By Anne Brodie
So the kiddies are off to a week of winter camp leaving their suburban parents Emma (Emily Hampshire and Josh (screenwriter /co-star Jonas Chernick) alone for the first time in years. They’re really looking forward to, well, having a lot of sex, “We don’t have to close the doors! We can do it anywhere!” but when push comes to shove, it’s a bust. Director Sean Garrity’s squirmy, hilarious look at lunch bag letdown, The End of Sex may hit a nerve, so much the better for this awkwardly comedic journey; they begin to get in the mood and make it work. They discuss. They parse. They have friendship nailed, they love each other, so what gives? Is it the pressure of a week’s deadline? Is there someone else? Is it patriarchal society? Emma and Josh aren’t afraid to face facts while both are pursued by others. So spice it up? Sure – a super awkward threesome, a sex club – a real shocker is within – and more, as the week grows shorter along with their tempers. Sensational cameo by Colin Mochrie – only he could pull it off. Respect. In theatres.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci, and Lesley Manville star in Prime Video’s fierce new spy thriller Citadel. The Russo Brothers’ all-new take on the genre is a game-changer that allows character studies, an innovative plotline and concept, plus time jumps, tech marvels, exotic locations and the kind of action that makes you hold your breath. Its complexity and depth are rewarding in a story of opposing forces battling it out for global supremacy. Citadel (good guys) and Manticore (bad guys). Eight years earlier, Citadel was destroyed by Manticore, and its agents’ memories were wiped. Madden is Mason, a deeply Bondesque, adrenalised character who did his “fair share” of the stuntwork – check out the battle high in the Alps – yikes! and Nadia (Chopra-Jonas) all business, beauty, and brains. Kudos to Tucci for his unforgettable stress performance. And Lesley Manville is a potent enemy – spiritual gourmandise cousin of Hannibal Lechter. Mason now lives a quiet mountaintop life with family in Wyoming but soon finds himself reassigned and sent for duty for an organisation he doesn’t really remember. Citadel has re-upped, members unaware of past alliances, partners, and double-crosses. He encounters Nadia from his old team but they don’t remember one another except for some kind of alligator memory-fighting bond. Citadel’s astounding action scenes occur in speeding trains, parachutes, reality, dreams, and the time-space continuum and take place in five earthly locations, each segment produced locally which adds interesting layers and movement. Speaking of movement, hang on to your hats and don’t miss this insanely vigorous, rootin’ tootin’ ride.
Crave‘s comedic, satirical take on the political crime that rocked the US in the seventies, White House Plumbers offers a new way of looking at the landmark Watergate break-in. Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux are Mutt and Jeff, I mean Republican mucky mucks Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, two of the most despised characters in the infamous raid on the Democratic National Committee offices in 1972. Liddy, a Nazi-loving lawyer and FBI agent, and Hunt, a right-wing extremist, “masterminded” the break-in to bug Dem staff and leaders and steal documents in their efforts to re-elect Richard Nixon as US President. There was no moral line they wouldn’t cross – including blackmail and death threats that make today’s political miscreants look fake angelic. It took them and the other “White House plumbers” (who stop leaks) several attempts to actually get in the DNC door due to plain ol’ stupidity. The break-in was the response to San Fransisco-based left-wing activist and lawyer Daniel Ellsberg, “that Commie”, who leaked the Pentagon Papers that revealed Nixon’s admin’s bad deeds around the deeply unpopular Vietnam War. So many shocking revelations – “Hippie” leaders were to be kidnapped and sent to Mexico for the duration of the RNC convention, there were plans to kill some folks, anything to help Tricky Dicky. Co-stars Lena Headey, Judy Greer, Domhnall Gleeson, Kathleen Turner, F. Murray Abraham, John Carroll Lynch and Kathleen Turner, who stands out as ITT lobbyist Dita Beard, who famously faked illness to avoid testifying. Final thoughts? Silly fun! May 1
Queen Charlotte: a Bridgerton Story prequel to that show, is pure candy, easily digested, reliably uniform, and fun to eat. The 17C century was never so confection-like, difficulties never too demanding, easily overcome, the highs more visual than meaty, no lows, like a table full of frothy desserts. Poverty? Slums? Nope. The series is a fictional bio of the real German Princess Charlotte, who was sent to England for an arranged marriage to King George and to produce heirs and cement Germany / United England ties. She gave birth to fifteen children – all survived but two. The Netflix series, from Shondaland, changes the narrative with a Black lead (India Amarteifio) as Charlotte, the rebellious, annoyed, displaced teenager and political bride. Adult Charlotte, fierce matriarch Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) repeats her throwaway line “Sorrows, sorrows, prayers” to victims of upsets, as today’s thoughtless expression “thoughts and prayers”. Matriarch Charlotte is furious that her 13 children haven’t produced any heirs to the throne, and she is not to be crossed. Princess Charlotte’s first upset was being taken from her homeland to form a duty marriage, the second, being petted, prodded and corseted with whalebone and sapphires that “threaten to tear the lace” and stab her and third, stifling, constant surveillance by courtiers. She’s also concerned that the King is a troll or a beast, and no one is giving her any hints. Well, he’s no troll or beast (Corey Mylchreest) but he leads a secret life and refuses to honeymoon with her. Charlotte’s rebellion is the crux of the younger woman’s storyline and with age comes an even tougher backbone in favour of tradition. Eye-popping costumes, houses, dinner tables, gardens and sexy love scenes – pure escapism, like a table full of dessert. Find out what a ‘Ton is. May 4.
Hot Docs Film Festival, edition Number 30 is underway.
