RKS 2024 Film: “Oasis”: Quebec Filmmaker Justine Martin’s Film Shortlisted at Upcoming OSCARS

“Oasis”, a short documentary film, by 24-year-old Justine Martin is now shortlisted for the upcoming Academy Awards in the Best Documentary Short Film Category.

Shot in the Quebec Laurentians the 14-minute short documentary film tells the story of two twins at the dawn of their teenage years. Raphäel is suffering from a developmental handicap. Rémi spends time with Raphäel and when they are one on one it is quality time but when it is a matter of interaction with their peers Raphäel is on his own. A bit of two is company three is a crowd.

You can watch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/677888072

You can watch the entire film https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000009022484/oasis.html?searchResultPosition=1

RKS 2024 Film Rating 74/100.

RKS 2024 Entertainment:  Maoist Guerilla Opera!

I attended a Christmas Special presented by the Opera Revue at the Granite Tied House and Brewery in Toronto on 20December2023.Take away from this performance is that they are somewhat akin to Maoist rebels in the Peruvian jungle.

Can you imagine these upstarts attacking traditional opera? I can as I saw them. In fact can you comprehend that baritone Alexander Hajek said there are rules concerning an Opera Revue performance. Well at least there are rules so we can’t fully elevate these radicals to the ranks of anarchists. But imagine a performer singing in a gaudy Christmas sweater….. a thinly veiled attack on Christianity!

Oh yes these rules:

  • No shushing
  • Use your phone and record our performance and share it
  • Wear what you like. No need to dress up
  • The more alcohol you drink the better
  • Feel free to move around and stretch your legs or use the facilities

Oh petty hateful people. Part of the fun of opera is to revel in snobbery and hold it in! And that Danie Friesen opening the show saying expect a bit of everything. In opera we expect the usual and not a bunch of performers “jamming” and singing….oh my something about a Grinch who stole Christmas thinking it some obscure Wagnerian piece of opera. I am not sure I should go on but as an opera lover and as all opera lovers we must crush these operatic Misfits. Hajek as Clark Gable and Friesen as Marilyn Monroe?

There were excerpts from Handel, Wagner and Bach so that scruffy Hajek has baritone talent but his simmering disrespect for the greatest art form, opera, was hurtful to all opera lovers. And what was that filth Friesen was singing about. Mrs. Claus lamenting the absence of Mr. Claus and keeping “warm” with the elves. And a destructive number “Twelve Days After Christmas”. I hear Bing Crosby, Julie Andrews and the cast of “It’s a Wonderful Life” letting loose blood curdling screams of betrayal from their graves. And they even passed around a hat for donations to the Daily Food Bank. In the real opera we have tiers of wealthy donors and don’t embarrass ourselves groveling for charitable donations other from our donors.

How ridiculous trying to make the audience comfortable with opera. That is against the entire operatic concept. And all done is less than two hours. Admit it all of you pine for a four-hour opera with two 20 minute intermissions which is EVERYONE’s operatic dream that puts to shame the $10 performance staged by the Opera Revue.

As a last comment the audience, or most of them, were wearing jeans and eating and drinking DURING THE PERFORMANCE! Gadzooks!

It is time you all go an Opera Revue and verify my stern words. They don’t call me the Jim Baker of the true way to salvation for nothing……….

If you wish to see opera humiliated catch an Opera Revue performance. If you want further details about this sordid outfit check out their website in all of its flippancy at https://operarevue.com/ . Read and weep.

RKS Literature: Love and The Imagination: Charles Dickens

“Love, however, is very materially assisted by a warm and active imagination, which has a long memory, and will survive for a considerable amount of time on very slight and sparing food. Thus, it is, that it often attains its most luxuriant growth in separation and under circumstances of the utmost difficulty; and thus it was that Nicholas, thinking of nothing but the unknown young lady, from day to day and from hour to hour, began, at last, to think that he was very desperately in love with her.” 

Charles Dickens, “Nicholas Nickleby”, 1837

RKS 2024 Wine: Meyer Family Vineyards Pinot Noir “B” Field Blend Okanagan Valley 2022

The 2022” B” Field Blend Pinot Noir from Meyer Family Vineyards in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley is from three Dijon clones (115/667/777) and a cutting taken from Old Block on McLean Creek Road. The four clones were picked on the same day and co-fermented. As common with Meyer Family Vineyards the Pinot Noir was aged in neutral French oak for 11 months.

The 2022 vintage was a classic Okanagan growing season with a typical spring budburst in early May and beautiful weather into June. There was excellent flowering weather from late June into July resulting in good yields. The grapes were hand harvested and destemmed with the crop level being significantly higher compared to previous vintages and needed more time to ripen.

450 cases were made. The winemaker and viticulturalist was Chris Carson.

Aroma: Raspberry, strawberry, cherry with more concentrated aromas than in previous years. I am searching for the right word here. “Meaty” comes to mind. Wrong word. Better to say more concentrated than I expected. Just enough oak and new American oak would not have done the wine any justice.

Palate: Light bodied with minimal tannins that might be described as having a guarded and reticent nature. For an instant you might be scratching your head wondering where the fruit is but it accelerates and is well captured in a long finish. A very high-toned Okanagan cherry dominates in this secretive finish!

Personality: Robert K. Stephen has always maintained why purchase French Burgundian Pinot Noir. Well, he is nodding and smiling at me. Vive La Okanagan!

Cellarbility: Mid term ageing of up to 2027.

Food Match: As farmed salmon is an increasingly dirty word in British Columbia lets switch to Lake Shuswap Rainbow Trout with sweet potato fries.

Price: $31.39 CDN. For shipping costs and distributors in the EU and the United States check out their website https://mfvwines.com/ or give them a call.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 92/100.

(Meyer Family Vineyards Pinot Noir “B” Field Blend 2022 Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia VQA, Meyer Family Vineyards Inc, Okanagan Falls British Columbia. 750 mL,13.5%).

RKS 2024 Film: “Fallen Leaves”: Awkwardness, Alienation and Depression Perfected

Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) are two lonely souls portrayed in a gloomy, stark and industrialized Helsinki. Ansa meets Holappa at a karaoke bar full of strange “out of the ordinary” people. In fact the film is full of distracted out of place people in equally stark and bizarre settings. The music throughout is about heartbreak and love.

Both characters are in their 40’s in the autumn of their lives. The leaves of Helsinki are rapidly falling dead to the ground. Ansa and Holappa are trapped in a swirl of negativity and as their lives go they may as well be fallen leaves. If the radio is not playing heartache music it is blaring out the incessant missile attacks against Ukraine a reminder the viewers that this quasi-fantasy film has connection to reality. Finland borders Russia and has repeatedly closed its borders due the flood of migrants transported to the Finnish border by Russia in a bid to disrupt Finnish society.

Holappa is caught in the throes of alcoholism as after all he labels himself depressed and drinking because of that condition. And he is terminated twice from his job for drinking on the job.

Holappa and Ansa have their first date at a retro theatre playing a retro zombie movie. Rather suiting for two characters that have a deadening zombielike existence. And Ansa dumps him after seeing his hip flask in action. Her father and brother died of drink and her mother of grief so she wants no drunk in her life.

Holappa and Ansa reunite after Holappa gives up drink and on his way to meet Ansa he is struck down by a tram. How much more depressing can a film get? The chances of a romance are mighty slim you think.

Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Currently in theatrical release in Canada.

Directed and written by Aki Kaurismäki.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 92/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: Plenty of Red Bordeaux at Affordable Prices

One example of the plenty of moderately priced red Bordeaux’s is a $16.00 2020 Chateau Hyot. 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. No oak ageing or fermentation.

Aroma: One senses a young and fresh wine attempting to decide how it will mature. Lazy black cherry with no attitude. Blackberry, blueberry and some milk chocolate.

Palate: Some tannins but they are so embedded in the wine like the press in a Hummer in Iraq you can’t flesh the tannin out. It too seems to be contemplating how to develop. A tiny tweak of momentary sweetness that vanishes as quickly as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seeing how badly his Liberal Party is doing in the polls. Blueberry and pomegranate predominate in this easy drinking and immediately approachable Bordeaux.

Personality: Completely and utterly relaxed awaiting what maturity brings.

Food Match: One of the 300 or so versions of Portuguese Bachalau.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2025-year end.

Price: $16.00 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 90/100. Roger Voss 92.

(Chateau Hyot 2020 Castillon AC Côtes de Bordeaux Contrôlée, Alain Aubert, Gironde, France, 750 mL, 13.5%).

RKS 2024 Wine: A Yalumba GSM

Can I go so far as to say I have never met a Yalumba I didn’t enjoy?

We try a Yalumba 2019 Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mataro blend.

Aroma: Big fat almost overripe local strawberries, black cherry, blueberry and plum.

Palate: Creeping tannins with very fine acids. Cactus pear, pomegranate with some preserved sour cherry. Short finish with a nip of white pepper and some clinging clay.

Food Match: Shrimp and Okra Gumbo.

Personality: I will admit I am a bit of a tight ass not completely strutting my stuff unlike many Barossa reds. Not everyone takes to flashers!

Cellarbility: As the ferment has been wild I sometimes take this as a situation to pay particular attention to the acidity plaguing some wild ferment wines. Some thin acidity here with a wild ferment has me on edge so drink by 2024-year end.

Price: $26.75 CDN (Ontario). The 2018 was $24.95.

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 88/100. Cam Douglas 92.

(Yalumba 2019 Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mataro, Yalumba, Angaston, Australia, 750 mL, 14%).

RKS 2024 Film: “Fireworks”: Hunting Rabbits and Homosexuals

“Fireworks” is set in a small Sicilian town in 1982. The film has a rabbit hunting scene at its beginning and near its end and at its end the last hunt is left to your imagination.

Teenager Gianni (Samuele Segreto) is a shy fellow working as a mechanic for his stepfather. Gianni has had some past incident that put him in a reformatory and as his mother says “ruined a boy’s life”. He is taunted and harassed as a “fairy” by the young crowd hanging out at the local bar.

Nino (Gabriele Pizzurro) is a teenager working with his father setting up and operating firework shows. His sexuality is initially not determined but a mutual attraction slowly develops between Nino and Gianni. As life goes in small rural towns Nino and Gianni are “discovered” and the fireworks begin. Nino’s father goes berserk with anger as does Gianni’s. Gianni is badly beaten in front of the local bar and the assailants escape in a car driven by Nino’s uncle.

All was fine between Nino’s family and Gianni until it was discovered he was involved with their son Nino then a total about face.

“Fireworks” is more a story of discovering homosexual love than it is about coming out and in small town Sicily in 1982 homosexuality is dangerous. Very community minded people recoil at the very notion of homosexuality.

Beautiful cinematography and clever soundtrack. No message overtly preached. In fact giving the film a tag as an LGBTQ film perhaps misses the point and misrepresents it. Yes there are two young gay lovers but embedded in that is the stories (or lack of) of the other characters all interesting in their own right.

“Fireworks” is a masterful Italian epic set in a summer. It should rank with “Cinema Paradiso” as a great Italian epic film. Pegging this film as an LGBTQ film simply does no justice to its magnificence.

You can view the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=MnVgPPPQIOw

Directed by Giuseppe Fiorello. Written by Giuseppe Fiorello, Andrea Cedrola and Carlo Salsa.

Available on 18January2024 on DVD and VOD.

The film is based on a true story and arguably jump started the Italian Gay Rights movement in 1981.

RKS 2024 Film Rating: 96/100.

RKS 2024 Wine: The Great Lambrusco Fright: The Bad Boy of Italian Wine?

I can’t see any customer lining up to purchase the latest release of Lambrusco. I suppose there is a very high percentage of wine drinkers who might think Lambrusco is the current Prime Minister of Italy. At times the stark purpleness of Lambrusco could send a wine drinker into the horror zone.

On the other hand there are the odd few, like me, who look forward to a new Lambrusco to try. I expect a grapey concoction and pray it is not sweet!

The heart and soul of Lambrusco is in Emilia-Romagna in Italy.

Riunite Lambrusco was introduced into the United States in 1967. In 1976 it climbed to the number one import into the United States and remained in that position for 26 years.

We try an 1813 Otello Ceci Nerodilambrusco. All Lambruscos are made from the Lambrusco grape but there are least 13 different varieties plus dozens of clones.

Aroma: Definitely a grapey spirit running in the halls of this Lambrusco but equal parts blackberry, blueberry and cola.

Palate: A gentle fizz with a big blueberry and blackberry punch and not without some light tannic influence. Short finish.

Personality: I may have had a reputation as the bad boy of Italian wine but that was years ago. While inferior Lambruscos are sweet quality Lambruscos are dry and savory. I am one of those quality Lambruscos.

Food Match: Hearty sausages cured meats and rich meat sauced pasta.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2024-year end.

Price: $20.95 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 89/100. David Lawrason 93.

(1813 Otello Ceci Nerodilambrusco, Cantine Ceci, Torrile, Italy, 750 mL, 11%).

RKS Literature: The Three Stages of Intoxication (Dickens)

“Most public characters have their failing; and the truth is that Mr. Snevellicci was a little bit addicted to drinking; or, if the whole truth must be told, that he was scarcely ever sober. He knew in his cups three distinct stages of intoxication-the dignified-the quarrelsome-the amorous. When professionally engaged he never got beyond the dignified; in private circles he went through all three, passing from one to the another with a rapidity of transition often rather perplexing to those who had not the honour of his acquaintance.”

Charles Dickens “Nicholas Nickleby”, 1837