“Madame Hortense’s miniature hotel consisted of a row of age-old bathing cabins glued together one behind the other. The first cabin was a store; it sold candy, cigarettes, Arabian peanuts, lamp wicks, kindergarten alphabet books and frankincense. Four other cabins in succession were the sleeping quarters. Behind them, in the courtyard, were the kitchen, laundry, hen coop and rabbit hutches. Reeds and prickly pear cacti were thickly planted in the fine sand all around the perimeter. The entire complex smelled of the sea, animal droppings, and pungent urine. Only occasionally, when Madame Hortense passed by, did the air change its odor, as if a barbershop’s slop bucket had been emptied in front of you.”
We try a Brigaldara Valpolicella Ripasso from Italy of course. Valpolicella rarely disappoints with an easy drinking personality. Mellow, smooth and warm perhaps is a good way of describing it. And to continue in non-technical terms choco cherry!
50% Corvina, 25% Corvinone and 25% Rondinella.
What does this Ripasso mean? It derives from the verb ripassare meaning “passover” or “do something again”. Amarone pomace is added to the fermented Valpolicella for a couple of weeks during which time the wine picks up extra color, tannin and flavour from the Amarone pomace. Amarone wine is made from both “regular grapes” and some grapes that have been left to dry hence their juice is sweeter making the Amarone wine richer and more concentrated.
Aroma: Fresh picked Washington cherries intertwined with cherry syrup and milk chocolate. Compelling simplicity.
Palate: Earthy cherry centric with hints of chocolate covered raisins but not sweet. Valpolicella on steroids.
Personality: Fun loving not bothered by the small annoyances of life. A kind of Zorba the Greek wine!
Food Match: Seared duck breast with cherry and Port sauce.
Cellarbility: This will hold nicely until the end of 2024.
(Brigaldara Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore 2019, Az. Agr. Brigaldara Soc. Agr., San Pietro in Cariano, Italia, 750 mL, 14.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 16090).
Self titled “liquor store baby” So Yun Um recounts her story as the child of Korean immigrant South Los Angeles liquor store owners in the documentary “Liquor Store Dreams”. In the late 80’s Um says that 70% of all liquor stores in South Los Angeles were owned by Koreans.
She also has her Korean friend Danny recount his stories about being a liquor store baby.
Um and Danny’s parents abhor the idea that their children would continue to operate the liquor stores as it is dangerous and exhausting with long hours. Family life and personal relationships suffer. First generation immigrants often share the same stories and aversion to their children following in their footsteps.
Um notes the racism directed toward Korean food mart and liquor store owners may have had impetus due to negative stereotypical portrayals in American cinema. It caused her shame and rage. I had to watch this documentary having just recently seen Spike Lee’s 1989 film “Do the Right Thing” where Korean liquor store owners operate in a predominately black neighbourhood of New York. Um believes that film was an accurate predictor of the future.
In 1992 in the Los Angeles Riots one half of city-wide damages were to Korean owned businesses. You’ll see archival footage of armed Korean shop owners protecting their property. Was it the 1991 death of 15-year-old black Latasha Harlins shot in the back of the head by a Korean food mart owner over a dispute over a $1.79 container of orange juice or the five-year probation sentence of the shooter that enraged the black community? The 1992 rampage did not reoccur after the death of George Floyd but many Korean food mart and liquor store owners feared the worst which fortunately never materialized. However we watch footage of younger Koreans marching in the Floyd protests in solidarity with the black community decrying racism. Will Danny and Um continue in their parent’s footsteps? Are their dreams continuing their family liquor stores or escaping them?
Um’s father reminds us of the continuing influence of immigrants in the California liquor store business. The Jews ran much of it initially, then the Japanese then the Koreans and now the Bangladeshis are moving into the territory. As her dad said there is a saying amongst Koreans that you often will become what the people picking you up in the airport are working at.
A roughly similar immigrant story to Cambodian immigrant Ted Ngoy in the documentary “Donut King”.
It will be showing on 10May at 19:30 at the Gardena Cinema in Los Angeles.
“What is this raging lunacy that makes you pounce on another human being who has done nothing to you and bite him, cut off his nose, help yourself to his ear, and tear open his belly while calling upon God to come down and help you, which means for him, too, to slice away noses and ears and tear open bellies? But then my blood was boiling, you see. Where was some brain to get to the bottom of things? Accurate, honorable thoughts require the tranquility of old age. A mouth full of false teeth….a man in his youth is a wild animal, a ferocious beast who eats other men.”
“Nathan-ism” is a riveting documentary. Just when you are glowing and basking in the warmth of an incredible story the rug gets yanked under your feet. How you interpret your spill is your business but be prepared for a spill!
Nathan Hilu, a Jew of Sephardic ancestry, at 18 years of age and serving with the United States Army is ordered to guard Nazi war crime defendants at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. He chats with Albert Speer and Goering and understands what the defendants are accused of by reading the daily court transcripts.
Hilu is not a writer so there are no written memoirs rather a huge mass of sketches relating his memoirs of his interactions with the Nazi defendants. Almost cartoon like they are crammed full of remarks and annotations affording an insight to the criminals and Hilu’s reaction to them. They are visual memoirs. They are commented on by art curators and archivists.
Hilu is in his early nineties and most co-operative yet at times asked questions that might be addressed towards his credibility he turns slightly argumentative and hostile. He keeps saying his stories are true. Hmmmm?
Particularly interesting is his recounting of the pending hanging of Goering who committed suicide 3 hours prior to it. Hilu claims Goering’s wife at a last visit with Goering had a particularly long kiss with him. He says it was a cyanide capsule orally exchanged.
Some doubts are raised about Hilu but it is established he was a guard at Nuremberg but beyond that the rug is moving under your feet.
Not intended I am sure but how reliable, truthful and accurate are documentaries? A valuable unintended lesson here is don’t always believe what you see even if it is in a documentary.
In theatre performances have passed for this Toronto Hot Docs documentary but it streams until 9 May for Canadians. It will also play in Israel’s Docaviv between May 11-20.
Many of you love your New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. But have you given thought to how forceful it can be? Happily trying to avoid generalizations I have found Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc to be quieter and gentler than its Zealie cousin. We try a Cap Royal 2021 Sauvignon Blanc.
Aroma: Lemon, vanilla, white grapefruit, tangerine, ginger with a tad of vanilla extract.
Palate: Mango, lemon with a hint of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. Moderate finish with is that some pepper on the finish?
Personality: Don’t let anyone turn their nose up at me should they be obsessed with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc by force of habit, temerity, or ignorance. I am unmistakably and proudly Sauvignon Blanc cher ami!
Food Match: Haddock with capers, garlic and dill.
Cellarbility: Drink this year. One of those good outside hot summer afternoon wines.
Price: $19 (Ontario).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 90/100. Carolyn Evans Hammond Toronto Star 92.
(Cap Royal 2021 Sauvignon Blanc, AC Bordeaux, France, 750 mL, 12.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 18491).
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) promised 50 more years of democracy in Hong Kong after the British lease on its “colony” expired. That promise never materialized as the PRC tightened its grip on Hong Kong gradually stripping away any vestiges of democracy. Why would one of the worst greed driven imperialistic dictatorships afford its new colony any more than it gave its own citizens!
So some baby faced students started protest campaigns in 2014 looking for the PRC to deliver on its promise. These baby-faced kids turned out to be savvy and politically adept beyond their years. The three key student leaders were Nathan Law, Agnes Chow and Joshua Long. Like Clark Kent they were mild mannered and apparently inoffensive but they terrified the PRC so watch the documentary and see why and how!
Despite police brutality and political heavy handedness of Big Brother Lex Luthor in Beijing these students caused the PRC to show its true and ugly face of desperate repression including arresting and removing pro-democracy leaders from Hong Kong’s legislature and in the end imposing martial law where Nathan Law escaped to Great Britain fearing for his life of course perhaps rightfully considering the PRC directed massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Law graduated from Yale with a master’s degree and continues to advocate for democracy in Hong Kong. Wong was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 2013.
PRC kryptonite may have chased Nathan Law from Hong Kong but this superman powers on.
Next on the imperialistic PRC menu will be Taiwan. The PRC will be afraid yet again! They might even be terrorized!
The film screened at the recent Toronto Hot Docs Festival and will no doubt be making the rounds on the documentary film circuit. Nice progression from the “Faceless” documentary from 2021 Toronto Hot Docs.
It has been over 15 years that I was last in Tuscany and staying some 20 minutes from Montepulciano a visit there was mandatory. A beautiful medieval town with stunning views of farmlands below and the Val D’Orcia. On the road there we discovered a cantina with two huge barrels inside with local wine. One barrel said Montepulciano so we took a 1.5 litre empty water bottle and filled it with that wine for 2 Euros. Simple, smooth and a great match for the great amounts of cheese and tomato salads we tucked into daily.
Not a bad view below from Montepulciano: Photo Fotini Stephen
Not being able to find such a cantina in Toronto one finds a bottle of Trerose Vigna Santa Caterina 2019 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano at more than 2 Euros! The noble refers to the noblemen, poets and popes who drank it not the clone of the Sangiovese used to make the wine.
Aroma: Cherry, raspberry, stone and almonds.
Palate: Medium bodied and it picks up complexity and richness on the end plate and accompanies it with a long finish. Uplifting black cherry, ripe strawberry with a hint of soppressata.
Personality: I identify more with the seriousness of Federico Fellini rather than the flippancy of Gina Lollobrigida. Whatever wines from Montepulciano this writer was drinking from 1.5 litre bottles was not me!
Food Match: Steak Florentine or some Peposo.
Cellarbility: I would venture to say I would not cellar this wine as I think it will marginally improve. It should be decanted at least one-half hour before serving.
Price: $25.25 (LCBO Clearance Price).
RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 88/100. Michela Morris 91.
(Tenuta Trerose Vigna Santa Caterina Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG 2019, Tenuta Trerose, Montepulciano, 750 mL, 14.5%, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 51510).
Liberty Square was one of the United States’ first public housing projects and the first for black residents of Miami. On the municipal plans it was referred to as a “negro community” and duly segregated in the spirit of the times. Over 700 families had homes in Liberty Square. The homes looked like army barracks but for many years there was a deep sense of community. In the 1960’s Liberty City then started developing around Liberty Square and it attracted a newly formed black middle class.
Liberty Square was strategically placed away from the waterfront where there is some high-priced real estate. However, with global warming sea level property is subject to flooding which is forecasted to worsen so that by the end of the century some 13 million Americans will be displaced by rising water levels. Liberty City sits on a ridge 12 feet above sea level so by a process of climate gentrification once inexpensive land becomes more desirable and expensive.
Is it simply a coincidence that Liberty Square was subject to redevelopment as a “mixed income community” or was there something more nefarious at play? A private developer wins the $300 million bid and both the Miami Dade municipal government and the private developer promise no relocation for Liberty Square residents of which they reiterate as the fist block of public housing units is opened with great fanfare. Dig deeper and this statement was subject to political manipulation. The Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers given to Liberty Square residents deciding to temporarily locate is taken up by a high percentage of Liberty Square residents. Of the hundreds of Liberty Square residents accepting Section 8 vouchers only 5 returned which according to historical precedent was to be expected.
A fascinating study of what appears simple and benevolent to be less than so. The pitfalls of urban renewal forced on a community reliant on public housing. And the new public housing appears to be deteriorating quickly. You’ll hear from residents, former residents, the private developer, politicians, bureaucrats and community workers. Although there are a few happy relocated Liberty Square residents there is an inescapable feeling of them vs. us situation. Was this all a matter of good intentions gone awry or a calculated grab for profitable real estate in a “mixed income community”? How interesting Liberty City real estate prices are soaring. Is this a coincidence?
“Razing Liberty Square” has its world premiere at Toronto Hot Docs on 1 and 6 May. 3, 23. Directed by Katja Esson. RKS 2023 Film Rating 86/100
“Unseen” is an American documentary chronicling the story of Pedro an undocumented visually impaired Mexican living in California with his family filmed over a six-year period. Pedro’s story is remarkable. It takes him years to obtain his BSW and MSW but being undocumented without a social insurance number he can’t work. A talented man one might say is penalized by United States immigration rules. Your heartstrings are tugged and compassion flows. There is something wrong and seemingly unjust.
Pedro considers his situation “unjust” and queries why he can’t have chances “other people” have making him “mad and upset”. Pedro seems to have a sense of entitlement which is odd as from the outset he knew the travails an undocumented immigrant faces. Passage of time and personal accomplishments entitle the undocumented to hop skip and jump over immigration rules?
No mention is made in the documentary about the attempts Pedro may have made to convince the immigration authorities he deserves citizenship. What is Pedro’s background? Unexplained. As a lawyer the law is the law and sympathy is no excuse to ignore it. Try to change it if you feel that necessary but until then the law is the law or at least it is supposed to work that way! If the American colonies adhered to British law would there ever have been an American revolution?
Pedro’s journey is disappointing for many and in a sappy poetical ending Pedro is at peace. Pedro has accomplished many feats above and beyond his educational exploits such as in his athletic activities but it is the legal system that rightly or wrongly prevents Pedro from realizing his dreams. Your choice dear viewer.
Much of the film is blurry in an attempting to be experimental as Pedro being visually impaired sees his world in a blur. This experimental cinematography is tiresome and fails to impress. This Hot Docs documentary screens 3/6 May. It is a world premiere and it has its LA Asian Pacific Film Festival U.S. premiere on 6 May. The director of this 87-minute documentary is Set Hernandez.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 