Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

There is no doubt "Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths" is one of the most interesting, artistic, and visually stunning films of the year. What's it all about? Simply, it's the story of Silverio (Daniel Giménez Cacho) who is a journalist and a documentary film maker who has left his home country of Mexico to raise his family in the USA. He is returning with his family to receive an award and then travelling back to the US to receive yet another. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is Mexican and has given us some great films: 'Amores Perros' (2000), '21 Grams' (2003), 'Babel' (2006), 'Biutiful' (2010), 'Birdman' (2014) and 'The Revenant' (2015). "Bardo" is his most personal film yet; I suspect it to be semi-autobiographical. It's also clearly his most experimental and artistic film to date. The closest thing I can compare it to is "Synecdoche, New York" but if it was directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. It's about a middle-aged man going through a midlife crisis, an artist crisis, about the anxiety and fear and stress revolving around the creation and recognition of his work. It's about his relationship with Mexico, history, his family - his wife, kids, and his parents. It's about life, death and everything in between. It's a lot and with a 2 hour and 40-minute run time, it does covers a ton of ground. Breathtaking, brilliant, and at time times brutally honest. Catch this in a theatre near you. If you wait long enough, it will show up on Netfilx. Best to catch this one on a big screen if you can.  

Bones and All

I tried to express to my 18-year-old daughter that this movie was a stripped-down vampire movie, but she insisted these were cannibals, NOT vampires. After 171 episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" and from a kid who grew up on The Twilight saga, I tend to think her view might be slightly skewed. All the vampire purest debate aside, this is a striped down vampire movie, a teen love story, and a bloody beautiful film that looks like it came out of the 70s. What's it all about? It's about Maren (Taylor Russell) who has turned 18. After eating her friend's finger like it was a chicken wing (presumably because she was unable to control her urges to feed) her father has cut her loose, told her he can't do it anymore, left her cash and some clues to where she might find her mother. Thus begins a road trip where she meets fellow eater Sully (Mark Rylance - creepy as hell!) to explain what she is, an eater (they need to eat people and have an incredible sense of smell). Along the way she meets Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and romance ensues. This is a Twilight/Bonnie and Clyde romance movie and it's bloody as a slaughterhouse. I loved it. Definitely one of my favourite films of the year and one of the best-looking movies of the year. Catch this finger licking tasty picture at a theatre near you.  

Drinkwater

Normally I only put A-, A, or A+ work on my blog. There have been a few exceptions. Stuff which is B+ but is worthy because it deserves a little recognition. "Drinkwater" falls into this category, a B+ film but it deserves a rightful entry on this blog because it has so much heart. "Drinkwater" is intensely Canadian, eh! - Hockey, a Wayne Gretzky shrine, the Tim Horton's drive-thru scene and a soundtrack composed of Men Without Hats, Loverboy, Corey Hart and many other Canadian super groups. Shot and set in Penticton, British Columbia, this is the most Canadian thing you will ever see (up there with "One Week"). What's it all about? (ahboot as our American neighbours would say about our Canuck accents) It's about Mike Drinkwater (Daniel Doheny) who is a high school geek whose passion seems to be martial arts movies, Bruce Lee being the penultimate master of kicks and punches. Mike, without a single kung-fu lesson has hilarious moves. He lives with Hank, his father, who is illegally collecting disability and wears a neck brace and rides a mobility scooter even though he seems to have fully recovered from whatever injury landed him into this state of misfortune in the first place. There are strong parallels to "Pretty in Pink" and even direct references to it. Mike's neighbour and classmate, Wallace (Louriza Tronco) wears a Molly Ringwald "Pretty in Pink" dress (stitched together by her grandmother) to the prom. Mike is in love with the wrong girl when Wallace is standing right in front of him. John Hughes would be smiling at it. It's both homage and something fresh, with maybe a little ode to "Meatballs" and running thrown in. There is lots of heart and humour in "Drinkwater." It's Eh+ in my books. Catch it a Canadian rep theatre if you can. 

This is Gwar

This is a documentary on the band known as Gwar. These are my people If you’re like me, then you might have heard of Gwar but never really paid close attention to who they are or what they are all about. Gwar is a blood spewing, monster ejaculating, punk/thrash metal band. This largely theatrical, costumed, gross out band was founded from a few students attending Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia in 1984. These were art students who loved Dungeons & Dragons and comic books - geeks - who were told comic book art wasn't art. So, with a rebellious attitude of screw-you-art-department, went to make a science fiction film and got a local band Death Piggy to perform the soundtrack. Death Piggy and costumed theatre geeks merged and birthed out the monster now known as Gwar. This is a fun documentary, as fun as any rock band documentary; maybe the most fun ever! With over a hundred different band members, the documentary follows the main crew from inception to now. It's a hell of a fun ride. Catch "This is Gwar" streaming on Shudder.