Black 47 offers a Western vibe as the film takes us back to 1847 when the country of Ireland was two years into their battle with the Great Famine. Feeney (James Frecheville) returns to his home in Ireland after deciding to leave the British Army. Nothing prepares him for the horrible conditions he’s about to face. Despite having seen the conditions that war provides, the famine provides for some sights he wasn’t ready for. Feeney discovers…
"TIFF 2018: Black 47 – An Irish Western"Category: Film Festival
Being billed as Robert Redford’s final acting performance, the actor delivers quite possibly for the last time in The Old Man & The Gun. We’re taken back in time to 1981 when Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford) was planning so many bank robberies. What’s so perplexing about it was that this old man couldn’t have been nicer to the bank tellers. In the words of many of them, he was pretty much almost a perfect gentleman! …
"TIFF 2018: The Old Man & The Gun"
The Most Dangerous Year is an important documentary with a focus on families fighting against anti-transgender rights legislation. This documentary is personal for director Vlada Knowlton. Her youngest daughter was five years old upon coming out but started showing signs of being transgender two years earlier. The director comments in the film that “it was a terrifying time for us.” Struggling to accept their child’s gender identity was one thing but the next year proved to…
"The Most Dangerous Year: A Battle for Trans Rights"
The comparisons to Rear Window are there but writer-director Nosipho Dumisa makes Number 37 her own. Randal Hendricks (Irshaad Ally) just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He found himself in a wheelchair after a deal went terribly wrong. While he’s stuck in his Cape Town apartment, this film is not the Alfred Hitchcock classic. While it is an homage, the plot is tremendously different and you don’t have the legendary…
"Fantasia 2018: Number 37 (Nommer 37)"
Joseph Kahn’s Bodied, holding its Quebec premiere during Fantasia 2018, is a satire that takes us inside the underground culture of battle rap. Adam Merkin (Calum Worthy) finds himself deeply embedded into the world of battle rapping while researching for a thesis paper. This only happens after a chance encounter with Behn Grymm (Jackie Long). Unfortunately for him, this takes a toll on his own personal relationships. This includes his tenured father (Anthony Michael Hall)…
"Fantasia 2018: Bodied"
The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot may sound like the craziest thing ever but this film is is more of a character study than anything else. Sam Elliott, who delivered an astonishing performance in The Hero last year, as a World War 2 veteran, Calvin Barr. When we first meet him, he’s just sitting there at the bar. There’s a sense of something troubling Calvin but we don’t see anything other than…
"Fantasia 2018: The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot"
Wolfman’s Got Nards is a documentary that explores the production and following of The Monster Squad. What draws this documentary apartment from other documentaries about 1980s movies is that director Andre Gower was an actor in The Monster Squad. The director played Sean in the 1987 classic. While the film is considered to be a cult classic, I must confess that I never heard of the film going into the Cinepocalypse announcement. Gower’s documentary is…
"Cinepocalypse 2018: Wolfman’s Got Nards"
The Transtastic shorts program screened during Frameline on June 18, 2018, with a focus on people who are transgender and gender-nonconforming. A few prominent transgender people were front and center during the program, including actress Trace Lysette and Transparent producer Zachary Drucker. Happy Birthday, Marsha!: Written and directed by Reina Gossett and Sasha Wortzel, the narrative-documentary hybrid stars Tangerine’s Mya Taylor in the role of Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson. The bulk of the short takes…
"Frameline 2018: The Transtastic Shorts"
Alone in the Game is a must-watch documentary that tells the story of the harsh realities that face LGBTQ athletes on a daily basis. When Missouri defensive end Michael Sam came out as gay, it was a game changer for not only college football but the entire sports world. When people think of football, it’s thought of as being a hyper-masculine sport. They don’t think of football players being gay. Sam’s coming out paved the…
"Frameline 2018: Alone in the Game"
Robert Mapplethorpe’s story is one that’s best told as a documentary as the narrative feature, Mapplethorpe, does not do him justice. It’s unfortunate because Mapplethorpe (Matt Smith) was such an iconic photographer. Nearly 30 years following his death from AIDS in 1989, his photos are still a big part of cultural history. The film starts just before Mapplethorpe moves into the Hotel Chelsea in the late 1960s, where he’s living with Patti Smith (Marianne Rendón)…
"Frameline 2018: Mapplethorpe"