RKS 2023 Film: “Nana’s Boys”: Intense and Suspenseful LGBTQ Relationship Film

“Nana’s Boys” is an intense and suspenseful LGBTQ “relationship film” although shouldn’t we be reluctant to so quickly label it an LGBTQ film? The film could equally be applicable to a heterosexual relationship.

Amari (David J. Cork) and Q (Jared Wayne Gladly) are two black men living together in New York City or perhaps Brooklyn. Initially Q presents a charismatic figure with specific plans and purposes in his life. He is a bit obsessive about cleanliness. He is a successful lawyer. Amari has no real purpose in his life and we quickly sense something is amiss with him as he seems distant and devoid of hope and joy and he is a bit messy to the chagrin of Q. Amari is unemployed recently having lost his job in a corporate downsizing.

A massive explosion rocks Times Square cutting off power to Amari and Q. The apparent calm and confident Q implodes into fear and suffers a panic attack as world order is shattered. He wants to hide in a closet. A is nonplussed as Q prays to God for salvation.

It was Amar’s thirtieth birthday that night and he is thankful he has been rescued from a social event planned by purposeful Q. As he is thirty now with no direction or purpose in life what is there to celebrate?

Amari and Q are marooned in their home due to a city wide lockdown so they play a memory game with photos and then a personal relationship quiz based on random questions they  pick from a bowl and answer.

It is only then that cracks in their relationship are discerned. Animosity and distrust increase in intensity but at moments in the current of hopeless and destruction their are eddies of hope only to be dashed then repaired. Be prepared for an emotional see saw on the teeter totter of a relationship. I have reviewed many LGBTG films but never one based on exploring the dynamics of a rocky relationship. Quite frankly it is riveting undulating between hope and despair that a viewer will be caught up in. And although the film is labelled as LGBTQ it goes beyond that to apply to all relationships which in my opinion is a view of the maturity of the (hate to say this) LGBTQ genre.

Both Amari and Q were raised by their grandmothers hence the name of the film “Nana’s Boys”.

“Nana’s Boys” arrives on VOD/digital platforms on February 7 and on DVD February 23.

If you are a bit shy about watching an “LGBTQ Film” it is time for you to come out of the closet!

Top notch acting.

Directed by Ashton Pina.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: Undurraga T.H. 2019 Pinot Noir from Chile

Undurraga made a stellar T.H 2019 Carignan from the Maule Valley which I rated a 93 so with anticipation we try their T.H. 2019 Pinot Noir from the Malleco Valley. It was aged 10 months in concrete eggs and neutral French oak barrels. Having tasted too few Chilean Pinot Noirs they tend to have very big profiles. Grown in red clayed and decomposed volcanic soils.

AROMATICS: You wont encounter delicate Pinot Noir aromas in this wine. There is a crescendo of ripe raspberries, black cherries and milk chocolate. Big and forceful.

PALATE: Quiet tannins. Clash of noisy black cherry and cherry nectar cymbals in happy harmony. Somewhat silky and somewhat grippy finish.

PERSONALITY: I am assertive but in no way aggressive.

FOOD MATCH: Quack. Quack.

CELLARBILITY: Expect a slight improvement over the next two years. Consume by the end of 2026.

IN A NUTSHELL: Full throttle Chilean Pinot Noir.

PRICE:   $30.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 92/100.

(Undurraga 2019 Terroir Hunter Pinot Noir, D.O. Vallée de Malleco, Viña Undurraga, Talagante, Chile, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 26105, 750 mL, 13.5%).

RKS 2023 Wine: Why the Grape Mystery? Burnt Ship Bay 2019 Reserve Red

Hopefully wine consumers are not horses in Central Park that need blinders on! Are not wine consumers entitled to know what grapes are being used in their wine particularly in a blend? With Burnt Ship Bay 2019 Reserve Red there is grape mystery. The label, the winery website and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario website contain no description of the grapes used in the making of the wine. Given the varying quality of some Ontario red grapes I would have appreciated a description of the grapes used in the wine.

Aromatics: Black cherry and chocolate are indicative of Cabernet Franc. Also blueberry and cassis, red plum with a hint of smoke.

Palate: There is body to the wine but Miss Universe or Mr. Beefcake 2023? Hard to tell but it does not seem to be much of a chance of this wine finishing in the top ten of those competitions. Moderate tannins. There is not much luck on the skill testing questions. In fact the wine has a flashy smile of a decent nose but the heart of it lacks coherence and it will certainly not win Miss Personality. Neither does it have any muscular biceps. It has a Don Knotts character; The Incredible Mr. Limpet!.

Personality: I have an enticing aroma but beyond that I am neither sensuous or muscular shamefully admitting I am a 99 pound weakling.

Cellarbility: None.

Food match: Friday night pizza or burgers. Code name to succinctly describe the quality of certain wines.

In a nutshell: A thin and febrile wine.

Price: $19.95 (Ontario).

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 76/100.

(Burnt Ship Bay 2019 Reserve Red, VQA Niagara-on-the-Lake, Burnt Ship Bay Estate Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake, LCBO # 31372, 750 mL, 13.5%)

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous:” Chapter 42: How do you Kill Another Man? The Romanian Revenge Plan

Don Lupara’s men dropped me off at the fully renovated seaside home on the Bay of Naples a wedding gift for a wedding that never took place due to Ginevra’s murder. I had to think through if I could terminate with prejudice the Cyclops who had planted a roadside explosive device that killed my sweet Campanian plum Ginevra and our unborn child. I took a bottle of Lacryma de Christi red wine and sat on the balcony watching the twinkling lights of Naples. Thinking. Thinking. After a glass of this volcanic delight I took a tour of our house. Ginevra had taken great pains to decorate in a modernist style instead of the overly gaudy Neapolitan nouveau riche style. I opened a door beside what was to be our bedroom and froze in my tracks. A quiet furious rage set my entire body and mind on fire. There was the nursery for our unborn murdered in the Cyclops’ engineered bomb blast. Now there was no doubt rage, amoral familism and a Neapolitan vendetta that were easily turning me into a killer.

I phoned Don Lupara with my intent to go ahead with the deed. All I needed was Cyclops location in Romania. Don Lupara said you just don’t wander around with a gun and shoot your target. Planning was needed so we were to meet over breakfast to discuss this plan.

What we knew about Cyclops at this point:

  • He had fled Naples to Romania and specifically to Braşov a city of some 375,000 in the province of Transylvania nestled close to the South Carpathian mountains.
  • He was working with the Russian mob using his Albanian connections to funnel low grade heroin into Braşov for the Romanian market.
  • He was engaged in human smuggling of Ukrainian and Albanian girls for the purposes of sex trafficking.
  • He was smuggling Albanians into Greece.
  • Security was very tight with local Romanian ex-soldiers in his security detail.
  • He was essentially a pedophile surrounding himself with teenage girls, all minors.
  • The Russian mob had serious enemies in Romania. The Romanian mob known as the Strigoi were in a vicious struggle with the Russians.
  • Both the Russian mob and the Strigoi had “friends” at the ministerial level of the Romanian government so extradition of Cyclops was a virtual impossibility.
  • The Russian mob and Cyclops were growing poppies in massive plantations hidden throughout Transylvania manufacturing a potent heroin called “Romanian Lightning”. The Romanian Strigoi would celebrate the death of Cyclops.

It seemed then Cyclops was not going to be an easy hit. What was Don Lupara’s plan?

RKS 2023 Wine: An Interesting Scoring System for Wine!

“The impish editor of Merum, a serious Swiss Magazine, has another way of expressing his judgement of what is good to drink. He regularly invites eight colleagues for lunch and puts a dozen wines of similar provenance in front of them. The score is measured in centimetres of wine left in each bottle. The empty bottles are the winner.”

Hugh Johnson “A Life Uncorked”, University of California Press

RKS 2023 Wines: Special Memories of the Dão: Boas Quintas

I had the pleasure of visiting the Dão in 2018 with some members of the international wine media. The wines, the vineyards, the topography the people and the food were memorable although the schedule was rough. Fly into Porto overnight from Toronto. Meet at the Porto Sheraton and relax with a tea which I never had as it was on the media bus to the Montebello Hotel perched on a hill in the town of Viseu, unpack then off to a dinner of superb local food and countless wines to try. No rest for the wicked.

Boas Quintas Vineyards; Photo Robert K. Stephen

One of the wineries visited was Boas Quintas. Modern with relatively large production. So it was with a bit of fond memories I saw a Dão wine at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario 21January2023 Vintages Release. A Gandarada it is called and is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Alfrochiero and Tinta Roriz.

Aromatics: Black cherry, blackberry, Bulgarian raspberry jam and cactus pear.

Palate: Gentle tannins but broad based. A discrete yet light coating of strawberry and raspberry on the entry palate. Black plum, hazelnut wafers, black cherry with a slender sliver of red beet. Deceptively rich because you must think about it and let in settle in. It is tight and compact and would benefit from some decanting. Built for food. Moderately long finish. This young wine is a classic Dão red. Why? Because what a classic Dão wine is in stored in my memory bank.

Personality: I am wound up tight now but I show my fruit discretely and with pride. Give me a couple more years to really show my stuff. I am also “tight” because I resent all the attention Douro wines get. Why aren’t Dão wines distributed more widely throughout the world!

Cellarbility: It is not often at this price point one can discuss ageability but in this case two years to mature and two more to enjoy.

Food Match: Tomahawk steak. Vegetarians would enjoy with Eggplant Parmesan.

Personality: A youthful wine that will not complain with immediate consumption. It does not flaunt its good characteristics. An excellent example of a Dão red wine.

Price: $14.95 (Ontario)

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 91/100. Decanter World Wine Awards Best in Show 97/100.

(Gandarada 2019 D.O.C. Dão, Boas Quintas, Mortágua, Portugal, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 25447, 750 mL, 13%).

“The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous” : Chapter 41: Leaving my Positano Asylum and Should I Become a Narcotics Kingpin?

Don Lupara came to pick me up in his Russian Zil from my Positano asylum and take me “home” to Naples. If only Ginevra had been travelling in Lupara’s Russian Zil amour plated and all. But being of Russian manufacture it was “in the shop” the day of the murderous blast.

It was all pleasant chit chat as we made our way to the Lupara compound. Don Lupara’s wife Malvagia gave me a crushing hug with moist eyes and numerous may God bless you dear one. A feast had been prepared with the freshest seafood and a bottle of the best Greco del Tufo white wine. Again the chit chat was continued but with hesitation. All of us could only think of Ginevra and at times I could have sworn she was by my side laughing and holding my hand. A true spirit or the remnants of LSD in my brain?

After the dishes were cleared out came to grappa and coffee and Don Lupara had I had a chat about “my future”. The gang war with Cyclops had ended and in defeat and in disgrace after masterminding the death of my Ginevra Cyclops had fled to Romania where he had been working the narcotic trade with a group of vicious Russians that in their lack of any sense of brutality and adherence to any morals whatsoever made the Camorra of Naples look like schoolchildren.

Don Lupara explained how exhausted and demoralized he was and offered me a successorship to his narcotics trade. Scampia would be all mine pulling in somewhere near 75 million Euros a year net of expenses. I would have turned down the offer prior to Ginevra’s assassination but I had thoughts about being a drug lord. There was little else in my life and isn’t that what my sweet Calabrian plum would have wanted? I asked Don Lupara why he hadn’t put out a contract on the Cyclops. He took a huge swill of grappa and excused himself saying he would be back in a moment. He returned with a wooden box and said that in the box was my answer. It was Ginevra’s Smith and Wesson six shooter. Puzzled I asked him what did this have to do with a contract on Cyclops. He responded that he had saved this task of honour and revenge for me. Taken aback I had nothing to say other than I’d think about it. Was I now a killer. Was I the Jason Bourne of Naples?

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: A Reluctant Cretan Bride to Be! (Nikos Kazantzakis)

“A piece of bread-damn it, that seems to you a trifle, does it, my princess? Very clever it sounds! And what, by God, should a bridegroom find to desire in you? Youth? Beauty? Riches? You’re thirty-five, and shrunk to a dried currant, to an old maid with a moustache! And that greyhound brother of yours has plundered you. A rag is all you are now. Who’s going to look at you now, who’s going to want you poor thing. God has struck Tityros with blindness, to make him say yes.”

Nikos Kazantzakis “Freedom and Death” 1956

Misadventures in Wine Chapter 8: Wine Drinker Profiles: “The Know it All”

At times there can be a thin line separating The Know It All from the knowledgeable. The Know it All thinks they know all about wine. Although the adage “The more you know the less you know” is never entirely correct there can be a grain of truth in it as applicable to wine. New wine producing regions, new wineries and hundreds of grapes etc. The knowledgeable is more humble than the Know it All. The Know it All doesn’t listen to anyone except his/her own voice. And it only worsens when they pontificate and lecture. Quite frankly they are annoying. The Know it All fails to realize inputs from friends, wine professionals or wine writers. There is nothing wrong with assisting and guiding the less knowledgeable but lording it over them is or can be intimidating. One may encounter a sommelier who is an arrogant prig on the verge of commanding the customer what to drink instead of listening to the customer and making suggestions. A customer will appreciate thoughtful and polite recommendations from a sommelier but get their back up when treated like a dunce.

“The Penniless Pensioner : Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous”: Chapter 40: Thank God for LSD and Pasta alla Nerano!

After my Ritz-Carlton meltdown in Manhattan for months I had no idea where I was nor did I really care. Was it post traumatic stress disorder or depression?

I was told that I had been taken on a chartered jet courtesy of Don Lupara to Naples where I was transported along the coast to a sanitorium in the beautiful village of Positano. Apparently the standard treatments were not working as I was not communicating and just rocking back and forth mumbling “GINERVA” and then I would sob for hours. I ate very little and shriveled away to dangerous body measurement.

I started to recognize myself again after eating a big bowl of Spaghetti alla Nerano. This pesto/zucchini/cheese pasta was Ginevra’s favourite and it must have jolted my memory. It was weeks later that improvements were noted. Food as medicine for the mind?

Speaking of the mind I was experiencing terrible flashbacks about John Lennon, Ginevra and the execution of those two teenagers Guido and Lino. I had made a breakthrough sparked by that bowl of pasta but had hit roadblock.

Don Lupara I learnt later had authorized an experimental treatment for extreme depression Dr. Muzzio O’Leary had pioneered in the Bolzano Psychiatric Institute. The treatment was called “fear and loathing protocol” which Dr. O’Leary had used with several Las Vegas showgirls. With the use of LSD the trauma causing the mental illness was relived in an exploratory and guided manner to have the mind explain to itself the continuing trauma was nothing but a reaction to an awful reality but no longer a debilitating reality. Medical gobbly gook but it worked extremely well in my case. Unfortunately one side effect was a craving for pesto so I ate huge quantities of pasta which. Considering my skeletal frame wasn’t all that bad.

I was housed in an exclusive asylum up in the Positano Hills with a breathtaking view of the ocean below. 14 months after my meltdown it was me I was finally dealing with. Don Lupara had popped in for a few visits and the Fat Fox had red eyes, a mottled complexion and was yellow skinned. He looked atrocious. A haggard caricature of his former self. One day he showed up for a talk with me about my future. He had a final cure in mind.