Most of the new movies reviewed here are from Netflix.
FILM REVIEWS:
AVICII: I’M TIM (Sweden 2024) ***
Directed by Henrik Burman
Everyone loves a good night out at the club - especially on New Year’s Eve and when one is young and pretty. And more so when there is a world-famous DJ with ecstasy or Mollys and ketamine to enhance the clubbing experience. What would be more appropriate on the NYE of 2024 than for Netflix to premiere a documentary on world-renowned Swedish DJ Avicii entitled “AVICII: I’M TIM”? The doc is based on more than 100 hours of private footage of Tim including the first and last images of the artist.
Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose to prominence in 2011 with his single "Levels". His debut studio album, True, blended electronic music with elements of multiple genres and received generally positive reviews. It peaked in the top 10 in more than 15 countries and topped international charts; the lead single, "Wake Me Up", topped most European music markets and reached number four in the United States.
Bergling retired from touring in 2016, after several years of stress and poor mental health. In 2018, he died by suicide while on holiday in Muscat, Oman. His third and final album, Tim, was released posthumously in 2019.
The doc teaches many things about Tim. For one, Tim is no gifted guitar player nor can he sing. But with a DJ mixer, he can redo music, create astonishing mixes, and combine beats to any musical arrangement or song. The doc shows how he was mentored under a guy known as 'Ash’ who he toured with after school and learned how to DJ. The doc follows as Tim does his first DJ gigs, showing how imprint it is to read a crowd and to take them on a journey during a club night. Those who have clubbed before would know exactly what this means.
But with fame and fortune, there is danger, temptation, and often a downfall. The same can be said about what happens to Tim, who was young and impressionable and eventually took too much drink during his initial touring days. He also made favours the song (remixed) “I’m a Fucking Alcoholoc’ played during his gigs. (There is a YouTube link to that song.) It is interesting to note that Tim was totally anti-drugs including even weed.
AVICII: I’M TIM is an earnest enough biopic of the Swede wonder boy, showcasing his enormous talent as a musician DJ, and remixer, bringing in unbelievably large crowds but ultimately sadly culminating with his suicide - indeed a journey that is unforgettable and sad. Filmed in Swedish and English.
The Netflix doc is not the first film made of Avicii, The 2017 documentary Avicii: True Stories, directed by his close and longtime collaborator Levan Tsikurishvili. Bergling spoke about his physical and mental health struggles. The documentary depicts the pressure from his management to continue performing live despite his objections. The Netflix doc is presently available to stream on Netflix.
Trailer:
CUNK ON LIFE (UK 2024) ***
Directed by Al Campbell
In the mockumentary CUNK ON LE, fictitious TV celebrity interviewer Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) delves into life's profound questions, examining subjects from the Big Bang to AI, meeting academics and creatives, all with her trademark misguided observations.
Mock interviews with celebrities are not new as comedy fodder. Sacha Baron Cohen perfected the art with his alter ego, ALI G, and he is also an ignoramus pompous interviewer who makes a fool of himself and those he interviews. Sasha Baron Cohen would also expose celebrities for all their fakeness, embarrassing them whenever possible. Philomena Cunk the interviewer is not as nasty. CUNK ON LIFE is often hilarious and plays more on her comedy than anything else. It works and CUNK ON LIFE is funny. Diane Morgan is already a well-known celebrity, thanks to social media.
Cunk uses terms like finger-banging history, so be aware that one might be offended. But one should take things in stride as this woman with an enormous God-created sense of humour, has the ability to create (yes, create) a laugh-out-loud laugh a minute. Emile’s?
She says that the old could have been created by God’s brother Simon as something like this can also never be proven. When interviewing a professor at Cambridge, she asks him “Why are we here?” When he asks if she means why humans exist?, she corrects him to say that here means here - if the place they rein is his residence e/ She remarks that she had to take 60 minutes on the Piccadilly Line to get ‘here’. Cunk is very funny. Her search for ‘the meaning g of life; obviously takes a whole different meaning g. This is a co-BBC production, so there is plenty of British humour. Remember Monty Python attempted to answer the same question, hilariously in the extremely funny MONTY PYTHON’S MEANING OF LIFE. Philomena Cunk is played by British comedienne, Diana Morgan. Cunk is a know-nothing TV pundit, in a series of mockumentaries about history, philosophy, art and science (including “Cunk on Earth”). As she strides through picturesque locations, dressed in tweed, and sits down with distinguished experts from the world of academia, she looks every bit the part of a BBC presenter. Then she does things like ask an Oxford professor, “What was more culturally significant, Beyoncé’s hit ‘Single Ladies’ or the Renaissance period?” and the illusion of gravitas is (hilariously) ruptured. North Americans will get their first and unforgettable taste of her in Netflix’s CUNK ON LIFE.
The mockumentary is divided into chapters, all equally hilarious. Chapter 2, for example, tackles sin and Cunk talks about the original sin that God put into the apple for what she describes as whatever fucking reason. She talks about cities being built just for sin like Swansea in Wales and Las Vegas (Spanish, she says for The Vegas) where gambling and eating can go on all night Her humour also has a lot of play on words, so English connoisseurs should be more than pleased. Cunk also brings audiences into church and worship (what she calls organized grovelling) and asks experts to talk about worship. Questions like: Why does one kneel while worshipping? She also asks questions on Darwin like; Why do humans come from apes?”
CUNK ON LIFE opens this week on Netflix.
NR 24 (Number 24) (Norway 2024) ****
Directed by John Andreas Andersen
On the brink of the Second World War, a young Norwegian man's drive to resist the Nazis sets a new course for his future -- and the future of his country. Young apprentice Gunnar Sønsteby (Sjur Vatne Brean) from Rjukan decides to resist Nazi Germany on the day of the invasion to later become the leader of the "Oslo-gang" carrying out countless daring acts of sabotage making him Norway's greatest war hero. Rjukan is a town in Tinn Municipality in Telemark County, Norway. It lies between Bergen and Oslo roughly in the centre of the line joining the two cities.
It is surprising the film is not called THE CHIN. Gunnar Fridtjof Thurmann Sønsteby DSO (11 January 1918 – 10 May 2012) is a well-known personality and was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. Known by the nickname "Kjakan" ("The Chin") and as "Agent No. 24", he was the most highly decorated citizen in Norway, including being the only person to have been awarded the War Cross with three swords, Norway's highest military decoration.
The film begins with the elderly Gunnar (Erik Hivju) addressing a group of young listeners in Rhukan, Norway. The titles across the screen say that there are five drawers in Gunnar’s brain, the first three open but the last not opened till the end of 1945. “Let’s talk about values.” these are the elderly Gunnar’s opening words.
The film has a high-spirited beginning creating a bar very high and one that is likely difficult to fill. Director Andersen tries his damn best though, credit for the effort.
The title NUMBER 24 comes from the hero protagonist’s code name. When asked whether he wishes to go to London to train as a sabotage expert or to stay in Norway to continue networking, he chooses the latter and then given the code name NUMBER 24.
Director Andersen does not skimp in his tale of the horrors of war, particularly of the tactic of the Nazis. The creation of the atmosphere of dread and fear is unmistakably frightening. Gunnnar at one point claims he cannot understand how the Norwegian Nazis can be more cruel to their fellow citizens than the German Nazis.
Gunnar’s exploits are revealed primarily in flashbacks interspersed with the elderly Gunnar’s talk to a young audience. The last half hour of the film has Gunnar faced with questions on his dealing in the war that includes killing fellow Norwegians who collaborated with the Nazis. The question of the price to be paid for freedom is the one that torments Gunnar. Freedom at what cost? NR 24 examines the casualties of war even on the side of the winners while telling a story that needs to be told of Norway’s most decorated war hero. Indeed NR 24, a decent war suspense thriller that hits all the right notes probably marks one of the best films of the upcoming 2025.
To add credibility to the story, the film references several real figures in History. One is the reference at one point to another resistance fighter, maxManus. MaxManus is quite famous already outside Norwegian circles, aided by the praised 2008 Norwegian film MAX MANUS: MAN OF WAR. Norwegians should be proud part of their importance in history. Another reference in the film is the "Peat Bog Soldiers". It is one of Europe's best-known protest songs. It exists in countless European languages and became a Republican anthem during the Spanish Civil War. It symbolized resistance during the Second World War and is popular with the Peace movement today. It was written, composed, and first performed by prisoners in 1933 in a Nazi concentration camp.
NUMBER 24 opens for Netflix streaming on New Year’s Day.
UMJOLO: MY BEGINNING, MY END! (South Africa 2024) **
Directed by Zuko Nodada
South Africa has saturated the film industry with their romantic comedies, which include the HAPPINESS IS and UNJOLO franchises. Unfortunately, these are mediocre films at best, and the latest entry MY BEGINNING, MY END! which opens this week on Netflix fails to impress.
The story follows a free spirit 30-year old who seems to have found Mr.. Right (as is the title of the film’s first chapter), a saxophonist, while she already has wedding plans.
The question is what this woman is going to do or choose. The question rather is whether anyone cares. Another below-mediocre movie that is as boring as any dating going down the tubes. The display of South African culture is the only bit that might be interesting to observe.
UMJOLO is a Zulu, word which means a lot of things including dating, dating with multiple partners or an emotional romantic state.
The film opens for streaming on Netflix this week starting Friday.
VERMIGLIO (Italy/France/Belgium 2024) ****
Directed by Maura Delpero
VERMIGLIO by Maura Delpero, winner of this year's Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and Italy’s entry for Best International Feature Film to the 97th Academy Awards®.
Set in 1944 in the Italian alpine village after which the film is named, it sees the arrival of a deserter soldier disrupt the life of the village teacher and his family, as the eldest daughter falls in love with him.
Tragedy strikes the villagers of VERMIGLIO during the war. And more so to the secluded village up in the mountains with the arrival of a stranger. A young Sicilian soldier named Pietro has carried his injured comrade Attilio all the way back to his mountain home, much of the journey with his passenger on his back. Hailed as a hero, Pietro is furnished with the best the village can provide. As a rare newcomer (and a Sicilian, so an exotic stranger), Pietro is gossiped about a lot but keeps to himself. He catches the eye of Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the eldest daughter of the stern village schoolteacher (Tommaso Ragno), and soon the two are gently flirting and falling in love. This seemingly simple pairing of two young hearts sets off a sweeping series of events that shakes the village and a small town in Sicily, uncapping age-old misogyny, intolerance, and narrowness with tragic results. Besides the romantic story, which has a twist after the couple is married with a child, it is the surroundings that make the highlight of the film, stunningly photographed looking something like an Italian Switzerland. Male dominance is frowned upon in the film, from the bad choices made by the patriarch schoolteacher to the often drunken son Dino and ultimately the demise of Pietro.
VERMIGLIO was also screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Ottawa opens in theatres on January 3rd.
Trailer:
