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National Anthem (2023)
Introduction to a Queer Subculture
Dylan is a 21-year-old loner, saving money to buy an RV. He lives with his younger brother Cassidy, and his harried (financially and otherwise) mother, his father having abandoned the family. Dylan works as a casual laborer, hanging around an area with other men waiting to be picked up for a day's worth of work, often in construction.
Along comes Pepe, owner of a distant ranch, who hires several of them for 2 weeks' work. There, Dylan becomes enamored with Sky, a beautiful woman with a horse. Sky invites his to a rodeo, which turns out to be a gay rodeo, complete with evening entertainment of line dancing and drag shows. There, certain people find their version of "The Amrican Dream". Here is where Sky thinks Dylan can find "his people". Indeed, Dylan ends up staying at the ranch for a while, and even brings Cassidy along when their mother had other plans.
While this is a good introduction to a gay subculture, I am dubious about how flexible Dylan is to sexuality and sexual expression. After a specific early scene of Dylan imaging Sky on her horse, it seems too fast a jump for him to participate in a pansexual orgy. Also, Dylan seems too easy to convince to perform in a drag show, and does too well in lip-synch-acting for a rookie. Meanwhile, Sky is puzzling - she seems to be played as a male-to-female trans person, but just looks too gorgeous.
Side note: This is supposed to be present day, despite the very old RV Dylan is shopping for. I saw a flash of the newer progress pride flag.
Widow Clicquot (2023)
Dramatized version of the rise of a champagne dynasty
According to Wikipedia, Barbe-Nicole married into the Clicquot family, whose holdings included a vineyard and winery. She was widowed at an early age, took over the champagne business, and made it a success using a novel technique that is still in ue today.
According to the dramatic telling in this film, she had a unsympathetic father-in-law, who tried to get her to sell the hectarage she inherited to rival wineries, but she persisted, arguing that her husband lived on in his vines. Despite setbacks that had her sell household goods to pay her workers, her experiments eventually produced a lauded bubbly, at which point her control of the winery was challenged by rivals, who claimed that, by law, she could only do so if she was still a widow (nt remarried), and she was circumventing the law.
Interspersed with the story of his widowhood are flashbacks to scenes of her relationship with her husband, which is a storytelling technique that works for this filmn hinting at a possible caue f his death.
In this version of the story, the winery seems to be seriously underfinanced, one harvest / bottling away from disaster. This would hve happened even if her husband was alive and operating the business. The period costumes do not help, as there are too many men in her lives. Still, it is interesting, even if "the true story of" is a bit of a stretch.
The Boy in the Woods (2023)
Survivor - not the game, but real life
It seems that various young Jews who survived the Nazis found their way to Canada, and Canadians end up telling their stories.
In this case, it was 1943, and the Jewish population of a small town in eastern Poland (now north-west Ukraine) was about to be "resettled". Urged by his mother, Max, a 12-year-old boy, manages to escape, meets pre-arranged Gentile family friends, who send him to live with a farm family as their nephew. However, as the reward for finding Jews go up, it becomes too dangerous, and the farmer sends him to the woods, living with in a small cave with little equipment, surviving on foraging, and catching the occasional rabbit.
Along the way, Max meets and befriends a younger boy, who has also been hiding in the woods, but whose parents have not returned from finding food.
This tale is well told. The Northern Ontario location stands in well as the Polish woods. The boys who hold up the film acquit themselves well. My beef is that, over many months, the boys still seem reasonably well groomed, and their clothes not all caked in mud.
Challengers (2024)
Good "love" triangle, good tennis
As the movie starts, Art is a 31-something tennis pro with a record of success, having won 3 major tournaments, only missing the U. S. Open for a career Grand Slam. But he is aging, and his skills are declining. To boost his confidence, his wife / coach Tashi enters him in a "Challenger" tournament. This tournament is low-level, in that the winner qualifies to play in the pre-tournament to qualify to play in the U. S. Open. It turns out that, also in that Challenger tournament is Patrick, a pro with far less success, and with which Art and Tasha have a history.
Their history is told in flashbacks, as the "current day" tournament progresses. Art and Patrick were boarding-school roommates, and together won the U. S. Open Amateur Men's Pairs. At an after-party, they both had their eyes on the same female tennis player, Tashi, and the 3 developed a physial love triangle. Somewhat declaring his independence from his rich family, Patrick turned pro immediately, while Art followed Tashi to Stanford University. Art was there for Tashi when she had her career-ending knee injury. As players / coach on the pro circuit, the 3 crossed paths multiple times.
The relationship between the principals is believable. Art and Patrick appear fit enough to be tennis pros, appearing shirtless at various times, including during breaks between sets in their match. On the tennis court, there are enough shots that include both players in action, to give the many singe-player shots credibility. The current score is displayed on-screen, as would be shown on TV.
However, as flashbacks go back and forth in time, attention is demanded of the audience. One blink and you could be lost as to when a certain scene was.
My Old Ass (2024)
OK, but not great in an "advice to younger self" story.
This is Elliot's last few weeks at home, where her parents run a cranberry farm handed down for generations, before fleeing to university and the freedom of the big city. She celebrates her 18th birthday with a couple of gal pals, and trying out magic mushroom tea. Elliott's trip has her conjuring up her 39-year-old self, who she calls "my old ass", and they remain in sporadic touch after older Elliott puts her phone number into younger Elliott's phone.
Older Elliott gives younger Elliott generic advice, and refuses to give specific information, such as "What is the next Apple". One specific piece of advice OE gives YE is to avoid "Chad", which YE scoffs at, since she self-identifies as Lesbian. However, Chad does arrive - a temporary farm worker with ancestors in the area, seeking his roots - and YE falls for him, despite anticipating that something bad will happen.
The question of what advice you should give your younger self is always interesting. YE's confusion is palpable. The chemistry between YE and Chad is great. The drone-shot footage of boating in Lake Muskoka is wonderful, beating the sunsets of The Burning Season.
This was the opening gala film of the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ film festival, and I presume that it was chosen to be non-threatening to a general audience. The story arc seems natural to go from F to M attraction, but politically I wonder about the implications of "all she needs is a good man". I also keep wondering what gender preferences Elliott would have after Chad.
Spark (2024)
A good gay Groundhog Day
Aaron is on his way to his birthday party, but has an afternoon pre-party detour, which turns out to be a blind date with Trevor. Along the way, he is given a choice of 3 options: have sex, hug, or talk. After choosing the sex option, he wakes up the morning where this begins. After multiple rounds of the time loop, trying hugging just defers the inevitable, to sex during the party. While Aaron finds snippets of information about Trevor over these time loops, they never have a deep discussion. Only when he fails to have sex with Trevor that the loop seems broken, but he enlists the help of his roommate / best friend / onetime lover to get back into the loop and find Trevor again.
I saw this at a film festival with the writer / director present. Besides the obvious Groundhog Day, his inspiration for the story came from 500 Days of Summer, a story of attraction / rejection. Despite Aaron's various attempts to curry favor with Trevor, the relationship does not seem to develop beyond sex - and the time loop. Aaron has to break out of that particular time loop to finally reach Trevor.
The principals are hot, and have chemistry, but the psychological wall between them is well-maintained. However, the ending jumps out in a rather sudden manner, which I am not keen on.
Dalton's Dream (2023)
Justified journey of a Jamaican singer
This is a documentary about Dalton Harris, a singer from Jamaica. He won a rising star competition in his teens, but his big break was winning The X Factor UK in 2018. The show was so popular that it was broadcast in Jamaica, and he was invited to perform at Reggae Sunsplash, Jamaica's biggest music festival. The performance went well, but the airwaves were full of accusations that he was a "Batty Boy", the epithet for homosexual. With Dalton separately estranged from each of his parents, it was a quick trip home before he went into exile.
The win came with a recording contract (and presumably the documentary film team). While Dalton dreamed of filling big arenas, he did not want to do the typical songs written for contest winners. When he finally released a self-written single, it flopped. Outside the singing contest bubble, he was in danger of being forgotten. It seemed that he might, like lesser contestants, be relegated to the cruise ship circuit, singing covers rather than original material.
The lack of success led to mental health challenges. It was not until 2020, when he came out as pansexual, that he finally discovered his voice, and his role in life.
The documentary is well-made, covering the major aspects of his career, including flashbacks where the material was available. He is shown in performance, working with his team, his self-doubts, and one scene where his boyfriend suggested that, if Dalton joined a cruise ship, he could try to get a job as a bartender on it.
Extremely Unique Dynamic (2024)
Meta meta Asian movie
Two long-time friends and actor wannabees are about to part ways. The more successful Ryan is leaving L. A. to follow his fiancee to Canada, leaving Daniel behind. On their last weekend together, they shoot videos of Ryan's favorite places in L. A., but when they try to wrap a narrative around it, they come up with the idea of making a movie about 2 guys making a movie about 2 guys making a movie.
The process is chaotic. They are supposed to be stoners, but Daniel actually consumes an edible, and becomes difficult to direct. Wanting a secret to come out, Ryan suggests that Daniel's character be secretly in love with him, but Daniel's performance suggests that he is actually in love with Ryan. Ryan also is looking for a celebrity cameo, which they get in the form of Hudson Yang (from Fresh Off the Boat).
This ends up being rather amusing, but does not lead to anything deep, so it would not be recommended to everyone.
I saw this at a film festival with the writers / directors / stars present for a Q+A, and they explained that they belonged to a tight-knit young Asian community, and knew Hudson Yang, who agreed to join the project during his spring break.
Desire Lines (2024)
A good documentary of F-to-M trans, with a narrative wrapper
This is a documentary about gay female-to-male, and female-to masculine transgender people. It mostly deals with life after the transition, with low emphasis on the transitioning process itself. It also deals with those whose physical orientation leans male.
There are two main subject categories. One is Lou Sullivan, a F-to-M trans activist who also pioneered identifying as gay. He is represented by multiple excerpts from the interviews he gave on TV, plus the writings of one correspondent to him. The other are a series of interviews with various trans people of different presentations and anatomies - one masculine-identified subject insisted on keeping his vagina. They often have trouble finding intimacy partners, though Trans Night at gay bathhouses are a big help, in their not having to explain themselves.
This is wrapped in a narrative drama. A masculine trans Iranian-American (who left Iran soon after the revolution) goes to a queer archive in Chicago to do research, and is befriended by a younger, boyish trans staffer. The Iranian angle is enhanced with the to discussions about an Iranian "omelette" dish. This hybrid approach added interest, and made it feel more than the dryness of a plain documentary.
I saw this as part of a film festival, with cast and director present. The director mentioned that the Iranian actor helped do a short "proof of concept" to solicit funding, and was kept on, with Iranian touches added to the script. The other actor was an activist in his own right, and his part was written with him in mind.
Cong jin yihou (2024)
A heartfelt story of legal uncertainties for Hong Kong lesbians
Angie and Pat have been together for decades, and just hosted a mid-autumn festival dinner for Pat's biological family, who is less financially secure than Pat. The younger generation speak fondly of "Auntie Angie".
However, when Pat passes away in her sleep, Pat's family considers Angie to be just "a friend", ranking lower than family, overrides her wishes, and gradually pushes her out. Their lawyer friend points out all Pat's errors of omission. Refusing to sign a will (Pat is thinking of starting a new business in fashion retail, rather than acknowledging the possibility of death), executorship defaults to Pat's brother. Not leaving written funeral instructions means that the biological family takes charge. Not getting married abroad means that Angie has no moral standing, and not the little legal standing that such a paper could provide. Having the apartment only in Pat's name means Angie has no claim. The best Angie can do is to claim a dependency allowance from the estate.
As Angie loses battle after battle, it is her chosen family who provides emotional support.
This is allegedly based on real-life events, and shows the problems of not being prepared. Films with this theme showed up in North America a decade or two ago, but the problems mostly ended when same-sex marriage became legal. This is a reminder that the fight for rights still has to continue, but, before rights are established, care should be taken about legal issues.
Bonus Track (2023)
A teen coming-of-age romance, set as "tracks" of music
In small town 2005-6, George is in his last year of high school, and dreams of being a music star. However, he has failing grades, including music class, where he can only plunk out the same few notes that will form the rhythm track of his barely-started song. He holds out hope of being noticed at the year-end Leavers' Talent Show, though a kindly teacher warns him that, after the show, he will be leaving.
Along comes new student Max, son of a famous music duo (who recently separated, both professional and marital). Even if faulty, Max's rendition of a piano sonata is far above George's efforts. Despite being mobbed by girls, Max has his eye on George, and they work on his song together. While on an overnight trip to a challenge camp, Max gets George to sneak out with him to drink and have a kiss - which is captured by a paparazzo, making them big local news.
Max decides to leave for London, where he could be lost in the crowd, leaving George to perform alone at the Talent Show.
This film has an interesting concept of being divided up into "tracks", each part introduced with a different song. With his disinterest in them, the girls at school has already pegged George as gay, while lesser experience with Max means he is still not typecast - until the photo comes out. As the audience, we are waiting to see if the Bromance becomes something more.
Pedágio (2023)
Not sure of the film's intended audience
Suellen is Brazilian, the single mother of teenaged Antonio, who loves to sing and dance, and make music videos of his performances to post online - much to Suellen's embarrassment. When her toll booth co-worker / religious best friend suggests gay conversion therapy led by a renowned visiting foreign pastor, she enrols Antonio before he turns 18. To cover the high cost, she has her boyfriend introduce her to a gang of car robbers, and she plays scout at her toll booth to message the robbers of potential high-value targets. Meanwhile, the therapy has fairly typical "scientific" claims, and the group is fertile ground for those seeking same-sex hookups. Eventually, things go awry.
It seems strange that the gang could do repeated robberies in the same stretch of highway, without the police noticing. Antonio's gayness seems rather stereotypical - besides dressing flamboyantly for his videos, he seems to do occasional drag. And while the boys are seen kissing, Suellen has scenes where she is nude or semi-nude. So I wonder what audience the filmmakers had in mind for this film.
Cora Bora (2023)
A decent portrait of an unlikable person
Cora left her girlfriend Justine in Portland Oregon, to go to L. A. to pursue her music career, while calling for an open relationship. (Early on, the has sex with a man she just met.) She decides to go home, and finds that Justine is living with a new girlfriend Riley. Cora's parents show up to celebrate Riley's birthday (the betrayal!). Cora takes their dog for a walk and loses it, and more chaos ensues. This includes going to an out-of-town pansexual orgy with strangers, to try to cheer herself up.
Cora is self-centered and self-obsessed. Her songs reflect that obsession. On the flight, she just plunks herself into a 1st-class seat, asks for a whole bottle of champagne, then refuses to show her ticket. Overall, she is plain unlikeable, and a late reveal of an earlier tragedy is too late for me to give her much sympathy.
Sebastian (2024)
A daring semi-meta film about gay sex workers
Max is a young aspiring writer in London, who does freelance work for a literary magazine, has had some short stories published, and is working on his 1st novel. He is inspired by some interviews with graduate students about being gay sex workers for money, but he is too conscious about possibly appropriating their voices, so he decides to go into the business himself, ignoring the irony of most 1st novels being autobiographical.
This he does under the name Sebastian, posting pictures online of his bare torso, but with his face obscured by his cellphone. He gets customers, and some call him back for more encounters. But his sex work starts interfering with his job at the magazine, while his publisher / editor is trying to shape the novel into a "marketable" story.
I do have a couple of minor quibbles about the script. While there are multiple sex scenes (with no cast members' members showing), they seem to be all straight-up penetration, No oral, no hand jobs, no spanking with a magazine or other kink. The other is the sequence where Sebastian is on an overnight assignment, has drunk too much, but still manages to sneak out of bed to immediately write down his activities, given that his research is for a work of "fiction", and inaccuracies / omissions / embellishments are fair game.
Close to You (2023)
An OK film about a trans person returning home
Sam has left home - the small town of Coburg - moved to Toronto, and has transitioned from female to male. He now takes a trip home - the 1st in 4 years. On the train, he happens to meet Katherine, his best friend from high school.
The reason for the return is his father's birthday party, which allows the writers to populate the family with a selection of attitudes about the transition. His father is mostly relieved that Sam has found himself, and is no longer in pain. His mother will always remember him as her little girl, consistently misgenders him (not necessarily maliciously), and is concerned about his well-being, compared to his sister who stayed in Coburg and got married. His sister wonders why he never confided in her, when they shared a bedroom growing up. And his brother-in-law is transphobic.
Escaping the family, Sam seeks solace with Katherine.
This is a Elliot Page vehicle, inspired by his life. The direction allows him to casually show off his boy bod. This answers the question "where are they now"? However, after this autobiographical-inspired story, I am wondering what other projects he will appear in.
Using available-light photography lost one star by me. Too often, the subjects were shot with a background of a bright window, making it to hard to see facial expressions.
We Forgot to Break Up (2024)
Good mockumentary of an indie band
Formed in high school, the members of the band The New Normals graduate and head to Toronto, where they live together, play gigs, and pursue different jobs to support themselves. One interesting job was for a sex phone line, voice-acting like someone having phone sex. They make it big enough to have a 30 U. S. cities added to their Canadian tour, just as the band blows up, caused by a pregnancy and a transgender, pansexual love triangle.
Set at the turn of the century, the film is a tribute to the Canadian indie bands of that era, as their music forms most of the soundtrack. The New Normals also play "their own music", specifically written for them. The film is vaguely chaptered, with song titles or events being the chapter titles.
I was at the Canadian premiere, with producer, director, cast and crew present. The director (of a younger generation), gave tribute to their music supervisor for assistance in getting the music, giving the cast a playlist of 90s music to listen to (to set the mood), and to get the composer on board. The cast lived together for some weeks before shooting began, to get the "living together" vibe. The cast were also given a video camera to record themselves, and some of that footage made it into the film.
This is an interesting film, which will have special appeal to fans of indie bands, or indie music of that era.
A House Is Not a Disco (2024)
Decent documentary about Fire Island Pines
This is a documentary about Fire Island Pines, the homo-normative community on the barrier island east of New York City / Long Island. It shows one year in the life of the community, bookended by a couple who live there year-round, and sub-bookended by the liquor store's opening and closing for the season.
Characters of all ages appear in the film, but there is a bias towards older folks, who can reminisce about the 70s freedom followed by the losses due to AIDS. This allows various archival material to be introduced. The community has gotten more diverse, with Black and trans members, led by a Black trans activist. There are still questions of social class, as to who can afford to own or rent there. However, the most visible are still the younger partying crowd.
Today, what threatens Fire Island most are the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels are less of a concern than storms. Sandy is mentioned as washing away most of the beaches. Just before the annual big beach party, a piece of beach disappeared overnight, requiring a reconfiguration of the dance floor, and an abrupt stop to ticket sales. However, there is mention of government support in rebuilding the beaches, knowing that if Fire Island is allowed to wash away, Long Island will be exposed to the full force of the Atlantic.
The is one brief scene with a guy wearing a tank top with the movie title on it. I don't know if the title was taken from the shirt, or that was a planted scene.
Hit Man (2023)
An interesting romance wrapped in hints of action.
Gary is an unassuming professor of Psychology and Philosophy. For excitement, he joins a team of cops who monitor people who are trying to hire a hit man. The excitement takes a leap, when the cop pretending to be a hit man is suspended, and Gary is pushed into the role of hit man Ron. With his background and research capabilities, he does a better job than his predecessor in playing that role convincingly.
This starts to unravel when a woman asks for help to be freed from a suffocating husband, and he talks her into simply leaving him. Sometime later, "divorced", she seeks him out and they have an affair. But then the other cop comes back from suspension and wants his job back, while one outing too many has the couple discovered by the "ex-" husband.
I found the fake hit man angle interesting, since it is in the news - an agent from India tried to hire a hit man in the U. S. to eliminate a Sikh separatist living there. There are interesting scenes of the professor talking with his students about good and evil, crime and punishment. There are also court scenes where defense attorneys effectively accuse him of entrapment. But the central romance is hot, accompanied by the mandatory secrecy and threat of danger.
The Fall Guy (2024)
Awesome action movie muddied by love story
Ryan Gosling stars as a stuntman who left the business after an accident. But he is recalled into action by a producer, who flies him to Australia to fill in in a sci-fi / action / romance movie. It turns out that the star and his stuntman have both disappeared, and the jet-lagged replacement is also tasked with finding them. So besides the on-stage stunts, there are multiple fights, shootings, car and boat chases, etc. There are Knives Out moments where the weapons may have been movie props. There is one irrelevant meta moment, where the director (Emily Blunt) inexplicably discuss with the stuntman the use of split-screen between the human and alien leaders, who are also the romantic leads, which then has the director and stuntman shown in split screen.
There is romantic heat between the Gosling and Blunt characters. Apparently they were in love, but after his accident he withdrew from the movie world, and she was hurt that she, too, was excluded. But this takes up a minority of screen time, and I don't think those who come for the romance would welcome that much action, while those who want action could tolerate it. Somehow, it does not balance as well as the Top Gun movies.
Gosling earns his place as an action star, but action stars don't win Oscars. Indeed, this movie is a tribute to the stunt men who do the dangerous work in movies, but there is no Oscar category for them.
The Burning Season (2023)
Same Time, Last Year
Alena and husband Tom take an annual 2-week vacation in a adult / family camp in woods, arriving at season's end when they are the only guests. Alena has a childhood connection to the camp, and is having a once-a-year affair with the camp's owner / operator JB. Tom seems to like the solitude and is supportive of Alena. Despite Alena's question about open relationships, Tom is blind (or wilfully so) about Alena's activities.
The story is mostly told in reverse, with each year's actions being labelled with a chapter number. Hints of history are dropped, which are resolved when chapters of earlier events show what happened. It is like peeling off layers of an onion, until the core truth is revealed. The intrigue of this sequence of exposition is required for the story to have effect.
There are gorgeous sunset vistas, the heat between the lovers is undeniable, and the fire scene is stunning (the one seen in the posters). What I find tricky to accept is the end-of-season premise, with no fall foliage, and JB bringing on a new hire (which should be at the start of the season).
I saw this at the early evening show of opening weekend, and the writers, cast, producers, and crew were present for Q+A. (The director was in another city doing the same.)
A poll of the audience showed that the chapter numbers were very helpful in understanding the film. For an independent film, getting financing, etc. Was relatively easy, with a script-to-screen time of only 2 years. A live bat was actually involved. And the fire scene was shot in front of the fire, not green-screened, with firefighters adding fuel for each take.
I Don't Know Who You Are (2023)
A good movie about someone warding off HIV
Benjamin is a gay musician, and is, in various ways, a mess.
Physically, he got raped by a stranger who had been cruising him, originally accepting his overtures, then trying to break it off. Beyond physical injuries, he has the possibility of being infected with HIV. That requires a moderately expensive 28-day supply of drugs to act as a prophylactic against permanent infection, something that should be taken within 48 hours of exposure, and useless after 72.
Financially, he is broke, with little in his bank account and a maxed-out credit card. Part of the reason is that he is sending money "home", living an exaggeration of success. Self-employed, he has no drug plan, and so cannot afford the drugs. So he spend most of the weekend trying to round up the money needed.
Psychologically, he is prone to self-medication with alcohol, may not have fully processed his being raped, and is too embarrassed or reticent to fully explain why he needed the money, so at most people would offer whatever cash was on hand. The situation somewhat started with an encounter with his new boyfriend, which ended on an iffy note. He also never got around to asking the pharmacist to give him a partial fill of the prescription, to give him time to raise more money, or to get government assistance.
This is a good portrait of someone who is sometimes frantic, and sometimes in a passive state of despair / seeking distraction. It also promulgates the current reality that HIV is now a manageable disease.
La bête (2023)
Evergreen Love, or a coincidental triptych?
In 2044, AI is running the world, most humans are redundant, and strong emotions are suspect. Hoping to land a meaningful job, Gabrielle is encouraged by her friend Louis to undergo DNA repair therapy, which involves reliving past lives to remove hidden traumas. It seems that those two have quite a bit of history.
In 1910, Gabrielle is a famous musician in Paris, married to an industrialist. However, she strikes up a relationship with another man, Louis. In 2014, Gabrielle is a lonely young struggling actress in L. A., housesitting a home way beyond her means. Louis is a 30-year-old incel who stalks her from her favorite dance club. Louis has sex only in his dreams, and, with his experience of being rejected by women, has trouble relating to Gabrielle when she gives him an invitation. In both cases, there is foreboding of disaster and death (the beast), something that consulting a psychic does not materially help.
The actors play different characters with different personalities, and acquit themselves well. The main stories (1910 and 2014) are well fleshed out, though the 2044 action seems to be more of an excuse to show the earlier ones.
Some reviews complain about the length of the movie, but, with the multiple stories, I find it acceptable, far more than the longer Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, showing at the same multiplex at the same time. This movie is shortened by skipping the final credits - they put up a QR code, so if you are interested, have your cellphone ready near the end.
I'm not too fond of the scientific / Freudian mumbo jumbo that backs the stories, but I will give it a pass, since the plot depends on it. There is, however, one sex scene (or fantasy) that is bewildering.
With the action moving back and forth between 3 time periods, it can get bit confusing. At times I wished I was watching this on video, so that I could re-wind and re-view certain scenes.
Nu astepta prea mult de la sfârsitul lumii (2023)
Overlong story of 1-1/2 days in the life of a P.A.
Angela is a movie Production Assistant in Bucharest, overworked and underpaid. Romanians seem to be suffering from inflation, blamed on the Ukrainian war. In this story, she is part of the team shooting a workplace safety video for a multinational compamy.
In day 1, she is frantically racing around (on streets where the other drivers are crazy), interviewing injured workers who are potential subjects, doing other errands, and squeezing in some personal time as well. This part is shot in black and white, to distinguish it from the color sequences, which illustrate the back story of some of the characters of the day, and also her alter ego, a sex-obsessed bald man. However, at 2-3/4 hours I find this extraneous, plus there is an overlong sequence of the crosses along a road memorializing traffic accident victims. Deduct one star for this "creativity".
For day 2 (before lunch break), the selected subject (and selected family members) are assembled at the site of the accident for the shoot. Contrasting with the previous day, this is basically a fixed camera situation, assuming that this is the camera that is shooting the actual corporate video. Complications happen, including the "big boss" demanding his own creative idea - not prevously expressed.
The film is a moderately interesting slice of life in Romania, and it is up to the viewer as to whether the creative touches add (according to some critics) or subtract (according to me) to its enjoyment.
Domakinstvo za pocetnici (2023)
Interesting ongoing story of "my rainbow blended family"
Dita is a white woman with a gypsy lesbian lover Suada, and Suada's daughters by different fathers - Vanessa in grade 9, and Mia aged 5. Also in the apartment is Dita's white gay friend Toni, and his new boy-toy, the gypsy Ali. Both Suada and Ali hail from Shutka, the gypsy (Roma) municipality, and at times Ali manages to play fixer.
Aware that she may die of cancer, and having experienced racial discrimination in earlier life, Suada tries to get her girls to recognize Dita as mother and Toni as father, and even gets Toni's name on their birth certificates. But when she dies, Mia bonds with Ali, while Vanessa rejects this family, wanting either to "go home" to grandma, or to marry a boy who is going abroad.
This film likely hits themes that are more relevant in North Macedonia than in Canada, but still is an interesting exposition of the life of minorities. There are dual themes of discrimination by ethnicity and sexuality. There is a brief scene where Dita "straightens out" her living room and Toni, expecting police to show up after Vanessa acts out. But the scenarios are believable, and the performances good, especially Mia, whose role was written well for her.
The dialog in Shutka is tricky, as there is Romany mixed in, and the subtitles don't show the language differences, making me scramble to try to figure out what language was being spoken. Also, some of the hand-held camera work was a bit shaky.
Io capitano (2023)
A benign look at an African migrant's odyssey
16-year-old Seydou, with his cousin Moussa, takes "a trip" from Dakar, Senegal, to Europe. There are roadblocks along the way. There is a trek across the sand dunes of the Sahara. (I believe that is because the trucks can't get thru, but that is not explained.) There is a ride in an overcrowded boat that takes longer than advertised. There are fake ids that cost more than expected, bribes to be paid, and sophisticated robberies There is a post-robbery robbery, where the migrants are threatened with torture or death, unless they give phone numbers of family members to shake down for ransom. Seydou is lucky to be befriended by a man old enough to be his father, where they manage to be only sold as slaves, and manage to impress their owner enough to be freed.
Seydou eventually reunites with Moussa in Tripoli, and, needing to cross quickly, ends up agreeing to steer the migrant boat in return for passage. Because he is a minor, he can't be prosecuted by European authorities. His instructions: " Just go north, keeping the compass at zero". This is where the title "Me, Captain" comes from.
This is alleged to be a composite story from actual successful migrants, so it comes across as the Biblical trials of Job, as everything possible seems to happen to them. Also, by keeping the film to 2 hours, the audience does not get the experience of the arduousness of the journey. Every event is over in 10-15 minutes, while in the hands of another director, this could be a 3-hour epic.
The dangers of the journey are mentioned - partly by a shaman before he eventually blesses their trip, and partly from the instructions on how to steer if the boat hits rough waters. I kept thinking of episodes of Star Trek Classic, where new officers or crew members are introduced, only to be killed off soon after. However, I consider the overall effect to be "benign", and not the unrelenting horror story it could have been.
I have seen other films about migrants before, though this is the 1st I have seen about the African experience. There is no overall "snakehead", who orchestrates the whole journey. But the route is sufficiently well-known, that at each step along the way, there is someone who solicits passengers, to arrange passage to the next point.
While this is illuminating in the context of the journey, unlike other migrant stories, it does not make me sympathetic to the participants. They are migrants in search of fame and fortune, seduced by images of life in advanced countries, fantasizing about "White people asking for our autographs". At 16, by working as casual labor without family knowledge, they have managed to earn sufficient money (they think) for the trip. Seydou tells his mother that he can send money home from Europe to help the family, when he could have done so immediately with his local earnings.