FILM REVIEWS:
CURL POWER ( Canada 2024) ***
Directed by J, Anderson
CURL POWER follows a team of teenage girls as they pursue their unusual dream of becoming Canadian National Curling Champions, and seek out their own paths amid the legacies of their world champion mothers. Filmed over a three-year period, the documentary tells a story of angst and ecstasy, following the funny and tender evolution of five best friends as they reckon with their bodies, minds, and the great unknown.
The doc takes its time to establish its footing. It is not stated in the beginning where the film is set or which province, though it can be observed that it is about a team in Canada. One has to observe the footage and join the dots to figure out that the film is about a team in British Columbia.
Curling is a popular sport in Canada, though many have never played it. It would be good if director Anderson explained the sport a little so that the audience knows the ins and outs of the game and the intricacies involved in winning a match.
The curlers experience everything that teen girls face while growing up in Grades 11 and 12. There is the going up, where boys come into play. They worry about their bodies, that they do not put on weight, their depression (one of them takes antidepressants, and she talks candidly and bravely about that in the film), and also separation when one of them leaves for the University of Alberta.
The film also includes a touching moment in which a player talks to her mother, one of the team’s coaches who had played in the Olympics in her heyday. The mother wishes to keep the cancer a secret from others as she does not wish to keep receiving sympathy from others, something that makes perfect sense. In a room, the mother gives her daughter all the Olympic ware like the bag, cap, and jersey while the daughter regrets that the mother will not always be there to see her at the end of the game.
CURL POWER which rhymes with girl power is essentially a female film. It used to be a complaint in the past that females are underrepresented in film. The opposite, thankfully appears to be true these days in the film industry, CURL POWER is about a girl’s team in a sport dominated by males in a sports doc directed by a female director with an all-girl cast. Males are hardly seen in the film’s scenes.
Most sports documentaries end on a high note in which the team wins at the climax of the film. In CURL POWER, the opposite happens with the team ending in a losing game. But this is where director Anderson excels in her tale of her story of teen angst, ecstasy, and curling. The coach's words are inspiring: “When a team member misses, she has to be given an encouraging look and it is the next move that counts.” The coach also insisted that the team, though losing, would need to walk out of the arena together as one. Also, her important words are that one cannot win all the games. In the end, it should be remembered that it is the game that they all love doing and one that has brought all of them together.
Despite a few minor flaws, CURL POWER is an earnest and endearing look at curling and growing up from the girl’s team point of view - a doc that comes from the heart.
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ETERNAL YOU (USA/Germany 2024) **
Directed by Hans Block & Moritz Riesewieck
ETERNAL YOU involves immortality in the form of A.I. and thanabots. What if a person's death did not mean their end of life? What if their loved ones could still talk to them long after their body had been cremated or buried? What sounds like the scenario of a science fiction movie is already offered by AI startups today and ETERNAL YOU examines the story of people who are immortalized as “digital doppelgangers” allowing them to interact with loved ones.
The film begins with thanabots, courtesy of A.I. ChatGPT is making it possible to digitally resurrect the dead in the form of thanabots: chatbots trained on the data of the deceased.
A program called Project December already allows users to input information about a person and have a custom chatbot created for them based on that person. As Facebook, Google, Apple, and Microsoft all store heaps of our digital communications, it’s conceivable that they all could create and sell thanabots in the coming years.
The doc then moves on to show a grieving mother saying goodbye to her deceased daughter. This is followed by a young man, Joshua grieving over his dead girlfriends Jessica.
Joshua: “Jessica, is that you?”
“Who else?” comes the answer.
The person in front of the computer communicates with the thanabot as if the loved one is still alive. The big question is whether this is a healthy situation. After all, thanabots will only be based on digital data — at least at first. We all know that people’s online lives can be very different from offline, so the thanabot may not accurately represent the person it was made to mimic. Moreover, thanabots may not provide the catharsis that users might hope for, and instead intensify feelings of grief and despair.
There are two fields of thought regarding a lengthy involved grieving over a loved one. One is to come to terms with a closure with the loss like saying what one had wanted to say to him or her, but never had a chance and now being able to do so. Thus, there is emotional satisfaction. The other is to forget the past and to move on, rather than mourning in a depressed state. In the 2022 drama film by Florian Zeller THE SON, Hugh Jackman seeks advice from his father played by Anthony Hopkins with regards to his suicidal son and how that is affecting his current life. The advice from the Hopkins character which is uttered three times in the film: “Fucking get over it!” These are two extremes and the documentary obviously favours the former as it deals with A.I. spelling with a grieving human being,
ETERNAL YOU is a well-shot documentary with some emotional segments in which a grieving person talks to his dead loved one as if still alive. But the doc gets monotonous with repetitive material and for audiences who are about ‘getting on with life’ that includes a Korean mother undergoing V.R, with her deceased daughter. The doc is also too biased towards favouring the topic,
A 2024 Sundance Grand Jury nominee and an Official Selection at numerous top-tier fests including Hot Docs, CPH: DOX and Sheffield, ETERNAL YOU invites audiences everywhere to ponder that thorny ethical question when it premieres on January 24 via VOD and all leading digital platforms including Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
Trailer:
FLIGHT RISK (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Mel Gibson
Is the film FLIGHT RISK directed by the same man who directed the multiple Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART? The man is Mel Gibson and the answer is yes. From what can be expected after viewing the trailer and looking at the poster, FLIGHT RISK looks like a very cheesy stereotyped action suspense thriller. Indeed it is. This is surprising considering that it is based on the December 2020 Jared Rosenberg's screenplay Flight Risk which was voted onto the year's "Black List" of the most-liked unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. The script though it contains a few solid surprises, falls into the trap of a standard storyline with stereotyped subplots, though these are necessary to keep the narrative moving.
FLIGHT RISK is an upcoming American suspense thriller film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace.
A U.S. Marshal, Madelyn Harris escorts a government witness, Winston to trial after he is accused of getting involved with a mob boss, only to discover that the pilot who is transporting them is also a hitman who had been sent to assassinate the informant. After they subdue him, they’re forced to fly together after discovering that there are others attempting to eliminate them. No prizes for guessing what happens in the end.
The main story is sidetracked by several subplots in order to stretch the story long enough to hold interest in a feature-length film. These include a subplot involving a mole in the U.S. Marshall’s staff. Someone is feeding information to the enemy, who follows all her movements and is the witness to be known. Another involves Madeline’s past witness who was protecting who was killed under her watch. She is thus intent on not letting the mistake happen again and so keeping Winston alive is her highest priority. Yet another is the smart-talking airport pilot giving instruction to Madeline as to how to land the plane while making remarks about dating her in the process. There are a few nice shots by director Gibson, such as showing Daryl, the hitman getting his bindings loose as the camera focuses on the Marshall talking in the front seat of the plane.
The film holds interest primarily from the performances of its three main leads. mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery and Topher Grace.
Wahlberg nails the role of a psychotic balding pilot and hit-man, Daryl Booth, dishing his good looks to look evil, disgusting, and yes, ugly. The question is whether the actor is actually bald. The answer is no. Wahlberg partially shaved his head each day while filming for the role of a balding pilot instead of wearing a bald cap.
Michelle Dockery as the U.S. Marshall is also pretty good, despite what she is dished out by the cheesy script. n Topher Grace as the whimpering over talkative informative manages to be able to elicit sympathy from the audience despite having an annoying and over-talkative personality. The three characters play off each other rather well.
Though hardly qualifying as the best action film of the year, FLIGHT RISK opens in theatres on January 17th. is entertaining enough, and not to be taken too seriously.
Trailer:
GRAFTED (New Zealand 2024) ***
Directed by Sasha Rainbow
The first 5 minutes of GRAFTED are set in a Chinese slum with a father and daughter speaking Chinese. Not to describe the first 5 minutes to spoil one's ‘pleasure’, (Hint: it has to do with the film’s title) but it would be a huge surprise if one does not winch due to the shock of what happens in that segment. If one can survive that first ordeal, then GRAFTED will provide more horrific entertainment, If not stay away!
Grafting is a plant growth process but in horror films, it refers to the process moved from plants to human beings.
Grafting a face has been a favourite hot subject in horror films. Ever since Georges Franju scared audiences with his 1960 horror masterpiece LES YEUX SANS VISAGE (EYES WITHOUT A FACE) and later with the tacky 1969 Peter Cushing horror CORRUPTION, the subject has always worked. GRAFTED from New Zealand is the latest venture taking a turn at the subject. It is always a disfigured face that has to be grafted with living tissue,
Chinese scholarship student Wei travels to New Zealand to study medical research at a prestigious university. Shy, introverted, and hiding a genetic facial birthmark, Wei is shunned by her social butterfly cousin Angela and her glamorous friends. Determined to change her fate, Wei immerses herself in her late father's research, working on a revolutionary skin grafting procedure that could cure her deformity. As her experiments take a dark turn, she becomes more dangerous and unhinged, willing to eliminate anyone who threatens her secret.
The film has the audience rooting for Wei, an underdog facing prejudice as a minority Chinese student in a white country. Cousin Angel is no help either and an all-out fight between the two girls does not help, especially when Wei stabs her in the eye during the struggle. Her aunt who appears to be hospitable enough to Wei is also an interesting character. The film also works with a comic g-of-age story of an awkward teen trying to cope with social acceptability and racial prejudice. Angela screams: “Take your weird Chinese shot and go home!”
GRAFTED shares a few common traits with last year’s horror hit THE SUBSTANCE. Both films deal with the desire for beauty at all costs, and both are by women directors, this one by Sasha Rainbow.
GRAFTED has a good build-up from the very start of the film. However, the momentum dies by the end with the film’s cop-out ending, unfortunately.
Director Rainbow does not skimp on the gory skin grafting scenes. In fact she seems to revel in them with extended almost too ghastly to watch skin grafting acts on screen.
Sasha Rainbow is an award-winning New Zealand-born director whose unique sensibility and vision are reflected in both her film and commercial work. Her documentary KAMALI, about a seven-year-old Indian girl skateboarder, was long-listed for an Oscar, nominated for a BAFTA, and was distributed through RYOT films.
GRAFTED will be streaming on Shudder on Friday, January 24th.
Trailer:
HARD TRUTHS (UK/Spain 2024) ****
Directed by Mike Leigh
British writer/director Mike Leigh makes his best films about quirky characters. One of his best is HAPPY-GO-LUCKY where an ever cheerful but flawed character played by AcademyAward Nominee Sally Hawkins finds her way in her distorted and flawed world. HARD TRUTHS is a more likable Unhappy-Go-Unlucky with a flawed and constantly angry and arguing woman played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivering a hilarious tour-de-force performance that one can laugh at and still feel sorry for. The audience first sees her waking up in the morning - not quietly but screaming in shock, as if from a nightmare but likely because a nightmare day is about to begin. She begins to attack everyone in her way, starting from her family - her son, Moses then her husband. “Where are you going?” she questions her son. “Out!” He says. She warns him, for no apparent reason: “You are going to be picked up for loitering with intent!” she scolds him and reminds him that her family has always kept their heads up high and never got in the wrong way with the law. Though toxic in personality, Pansy is just hilarious to watch.
Hypersensitive to the slightest possible offense and ever ready to fly off the handle, Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) does not ingratiate. She criticizes her husband Curtley (David Webber) and their adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) so relentlessly that neither bothers to argue with her. She picks fights with strangers and sales clerks and enumerates the world’s countless flaws to anyone who will listen, most especially her cheerful sister Chantal (Michele Austin), who might be the only person still capable of sympathizing with her.
The film is Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s career-best role. She has worked with director Mike Leigh before in her breakthrough performance in SECRETS AND LIES. In HARD TRUTHS, she carries the entire film on her shoulders. It is a complicated character, one that exhibits toxicity at every turn but she still manages to create sympathy for her character. She has given her entire character complete thought and she plays Pansy looking at the whole persona of her character. As such, Pansy never smiles or laughs once, except for the one scene where she breaks down combining nervous tittering with tears when her son Moses brings her flowers on Mother’s Day - the day she claims she has to get up early to make her family Mother’s Day Breakfast. Then, says that she is a sick person suffering from numerous pains the audience sympathizes. One feels for Pansy when she says: “I am so tired. All I want to do is sleep.” Everyone has felt this same way at one point or another. Jean-Baptiste delivers a complex tour-de-force performance so good that she steals every scene she is in. She keeps her character’s toxicity amusing to the point of hilarity without compromising the seriousness of her illness,
Director Leigh steers his film to a climax in which the family reaches a breaking point. Mike Leigh’s minor masterpiece is just matched by performances so exact. HARD TRUTHS is simply a pleasure to watch as it is always hilarious to observe the worst of oneself as a toxic human being!
Trailer:
LOREN & ROSE (USA 2021) ***
Written and Directed by Russell Brown
The film is advertised as: Three Courses and the Conversation of a Lifetime. The three courses are shown not during a single meal but on separate occasions over the years.
The film is written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Russell Brown (SEARCH ENGINES, THE BLUE TOOTH VIRGIN) and was produced by Russell Brown & Valeria Lopez. A small budget, neat little conversational piece, the film with its moderate aims succeeds at what it intends to do.
Loren (Kelly Blatz, looking like a cross between a younger Justin Long and Keanu Reeves) is a young filmmaker who hit it high when his short film is recognized internationally winning him many European awards. He is given a big break in a feature film project and he is looking to cast an actress for the lead. Loren comes with baggage. He is still mourning the death of his mother, the date of the death coinciding with the day of his breakup with his boyfriend.
Rose (Jacqueline Bisset) is an actress, now older, who made it big in the past playing a difficult and controversial role as a nun who had sex with her black priest. (Must the priest be black? Need not having sex with a priest be enough?) Her career has been going downhill ever since, not to mention her breakup with her husband, which was publicized widely by the tabloids. She tried other films, but none ever got her the recognition she enjoyed before.
The two meet. The film has the meeting in a quaint little restaurant run by the owner who seems to be familiar with Rose. According to her, she has been frequenting the restaurant for 15 years. The film is a two-handler Rose and Loren. So, dialogue is therefore of prime importance to the success of the film. The film also features a few characters moving in and out of the story. They are played by Gia Carides (MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING), Paul Sand (SWEET LAND, and Erin Cahill (SLEEPY HOLLOW).
A single meal frames this three-act story of the indelible bond between Loren, a promising filmmaker, and Rose, a storied actress looking to reinvigorate her career. From a lunch meeting to discuss a possible collaboration grows a years-long friendship between two people whose love of art, understanding of grief, and faith in life’s potential guide them through personal and creative hardships. Kelly Blatz and Jacqueline Bisset star with a chemistry that is at once authentic and intoxicating.
“Some say cinema is glamorous and superficial, but I say it is the mirror of the world!” The quote is used and claimed to have been spoken by actress Jeanne Moreau.
The film has a whole slew of awards as shown:
**Santa Barbara International Film Festival (WORLD PREMIERE)**
**Studio City Film Festival — Winner Best Actress, Best Screenplay **
**Cinema Diverse: Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival — Director’s Choice Award & Audience Award**
**Santa Fe Film Festival — Lifetime Achievement Award — Jacqueline Bisset**
**Sarasota Film Festival — Lifetime Achievement Award — Jacqueline Bisset**
**Sedona International Film Festival — Lifetime Achievement Award — Jacqueline Bisset**
**Sonoma International Film Festival — Award for Cinematic Excellence — Jacqueline Bisset**
**Ojai Film Festival — Distinguished Artist Award — Jacqueline Bisset**
**Coronado Island Film Festival — Cultural Icon Award — Jacqueline Bisset**
**Loft Film Fest - Lofty Award — Jacqueline Bisset**
LOREN & ROSE is available exclusively on Amazon Prime on January 28th.
Trailer:
PRESENCE (USA 2024) ***½
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Directed by Soderbergh and written by David Koepp (the big-budget movies like INDIANA JONES, JURASSIC PARK and THE MUMMY but also GHOST TOWN), the low-budget indie film is a haunted house ghost story with a PRESENCE as established by the gliding camera around the empty house at the film’s start. A dysfunctional family moves in. Though they appear to argue a lot with each other, the family bond is stronger than it seems. Nothing is clear after that - who the presence of the house is; whether Ryan the sexy kid is good or bad; whether the psychic is for real; whether the daughter can really feel the presence and so on. This distinguishes this ghost story from the run-of-the-mill, making the film intriguing and fresh from start to end.
THE SAND CASTLE (Lebanon/United Arab Emirates/USA 2024)M***
Directed by Matty Brown
The film is basically a four-handler - of a family stranded on a deserted island.
The Robinson Crusoe family is stranded on a deserted island. They fend for themselves hopeful that they can be rescued. There is a man, his wife (assumed), and two children a son and a daughter. All wish to leave the island.
The film leaves out the clear reason the family is stranded or how they got there. The film’s narrative opts for the artistic - lyrical and poetic, instead of the straightforward manner. Unfortunately, the result is a rather confusing and annoying narrative that is difficult to grasp.
The stress of the situation can be observed even more clearly when the band and wife begin to argue. “I will try to fix it,” he says, to which her reply comes: “What if you can’t”. The arguments make no sense and are infantile but each tries to blame the other for something that cannot be corrected or go right.
Nadine Labaki plays the wife. Labaki is well known for the 2018 hit CAPERNAUM. She delivers a powerful performance in this film,
The island is a beautiful natural place, as can be observed by the overhead shots. There are rocky outcrops with waves crashing into them and beaches on the other side of the island. But what is there to enjoy when one knows there is little chance to escape the little paradise?
A few cliched segments also spoil the film’s general originality, The one with the mother putting on her son’s headphones to listen to music in re-order to reconnect with him is one example.
THE SAND CASTLE is open for streaming on Netflix this week.
An over-ambitious, poetic, and beautifully shot family drama on a Robinson Crusoe setting does not fulfill its grand aims but is still a worthy watch.
