RKS Film: “Tales from the Gimli Hospital” (Redux)

Gimli is a small town in Manitoba, Canada. In 1983 an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Edmonton ran out of fuel and miraculously coasted from 41,000 feet to an airfield in Gimli Manitoba. So I was piqued in seeing “Gimli” as part of the title to “Tales from the Gimli Hospital”.

Welcome to a fish obsession

Written and directed by Guy Maddin in 1988 “Tales from the Gimli Hospital” was one of those artsy films without any hope for commercial success. Well the creaky film has been the beneficiary of a 4K remastering shown at the most recent Toronto International Film Festival.

The promo material I received indicated the film was a “cult classic” on the midnight movie circuit. In the cult classics “Reefer Madness”, “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Night of the Living Dead” the plot may have been simplistic but was loved by many. In “Tales From the Gimli Hospital” the plot may be simplistic but its extremely artsy production may cause many viewers quickly to lose a connection with the film.

Gunnar and Einar the Lonely are in quarantine (sound familiar?) due to some plague that leaves strange scars on the bodies of its victims. The hospital is in a barn and the animals below heat the hospital above which is more like a barn than a hospital. And the nurses are lithe and in revealing uniforms. We see the tales of Gunnar and Einar the Lonely so you will be presented with a plot that is understandable. Given COVID the film may have some relevance with quarantine, political manipulation and plague death. Is this a driving reason the film was remastered?

The issue, or perhaps the attraction, is the rough and abstract black and white cinematography that add absurdity and mysticism to the plot. Maddin as a director could be said fixated on silent film as that is what “Tales from the Gimli Hospital” essentially is. A homage to or satire of silent film?  Perhaps none of this but simply an attempt to create a silent film some 70 years after the fact?

While the plot and storyline can be grasped the technique is fascinatingly obscure and frustrating.  This Canadian production with Icelandic dialogue thrown in now and then highlights the Icelandic immigration to Manitoba.

The film alters between dream, nightmare and symbolism.

The film recently showed at the Toronto International Film Festival. If it truly is a midnight cult classic (do such films still show at midnight?) it would make a great bill with “Rocky Horror Picture Show”.

RKS Film Rating 81/100.

RKS Wine: On the Search for a Star Ontario Viognier

Marsanne and Viognier are often companions in a blend creating a very unique stye of wine. Lots of tropical notes like mango and peach with pineapple. Viognier on its own is also or can be quite tasty. Here in Ontario countries of origin for Viognier would primarily be France and Australia.

Does Ontario produce Viognier? Yes it does but in limited quantities. During the “ravages” of COVID we headed out to St. David’s in Niagara and met some friends at Fielding Estate before heading off to our inn. A massively disappointing Viognier there. Also from Niagara pre COVID I picked up some Viognier from Stratus Vineyards. Great at the tasting room but it did not age well as it turned a bit funky.

So we try yet again with a KEW Vineyards 2018 Marsanne (75%)/Viognier (25%) from the Beamsville Bench with just over a thousand cases produced.

On the nose it reminds me of the slightly funky Stratus Vineyard Viognier. Wood and Viognier must be handled delicately. The oak here is a bit overpowering. The funk obfuscates the mango, pineapple and peach and holds it under its thumb. You know the Rolling Stone’s Song “Under My Thumb!”

On the palate that damn oak hangs around like a pack of blackflies. Yes there is the mango, pineapple and peach but again its been choked by the French oak it was resting in for 8 months. Even then not much character to reward an eager palate. It is quite neutral and unimpressive.

Ontario if you want to produce a Viognier or a Viognier blend that can match Australian or French competitors at the same price you have some work to do.

While I wait for the great Niagara Hope I think I’ll stick to the Yalumba Y Series Viognier from Australia ($14.95) or D’Arenberg’s Hermit Crab ($17.95).

(KEW Marsanne/Viognier 2018, VQA Beamsville Bench, KEW Vineyards, Beamsville, Ontario, $19.95, 750 mL, 14%, RKS Wine Rating 85/100).

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes”; J.D. Salinger: About New York City

“Honest to God, I think it’s this goddam New York. What I think maybe we’ll do, if everything goes along all right, we’ll get ourselves a little place in Connecticut maybe. Not too far out necessarily, but far enough that we can lead a goddam normal life. I mean she’s crazy about plants and all that stuff. She’d probably go mad if she had her own goddam garden and stuff. Know what I mean? I mean-except you-who do we know in New York except a bunch of neurotics. It’s bound to undermine even a normal person sooner or later. Know what I mean? “

RKS Wine: Is This Bargain Basement Portuguese Wine Worth $12.95?

Price is not determinative when it comes to quality of a wine. I had a buddy over for dinner last Saturday. He was happily ebullient over a $90 Pinot Noir from Prince Edward County in Ontario. Knowing that I write about wine and have made several recommendations to him for wine purchases he looked at me with plaintive eyes saying how awesome the wine was. Being polite I nodded and said good stuff and it was good but far from a $90 bottle of wine. I tried it again the following day and my opinion had not waivered. At $90 I thought the poor fellow had been taken advantage of. I have had many superior Pinot Noirs from British Columbia at a third of that price.

So I remember this incident upon trying a “lowly” $12.95 Portuguese wine from the Lisboa region called S. Sebastião a red blend of Syrah and Tinta Roriz.

On the nose with persistent and forceful blackberry, black cherry, cactus pear and milk chocolate. On the palate huge ghost of a blueberry pie slice reigns supreme. Immediately accessible and tasty. Not much of a finish. The wine would make a good sipper and pair with a multitude of foods. May I suggest Pasta a La Norma to take advantage of local eggplant in good supply until the end of October. Field tomatoes may last a couple more weeks. If you are having a prime rib roast on New Year’s Day this may be your wine. Best consume by the end of 2022.

(S. Sebastião, Vinho Regional Lisboa 2019, Multiwines, Portugal, $12.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 632869, 750 mL, 13.5%, RKS Wine Rating 89/100).

RKS Literature: Freedom and Individuality

“The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their efforts to attain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest”.

John Stuart Mill: “On Liberty”, 1859.

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: “The Communist Manifesto”

“The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has piteously torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his “natural superiors,” and left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous cash payment. The bourgeoisie possess the distinctive feature of simplifying class antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes, directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. “

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels “The Communist Manifesto” 1848

RKS Wine: Bordeaux Wine Label: Who Kidnapped the “Château”?

If you prefer the wines of Bordeaux a common feature on their label is some Château in picture and in name. Who kidnaped the château on the front of this bottle? There is no château written and for pictorial representation perhaps it is there but so far in the distance.

The wine is 100% Merlot. It has been aged in oak barriques. Where is the oak from? How long was it aged in oak? The reclatricant label?

On the nose redolent with ripe red cherries. In the background a hulking yet non-threatening mass of just on the edge of maximum ripeness raspberries and strawberries.

This Bordeaux is smooth with gentle tannins and it is wine fit for sipping. A thin but prescient streak of cherry, cranberry tinged by a bit of raspberry jam charges down the tongue culminating in a juicy finish with a slight bit of grey pepper.

The wine is at its peak. Best consume by the end of 2022.

(Chombart & Speck Cave Mystére, Merlot 2019, Châteauu Lamothe de Haux, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 17232, 750 mL, 14%, RKS Wine Rating 90/100).

RKS Travel: Thessaloniki, Greece: Greece Eats: Pantopolio Food Emporium

I am not quite sure what to classify Pantopolio as? A deli would be too crude. I think I will settle with a “food emporium” crammed full of Greek delights, cheese, wine, seafood, meats just to name a few. There are literally hundreds of high-quality food items here. I discovered this wonderful shop 4 years ago and revisited it again uin Sptember in the mood to eat on our hotel balcony. So for octopus, stuffed grape vine leaves and pickled artichokes with a bottle of Moschofilero wine it was all consumed happily watching the sun set over the Gulf of Thessaloniki. Great selection of foods but a gaping hole when it comes to bread!

Photo: Robert K. Stephen

Located on Komninon 12.

RKS Travel: Thessaloniki, Greece Eats: Where the Dinosaurs Go to Eat: Kafeneio Pyrgos

On the surface in the heavily trafficked areas of Thessaloniki one may be left with the impression the younger set survives on coffee and as the sun sets move on to cocktails. As in Toronto so it goes in Thessaloniki where wine and beer is dying and the mighty cocktail lifts its costly head. There is a multitude of food and delicious accompanying smells but when and where do these young bucks have time to eat?

Find the Pyrgos and you’ll find Kafeneio Pyrgos: Photo Robert K. Stephen

The poor buggers may be slipping into anorexia but I have found a wonderful restaurant, very traditional full of over 50-year old’s without a cocktail in sight! A multitude of tables outdoors on a balmy mid-September night with seafood being the name of the game here. While many Greeks enjoy an ouzo with a traditional seafood dinner there are certain rebels about that are drinking wine here at Kafeneio Pyrgos!

The view is of the Pirgos (White Tower). The sea smelts (Gavros) smell of the ocean as if they were caught in the morning. Heaping plates of cuttlefish, octopus, mussels, eggplant dip, Greek Salad, delectable fries and fresh Greek bread. The Thessalonians are big eaters but very measured. 4 hours later when the appetite is beginning to resurge there are pickings left with wine. None of this 90 minute per sitting self important restaurant hegemony you might encounter in New York or Toronto. Stay as long as you want and take your time. As the restaurant has been open since 1924 why hurry?

Kafeneio Pyrgos 3 Tsirogianni Street (opposite the Pyrgos)

RKS Literature: Passage of the Day: Narcotics and COVID

“Always attuned to changes in the mood of the market, drug dealers had quickly realized the advantageous commercial consequences of a year of continual stress. When the numbers of the infections increased, so had the need to find drug-induced solace in what seemed like the Valley of the Shadow of Death. When the numbers decreased, what better way to celebrate the possible return to life than with a little of this or a lot of that? Even now, with things calmed down, the stress, it seemed to Brunetti, had not disappeared, nor had the desire to seek the comfort of narcotics.”

Donna Leon: “Give Unto Others”: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2022