RKS 2024 Film: “After the Fire” (Avant que les flames): Tired Old Plot Barely Saved by Fresh Talent

The French film “After the Fire” suffers from tired old plot syndrome perhaps more common in the news of the day or in documentaries than in a feature film. Minority member brutalized and killed by the police. It happens ubiquitously in almost all countries. In this film Karim El Yadari of Strasbourg dies after a “police interaction”. The official police report is the cause of death is an epileptic fit due to his drug use. One problem is that the official autopsy report does not jive with the police side of the story and a key witness, Karim’s girlfriend, points to police brutality as does trauma inflicted on the body. Karim was not carrying weapons or drugs. The autopsy report listed a crushed thorax as the cause of death a la George Floyd. The Strasbourg public prosecutor more of an ally to the police than to justice is pulled from the investigation and an independent examining magistrate is appointed who advises the Yadari family it will be some time before she can be in position to make a ruling due to the French bureaucratic legal system. She points out manslaughter charges are likely to be laid against the police officers in the “police interaction”.

Karim’s sister Malika (Camélia Jordana) embarks on a quest for justice for Karim at times losing a sense of rationality and proportionality. Admirable Malika faces terrible odds a North African may have in France for justice but wanting to sell the business she runs with her husband to raise funds to fight the legal fight makes no sense as without the income from the business how will they survive!

While the plot initially focuses on the generalities of French police brutality against Africans its delving into the use of the media by both the police and its victims freshens up the plot as does the familial turmoil within the Yadari family.

The family has been advised by a community activist get the media involved as “when the fire goes out” the media will have little interest. The fire may certainly “go out” in the public eye but for the Yadari family the fire will smolder for a very long time.

The film introduces a wealth of new talent. Jordana effortlessly carries some heavy weight. The cast is flawless and I expect to see more of them in French cinema. Unfortunately at times the film reminds me of an American television show and it is the acting that rescues it from repetitious boredom.

Watch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/880600402

Limited theatrical release in Canada starting 2February2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 76/100.

Directed by Mehdi Fikiri.

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: ? February1971: Palma de Mallorca, Spain (Red Roses from British Film Director!)

Dearest Barbara:

I am leaving here tomorrow. I think I can stop over in Nice. I will see if I can. I will write at once. I would like stay a week there. Diane, bless her heart phoned me yesterday morning. She will phone you upon her return. She is a very thoughtful girl.

I had my hair done yesterday for 35 pesetas and I look like a Spanish senorita too high.

I ate at a fabulous restaurant and the maître d spoke excellent English and says I am nuts to get an apartment at the rate I expected to pay. He gave me his card.

The Spanish people rarely smile. They are very sad people and wear dark clothes. They can be very polite and they don’t have their hands out for money all the time. I think they are proud. I don’t know if I like them or not.

I bought both boys leather gloves for 99 pesetas and they are beautifully lined. I’d like to get you something but not sure what. So you probably won’t get a thing.

I gave VT all the books I read. She is going out with a Sanish pilot so she is too busy to read. I am now going to the front desk to mail this letter. So it is bye for now. I am having such a good time. Bless you.

Love Mum

P.S. I should really keep a diary about what I have seen and done or I might forget.

No Canadians in sight. I wonder why they are so slow in discovering Spain. There are plenty more men here than in New York. Before I sign off I met a British film director- a real doll. He has kids about the same age as Robert and Andy. He says his second wife is dumb and he should have stayed with the first one. He sent me a dozen red roses today with an invite for dinner. NO GO!

Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: My New Life Begins with Bob and Fay and of Course Dillie the Westie! Mornings and Afternoons: Chapter Nine

So you remember my arrival In Toronto from Cairo. A big Rottenwhiler attacked me when I attempted the theft of the food in his bowl. That big guard dog ripped my leg open and I remember losing much blood and I understand a policeman picked me up and carried me to an animal hospital where they sewed up my leg saving my life.

Although I believe I have the ancient blood of the Pharaohs in me I also believe in a God called Allah. Anwar, my late master, prayed to Allah every day and I remember some of the words of his prayers. These words were kind and loving so I think Allah must be a great and loving God. But I am angry as  Allah did not shield Anwar from execution by the Egyptian government because he wrote newspaper articles critical of them and they executed him because of that. I am also angry at Allah for letting that big guard dog attack and hurt me. All this confused me but I think that Allah works in many ways we don’t understand. If all these terrible things never happened I would never have ended up safe in Canada with people who love and care for me. I pray to Allah nightly thanking him for his graces. I think he may be so great and loving he has looked out for my ultimate well-being.

After biting Bob I felt so very ashamed. Although I may be grateful to Allah I have so much anger and confusion in me for what has happened in my life. Being thankful and angry at the same time make me confused. I relive Anwar’s arrest, me being thrown into the tough streets of Cairo and that horrible big dog attacking me I wake up in a panic some nights not knowing where I am or what I should do. I whimper and cry and Dillie, Bob and Fay’s West Highland Terrier, comes over and nuzzles me and tells me he will protect me. Bob comes downstairs hearing my cries and picks me up and gives me a gentle rock and a kiss on the head speaking calmly to me saying I will be OK and he and Fay will do everything they can to make me safe. Then suddenly I realize where I am and I stop crying and shaking. Bob then puts Dillie and I out in the dark backyard and we do our business. The sound of the crickets soothes me but Dillie reminds me to beware of the skunks! What are skunks? After coming back in Dillie and I go back to sleep. On the nights I feel scared Dillie lets me crawl into his bed and his snoring makes me feel sleepy and very safe.

Dillie is around 13 so his bladder is not as strong as mine and he barks early in the morning to go pee or as Bob says “widdle”. So we go out together and pee and then my favourite way to start the morning is to get carried up with Dillie to Fay and Bob’s bed where I can sleep beside Bob and Fay and of course with Dillie. Nothing can hurt me not even the bad dreams I have. I feel safe and loved which is important for all dogs!

Bob and Fay are retired lawyers and do not have to get up and leave the house to go to work so we can sleep in. For breakfast both Dillie and I have a bowl of chicken kibble and a big drink of that cold and clean Canadian water I love so much. A delicious breakfast given to me, one which I do not have to go hunting for! Lucky me!

Bob has tea just like Anwar did when he wasn’t nursing a big mug of coffee! He reads big books. He tells me he is reading “Bleak House”” by Charles Dickens. Anwar used to read Dickens too! He loved Oliver Twist and we saw the film together several times. I always used to shiver when I saw that big bad dog Bill Sykes had. He then does something called yoga and meditates after that. Fay watches some political show called “The View” with women talking politics.

Bob then takes Dillie and I for a walk around the block and we meet dogs and their owners. Everyone asks how Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog is. I get many pats on the head and I sniff the other dogs trying my best not to growl and bark at the big dogs that trigger the bad memories I have of the dog attack I suffered. Yesterday I met Ollie a King Charles Cavalier. He asked many questions about Cairo. He is a spunky guy and is he related to some king?

Bob and Fay have their lunch and Dillie and I usually get a treat. I love bagels and chunks of feta cheese and so does Dillie. After our lunch we go for a big walk at parks and ravines. At Sherwood Park, where I met Bob and Fay when I was staying with Anthony and Susan, there is an “off leash trail” which Dillie can wander through without his leash but Fay and Bob keep me on my leash. I hear them talking saying they can’t trust me to go off leash yet. They say rescues bolt! Am I a rescue?

 After our walk we go home and of course Dillie and I have lots of that cold clean water and after we have a long nap we are so tired. I am so tired I have no bad dreams. We wake up and there is dinner to look forward to!

RKS 2024 Film: “Double Down South” Meets “The Hustler” and Oliver Twist

Iconic films are shunted aside, but never replaced, by successors. In this case “The Hustler” (1961) is complimented by “Double Down South”. There are so many hustlers in this keno film I am not sure who is hustling whom but the “pool hustle” has been upgraded most enjoyably to the modern era by “Double Down South”.

Diana (Lily Simmons) is a pool hustler and more dimensional than Paul Newman as Fast Eddie in “The Hustler”. She is a tough bird and the film so well crafted your mind has been hustled by this film with a conclusion so steeped in poetic justice you will thank the hustle on your viewer’s brain.

Diana appears seemingly out of nowhere (so you think) in a decrepit pool and keno venue, a dilapidated plantation house in 1998 Kingsville, Georgia. Persuaded by the need for cash to help out a keno player wiped out by big losses and by Faganesque Nick (Kim Coates) to be “an attraction” at the venue due to her svelte body and attractive face. While in Oliver Twist the “attractions” were the waifs and urchins under Fagan’s command Nick has had a series of human “attractions” to draw gamblers to his venue. Diana the latest “attraction” is the hustler for Nick’s clientele.

And what a cast of interesting characters mostly Southern good ole boys from hillbillies to a perverse sleazebucket Elvis type Harvey Block. Nick is far more vicious and violent than Fagan. In fact he is a real Bill Sykes. A wife beater, racist, murderer, sadist and sexist are simply a few descriptive monikers applicable to his rotten character. Is it appropriate Nick falls hard and deep?

Ultimately this film concludes in the old fashion way with Nick receiving poetic and legal justice. The ultimate keno match between keno masters Diana and Beaumont Dubinion (Justin Marcel McManis) reveals multiple hustles. Diana and Dubinion are hustling each other or are they hustling you and me and Nick of course?

You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/870432545

Directed and cleverly written by Tom Schulman.

There will be a U.S. theatrical release commencing 19January2024.

RKS 2024 Film Rating: 93/100.

RKS Literature: Gloria’s Categorization of Husbands (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“There are four types of husbands.

  • The husband who always wants to stay in the evening, has no vices and works for a salary. Totally undesirable.
  • The atavistic master whose mistress one is, to wait on his pleasure. This sort always considers every pretty woman “shallow” a sort of peacock with arrested development.
  • Next comes the worshipper, the idolator of his wife and all that is his, to the utter oblivion of everything else. This sort demands an emotional actress for a wife. God! It must be an exertion to be thought righteous.
  • And Anthony-a temporarily passionate lover with wisdom enough to realize when it has flown and that it must fly. And I want to get married to Anthony.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Beautiful and the Damned”, 1922

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: ? February1971: Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Thoughts on Spanish Men

Dear Barbara:

What a gorgeous place and what perfect weather. It is heaven here. I was up early this morning, put my old Hush Puppies on and I am sure I walked 10 miles through all the winding streets. I looked in many of the store windows. I sat down for a cold beer. I walked back to the hotel and in a nearby restaurant I lunch a beautiful filet of sole, salad, half a melon and a coffee and brandy all for $2.75. The best food I have had so far!

On my walk home I saw a beautiful alligator bag for $50 and back in Montreal it would be $250. If my hotel bill is not too large perhaps I can buy it. I went out with a nice president and director of Time magazine. He is 40 and asked me to take a trip on his yacht. That ended our friendship. I don’t know how I ended up with his gold cigarette case so must return it. Could you call Time magazine in New York and find out about him but in a businesslike way please with no explanations to anyone. He says he is an Oxford graduate and has written a book on psychology.

Did you know how much the birds chirp here. I miss the birds at home but being winter in Montreal there are no birds to chirp. They are so noisy here.

I will never forget the beauty and climate here. Yesterday I went to the other side of the island with another couple. It was an 8-kilometre ride and we shared the cab. We saw many olive trees and almond trees were in bloom. If I am at a point in my life that I do not have responsibilities I would like to live part of the year here. The weather here has been perfect spring like and at times you need a light coat. The climate agrees with my back as not even a twinge even after all the walking I did today.

Well this is all for today. I still have not received my money and feel at bit uneasy but I will just sit tight.

This is a luxury hotel and a bit stuffy. It is spotless and the service is terrific. There are two places to dance. My room is cute. You should se the double ones. I love the bathtub.

I find Spanish men too short, dark with small feet and they smell like too much garlic but I guess the Spanish women like them. They can have them. Just got a call from Time Man and am going out with him.

Love Mum

Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog: The Final Cut: Hurt Yet Again But I Am Tough: Chapter Eight

OK so Anthony and Susan have left me and I am now with Fay and Bob. Will I ever see them again? I felt safe with them and feeling safe is important for a dog and equally so for humans. I am not frightened because I have Fay and Bob by my side and I have met them and their dog Dillie before. But can I trust them?

I am or was a street dog in a very tough city called Cairo in Egypt. I am tough but that does not mean my heart can’t break. It has been broken before.

I am confused about being placed in another home. I am also ANGRY! I understand as a dog I am to be a companion and a friend to humans and Fay and Bob are nice so why am I so angry. It might because I have had paradise with Anwar and that disappeared then again with Anthony and Susan. I am so confused. What have I done wrong?

Dillie the dog comes to sniff me but I growl like the tough street dog I am (or think I am) and he moves away looking puzzled and sad. Then Bob comes and speaks to me softly saying how he understands I am confused but I am now in my forever home. He puts his hand carefully under my chin knowing many dogs do not like their heads touched by people they do not know. Then I BITE him.

Oh I AM STUPID! I am going to be thrown out in the streets again for being so STUPID. Oh the gods of the Pharaohs please forgive me for being so stupid.

I wait for Bob to smack me or kick me. BUT WHAT? He comes again with blood dripping from his bruised hand asking me to forgive him? A human asking for forgiveness from Reggie the street dog? Suddenly I feel I can trust Bob and shivering with embarrassment and shame I let him pat my head and rub my jowls. Then he asks if I want a belly rub. Of course I do. Then Dillie comes over and he wants a belly rub too so Bob gives us both a belly rub.

I don’t understand how I can be so angry one minute and happy the next. My life in the past months has been a blur. Being tossed into the street in Cairo, bitten by a nasty big dog, placed in an animal hospital, being flown on a big airplane to Toronto, being taken care of by Anthony and Susan and now finding myself with Fay and Bob with Bob telling me I am in a forever home which I understand the meaning of.

Fay and Bob show me to my bed close to Dillie’s bed. I have my own bowl for food and water. My I love the clean Canadian water and the wonderful chicken kibble.

Dillie is an older dog, a brave West Highland Terrier who hunted foxes in Scotland, but we have previously met and are good with each other. He is older than me so I know I must treat him with respect. And he treats me with respect at least for the time being.

Fay gives me the liver treats I love. How did she know I love them? Dillie gets another treat as I hear Fay telling me Dillie farts if he eats liver treats.

Fay and Bob take Dillie and I for a long walk at Sherwood Park where I first met Fay, Bob and Dillie with Anthony and Susan. Are they returning me to Anthony and Susan? No I think not. Dillie and I know the park and romp about on the off-leash trail. So many great smells and we do our business multiple times. Dillie is slower than I but smarter and more sophisticated! I can learn much from him about what it is like to be a Canadian dog.

We all have a long walk at Sherwood Park and return home in Fay and Bob’s automobile and Dillie and I have long drinks of that cold and clean Canadian water and a big bowl of chicken kibble. Then Fay takes me upstairs with Dillie to watch a British television series called “Coronation Street”. I love to hear that British accent. And then Fay watches the BBC NEWS!!! Oh my! My dearest BBC!!!!

Both Dillie and I fall asleep beside Fay before Bob takes us out for an evening walk around the street they live in. So many people with dogs! I hear many people ask who this new dog is you have. Bob says my name Reggie and I let them pat my head.

It is time to go to bed. And Dillie and I go to our beds and both of us fall asleep. I dream of Anwar and hope he is safe in heaven. I dream of Anthony and Susan and thank them. I dream of my new life with Fay and Bob and hope this is my forever home.

I hear crickets outside and fall asleep beginning to feel like Reggie the lucky dog.

RKS 2024 Film: “There is a Monster”:  I Have Seen This Monster

Jack Terry (Joey Collins) is a successful commercial photographer. He is on the verge of an enormously successful series of shoots. Everything is going his way except his relationship with his wife Carol (Ena O’Rourke) which hit the skids after a brief drunken fling with a model he was photographing.

Jack frequently sees a monster and he feels it is attacking him making him weak and hallucinatory. He deteriorates physically and mentally which he attributes to a monster only he can see.

For a “classic” monster film there were no chills running down my spine and the monster wasn’t frightening.

Halfway through the film let me tell you I began to realize I have seen this monster. It is real and indescribably eviller than any monster you have seen on the screen. When I realized that this is the monster that killed my friend the chills did not call but rather a sense of foreboding and dread hoping not to reach the painful conclusion I had reached.

Now this monster is attacking another friend of mine.

If this monster has attacked anyone you may know you may recognize its dreadful power. If not get ready to meet perhaps the most vicious monster known to man.

I knew a Jack Terry.

RKS 2024 Film Rating 93/100.

Ena O’Rourke is absolutely compelling. Just watch her in the restaurant scene where she transcends acting. A ray of sunshine in this monstrously chilling film.

Directed by Mike Taylor, who has encountered this monster, and it will be released on VOD on 30January2024.

You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/865316467.

Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog: Please Please Not Again!

My life with foster parents Anthony and Susan is so good. I am protected, loved, well taken care of and oh how I love that cold and clean water in my bowl they refill several times a day. And I happily receive a chunk of what they call a “bagel” or “English muffin” every morning. And I love those chunks of cheese that “accidentally” drop on the floor! But my life has been so uncertain. My master Anwar was an Egyptian journalist who wrote articles in a newspaper critical of the government and he was executed. I was tossed out in the street and survival was a difficult task for a 12-pound dog. But I survived the streets of Cairo unlike many other dogs who were poisoned and shot as that was Cairo’s way of animal control. I am proud and a tough dog that could take on dogs twice my size but that dog that bit me in the market was five times my size.

After the attack the animal doctors saved my life so there are caring Egyptians and hopefully their society will change so that dogs are treated properly. But from the animal hospital I had to take a terrifying flight on an airplane to Toronto from Cairo. Then a new home with my foster parents Anthony and Susan in a different country. I am a very lucky dog. I love my backyard and playing chase with the squirrels and rabbits. I will not hurt them but they are faster than I am and one squirrel seems to like and tease me and laugh at me as he sits on the fence in the backyard chattering away like he is laughing at me! I am so happy and feel so safe.

I fear the army will come and arrest Anthony and Susan and execute them like they did to Anwar in Egypt. Please understand my fear. Your master kidnapped by the army and executed and you are thrown out into the street. I am so frightened it will happen again. I think I said to you I watched a BBC documentary on post traumatic stress disorder with British soldiers. I am not a doctor but I think I may have this problem. This may be the reason of my fear that it may happen again. Maybe this is why I lose my temper and lunge out at big dogs so that they will not hurt me like the one in Cairo did. You humans may see me as a dog but I have feelings and emotions like you humans have. I want some peace and stability.

I felt something was not right when I saw Susan crying and Anthony speaking to her in a strange shaky tone I never heard before. Anthony came up to me and gave me a big hug and said you are going to your “forever parents” today. What are forever parents?

We have a big Sunday breakfast with Anthony and Susan preparing a delicious smelling food called blueberry waffles and maple syrup. I have a big bowl of ground beef and rice. I love meat! Anthony and Susan have coffee after their meal. I know it is coffee as Anwar would have it in the morning and I remember its smell. I go for a walk around the street and Anthony and Susan put me in their car.

We travel to a house where they take me out of the car and knock on a door and I see Bob and Fay! And yes their dog Dillie who I met in a park called Sherwood. Anthony looks at me and says this is my forever home. Oh no! Susan and Anthony talk for a long time to Fay and Bob and I hear my name many times. Dillie their dog comes up to me and we have a few sniffs and we are friends! We chase a squirrel in their backyard. He is older than me but has lots of energy. I like him. I like Fay and Bob but wait Anthony and Susan are leaving me behind. Please Please not again. Both Anthony and Susan have tears streaming down their face.

RKS Literature: Love or Madness? (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“He was not so much in love with Gloria as mad for her. Unless he could have her near to him again, kiss her, hold her close and acquiescent, he wanted nothing more from life. By her three minutes of utter unwavering indifference the girl had lifter herself from a high but somewhat casual position in his mind, to be instead his total preoccupation. However much his wild thoughts wavered between a passionate desire for her kisses and equally passionate craving to hurt and mar her, the residue of his mind craved in finer fashion to possess the triumphant soul that had shone through those three minutes. She was beautiful but especially she was without mercy. He must own that strength that could send him away.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Beautiful and Damned”, 1922