By Anne Brodie
Greek mythology comes vividly to life in Uberto Pasolini’s the Return in theatres today. It tells the story of King Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) 1200 years before Christ’s birth who left Ithaca to fight the Trojan War on mainland Greece. For reasons that are not made clear beyond “I was lost”, he failed to return. For twenty years his “widow” Penelope (Juliette Binoche) waits, endlessly weaving his shroud. Their son Telemachus (Charlie Plummer) resents his absence and joins the chorus to force her to remarry – and share her wealth, but she refuses to give up on her husband. At that moment, he washes up onshore, exhausted and nearly dead, but eventually finds his way to their fortress. He is not recognised and hears the rumours and rising anger towards his Queen. Thus begins a stealth battle to protect her even as he refuses to make himself known to her. The milieu of the time, primitive, primal ways but with a system of law and order in place, in which men don’t recognise the concept of evil in themselves is intereting. And life in the fortress becomes an endless massacre. Extraordinarily bloody, horrific and deeply dramatic, the stuff of myths – power struggles, heroes, users, and the striking contrast between knowledge, enlightenment and animalism. Wow.
Drive Back Home is set in the winter of 1970. An elderly man in a tight knit, rural New Brunswick community has died. The ground’s frozen so his body’s being stored in the local IGA walk-in refrigerator, a good indication there will be amusement ahead. Weldon (Charlie Creed-Miles) is a grouchy, impoverished middle aged fellow who still lives with his mother (Claire Coulter). After receiving a disturbing phone call, she orders him to drive to Toronto immediately to rescue his brother Perley (Alan Cumming); he’s been arrested for having sex with a man in a public park. TV news footage shows an ugly anti-gay rally and Perley will be jailed for five years if someone doesn’t take him away now. Weldon’s frightened of his mother, so off he goes. He and Perley don’t get along, now this? The boys’ late father, taught them not to wobble and they will have plenty of chances to not wobble on the drive back home. Ha. Writer Director Michael Clowater has created a memorable, complex and loving work of art based on a true story. The film takes its time as we relish the silences and the simplicity of its message, and its goodness bursting forth from its nightmares. Being true to oneself, no matter the cost, the effect we have on others, suffering and redemption, death and mercy make a strong brew, kind of a bumpkin Gothic realist film about the human condition. Both Cumming and Creed-Miles are Brits but nail the eastern Canadian accent and are brilliantly at home in their Maritime world. In theatres.
Many mourn the loss of Ontario Place and its endless natural and manmade charms; the fifty-year-old event space on Lake Ontario, and its beautiful, natural environment is being demolished and rebuilt with a 7-storey casino and private spa. The property has been allowed to deteriorate as apparently the Ford provincial government eyed it for redevelopment, caring little for the people who frequent the beloved natural respite from city life, and the hundreds of species of wildlife that have lived there forever. Knowing Torontonians did not want it touched, under cover of night, workers cut down 800 plus trees on the West Island. The whimsical but unmistakably forthright doc Ontario Place Your Tomorrow from Ali Weinstein profiles the place, its regulars and natural inhabitants – a dreamy, charming, slightly eccentric take on the provincial government’s betrayal of the people of Toronto. We meet groups who come to sit and gaze at the lake, or run, swim, watch the birds, grow little gardens and experience it as they’ve done for five decades. A dog that’s walked the trail for years cries when fences are erected, one person says they were “saved by the ducklings” there; each person has an Ontario Place story. But the province continues to mess with city matters. Now young kids doing PR work for the new and improved Ontario Place that’s on the horizon, have no memory or knowledge of what it has meant to the city. And then come the machines. I had to stop watching. At Hot Docs Cinema on its reopening this weekend.
Alonso Ruizpalacios’ verité restaurant stage set La Cocina is a loud, raucous, often unpleasant and tumultuous look at a day on the job. A host of actors carry out their tasks, make demands, argue, and flash tempers as immigrant workers, illegal and otherwise, send out the meals. The busy Times Square location brings daily crowds of entitled customers. Ruizpalacios follows various staffers as they attempt the seemingly impossible tasks of making customers, the chef and the tough boss happy. Chef Pedro (Raúl Briones) and waitress Julia (Rooney Mara) are in a relationship that’s tested daily in the frenetic environment of la cocina, and a racist cook, one of the only WASPs, is constantly triggered by staff speaking languages he doesn’t know. $800 goes missing and the owner goes about accusing people of taking it, landing on his favourite scapegoat Pedro who denies te charge. Add paranoia and fear of job loss to the general mix and things heat up like an unwatched pot over boiling water. The music, the soundtrack is genius, captivating, dirge-like, in direct contrast to the jolts-per-second action. Its intense and dense takes its chances being 139 minutes long, every second a high pitch besides which it’s stagey and stilted at times and in sum, utterly exhausting. However, having said that, it spotlights the plight of undocumented immigrants trying to make a wage, avoid capture and deportation but the focus is the chaos. Dec 7, 12 at TIFF Lightbox, cross-country rollout starts today.
Entirely captivated by Netflix’ new spy thriller Black Doves set in London during the Christmas season. To juxtapose the deceit, devious plots and gunplay with Christmas décor, a brightly lit city and parties is sly – it’s been done before, Bruce Willis’ Die Hard, Black Christmas, and dozens more – but Black Doves bests them all in its complex psychological and political weight. Once started the series can’t be ignored, binge you must! Keira Knightley is Helen, a spy without conscience, who has passed on her politician husband’s secrets to a global espionage outfit for ten years. The group is unattached to a country or cause, dealing only with the highest bidders. Her colleague Sam (Ben Whishaw) is the person she calls if someone needs elimination. At home, she’s a doting mother and supportive wife, on the job she is ruthless, courageous and decisive. Her lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is shot dead in a targeted murder and Reed, her boss (Sarah Lancashire), is patently amoral. Most people we meet in the 6 parter are. Its a stunning array of secret operatives whose lies come easy in their machinations. Tensions rise as the Chinese Ambassador in London dies a suspicious death and his daughter is missing. Turns out Helen’s murdered lover had a connection with the woman. This is only a tenth of what to expect in these wonderfully rich, packed episodes. What is a Black Dove? Streaming now.
Sherlock Holmes fans take note. Lucy Worsley’s Holmes Vs Doyle airing Sunday night on PBS offers a unique take on the famous detective created by author Arthur Conan Doyle and the relationship between the man and his muse who made him a sensation, even as their relationship soured. Holmes, a master of disguise, intuition and knowledge of human nature first appeared in A Study in Scarlet in 1887, then four novels and 56 short stories. Holmes is considered one of the greatest fictional detectives, and the Guinness World Records lists him as the most portrayed human literary character in film and television history. Truth is, Doyle came to hate Holmes, feeling trapped in continuing his story at the expense of his other writing. But it’s a lot more interesting than that sounds. And what about that violin?
