“They disliked Jerry because he was Italian, they disliked Barbara because she was not, and therefore, had no excuse, and they disliked me because I did not appear to realize both Barbara and Jerry were white. I did not, in fact, appear to know that I was colored and this filled them with such baleful exasperation, such an exasperated wonder, that the waitress’ hand when I stopped in the diner, actually trembled as she poured my coffee, and people moved away from me, staring as though I was possessed by evil spirits. Naturally, I despised them. They didn’t even have the courage of their sick convictions, for, if they had, they would have tarred and feathered me and ridden me out of town.”
James Baldwin, “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone”, 1968.
Mia Sunshine Jones is a struggling arts programme student unable to complete a project telling the world who she really is. Her professor and fellow students are far from impressed with her efforts and Mia is given a one-week deadline by her professor to produce a passable artwork.
Mia contemplating her journey
It isn’t too long before the viewer witnesses the anger, frustration and bitterness that is Mia. Mia is a mess. What is the cause?
Mia has a creative block preventing her from delivering her art project and is advised by members of a band performing at a club she attended their creative block was lifted by band member Desdemona’s godmother’s magical elixir. Mia heads to the godmother and purchases a pill with “LUCID” stamped on it with a dosage of a little nibble every night before bed will begin the dissolution of her creative block with a warning she must not eat the entire tablet in one swallow which she does.
Then the on and off magic mushroom trip begins with its psychedelic cinematography bearing in mind LUCID is not a psychedelic. The 35- and 16-mm film, FX monsters, eccentric characters and trippy plot with eclectic music create the perfect “avant garde” film.
Mia must find her block to recognize exactly its nature so she can move on. Her voyage is surreal, full of monsters and mayhem and at times nightmarish. Frequent flashbacks to her childhood and her hippy musician parents, repeated imagery of knives and sharpened scissors suggest the block may have been rooted in her childhood with a violent component.
The cinematography, soundtrack, rock solid casting near perfection and writing lay the foundation for a nouveau Canadian classic film. Caitlin Acken Taylor excels as Mia in a very difficult role requiring a wide range of emotions she masters with mesmerizing excellence.
“LUCID” will world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on 21July2025.
Directed and written by Deanna Milligan and Ramsey Fendall.
In Ontario, Canada it is Niagara that garners most of the attention of its liquor monopoly the Liquor Control Board of Ontario in chatter and on its retail shelves. But head east of Toronto about the same distance Niagara is west of Toronto and you arrive at yet another wine district Prince Edward County or “The County” where Closson Chase is a powerhouse of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The oak is gentle as aged in French oak barrels only 10% of which were new.
We try a Closson Chase 2021 Vineyard Chardonnay of which 1,100 cases were made.
Aroma: On the tropical side with pineapple, mango, guava, pear, apple and banana. A touch of crushed limestone.
Palate: Good solid straight at you Chardonnay. Clean, dense and true to a Cool Climate Chardonnay. Apple and pear predominate leaving behind the tropical fruits. Short, clean and uncomplicated finish. You couldn’t ask for much better of a basic well-made Chardonnay. Moderate finish.
Personality: I am a solid Chardonnay and VQA Prince Edward County therefore truly local. You really can’t go wrong with me.
Food Match: Local bay of Quinte pickerel foil wrapped on the BBQ with local potatoes baked on the grill and perhaps some of the best corn on the cob from The County!
Cellarbility: Enjoy with a 2025 New Year’s Eve pescatarian dinner and go no further.
RKS 2025 Canadian Wine Rating: 90/100. Wine Align Community Score 90.
(Closson Chase 2021 Vineyard Chardonnay, VQA Prince Edward County, Closson Chase Vineyards, Hillier, Ontario, 750 mL, 12.5%).
Floating on top of this pond of a Canadian animated short film is an amusing Canadian cross country cycling race starting in St. John’s, Newfoundland and ending in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Redolent with Canadian history and symbolism through beer, hockey, fish, Export A cigarettes, Canadian Pacific ships, TTC Red Rockets and even former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker firing the starting pistol in a Monty Pythonesque animated scene.
Dive below the pond and its apparent absurdity is perhaps more of a cynical and sarcastic view of relations between Quebec and the rest of Canada ending in the destruction of both Canada and Quebec. What is so attractive about this short is it permits a deep dive below the surface of the pond perhaps only Canadians can truly understand. Elbows Up! Non-Canadian viewers may need a guide to penetrate its seemingly amusing triviality.
My only criticism…did I miss the Avro Arrow zooming overhead?!! Where were the “stubbies”?
Yet another brilliant short emanating from Vancouver, British Columbia.
Directed by John Hollands and will be a world premiere at Montreal’s International Fantasia Film Festival on 22July2025.
If mindfulness encourages self compassion, it also is partial to you expressing compassion and kindness to all those suffering with hernias and who will undergo or recently have had completed some form of hernia surgery. Mindfulness would have you meditate transmitting positive and encouraging thoughts to these fellow human beings they experience as little anxiety, pain and suffering as possible. All that is required is a quiet and sincere moment for this “send out”. It is not necessary you are a meditator in the formal sense. Close your eyes, relax and repeat heartfelt and sincere healing and encouraging words to your “target audience”.
We have all heard when faced with troubling thoughts just “get it off your chest” which supposedly clears and relaxes the mind. Could it be sending gratitude to all those who have been involved in your hernia adventure is flushing out and directing gratitude out of your system to where it belongs. Think of the physician that diagnosed you and sent you to an ultrasound technician whose images were reported on by imaging physician who confirmed with your doctor who then referred you to a surgeon who then set up a presurgical appointment with antitheists, pharmacists and nursing support that then sent you to report for surgery which had an attendant rolling you down to and from the operating theatre after a nursing team prepared you for surgery to an anesthetist and nurses that cared for you in the operating room, to a post surgical care team and a surgeon’s support team that answered any questions about your surgical recovery. And aside from medical personnel your family and friends that assisted and supported you through your hernia adventure.
Your hernia adventure would not be possible without a whole passle of people! Many you have personally thanked and some not.
Ren (Adeline Lo) is an aspiring teenage actor with a dream of attending the Studio Northwest acting programme and saved cash to accompany it.
Ren’s mother (Olivia Cheng) reads the acceptance letter from Studio Northwest and the family is ecstatic. Life throws a wrench as Ren’s mother suddenly dies.
The family lives in decibel wise quasi-Blues Brother Chicago style lodgings with a subway rocketing below shaking the entire home. Funeral expenses of any substantial amount are not in the family’s budget as they soon determine after attending a funeral services provider DYING: Eternity Starts Here. Corporate smoothness and upsells echo about the corporate offices more a Shinto temple than a place of business.
Ren has the funds for a burial suitable for her mother but that means she will not attend her dream acting programme. What is her decision?
A poignant family drama intertwined with a gentle but cutting satire of the “funeral business”.
Vancouver is a world class hub for innovative and creative shorts as I have witnessed repeatedly with its Crazy8’s event. Just add on “Sorry for Your Costs” as world class short.
It will debut at the 48th Asian American International Film Festival on 3August2025 at the Regal Union Square Cinema.
“We were cold and frightened, and we were hungry, but, except for our father, we were not in despair. Our mother was holding on-grim silent and watchful, but not cheerless; she was determined to bring us to the daylight. But she had a lot to watch, a lot to carry. She was watching our father, praying that the daylight would come before he was forever broken; she was watching Caleb, praying that the daylight would come before his hope, which was his youth, should be forever destroyed and she was watching me, wondering what I was learning. The daylight may always come, but it does not come for everybody and it does not come on time.”
James Baldwin, “Tell Me When the Train’s Been Gone”, 1968.
Moving along from the Russian documentary “Russia at War”, “2000 Meters to Andriivka” presents a “reality show” featuring a battle in the Ukrainian Russian war. And we are serious about a “reality show” here as the viewer is presented with a gritty and horrific slice of raw reality where reality is the name of the game. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers dying and wounded before your eyes. Explosives all about, gunfire and Ukrainian soldiers ferreting out Russian soldiers from trenches either killing them or offering life by willingness to accept their surrender.
A small team of Ukrainian journalists, camera in hand, follows The 3rd Assault Brigade during a 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake the town of Andriivka from Russian troops. The Brigade must traverse a killing narrow swath of forest 2,000 meters ahead to retake the town. Ukrainian HQ directs the charge using drone technology to pinpoint enemy positions. Technology permits real time observation so precise individual soldiers may be pinpointed and “eliminated” by drones dropping explosives on them or directing Ukrainian troops where to position themselves. As in “Russia at War” this battle on the land is one driven by deadly technology.
Nestled in between combat footage are discussions with the main journalist (and director) and the Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom he notes died subsequently in other battles. The desperate nature of battle punctuated by pockets of relaxed humanity explaining what they did before entering the conflict and their views of why they are fighting. Unlike the Russian soldiers in “Russia at War” the Ukrainian soldiers have a clear purpose of liberating their country. One Russian soldier from a Russian satellite state, Abdul, is captured and asked by his Ukrainian captors why he is in the Ukraine he clearly has no idea.
At a very high cost the Ukrainians capture Andriivka but aside from rubble and rotting bodies Andriivka exists only in name. In a “Hamburger Hill” mode the Russians retake Andriivka in 2025.
Of course, you may be thinking about the futility of war sparked by watching this documentary but during war for many soldiers there is no luxury of time to muse about this maxim.
“Stelios” is yet another example of why widely ignored Greek cinema should be no longer ignored by filmgoers.
It is an epic film marking the rise of legendary Greek singer Stelios Kazantzidis (Christos Mastoras) from abject poverty in an Athenian refugee camp into Greece’s most beloved singer.
“Big Stelios”, affectionately referred to in his native Greece, fled the Pontian region of Greece to Athens with his mother and infant brother in 1945 after his father, a suspected Communist, was bludgeoned to death by Monarchist fighters in front of Stelios and his mother.
Stelios was discovered by a passing musician walking on the street in Athens hearing his voice drifting from an open window. Initially he performed in a small taberna in Athens and progressed to larger bouzoukias and subsequently to a stellar recording career. His lamentations on the difficult life and the tortures of Greek romantic relationships captured the soul of Greeks both in Greece and the Greek diaspora throughout the world.
Having been to Greece many times and attended many Greek community events in North America I know the voice well. It is inescapable in Greece. It is magnetic and deeply soulful. Perhaps I might make a comparison of Big Stelios to B.B. King, Leona Boyd, Jimmy Hendrix and Frank Sinatra the latter being an admirer of Kazantzidis stating if he was singing in America, he would be more popular than me!
This film has all the elements of an epic; history, romance, a nasty and domineering mother-in-law “Fonissa” style, gangsters, manipulative music moguls and even absurdity a la Lanthimos!
That scene with the two gangsters crashing the bouzoukia with guns and grenades with one of them dancing revolver in hand is a priceless scene of terror and absurdity one might expect in a Lanthimos film! Surely this scene will be known as a classic Greek cinema moment.
The dancing gangster!
Kazantzidis’ existential struggle, a central theme of the film, is between Stelios as a man and Kazantzidis as a legend. It examines the exploitation of Greek musicians by Columbia Records and Minos Records and Kazantzidis’ struggle to strike a fairer deal for musicians in Greece.
The film also points to the temper, selfishness, Oedipal complex and moral cruelty of Kazantzidis. The man was no saint.
The film has had theatrical releases in 15 countries and at a yet to be determined date in August will be released on VOD.
For Canadians the film can be viewed at the upcoming Greek International Film Festival Tour Canada screening in 11 Canadian cities 26September-5October2025. Check out their website for further details at https://gift.ca
“And then, abruptly one is at the Italian frontier. They seem extremely surprised, but, on the whole, delighted that you decided to drop by. Between extravagant offers of extravagant dinners, and impassioned questions as to what drove you from your part of the world, they are perfectly willing to glance at your passport and stamp it on a random page. They swear eternal brotherhood, and so you pass out of their offices and out of their lives.”
James Baldwin, “Tell Me When the Train’s Gone”, 1968.
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