RKS 2023 Film: “Doppelgängers”: A 90 Day Fiancé Phantasmagorical Voyage?

There are numerous people out in social media land that are curious or perhaps obsessed with finding their double and social media is the engine that stokes it all.

In the documentary “Doppelgängers” are further explored through the experiences of 6 individuals. And through a doppelgänger historian and psychologist some reasons for the rising popularity of doppelgänging are given.

But first what is a doppelgänger? One definition is that it is a non biological twin.

Do doppelgängers have anything in common other than looking similar? A personality test can assist in this determination and amongst the 6 individuals exact similarities were not present but proximate ones may be. It is the mere connection of meeting a double, as another in the flesh human being, that can spark a friendship more than having identical looks. You have met a lookalike so what a reason for furthering that into a friendship which is what all 6 individuals in the documentary walk away with.

Doppelgängers from a mythical and folklore perspective are often evil seeking to “take over” another human being.

Why doppelgäng? For the 6 individuals in the documentary some wanted the sibling they never had or a sibling that died at a young age so they never had the chance to grow up with. Wanting now what they never could have. It can be an instant connection into intimacy, trust and a family they never had. Could it be the enforced isolation wrought by COVID added fuel to the doppelgänger fad or is it social media that made connecting to your doppelgänger easier? Is it a hobby, addiction or obsession or a combination of three and which the documentary does not discuss.

A rather light and fluffy documentary but very worthy of a rubberneck view without any messy carnage. A 90 Day Fiancé fantasy voyage!

Written and directed by Deborah Wainright.

“Doppelgängers: Face to Face” premiers on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “The Passionate Eye” on 18October on CBC Gem and CBC TV at 20:00 hours.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 82/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “The Traveler”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): Suspense 101

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

A man walks along a Canadian country road in the blazing sun. After a couple of minutes you might start thinking what exactly is transpiring here. But there are no clues except perhaps for the initial credits in an old western movie script from the 1950’s. An old Western style campfire harmonica riff and a bell tolling like in some Clint Eastwood spaghetti western offers a flavour but no hint. And then clicking of a camera photographing the walker. The walker knows he is being followed and challenges whomever that may be to “come and get him”. It looks like an old-fashioned Hollywood western gunfight is being suggested! A combination of Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” and “Hang em High”?

Does this Canadian short give the viewer a lesson that suspense can be brief and simple yet effectively spellbinding?

“The Traveler” was directed and written by Connor Nikedes and the traveler is Taylor Nikedes.

To determine how and when to view refer to the website referred to above.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 86/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Iman”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): Deception and Loneliness Begets Explosive Conclusions

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

The Cypriot film “Iman” is loaded with social relativism dealing with loneliness, deception, delusion, corporate greed, political corruption, physical and psychological violence, fanaticism, religious hatred, the migrant swell in Greece and the groundswell against it and connections between the seemingly unconnected.

Three stories that initially appear unconnected slowly meld into coherent whole grabbing the intellect of the viewer and when all is about to conclude in many possible ways I found myself almost shouting, “NO! Not Now!”

I have 7 pages of notes on the film but if I say much more I will ruin it for you. So I will skirt around it all and take the high road. All the characters in the film are deluded and suffer a rude awakening of which only some can escape whether it be fanatical Islam, the asshole boyfriend or double-dealing corporatism.

To sum up be prepared for a complex and layered plot but where it all ends both you and I can only guess. Who can ever control their destiny?

Highly professional production and a salute to the excellence of Greek filmmaking.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp31Gk_Kmp8

Immaculate acting throughout.

Directed by Corinna Avraamidou and Kyriacos Tofarides.

Check the website mentioned above to determine when and if the film will be showing in your Canadian city.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 95/100.

RKS 2023 Film: Hot Docs Citizen Minutes: “Rising From The Ashes”: Depanneur Sylvestre

Citizen Minutes is a collection of Canadian short documentaries highlighting ordinary Canadians doing extraordinary things “to make their communities better places” at least according to Hot Docs. The series of shorts will be playing in select Canadian cities.

In this case it is a depanneur in Gatineau Quebec that was converted into a community drop-in centre named Depanneur Sylvestre in 2002 in an attempt to deal with social isolation i.e., a lack of social connection which for some people can lead to loneliness.

Visitors to the Depanneur Sylvestre suffer from loneliness and isolation for a variety of reasons that include physical and mental disease. By the way “depanneur” is a particular Quebec concept denoting perhaps what can be called a convenience store. The visitors affectionately refer to it as the DEP. We hear from residents and volunteer management and it is all very positive. Depanneur Sylvestre has been awarded a Quebec Lieutenant Governor Award of Merit. The concept of the old general store is the essence of Depanneur Sylvestre . Group together, chat and communicate.

We hear post COVID all these wonderful and grand government initiatives to improve mental health often focusing on impersonal “mental health” modules and call-in lines. An institutional approach but Depanneur Sylvestre is a grassroots initiative supported financially by the community and some governmental assistance. With Depanneur Sylvestre do we learn that grassroots initiatives surpass the glossy high-profile media lauded cold and impersonal solutions devised by governments whose COVID “public health initiatives” sparked social isolation for the greater good?

“Rising from the Ashes” is just over 10 minutes and is directed by Sara Ben-Saud. A citizen initiative shows the power of true organic community-based programmes.

Each screening of these collection of docs will be free and followed by an audience Q&A “with the goal of inspiring collaborative dialogue about civic engagement and the many forms it can take” according to Hot Docs.

Theatrical dates in Canada are;

October 16th – Rio Theatre, Vancouver, BC, 6:30 pm – Host Angela Steritt

October 25th – Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, Toronto, ON, 6:30 pm – CBC Host Ismaila Alfa and a special guest performance by Akitone.

November 9th – Calgary Central Library, Calgary, AB, 6:30 pm – CBC Host Angela Knight

November 27th – Cinema Du Musée – Montreal, QC, 6:30 pm – CBC Daybreak Host Sean Henry 

November 27th – Halifax Central Library, Halifax, NS, 6:30 pm  – CBC Host Preston Mulligan and a special guest performance by comedian Janelle Niles.

RKS 2023 Film: “The Baker”: An Unlikely Family Team Against the Nasties

Pappi (Ron Perlman) is a baker in a small Floridian island town. His appearance is imposing but heck he is a senior who we see has certain violent “militaristic” flashbacks. A bit of mystery.

His son Pete so happens to be napping in a Miami airport parking lot early one morning and a drug transaction involving pink packets of super test heroin gets violent and all involved are killed but an orange bag containing the smack is left behind and Pete can’t resist taking it. He takes his preteen daughter Delfi (Emma Ho) to his father Pappi the Baker so he can go out solo to find a buyer for the narcotics. The Baker and Pete haven’t spoken in years and The Baker has never met his granddaughter but gets stuck with her for “just a day” as requested by Pete so he can make some deal back on the mainland to dispose of the smack. Delphi, traumatized since her mother died in a vehicle accident does not speak. Vic (Elias Koteas) is waiting for Pete when he returns to the mainland at Pete’s home and beats him badly and then whacks him. Vic works for Merchant (Harvey Keitel) a nasty man who says wars are for the young to fight and not the old but he wants the smack which that little airport massacre prevented from being delivered to him.

The Baker goes on a search for his son Pete with Delphi in tow. After many bloody fights it is quite apparent The Baker has military training and despite his age deals savagely with the thugs, young men of course, sent his way to annihilate him. Delphi is instructed by The Baker to wear welding glasses when violence is imminent so when doing she looks like a Mad Max character.

The Baker finds the body of Pete guided by Vic with The Baker’s gun to his head.

Surprisingly The Baker hands over the smack to  Merchant. Merchant knows The Baker and refers to him as The Butcher. Don’t leave the theatre until the final credits stop rolling. A ruthless gangster with a guilty conscience will deliver a surprise. Like me will you jump out of your seat.

Solid acting throughout. Although Keitel has a bit part he has morphed from his youthful violence of “Taxi Driver” into a senior diplomatic thug with sage philosophy! Really workable relationship between Perlman and Ho.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_R8scO_HEE

Major Canadian release on September 30, 2023.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Imbroglio”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): Brutality Begets Brutality

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

Imbroglio means a confusing and complicated situation. This short film may have it wrong.

Sergeant Tim Baker (Konstantinos Simsiris) of the British army parachutes into a mountainous area of Greece. During the German occupation of Greece Allied headquarters in Cairo through its SOE (special operations executive) made many drops of weapons, munitions and saboteurs to the Greek resistance operating in mountainous areas of Greece.

Baker witnesses the brutality of the Greek resistance towards those perceived to be collaborators. I emphasize perceived here as a lawyer hearsay evidence is most often excluded in litigation evidence. More generous is exclusion of hearsay evidence as opposed to it being deadly.

Directed by Dimitris Papagiannopoulos.

This Greek short will be showing in theatre in Toronto on 29 September. Check the website first appearing above to determine if it is playing in your city.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 76/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Sisterhood Softball”: Exclusionary Inclusion?

Citizen Minutes is a collection of Canadian short documentaries highlighting ordinary Canadians doing extraordinary things “to make their communities better places” at least according to Hot Docs. The series of shorts will be playing in select Canadian cities.

In this case it is an all-female Muslim softball league

Most of the players wear their hajib, special baggy clothing is worn and men are discouraged from attending as spectators to accommodate the modesty of the female players and meet Islamic concepts. As one player says modesty is an important concept for Muslim women. At one point we might say by these ladies playing in the Sisterhood Softball League they are doing an activity to bust out of an Islamic stereotype so they are striving to be included in the Canadian mainstream but are their strict modesty concepts continuing to exclude them from that mainstream? Now there is an interesting discussion.

“Sisterhood Softball” is just over 7 minutes in length and is directed by Farhiya Ahmed.

Each screening of these collection of docs will be free and followed by an audience Q&A “with the goal of inspiring collaborative dialogue about civic engagement and the many forms it can take” according to Hot Docs.

Theatrical dates in Canada are;

October 16th – Rio Theatre, Vancouver, BC, 6:30 pm – Host Angela Steritt

October 25th – Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, Toronto, ON, 6:30 pm – CBC Host Ismaila Alfa and a special guest performance by Akitone.

November 9th – Calgary Central Library, Calgary, AB, 6:30 pm – CBC Host Angela Knight

November 27th – Cinema Du Musée – Montreal, QC, 6:30 pm – CBC Daybreak Host Sean Henry 

November 27th – Halifax Central Library, Halifax, NS, 6:30 pm  – CBC Host Preston Mulligan and a special guest performance by comedian Janelle Niles.

RKS 2023 Film: “My People”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): A Personal Journey to Discover the Fate of Her Grandmother and 67,000 Greek Jews

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

“My People” is a personal journey of Anna Rezan to discover the fate of her grandmother an Athenian Jew arrested by the German occupiers, transported to Auschwitz and never to return to Greece. And not talked about by the family and many others after the Second World War ended for which Rezan is difficult to understand. Rezan travels to Auschwitz attempting to find some record of her grandmother at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum but finds nothing. Instead she interviews the Greek Jews that escaped death and the stories are horrific. No need to repeat them here as you can watch and share the horror. There were 80,000 Jews living in two dozen Greek cities and towns at the outset of the war.

The Second World War began for Greece with Italy invading Greece on October 23, 1940. There were some 14,000 Greek Jews in the Greek army. Germany invaded Greece on April 6, 1941, dissatisfied with the botched Italian invasion and Greece was broken into three control zones under the Italians, Bulgarians and Germans. Then the Final Solution began to be implemented. Some 50,000 Thessaloniki Jews were ordered to board the trains to Auschwitz and Treblinka many after being publicly abused and humiliated in a square by the waterfront and old port I know well in addition to the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. You can see my article on Thessaloniki Jews here;  https://www.thesuburban.com/opinion/op_ed/the-decimation-of-the-jews-of-thessaloniki/article_af964a20-20d5-502e-996a-afc908606cf0.html . You can also read my review of the short film “Eleftheromania” about Greek Jews refusing to be sonderkommandos in Auschwitz here; https://a-little-birdie-told-me.ca/2022/10/17/rks-film-eleftheromania-greek-prisoners-in-auschwitz-face-moral-dilemma/

The Greek Orthodox church refused to co-operate with the German occupiers by destroying lists of all temple goers and writing directly to Hitler saying the Greek Orthodox religion does not recognize the superiority of any race or religion. Some Greek clerics and rabbis fought in the Greek resistance which badgered the Germans who massacred villages in retribution. Villagers locked in churches and burned alive and all manner of atrocities. The police chief of Athens arranged for false identification papers to be issued to some Athenian Jews.

I suppose that Rezan never had exact information about the fate of her grandmother but through the survivors of the concentration and forced labour camps little doubt of her fate would be logical. 

This 92-minute American film is directed by Anna Rezan.

In Toronto it plays in theatre on October 3rd. For other cities check the link in the first paragraph above.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 86/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: The Royalty of Ontario Red Wines: Time to Welcome Gamay?

Could it be safe to say that Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir are amongst the royalty of Ontario red wine? But it would seem Gamay deserves to be admitted to the royal court?

We try a Hidden Bench 2020 Gamay from Niagara. It spent 9 months in French oak 14% new, 24% second fill and the rest third fill and older.

Aroma: Unless you decant the wine for at least 30 minutes expect some barnyard. After the animals have left the glass expect some ripe strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and gentle smoke.

Palate: Mildly tannic with some thin raspberry and red cherry as a first impression. One expects a broader and more concentrated fruit structure in the wine. Such expectation is not met here. Speaking of expectations and perhaps Dickensian “Great Expectations” where is the purity and freshness of organic wine here? In a nutshell there is nothing terribly wrong with this wine. It just failed to meet my royalist expectations for the wine that is!

Personality: What…is the reviewer some monarchist chatting up all this royalty stuff? I can imagine he is an avid subscriber to the “Hello” magazine overly concerned with what Charles and Camilla ate for lunch probably because as a young buck he covered their visit to Canada always at least a hundred yards away. He questions my brilliance I’ll expose his royalist obsession.

Food Match: Stuffed Niagara field tomatoes, zucchini and St. Davids eggplant. Get em quick before we in Ontario are relegated to a gulag diet of cabbage, turnip and butternut squash.

Cellarbility: With this 2020 vintage one can’t argue the wine is sleeping and will magically open up with time. I think it is what it is and will be. It will not improve with age but will cruise into the end of 2024 nicely.

Price: $29.95.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 88/100. Wine Align 90.

(Hidden Bench 2020 Organic Gamay, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Beamsville, Ontario, 750 mL,12.5%).

RKS 2023 Film: “Good Times Coming”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): An Egghead Meets an Egg!

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

In “Good Times are Coming” Montrealer Manoli (Christos Sourigas) is not faring particularly well in his Park Extension (Park Ex) neighborhood over Easter weekend. His mother (Maria Vacratsis) a concerned widow (or is she overbearing?) thirsts for the day her dear Manny will have children so his life can start again. Yes she is convinced good times are coming back.

However be forewarned as two minutes into the film a big red Easter egg descends on Manny’s bald pate which suddenly transforms into an egg and shatters. There is a Greek tradition on Greek Orthodox Easter of cracking red dyed eggs with your table mates over a very large Easter dinner. If your egg survives this contest and defeats the other eggs you’ll have an excellent year. If your egg cracks what your upcoming luck is not prescribed by Greek tradition. Are good times really coming for Manny? Enough said watch and find out!

For a former Montrealer and frequenter of Park Ex and a champion Easter egg cracker the short film was a golden trip down memory lane. The elderly Greek community of Park Ex beautifully captured. You will love the Gulliver Travel’s scene.

“Good Times are Coming” was directed by Tony Asimakopoulos. You can see a teaser for the film here https://vimeo.com/724911951

The film is both on-line and in theatres. Check the website above for further details.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.