I don’t like women’s magazines anymore. Read a woman’s magazine and you will be told what to do. First, you need lots and lots of advice: You need to wear more stylish clothes, work out more, cook healthier meals. Your house needs redoing in the current décor and most of all, you need to buy […]
I am the Walrus; I am Canadian Read More »
Today I saw Legends starring Joan Collins and Linda Evans. I don’t expect the Mirvish subscription series to be edgy but it generally provides quality entertainment. As usual, the sets were lovely, the costumes professional. Today’s play, unfortunately, was boring. The jokes blunt; the repartee, tired. To be fair, the script was more to blame
Legends at the Royal Alex Read More »
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart begins with the type of premise I love. J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard are transported, at the moment of the first nuclear test, to contemporary New Mexico. They are discovered by a librarian, Ann, who at first refuses to believe she has seen “dead physicists.” Lydia Millet’s
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart — by Lydia Millet Read More »
Do you speak French? Do you want to learn Spanish? I have a book to recommend: La Méthode Assimil: Le Nouvel Espagnol Sans Peine. The good thing about this book is that it teaches Spanish by comparing it to French. If you already know French grammar, this book points out the differences so that you
Spanish Second Language Suggestions Read More »
I celebrated the last day of the festival by taking my son and his cousins to see two PG Family-rated films. The first film matched its rating but the second did not. The Hairy Tooth Fairy is an Argentinean/ Spanish co-production. Children in South America and Spain do not leave baby teeth under their pillows
TIFF — The Hairy Scary Farewell Read More »
Despite director Benoit Jacquot’s experience, I was afraid to expect much from L’intouchable. The premise is that an actress runs off to India with only a name and a second-hand memory, seeking a father that may be hers. The results could have been absurd, the heroine merely silly. Instead, this film offers richness and authenticity,
TIFF — Why I love French Films Read More »
Renaissance is director Christian Volckman’s feature debut. This is film noir (et blanc) set in the future, complete with a tough cop hero, a sexy missing female, her sexier sister, powerful men with mysterious aims and a trail of dead witnesses. This works for the first three quarters of the film but the story is
TIFF films — one’s reborn, the other goes nuclear Read More »
There are two excellent, memorable short films in Short Cuts Programme 5, outstanding for their professional acting, production values and stories. The first is Aruba, directed by Academy Award nominee Hubert Davis. The gentle, lyrical pacing and soundscape are at odds with the events of the story. A boy is beaten at school during the
The Horror, the Glitter Read More »
Kurt Cobain About A Son, is a visually exciting documentary that uses animated drawings, landscapes and portraits of people from Cobain’s hometowns of Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle Washington. Director AJ Schnack has assembled the soundtrack around groups that Cobain listened to both as a child and later. The voice recordings for the film are taken
Suicide and Sex and Suicide Read More »
Ghosts of Cité Soleil is a raw documentary directed by Asger Leth. The camera explores the texture of destitution in Cité Soleil, an enormous slum which is home to the Chimères and rival gangs. Each area of the city is ruled by a gang chief. The Chimères are gang members reputedly in the pay of
Two Harsh Realities and a Tear-Jerker Read More »