RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film: “Mongrels”: Horror, Fantasy, Reality and the Concealment of Truth

Sonny Lee (Jae-Hyun Kim) newly arrived Korean to British Columbia is hired by hunter and farmer Scott Larson to eradicate packs of feral dogs in the neighboring woods. They snarl, howl and growl as a menacing, omnipresent and quasi surreal force. His daughter Hana (Sein Jin) and adolescent son Hajoon (Da-Nu Nan) have emigrated with him. Where is their mother? One hears Sonny seemingly makes several calls to her but one is not certain it is his wife he is conversing with. Neither are her whereabouts revealed other than a supposition she remains in Korea. Hana dreams of her mother and occasionally her mother speaks to her from afar as in a dream.

Sonny, the archetype macho man, is enveloped with anger and hostility much of it directed abusively towards Hajoon a confused adolescent hesitantly and with success fitting in with his peers to the dismay of Sonny who distrusts his hosts and employers. Tortured by demons he kills King Kong, the Larson’s dog, to set it free with the hope this will end his misery.

The Larson’s make every attempt to welcome the immigrant family but Sonny refuses any genuine attempt to integrate into his new surroundings unlike Hana and Hajoon. Laura, Scott’s wife, makes many attempts to welcome Hana treating her much like a daughter she wished she had. Dressed in traditional Korean garb Laura applies fingernail polish and is about to colour Hana’s hair blonde perhaps in unthinking attempt to totally assimilate her into Canadian culture but Hana flees into the woods and leads, in Pied Piper fashion, feral dogs behind her while playing a flute. The film explodes into a tumultuous and heart wrenching conclusion and her mother is finally where she should be although it is unclear if Hana comprehends what Sonny and Hajoon have been concealing.

Top rate cinematography dark and gloomy to suit the mood of the Lee family and the surrealistic evil of the mongrels and light filled in moments of fantasy and hope. Could it be that Sonny has been so distant and outside the human pack he is a mongrel and the truth permits him to join humanity once again?

Directed and written by Jerome Yoo. “Mongrels” enjoys its hometown debut in Vancouver on 14February2025 followed by a Canadian theatrical release in May.

RKS 2025 Canadian Film Rating 82/100.   

The Penniless Pensioner Returns! Can He Save Canada?

Chapter One: What to Do Next

In the published recounting of my life described in “The Penniless Pensioner: Misunderstood, Maligned but Marvellous” we certainly had a ride bordering on the fantastic.

We started with my childhood in Bombay with an introduction to my Welsh mother Juanita Wallenberg the almost massively famous blues singer and my father a successful supplier of hashish to the holy men of India and later a gold mine operator. I explained the origins of my name as I was erroneously identified with Bernie Maggot the swindler of the ultra rich. We snuggled up to stories of love and loss with Minah my Iraqi sweetheart whose brother Abdul bombed and murdered my mom in her chartered rock tour plane. Then it was Ginevra my sweet Calabrian plum (and our unborn child en ventre to a mere) executed in a bomb blast by the notorious Cyclops who then I assassinated in Romania.

I explained my brief tenure with the Central Intelligence Agency, my unforgettable hockey moment of fame playing for the Indian National Hockey team and scoring three goals against the legendary Ken Dryden. You were introduced to my work for The United Mutations particularly defending the victims of Montreal’s Queen Fairy Hospital governmental neglect and the revolt at The Mugless Mental Hospital.

Then my friendship with John Lennon ending with a ballistic tragedy. Also lest we forget my involvement with Don Lupara (The Fat Fox) in Naples, my exposure to the narcotic rings of the Scampia District in Naples and my internment at a psychiatric institution in Positano in Italy. And yes the somewhat comedic plane hijacking by The Sons of Westmount.

I am an exciting fellow you ought to closely monitor my new publisher Ollie, Mookie & Dylan Global Publishing wants me to flog. I am nothing special. I am simply The Penniless Pensioner and the pressing question is given the wild and aggressive antics of the President of The United States, Oran Crapaud, can Canada survive American imperialism and being the 51st state? Is The Penniless Pensioner the force to preserve Canadian sovereignty?

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: Liquor Control Board of Ontario: Cry Me A River! Too Little Too Late

Rah! Rah! Rah!

The LCBO has boldly gone where no man would go! No not to the moon but threatening to remove all wines produced in the United States from its shelves then backing off and not implementing its threat.

Buy Ontario wines! Rah! Rah! Rah!

Seems they suddenly, as politically directed, truly wish to promote Ontario wines. Before the Trumpian Tariff War I walked into one major LCBO store Vintages Section and I see a whopping 4 wines from British Columbia and none from Quebec or Nova Scotia. Perhaps over 100 from California. And the LCBO pays homage to its scanty collection of Niagara wines leaving Prince Edward County and Lake Erie North Shore wines in the dark. All this despite lofty statements in its Vintages catalogues about promoting Ontario wines.

Cry me a river.

Press Release: Vice President Jimbo Nochance Explains United States Free All Inclusive Vacation to Canadian Government Cabinet at Guantanamo Bay

Spoof News Services: 4February2025: Washington

“Yesterday evening 60 United States Marine Walrus Special Forces limousines were dispatched to Ottawa, Canada with large “51st” markings on their exterior. Fittingly the vehicles entered through Kingston, Ontario and after a stop at McDonalds for wholesome American food our nation has come to love they proceeded 4 hours further to the Canadian Parliament buildings. I have received reports that along the 401 Highway crowds of Canadians waving our cherished flag greeted our brave patriots. Apparently chants of “Fifty-One” swelled as vehicles passed. Apparently the name of this stretch of highway honoured our patriots being called Highway of Heroes!

The United States government is pleased to announce it has offered the Canadian Cabinet an all inclusive fully paid vacation to the sunny shores of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. There are water sports, comfortable accommodations, all you can eat buffets including the renowned Carney Carnita and all you can drink Schlitz beer. We have already heard from Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mabel Jolly she is anticipating waterboarding lessons and developing a magnificent tan.

The Canadian Cabinet has announced during breaks after intensive instruction in waterboarding it plans to develop a “friendship 51 strategy” in a sincere attempt to expedite the Golden Age of our country.”

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: A Gewurtz From East Dell

Both Ontario and British Columbia produce good quality and occasional superb Gewürztraminer. The best I have ever imbibed has been from Meyer Family Vineyards in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Can Ontario rise to the challenge? Let’s see how East Dell can do!

Aroma: Unmistakably Gewürztraminer! Absolutely tropical! Mango, pineapple, Orri tangerine and Niagara peach.

Palate: Apricot, mango nectar, lychee and custard. The fruit shines throughout but the finish is far from fat and sloppy with well defined DISCRETE edges of acidity disciplining the 18 grams/litre of residual sugar. Long lingering finish to this off dry wine.

Personality: You will agree with me that I can stand up with pride as a quality Niagara Gewurztraminer. If you obsess about those flinty dry wines or grapefruit Ontario Rieslings, I am not the one. I represent a challenge to you if you are a newbie to Gewurztraminer. You either love me or you hate me but before you toss me aside you may very well change your opinion when you try me with a seafood curry whether it be Thai or Japanese.

Price: $18.95 CDN.

Cellarbility: Drink by 2026-year end.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 92/100.

(East Dell Estates Morgan Vineyard 2022 Black Label Gewurztraminer, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, East Dell Estates, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, 750 mL,12.5%).

RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “The Chef and the Daruma”: The Mind of a Great Chef of Original Japanese Cuisine

In this Canadian documentary we follow the life of Vancouver chef Hidekazu Tojo from his humble and poor beginning in Kagoshima, Japan to his rise to prominence as owner chef of one of Vancouver’s premier Japanese restaurants TOJO’s frequented by the monied classes of the world. A celebrity chef followed like a rock star by celebrities and the wealthy.

Seeking to escape the stifling bureaucracy and rigid traditionalism of restaurants in Japan after his apprenticeship in Osaka in 1971 he emigrated to Canada first working at Maneki one of four established Japanese restaurants in Vancouver preparing traditional Japanese food for predominately Japanese Canadians.

Canada represented a culture shock for Tojo particularly the English language which he has yet to master. But what he has mastered is adapting to Canadian ingredients utilizing trusted fisherman and farmers with sourcing the highest quality fish and produce.

His personal pinnacle of success is understandably pleased diners which is a constant theme encountered with the chefs in Vancouver and Japan we meet in the documentary which shifts seamlessly from Vancouver to Japan.

Somewhat distracting but nonetheless interesting for some is a sideway discussion on the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War for which the Canadian government apologized and offered restitution to living survivors of the internment.

The Daruma doll featured throughout is a round and hollow Japanese doll seen as a talisman of good luck and fortune for many Japanese. Set your goals and colour in one eye and work towards reaching that goal at which point you fill in the other eye. The process is repeated each year as at the end of the year the doll is burnt and with it the gratitude you have imbued it with goes to heaven. A new Daruma then repeats the cycle.

No doubt an interesting documentary focusing on the creative force behind feeding the gullets of the elite quite similar to the documentary “Jiro Loves Sushi”. I prefer the more accessible ramen heaven of Tokyo’s Bizenti with chef Masamato Uedo in the documentary “Come Back Anytime” where the clientele eat superbly simple cuisine at affordable prices.

Directed by Mads Baekewold and screening 16February2025 at the Victoria (British Columbia) Film Festival.

RKS Documentary Film Rating 86/100.

RKS Literature: The Never-Ending Prison Sentences in Stalinist Soviet Union

“Shukov stared at the ceiling and said nothing. He no longer knew whether he wanted to be free or not. To begin with, he’d wanted it very much and counted up every evening how many days he still had to serve. Then he’d gotten fed up with it. And still later it had gradually dawned on him that people like himself were not allowed to go back home but were packed into exile. And there was no knowing where the living was easier-here or there.”

“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 1962.

RKS Literature: Freedom of Speech in the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn)

“The good thing about hard-labor camps is that you have all the freedom in the world to sound off. In Ust-Izhma you’d only have to whisper that people couldn’t buy matches outside and they’d clap another 10 on you. Here you could shout anything you liked from a top bunk and the stoolies wouldn’t report it, because the security officer couldn’t care less.”

“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 1962.  

RKS 2025 Wine: A Chianti Classico: Bring on the Transylvanian Bear Stew!

Aroma: Virtually screaming “Cherry”. Blackberry, milk chocolate and Coachella Valley date.

Palate: Serious stuffing to this wine. Well built in tannins and tight structure suggesting some ageability. The fruit is busting to escape but not just yet fellow. Chery again but kirsch as well. Long ponderous finish with a hint of sour cherry.

Personality: Do you doubt the ability of a Chianti to be big and brash. But not crude like you know who. And if he puts a tariff on Italian wine may that country drown on its fat and lazy Cabernet Sauvignon! Sorry about my Italian pride.

Food Match: Transylvanian bear stew.  If you are tired of Tuscan wild boar stew!

Ageing: Will sail into 2030 at which time lower the sails and start bailing.

Price: $25 CDN.

RKS 2025 Wine Rating: 92/100. Natalie MacLean 91. Wine Spectator 94.

(Clemente VII Chianti Classico 2020, Chianti Classico DOCG, Castelli Del Grevepesa, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Italy, 750 mL, 14%).

RKS 2025 Documentary Film: “Death Without Mercy”: Your Trip to Hell

It was a quiet early 2024 November evening in Thessaloniki, Greece and I was holed up writing reviews for films I had watched at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Thessaloniki has survived many aftershocks but in 1978 the city suffered aftershocks from a 6.5 Richter scale earthquake killing an estimated 49 people. Greece is no stranger to earthquakes.

My chair began to wobble a bit thinking I had caused the jiggle but it was far too solid and I steadily rocked to and fro for what seemed like 7 seconds or so I thought. In these moments you lose your sense of time. There was no fear but an apprehension I could be crushed under a pile of concrete and there was nothing I could do about it. Helpless, minute and very fragile. There was no additional aftershock to follow to this 5.2 quake with an epicentre off the coast.

I rose from my chair having to hold onto the wall like I had been on a ship for a couple of days. Then a few minutes later I started to shake. Shock I suppose. Elsewhere with family relatives they had told me they had three more violent aftershocks.

As minor this incident was I would venture to say when I hear there has been an earthquake I tense up and relive my experience. No, not PTSD. I believe a morose feeling of compassion has set in which is deeper and perhaps more intense than sympathy.

I watched “Death Without Mercy” a documentary about the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that in 2023 struck adjacent parts of Turkey and Syria killing an estimated 60,000 souls.

If you are afraid of a trip to hell on earth, please do not watch nor if you are bashful about crying when watching raw CCTV, phone camera footage and professionally shot footage.

Exhibiting the destructive and deadly power of this earthquake and its grisly and sickening aftermath. I had 43 adjectives noted describing my emotions watching “Death Without Mercy” and at points anger why this dreadful 10 days were filmed and the corrupt, inadequate, inept, greedy and a failure of the Turkish government and the “building industry” to prevent this tragedy.

What is the result of this tragedy? A few arrests. An investigation omitting the Turkish government? A great many in the construction community including those in a shoddy Turkish bureaucracy should have been held accountable.

The filmmakers have made their point and safeguarded much of the dignity of the victims and he living. As for me I hope it moves you from sympathy to compassion for human suffering noting compassion can be unpleasant if not painful.

I will not rate this film. How can you rate a trip to hell.

You may watch the trailer here and it underrepresents the obscene violence you will watch in the documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLdwFuBwG74

Directed by Waad Al-Kateab.

It will be broadcast on 6February2025 on Paramount+ With Showtime, the second anniversary of the earthquake.