Seven Veils

Atom Egoyan at the opening of IFFO 2024

I had the good fortune to attend the open night of this year's IFFO - the International Film Festival of Ottawa. Atom Egoyan was there in person for the festival's showcase opener, his film "Seven Veils." The Ottawa audience gave him a standing ovation at the end. Well deserved. It's an intense film with many moving parts and lots of characters - it's also arty as stink. I loved it. What's it all about?  Amanda Seyfried plays, Jeanine, a woman who is tasked with putting on an Opera, Salome (pronounced Sal-a-may). Jeanine has done this before, but under the wing or tutelage of her former boss, who has recently passed away - this is at his widow's request. Jeanine had an affair with her old boss and Jeanine's husband seems to be currently having one with the caretaker of Jeanine's mother. Confused yet? There is more! There are flashbacks to Jeanine's childhood and arty-farty home movies made by her dad where Jeanine was the star. Then there is the production and the play of Salome itself, a gruesome play involved unrequited love and a beheading. There is a lot going on here and it's a miracle (or maybe it's genius?) Egoyan manages to keep it all straight for us. Like some of his other films, themes of sex, love, and voyeurism prevail - these things are messy and lines between these elements get crossed both literally and figuratively. I found it to be a fascinating watch. I need to see it again. Catch this one in theatres when it comes out for wide screen distribution.  

Red Rooms

Much like the "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," the protagonist of "Red Rooms" is Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) and she is always going to be the smartest person in the room. Writer and director, Pascal Plante has given us one hell of a movie. It's a serial killer flick, set in Montreal, where Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) is standing trail for the murder of several young girls killed live-streamed on the dark web. The subject matter is grizzly. In the age of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, "Red Rooms" felt uncomfortably real. I watch a lot of horror films and I was taken aback. However this is no "Saw" film or torture porn - most everything is left for your own mind, which might just be worse. "Red Rooms" is the closest thing I've seen to being a David Fincher film without it being one. And the performance of Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne was remarkable - she reminded me of Michael Fassbender in "The Killer," cold, calculating, and driven. The clever thing about "Red Rooms" is you aren't sure where this is going or who is who until the gotcha moment - a moment in film I will likely never forget. Burned into my mind. Powerful. Wild. This film might have made my top ten of last year had I seen it sooner. Catch it now streaming on Crave. Or grab a copy from your local video store. In Ottawa that would be Movies 'N' Stuff. 

Perfect Days

Wim Wenders. He was a director that I greatly admired back in the late 80s. "Wings of Desire" and "Paris, Texas" were (and still are) important films to me. They were arty and intelligent and had an emotional punch to them. They were/are brilliant. Then I got older and like a stuffed toy from my childhood, I forgot about Wim Wenders. Looking over his career on IMDB I realize I have only seen a few of his films since then; documentary "Buena Vista Social Club" and docu-dancery "Pina." Like cleaning out an old closet, I found Wim Wenders again! He has been in Tokyo making "Perfect Days." This film follows Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) as a man who cleans Tokyo's public toilets. Say wut? Yes, you read that right, our protagonist is a kind of Tokyo toilet cleaning monk and we follow him on his daily journey from the moment he wakes up until the moment he goes to bed. He has a routine (as we all do) and he follows it almost religiously (or maybe it's a little OCD). Hirayama doesn't seem to be concerned at all with his status or what others may think of him; he is living his best life, moment by moment, appreciating the trees, reading his novels, and enjoying American rock classics on cassette tape as he drives his toiletmobile minivan about the city. This voyeurism into the life of someone we normally wouldn't pay attention to is the brilliance of Wim Wenders, the brilliance of his film; that's the joy of it. It's a wonderful film if not a touch melancholy. Catch it in a theatre near you or on streaming services or on DVD when available.      

The Empty Man

I pride myself in knowing what films are coming out; I watch tons of movie trailers. I try and keep a pulse on everything coming out from blockbusters to small indie films, foreign films, documentaries, etc. How "The Empty Man" from 2020 flew by me without noticing is odd. It was the pandemic after all but still. This is a horror film I had never heard of, had no knowledge of until last week. On a whim I watched it. Blown away. "The Empty Man" is one of the best horror movies I have watched in the last few decades, ranking up there with last year's "Talk to Me," and giving it a place alongside "Don't Breathe," "It Follows," "Hereditary," "Us," and "Split." It's a firecracker with a somewhat slow burn: clocking in with a runtime of two hours and eighteen minutes, it flies by. It's big and ambitious. What's it all about? To keep it simple, it starts out with a "Candyman" style teenaged ritual, blow into a bottle and the boogeyman will appear. Then it turns into an investigation of a missing teen by a former cop with a drinking problem and a tragic past (played by James Badge Dale, who is bloody fantastic in this). His investigation leads him to something bigger, strange, San Francisco-weird! The movie is a blast with strong performances from all of the supporting cast. And the music! Oh man, did I love the music - like tasting different spices from other horror films - you know them but can't name them, a kind of subtle thematic ode to beloved films of the 70s and 80s. I loved this movie. Catch it streaming now on Disney+. Or grab a copy from your local video store. In Ottawa that would be Movies 'N' Stuff. 

Land of Bad

In terms of military action thrillers, we are in the Land of Good. One time Academy Award winner and two time Golden Globe winner, Russell Crowe has recently been in a string of films which geographically have been located in the Land of Bad. I'm happy to inform you, Crowe has snuck across the border, along with Liam Hemsworth, into the Land of Good. This military action movie follows in the footsteps of such films as "The Covenant," "The Outpost"  and "Black Hawk Down." In this film, a group of American muscly military commando types are on a dangerous mission in a foreign county (the Philippines), to acquire the asset - some kidnapped fellow. Along with our seasoned combat vets is the rookie (Liam Hemsworth) who they have nicknamed, Playboy or Airforce. The eyes in sky (and the bringers of doom) are Reaper (Russell Crowe) with his partner (Chika Ikogwe) who are back in the US controlling a drone remotely. Of course shit goes sideways and Playboy must go it alone with only the help of Reaper and his partner to guide him. I had a ball (which was in the shape of a grenade, tossed at my feet - run, run, RUN!). Russell Crowe ordering artisanal vegan cheese at the deli counter might just be one of my favourite guilty pleasure moments of cinema this year. Catch "Land of Bad" in theatres now. 

American Nightmare

My wife and I have been watching true crimes shows together for over twenty years. Friday or Saturday nights often included "Unsolved Mysteries" or "Dateline." Now it seems Netflix has cornered the market on TV true crime. These docuseries or documentaries are usually pretty good but they often get repetitive. Spouse killing spouse, affair boyfriend killing husband, affair turned into a "Fatal Attraction" style killing; we have seen it all before. There isn't a whole lot new. Like a serial killer looking to up his game, "American Nightmare" has done it. When my wife suggested we watch, it was with great reluctance and some mild protest ("Oh god, not another one") but I finally agreed. We binged all three episodes of this short true crime miniseries. Fascinating. This is home invasion/kidnapping. It was the media's, police's, and the FBI's responses which I found the most fascinating  and shocking - including my own biases I brought to the table. There is no handbook on how people act or should act when they have been violently attacked. The year prior to this "Gone Girl" had been released and it seemed to have played deeply into the psyche of America and into all those involved in this case; most troubling, law enforcement. Fascinating. Emotional. Powerful. Catch one of best of the true crime series I've seen in a while, now streaming on Netflix. 

Memory

Unforgettable? Not sure about that but it's unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon. Peter Sarsgaard plays Saul, a man who has dementia and Jessica Chastain plays Sylvia, a damaged woman who works at an adult daycare; adults with some sort of cognitive impairment (Down syndrome, etc.). For reasons unclear, Saul follows Sylvia home from their high school reunion. From there, their strange love affair begins. Peter Sarsgaard - I've pretty much liked him in everything he has done. He has that John Malkovich style of a simple and understated delivery but you can feel a looming intellect behind it. And Jessica Chastain - loved her in " The Eyes of Tammy Faye" and "Molly's Game." We have two fine actors playing damaged people crashing into each other. It works. I found it to be absorbing and emotional. One of the most unconventional love stories to come along ever. It's rather fascinating. Don't forget about this one (see what I did there - I'm sorry). Catch this one in the theatres now or on streaming when available (or even at your local video store - Movies 'N' Stuff here in Ottawa).