Jellyfish

My daughter came in and took one look at what I was watching and asked, "Is this like The Florida Project?" She is very astute, my daughter. I hadn't thought about it, but she was pretty much bang on. The Florida Project, American Honey, and We the Animals are a kind of modern trilogy (not made by the same people) of impoverished America. In all three of these films, children are raising themselves or each other. They are all dark, sad movies with some elements of joy along the way. We are living in dark times where the economic divide between rich and poor is atmospheres apart, so it's no wonder we are getting these timely movies now.
Across the pond, England is making their own versions of similar ilk. I, Daniel Blake brought me to tears. If you have time, watch it.
Jellyfish is about a young high school student, Sarah, who is looking after her two siblings and her manic depressive mother. She has an after school job at an arcade cleaning the machines and she makes a little extra on the side by giving handjobs to old patrons in the alley. Yeah, it's dark. We also follow her journey at school as she works on becoming a stand-up comedian for her drama class.
Sarah is played by Liv Hill and this kid is something to behold. Liv Hill is the main reason you should watch Jellyfish, besides from being a sad, moving, and poignant film. She is so good in this she steals every scene. She is an actor to watch.
I would like to mention director James Gardner. He seems to come from the Steve McQueen (English director not the American actor) school of holding the shot long, let the audience fully take time to think about what's going on; it really worked well.
So, if you want to see a future star, catch Liv Hill in Jellyfish on streaming services or in rep theatres near you.

The Grizzlies

You could argue that this is just another white-man saviour movie and in some sense you wouldn't be wrong. What is The Grizzlies all about? You could say it's about a privileged white guy who goes up North to the Arctic and teaches down and out Indigenous kids about Lacrosse. That would be an oversimplification. It's also an unflinching look at Indigenous life in Nunavut. The film addresses teen suicide, poverty, and the affects of the residential school system have had on generations of Canada's Indigenous people. It's also a fantastic underdog sports story. And it based on true events.

I find often that Canadian films look terrible. I can't explain it, they just have a horrible CBC look to them - like they were cheaply made. The Grizzlies isn't like that at all. It's really good, well acted, and the dialogue, for the most part, sounds authentic. If you see one Canadian film this year, make sure it's The Grizzlies. This snowy tale warmed my heart.
In Ottawa, catch it at Imagine Cinemas Ottawa. Catch it at a rep cinema near you.

Easy

"Easy" is a Netflix show. There are three seasons, about eight episodes each, and they run about 30-40 minutes long. Easy to watch. What's it all about? I'm going to say it's about relationships. Couple relationships. Men and women; women and women. It's also about sibling relationships and parent-child relationships. Even neighborly relationships. It's more drama than comedy and every episode is different, although over the course of three seasons we get to see some of the same characters reappear. Sometimes one character will make a brief appearance in another episode. For the most part though, they are stand alone episodes. The only thing they all share is they are set in the city of Chicago.

Why did I love it so much? I found it fascinating. The dialogue was some of most authentic dialogue I have every heard in any film or TV show. I'm not sure if the actors went ad lib, but everyone in the show was so believable. Some of these episodes were about characters that are never given a voice in regular movies or film. There is an episode in season three entitled "Number One Seller" about a black man with a neck tattoo selling glow sticks and plastic swords to families in the park - I loved it. There are some many characters to love in "Easy" - you will see yourself or someone you know in all of them.

Relationships are hard, so maybe that's the joke of the title, Easy. Catch it all on Netflix. 

Apollo 11

I watched "First Man" last year and loved it. It made my top ten list of the best films of 2018. So do we need another film about the Apollo 11 mission to the moon? The surprising answer is: Absolutely yes! In fact you can skip "First Man" if you haven't seen it already and watch CNN's documentary "Apollo 11" which is comprised of entirely real archival footage from the 1969 trip to the moon. There is no modern voice over. All the narration comes from the commentators and reporters of the time. There may be some music added, but that's about it. Todd Douglas Miller who directed and edited this movie must be given high praise for being able to cobble together a riveting tale out of all this old footage. For me, to see how many people were actually involved on the ground was even more impressive than its docudrama counterpart had portrayed it. To see this movie is to marvel at how brilliant humanity can be when we work together. This is something to behold. Fly away with this one on streaming services or catch it at your local cinema.

If you are in Ottawa, catch it at the Bytowne now: https://www.bytowne.ca/movie/apollo-11

 

Paddleton

Maybe I'm getting old and soft, but there were tears. I've always liked Ray Romano. He played a character on the TV show "Parenthood" who had Aspergers ("Parenthood" was a fantastic show by the way). Ray's character, Andy, in "Paddleton" also seems to be a little on the spectrum. What's it all about? Well it's about two grown men, Andy and Michael who live in the same Californian apartment building who spend a lot of time together drinking beer, watching Kung Fu movies, and playing board games. They have made their own tennis game, "Paddleton" which they play against the back of an abandoned Drive-In movie screen. They aren't gay, they are just good friends who spend a lot of time together. Mark Duplass's character, Michael gets diagnosed with terminal cancer. They go on a road trip to get his die-with-dignity euthanasia suicide pills. Yes it sounds grim. It's also tender and slow, and at times, quite funny. I don't know if this will my top ten by the end of 2019 but I wanted to share it with you because it's a beautiful little film that will get lost and forgotten, like an old Kung Fu movie, unless somebody watches it. You might be a little sad when it's over.

Catch it on Netflix.

Touch Me Not

"Touch Me Not" - is a film by Adina Pintilie. I have never seen anything quite like it. It will stay with you long after it’s over and it will push even the most open-minded person to place that he or she might not be comfortable going. "Touch Me Not" is not a mainstream movie; this is as art-house as art-house gets. What’s it about? I don’t even know where to start. It supposed to feel and look like a documentary, but it’s fiction. It revolves around a middle-aged woman who seems to have serious intimacy issues – she doesn’t like to be touched, yet seems to crave it. There is a whole fictionalized touch therapy class involving real-life physically challenged individuals; this whole part reminded me of George Lucas’s "THX 1138" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest." The film raises questions about our personal relationships with our own body and the bodies of others. "Touch Me Not" is also about voyeurism, sexuality, power relations, kink, and the blurring of truth. There is so much going on here that everyone who watches might end up taking away a bunch of completely different things.

There is something lovely about the pacing of this film – it’s extremely slow, which makes it so personal and intimate. I don’t know how much was improvised and how much was scripted, but does it really matter? "Touch Me Not" is taboo breaking and pushing boundaries, but it does so in such a beautiful sensitive way, that we can face what we would normally find most shocking.
Let it touch you on streaming services or at your local art house movie theatre.

Dragged Across Concrete

If "Pulp Fiction" and "Heat" were to have a baby, it would be "Dragged Across Concrete." OMG did I love this film. I love bank heist pictures and I like dark- this is both. It's super violent and has a sick sense of humour.

Before I watched this film on a whim, I had no idea who S. Craig Zahler was. He is the writer and director of this masterpiece of a movie. He is also the co-writer of "Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich" (which was a guilty pleasure of mine from last year) and the writer and director of "Bone Tomahawk" - a violent Western staring Kurt Russell I very much enjoyed.
Mel Gibson is in the third act of his career and it's looking impressive - Blood Father, The Professor and the Madman, and Dragged Across Concrete.
With a crazy run time of 2 hours and 39 minutes, Dragged Across Concrete is one of the best action/thriller pictures of 2019 and you should watch it right now.