits through their Media mouthpieces and Right Wing politicians that has already lead to Deadly consequences. Patient Zero for this  phenomenon Is Michele Smith. Subject and Co-Writer of the Book Michelle Remembers with her Psychiatrist and Co-Author Dr. Larry Pazder.

The story starts focuses in on a 14 months when Michelle was five-year-old and turned over to a group of Satanists for grooming to be the bride of Satan. Repressed memories revealed that  she was restrained. Sacrifices occurred. Candles and Chanting were omnipresent. Plus unimaginable realistic  actives such as orgies, eating feces, and dismembering fetuses also occurred. Michelle's mother was on the outside of the circle not directly involved according to Michelle but not protecting her either. 

Reenactments are a major part of the production. The sessions with Dr. Pazder are a central piece. The pair of them in a room shot through a blurry lens. Michelle talks Larry Pazder interprets. Many hours were spent together. An unorthodox relationship building. The book brings local, National, and International attention to the duo. They attend lectures and conferences all over North America. Speak to Police organizations that use the book and seminars as a checklist to investigate satanic activities and crimes. Daycare, Educational,  and other childcare settings becoming the main battleground. Children and Adults alike providing details of abuse, sacrifices, and ritualistic events that lead to dubious arrests, trials, and convictions to satisfy parental outcries mostly without any backing evidence. 

With all of Law enforcement, academia, the courts, and journalist swirling about it is odd that Larry Pazder's Ex-wife Marylyn is the first person to look into Michelle's story with a critical eye. She saw that she was losing her husband as he spent more and more time away from his family to be with Michelle. She became a stalker in her life. Calling at all hours of the night. Following them on vacation. Being ultra needed for Larry's attention. A pillar of Michelle's story is that 14-month period when she was five when she was held captive by the cult. She simply went to the school that she attended, looked at the yearbook from the period and Michelle was there standing there with her classmates. Larry had spent time in Nigeria in the mid 60's witnessing ritualistic practices firsthand. Was Michelle aware and saying things to lead Dr. Pazder in that direction? Or was the Psychiatrist leading the witness into territory where he was familiar. Marylyn also recounts Larry's obsession with the 1976 TV movie Sybil starring Sally Field noting the similarities between the Sybil character and Michelle seeing the scenario as a path to fame. 

Directors Steve Adams and Sean Horlor take the story step by step from 1976 in Victoria B.C. when the sessions start after a miscarriage suffered by the then 27 -year- old Michelle. Originating  with a series of disturbing post-miscarriage dreams of spiders crawling all over her skin. The involvement and sponsorship of the Catholic Church onto full-on panic when the story caught fire in the U.S. spawning damaging and life ruining events in that country. The overarching narrative later fully debunked leading to a measure of retribution for several of the accused. The most terrifying aspect is the link to what is occurring today. QAnon and right-wing extremists are front and centre. Society in 2023 is right back where it was at the peak of the Satanic Panic from the 80s through the early 90s.

***1/2 Out of 4. 

Satan Wants You | Steven J Adams • Sean Horlor | Canada | 2023.

Tags: Michelle Remembers, Victoria B.C., Psychiatry, Satanic Cult, Catholic Church, Satanic Panic, FBI, McMartin Family, Court Trials, Stolen Babies. Ma Mere.

TADFF 22 Film Review - Mal de Ojo (Evil Eye)

Little Luna (Ivanna Sofia Ferro) suffers from a serious illness. She has a digital device attached to the back of her neck that tracks her heartbeat. When she suffers an attack the seizures begin and she requires an EpiPen type needle plunged into the opening on the device to bring her heartbeat back to normal and stop the attack. Her older sister Nala (Paola Miguel) that shares a room with her sister is over the whole Luna thing. Everything is about Luna. She gets all of her parent's affection. The family lives in a building where the children are all getting sick. Plus she is about to be dragged out to the middle of nowhere as her parents do anything they can think of to find a new treatment for their youngest daughter.  The family head out to Josefa's (Ofelia Medina's) house. This is where Mom Rebecca (Samantha Castillo) grew up. Josefa is introduced to the girls as their Grandmother. She lives in a big old three story home with spacious grounds but the interior seems cold, eerie and parceled off. Nala has the immediate sense that something is not right in the home. She is also keen to pick up on the very outward tension between her Grandmother and Mom. 

Director Isaac Ezban came across the script for the film in 2016. A coming-of-age horror from the Dominican Republic. Ezban thought the story had potential but felt it could use some tweaking. The central element of the story The legend of the three sisters remained. Ezban added his signature themes of exploring the passage of time the push/pull of getting older or young and duplicity as he picked up a co-writer credit. The tale of the triplets is touched on briefly at the start of the film. The legend is driven home with force by Josefa's housemaid Abigail (Paloma Alvamar). As she expertly weaves the tale her hand movement and gestures are just as or even more pivotal in the retelling of the tale that the words she speaks or the images on screen to supplement the telling. 

A day into the visit Mom Rebecca and Dad Guillermo (Arap Bethke) leave the girls with their Grandmother as they head out further into the countryside to a dangerous area to secure the risky last ditch treatment method for their young daughter. Back at Grandma's an epic battle of wills commences between Josefa and Nala. Josefa finds her Granddaughter to be as stubborn as her Mother was at that age. Josefa has the upper hand as the battle takes place on her home turf. But Nala's suspicions that  were only inklings when she first entered the country house grow real as she sleuths finding out more than she bargained for about her family history. 

Mal de Ojo features several layered and meaty female performances. Starting with Ivanna Sofia Ferro as young Luna who is positive and hopeful despite her serious illness that has stopped responding to any form of conventional treatment. Ofelina Medina's portrayal of Josefa is strict, blunt, tough and faithful to her set of rules and routines. Between them lies Paolo Miguel's Nala. At first, a vapid angry teen tethered to her phone seemingly neutral to the plight of her much younger ill sister. Then evolving into Luna's best defender risking her personal safety and facing severe consequences and punishment to protect her sister and keep her safe. It's a descent at first slowly into the tradition of Dominican and Mexican folklore that quickly plunges into visceral ritual and sacrifice leaving the siblings and audience alike struggling to catch their breath as they hang on while the story twist and turns before flipping everything up and over again.  

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

Mal de Ojo | Isaac Ezban | Mexico | 2022 | 120 Minutes.

Tags: Folklore/Horror, Sisters, Triplets, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Illness, Witch, Witchcraft, Baca Black Magic, Curse, Evil Eye, Skin, Salt.

TIFF 22' Film Review - Venus

Lucia (Ester Exposito) is a go-go dancer in an ultra-popular Madrid nightclub. She jumps off her platform during the middle of a song making a beeline to the club offices where she breaks into a locker and swipes a large duffle bag. One of the bouncers spots her wondering why she is not on stage demanding to see what's in the bag. They scuffle Lucia manages to get out suffering a significant wound. Desperate with few options, She heads to her sister Rocio (Angela Cremonte) and niece Alba Ines Fernandez) apartment in the bad part of town. Little does she know that people are trying to get out of the Venus apartments more urgently then she is trying to get. in. As Lucia is arriving Rocio has packed up Alba fleeing the apartment in the night tired of the noises upstairs, bad dreams, and sludge coming from the taps. They make it to the stairwell when they run into the wounded Lucia headed their way. 

Director Jaume Balaguero crafts a horror/thriller contained mainly in the setting of one apartment complex. Lucia is hiding out from the criminal employer she stole from while Rocio is trying to get rid of her estranged always in trouble kid sister so she and her daughter can leave once and for all. The duffle bag is filled with synthetic drugs that Lucia hopes to see with the help of a friend. Her employers are sure Lucia had help and Rocio has disappeared leaving Lucia to get to know and take care of her niece Alba. She ventures out with Alba but sees heavies scouting the area having found her abandoned car. Back in the building, Alba's only child age friend is throwing a birthday party a couple of floors below. Writer Fernando Navarro slowly shifts the focus of the threat to Lucia from the external where her criminal pursuers are lurking to inside the Venus apartments starting with events at the birthday party. The neighbour's mother aunts, and other female relatives are present. A strange occurrence since everyone else seems set on leaving the building. The females ask Lucia some very personal questions that put our protagonist on the spot foreshadowing the direct nature of these women that will feature more as the narrative marches ahead. 

Venus is a horror film that witches from a heist/gangster, hunter/hunted to something more spiritual and ritualistic along the way. The moment of the switch is plain, obvious, and shocking, especially to the unfortunate soul whose on the wrong side of the moment. Ester Exposito who is best known for the Netflix series Elite gives a very physical performance seeming quite at home in her first horror film role. There are memorable killings, and plot point that seem unimportant at first only to pay off big later. In amongst the blood and gore, lies the development on a strong bond between aunt Luísa and niece Alba that unite the pair helping them in the present and setting them up for a strong future. 

*** Out of 4. 

Venus | Jaume Balaguero | 2022 | U.S./Spain | 100 Minutes. 

Tags: Night Club, Go Go Dancer, Theft, Designer Drugs, Hunt, Apartment Complex, Full Moon, Ritual, Queen of Sorrows. 

Lofty Sky Entertainment Film Review - Eternal Spring

Falun Gong is a religious movement that was founded in China in the 1990s. At first, the movement was not on the radar of the Communist government. But as the groups practicing the outdoor Buddhist/ Taoist exercise movements that encourage independent thinking. Meditation is also a large part of the practice. The end goal is the purification of the heart attainment of spiritual salvation. There are some cultist and alt-right sentiments mixed in here that the Documentary through the eyes of practitioners does not touch. The government saw them as an ever-increasing threat. The Party line was that Falun Gong promotes teachings that are dangerous and not in keeping with the cultural and social progress the Party wishes to obtain. A  heretical organization that causes social instability. The government talking points were repeated over and over on State television in living rooms across the county every night when families gathered to eat their dinner. 

To combat this false narrative in the eyes of its practitioners a plan was hatched to hack into the state TV signal in Changchun City and broadcast the truth about the movement. The next segments are perhaps the best of the film. Staging, training and planning for the takeover ahead of the March 5th, 2002 go date. The recruitment and prep hit all the beats of classic heist pictures from the past. Here the training includes learning to scale a cable pole. Keeping the planning meetings secret and avoiding the police who have a list of practitioners on their arrest for interrogation list.

The film is a combination of first person accounts and 3D animation re-enactment of events. Illustrator/ Comic book Artist  Daxiong a practitioner that fled from China to Canada helms the visuals. They are crisp on the screen as they seem to pop with each frame. The good, bad ,and violent are all broadly on display. Animated scenes of captured members being tortured in prison are followed by tender reunions of those that escaped often feeling guilty they survived  The other main voice in the piece goes by the moniker of Mr. White. He too escaped prosecution and lives with his family in Seoul, South Korea. Mr. White carriers a heavier burden than Daxiong  possessing a deep case of survivor's guilt that rushes to the service when he talks about colleagues that have passed or those that were captured in the same back alleys and laneways of Changchun City where he used to roam. 

The timing of the film is apt as current groups that stray from the expected path are cracked down even harder in recent years. Once independent Hong Kong has been drawn back to the practices of the Mainland. The percussion and treatment of the Uighurs is front and centre and China has turned a menacing eye towards Taiwan with recent  military shows of force circling that island. It's a wonderfully shot and paced film that I can recommend. 

***1/2 Out of 4.

Eternal Spring | Jason Loftus | Canada | 2022 | 86 Minutes.

Tags: Documentary, Animation, Falun Gong, Hacking, State TV, China, Religious Prosecution, Prison, Torture, Escape, Toronto, Seoul, New York City.

Greenwich Entertainment Film Review - We Are As Gods

Stewart Brand was at the right place at the right time for the majority of his life. He has had a knack to sense, be first to a new frontier, then gone before the masses show up on to something more interesting.  His current cause is doing whatever he can to promote and champion reintroducing lost species to the planet. The one he is focused on is the woolly mammoth. Bringing them back using DNA to the Siberian tundra to slow down and eventually reverse the thawing of the permafrost and on a larger scale stop the release of greenhouse gases. Opponents will take the other view that man messing with nature always brings unexpected and unintended results. But even at 82 he is optimistic always seeing  the good in people. So it pains him visibly when he is on stage at various events promoting de-extinction often beside like-minded geneticist George Church from Harvard how people he respects and admires could have such strongly held and vigorously argued views that are polar opposites of his. His lifelong philosophy has been to try stuff early on before there are rules against it to be part of the new thing in the world. 

Stewart got his problem-solving gene from his M.I.T. educated engineer father and his love for books from his mother. She was also big on preserving nature. His best friend as a kid where chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, and opossums. From the homestead in Rockford Illinois, he went to Stanford where he moved in the direction of ecology and evolution. His biology training told him that taking species out of an ecosystem affects the evolution of every other thing remaining. His first adult job was a commission to photograph a tribe of Indians in Oregon. Through this project he met his first wife Lois Jennings. They put all of their stuff in a trailer and moved to San Francisco embarking on bohemian lifestyle and meeting Ken Kesey author of One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest. Kesey was the defacto boss of the Mary Pranksters. Stewart fit in perfectly fuelled by LSD. His biggest contribution was the Trip's Festival designed to Pass the Acid test as the Pranksters called it when one of the flock attempted to make the grade. It was very successful with bands like the Grateful Dead showing up to play. The birth of Height Asbury and the Hippie movement took shape.  

From there, his focus moved to Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole earth yet? He lobbied everybody then NASA went and did it. The photo changes everyone's perspective. the earth is fragile and must be protected pushing the photo of the mushroom cloud the last dominant image to the side. Inspired by the image environmental movement was born.  Keeping to type Sturt was on to the next. thing  A catalogue to effect change by providing people with the tools. With that thought as a guide, he started the who Earth Catalogue in 1968 which Steve Jobs later described as google in paperback before google existed. In the catalogue's pages lies the title of this film under Purpose: We are as gods and might as well get good at it. Lois was the perfect foil to Stuart's devil may care unemployed artist mentality. She had a head for business. The catalogue was all the information in one place. Tools and technology on display for everyone to see. It won the National Book award and made Stewart Brand a household name. 

Two characters show up halfway through the film Sergey Zimov and his son Nikita. Both are in charge of Pleistocene Park in Siberia. The spot where Stuart and George Church want to put their de extinct Woolly Mammoths. The Zimovs are preparing the ecosystem for the Mammoths.  The plan is forming not too late as there are signs the permafrost is getting rapidly faster and melting. Nikita tells it in an underground ice bunker that the temperature has increased from -6 to zero since he was a kid. Melting leads to Carbon release leads to methane greenhouse gasses being released. Demonstrated by fire on the water. But Stewart was back on the wrong side of environmentalists. Intervention is bad as is technology nature is always right and humanity wrong. His clash back in the sixties and early seventies send him into a deep depression isolated and cut off. The catalogue went, his marriage went and Sturt spent most of the 70s alone. His next move was in the direction of personal computers. Stewart wrote an article for Rolling Stone and found himself again on the ground floor for the next big thing. He had a connection to the Homebrew Computer Club where Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met before they went on to start Apple. Stuart played organizer for them and in this forum, he met his second wife entrepreneur Ryan Phelan. Setting up a different event than he did in the sixties. The hacker's conference. Ideas were exchanged, codes shared and the plan was to free the tools from the likes of IBM and those buried in government vaults. The latest project that Stuart joined is the building of the 10,000 year clock that ticks once a century. The goal is to change the perception of time leading them to act more responsibility as the photo of the whole earth did 50 years earlier. 

**** Out of 4.

We Are As Gods | David Alvardo / Jason Sussberg | U.S.A. | 94 Minutes. 

Tags: Wholly Mammoth, De-Extinction, Stanford, Photography, San Francisco, Counter Culture, Hippies, Environmentalists, Depression, Pleistocene Park, Homebrew Computer Club, Conservationist, Technology, 10,000 Year Clock, American Chestnut. 

The whoe earth catalog descrid by Steve Jobs at Google in paperback Why haent ck from was a Brand creation. 

Vortex Media Film Review - Carmen

The Catholic church has many ingrained traditions. Many of which lead to a quizzically raised eyebrow at the least in 2022. One of them is if a son becomes a priest and has an unmarried sister. She must follow him to his posting and care for her brother while he performs his priestly duties. This was the reality for director Valerie Buhagiar's elderly Aunt Rita and the inspiration for her version of Carmen. When Buhagiar told others the story she discovered that similar events occurred in different cultures around the world. Hearing about all of these women fueled her need to tell the story. 

Carmen (Natascha McElhone) is a forlorn solitary figure occupying the back pew clad in black at her brothers church. The townsfolk believe that she is basically already dead walking around with a with a frozen lamb in her heart. Her brother the priest then dies suddenly and she has no idea what to do having been his servant for the past 34 years. She hides in the bell tower for a bit then wanders into the priest's side of the confessional box coxed by a guardian angel pigeon and begins to give beneficial advice to the townsfolk. She is caught out by the new caretaker Rita (Michela Farrugia) awaiting her brother to come to replace Carmen's. Cast out with a small suitcase in hand she first gets her hair cut. sells some church trinkets of questionable ownership on the other side of the island and buys a bright red dress. Carmen is finally expressing herself drawing the attention of Men for the first time in a long time.

Director Buhagiar who was born in Malta but grew up in Toronto is very at home on the island. The villages, landscape and blue waters were all accented by cinematographer Diego Guijarro's well trained lens. The viewer can almost feel the cool breeze, the rocks under your feet, and sense the warmth of the Mediterranean Sea. As writer as well the long time screen actor wanted to tell the tale of a woman that was pushed aside seemingly invisible to the townspeople slowing coming back to life, getting her colour back, and beginning to live for herself again. Natascha McElhone is strong in the title role. She learned some Maltese and transforms right before the viewer's eyes as the film progresses. The ratty hair gone, a carefree attitude bubbles to the surface willing to go wherever the day may take her. Buhagiar's decision to set the film in the 80s adds to the adherence to tradition as it was a simpler time.  We are on Island time here where things move at a much slower pace, people are generally happier and things still get done. Michela Farrugia is a fiery equal to McElhone as Rita the new caretaker for her never arriving brother. She holds Carmen to account for her reckless actions, has a strong romantic interest in Tonio (Andre Agius) that she will have to abandon when her brother arrives as she is dedicated to the rules and tradition of the church. Despite Rita's hostility towards her Carmen does not want Rita to suffer the same fate as she has encouraging Rita to follow her heart. 

*** Out of 4. 

Carmen | Valerie Buhagiar | Malta /Canada | 2022| 87 Minutes.

Tags: Malta, Catholic Church, Rectory, Lost Love, Caregiver, Housekeeper, Servant, Absolution, Offerings, Tower Bell, Suitcase, Pigeon. 

Vortex Media VOD Digital Release Film Review - The Legend of Molly Johnson

The Australian outback can be a tough place at the best of times. Image it in colonial times of the 1890s. Your a wife at home with no one around for miles raising four young kids with another on the way. Unpredictable wildlife surrounds your isolated cabin with ne'er-do-wells roaming about. This reality for  Molly Johnson (Leah Purcell) as she waits for the return of her husband Joe from up in the hills herding sheep. The nearest town Everton is just getting off the ground. Her oldest 12 year old Danny (Malachi Dower-Roberts) is the defacto man of the house looking out for his younger siblings. Danny is inquisitive and looks at his Mom with awe. Especially at how proficient she is with a rifle. Their new lawman Sargent Nate Clintoff (Sam Reid ) and his activist writer wife Louisa (Jessica De Gouw) arrive at the Johnston cabin exhausted and hungry having underestimated the Outback almost to their peril. Molly offers them food from a recent to wild boar killing. In exchange, they take Molly's four children to town while she remains at home set to give birth on her own. Yada (Rob Collins) an escaped Aboriginal prisoner arrives on the scene to assist with the birth in exchange for food and shelter. Joe's colleagues soon show up looking for him and their interaction with Yada does not go well. 

This film is a passion project for Leah Purcell. Her involvement began with a stage play followed by a  novel then this screenplay reimagined from a female Aboriginal perspective. The outback itself serves as a main character as it often does in these Australian colonial Westerns. The harshness and unpredictability of the land itself and the widely varying weather are all participants in the story. Cinematographer Mark Warham takes full advantage of the expansive canvas at his disposal. The original source material is Henry Lawson's 1892 renewed novel The Drover's Wife. In Lawson's book, the settlers are the heroes beating back the Indigenous Peoples who are depicted as dangerous heathens. Purcell changes the focus here  bringing  in the feminist point of view though Louisa who big on exploring the trauma caused to women who regularly suffer beatings from their husbands.

Sargent Clintoff is fresh in town when he has a case of a murdered family to solve. Yada's picture is posted as a wanted fugitive as the Sargent also has to navigate the politics of Everton. Clintoff worried about Molly being on her own with a killer loose sends his timid Trooper Leslie (Benedict Hardie) down to her cabin. Another encounter that doesn't go well follows. The plot begins to clear with the future looking murkier for our protagonist. She is on the receiving end from just about everyone that passes through. The main exception is Yada who the authorities would consider a dangerous element. Molly is a fierce frontierswoman who is well equipped to survive off the land. Her ferocity is captured completely by Purcell. It's the multiple interlopers and combative relationships that are the source of her problems that eventually become insurmountable in the end. 

*** Out of four. 

The Legend of Molly Johnson | Leah Purcell | Australia | 2021 | 109 Minutes.

Tags: Outback, 1890s, Drover, Aboriginal, Fugitive, Child Birth, Rape, Physical Abuse, Wild Boar. 

Iambic Dream Films Film Review - Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes

 A living breathing catalogue of Jamaican music is on display in Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes. Vincent Randy Chin took a job repairing jukeboxes in the '50s. As the records changed out the company usually just threw the old ones away. Vincent asked if he could buy them which he did and started a store with his soon to be wife Patricia selling used records at a discount. The set up at 17 North Parade street right in the centre of the downtown Kingston, Jamaica music scene. Artists would come in, talk music exchange stories eventually leading to a studio upstairs where every major artist passed through at some point. There was a buzz around the place and a specific sound was generated in the studio ala Muscle Shoals in Alabama or Stax Records in Memphis Tennessee. Plus session musicians hung around downstairs, out front, and next door at a local spot known as Idlers Rest. The guest producer was Lee Scratch Perry arranging, and orchestrating in his unique way. Perry would bless the studio using his flask of white rum splashing all four corners of the studio moving in his herkie jerky fashion. Perry felt his job was to bring people together, find solutions and destroy problems. Scratch felt the studio had pure sound while others had a hum, woooh or a shhh  sound. Main sound engineer Errol Thompson had a habit of letting the meters creep into the red. The sound got very heavy and identifiable under Errol. The jump from two to four tracks helped as well. As long as there was no distortion the sounds were left peeking. 

History is mixed into the story voiced by narrator Levi Roots. Starting with the milestone of August 12, 1962 Independence of Jamaica. An initial bump and flourish followed but the film does not shy away from depicting the decline, violence , poverty, and political corruption that took hold of the country no more than 15 years later. The underground method of distribution is  also highlighted. Reggae was not played on the radio. Instead, artists went door to door to sell their music. Pat tells it that they offered the musicians money if they left their goods at Randy's taking away their individual leg work that was not producing much. The performers working upstairs in the studio could record and press their records come downstairs to listen to the product then sell it all in one spot. Archivist Melody Kenneth and picture producer Sarah Wells deserve special mention for gathering, sorting and ordering old clips, and photos  to bring the Kingston Downtown parade back to life. Editor Paul Burgess then performed the difficult task of putting it all together is a tight 85-minute package. 

Clive Chin the next generation moves to the centre as the story progresses. He learned at his father's knee plus a keen ear for sound engineering working hand and glove with Errol Thompson. His first big splash was working with Augustus Pablo alongside Thompson on Java creating the Dub sound. Heavy roots under Pablo's melodica. An echo reverb sound between drums and base where the main vocal, doubles back different and complements itself underneath; the early stages of what would grow to become drum and bass. The family had to flee Jamaica in the late 70"s due to all of the political violence. They fled and left everything behind where it stood setting up anew in New York on Jamaica avenue rebranding as VP Records. Clive eventually rescued the master tapes from Kingston transferring them to digital after the tragic shooting death of his firstborn son Joel who returned to Jamaica to get a better sense of the artist the family worked with. Joel's death inspired Clive to get the digital transfer complete brining back memories, hearing live raw footage including background chatter of some long lost friends. A bonus was finding some unfinished unreleased tracks like Kissing by Lord Creator and When You Get Right Down To It by Dennis Brown. The Brown track leads to a compelling third act segment where a 16 year old protegee of Dave Stewart, Hollie Stephenson at the same age as Brown was when he recorded the song finishes the vocal. 

**** Out of 4.

Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes | Mark James | U.K. | 2019 | 85 Minutes. 

Tags: Jamaica, Independence, Calypso, Ska, Dub, Reggae, Kingston, North Parade, Lee Scratch Perry, Errol Thompson, Lord Creator, Augustus Pablo, Dennis Brown, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Brian & Wayne Jobson, New York City.

LevelFILM VOD/Digital Release Review - Mr. Malcolm's List

Best friends Upper-Class Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) and Preacher's Daughter Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto) have been close friends since meeting as little girls in boarding school many years ago. Julia was at the school based on family standing while Selina attended due to the grace of a benefactor. Their relationship has always been a bit unbalanced. A fact that Julia keeps close to the surface and is always willing to subtly reference. It's England in 1818 this season's most eligible bachelor Mr. Jeremiah Malcom (Sope Dirisu) search for a suitable bride is the talk of Noble society. Scandal hovers in the air of the rumored list of traits his perspective bride must possess. After a failed courtship with Mr. Malcolm that left Julia humiliated in public then later in the press she plots revenge. Recruiting her cousin  Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who is also a friend of Mr. Malcom and Selina to act as bait. 

Class is the main driver in writer Suzanne Allain's screenplay adaptation of her novel. It's a series of events steeped in manners, rules, and protocols that the nobility have had ingrained in them since birth with the with the deemed worthy lower classes allowed to partake on a limited scale. The commoners having no access unless to serving as footmen or maids. The storyline is in the tradition of the classics with a winding and bumpy road to love and marriage at the centre. Director Emma Holly Jones keeps her lens focused almost exclusively on the main players giving the story a stage play feel. 

Freida Pinto is engaging as ever in the role of Selina. She is kind, and thoughtful possessing a strong sense of right from wrong, and willing to speak her mind. Zawe Ashton turn as the conniving Julia is the perfect foil to Selina seemingly the only one that cannot recognize Selina's qualities bring her more regard despite her rural upbringing. The Thistlewaite's main staff footman John (Divian Ladwa) and maid Molly (Sianad Gregory) bring the perspective of the commoners to the piece often with comedic results. Look for Ashley Park as Gertie Covington. She's Selina's cousin twice divorced loud and obnoxious with little or no filter. Just being related to Selina could derail all plans. But when on screen Park is a whirlwind that flips the proceedings upside down. 

The George IV pre-reign era is on full display in Mr. Malcom's List. Nobility rule, Military fight, the Gentry conduct business with the Clergy slotting in a notch below but still ahead of the working class. The trapping of wealth is on display from the methods of travel of the nobility, to their luxurious estates to even the bonnets that the women wear. Shot in Ireland the landscapes selected authentically represent the time. The other key elements of the time often categorized as the Regency period witty conversation and acute attention to manners including formal introductions are also key fabrics of the piece. Keep an eye out for the series of Regency Era journal cards sprinkled amongst the end credits. They serve as an epilogue giving nuggets on the fates of several main players. 

***1/2 Out of 4.

Mr. Malcolm's List | Emma Holly Jones | Ireland/ U.K./ U.S.A. | 2022 | 117 Minutes.

Tags: Regency Era, Noble Society, Social Season, Courting, Caricature, Revenge, Preacher's Daughter, Fourth Class Society, Caregiver, Dinner Party, Duplicity, Shooting, House Party Dancing, Orangerie, The Corn Laws.