The 2021 Inside Out Toronto LGBTQ Film Festival features many “LGBTQ” films one of which is “Being Thunder”. The promo material indicates the documentary is about Sherenté Harris, a two-sprit genderqueer teenager from the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island in the United States as she “boldly challenges the status quo of what it means toContinue reading ““Being Thunder”: Sometimes Interesting But Mostly Meandering: 2021 Inside Out Film Festival”
Category Archives: film
“Thunderbird”: A Complex Film Packing a Wallop and Leaving Tantalizing Questions Unanswered
The last 6 minutes of the film will leave your head spinning and if you are looking for a clean resolution of the conflict and mystery it as if you are being taunted to use your imagination to glue together the pieces. This is solid and complex filmmaking and aside from a few awkward linesContinue reading ““Thunderbird”: A Complex Film Packing a Wallop and Leaving Tantalizing Questions Unanswered”
“Undine”: A German Wet and Wonderful Mythological Romantic Film Winner
I have seen some awfully good German films in the past few years and I will count “Undine” amongst one of them. It reminded me of “Shape of Water” due to the mysticism of both those films. However there is some real lore in “Undine”. According to European mythology Undine is a water nymph whoContinue reading ““Undine”: A German Wet and Wonderful Mythological Romantic Film Winner”
“Jenny”: Classic Greek 1960’s film shows beautiful lampooning ahead of its time
A couple of years ago in Greece I had to spend a couple of months taking care of certain estate matters. I was on Samos, a beautiful mountainous island, very close to Turkey. We were staying in Samos City as it is called but the locals call it by its old name Vathi. Vathi was,Continue reading ““Jenny”: Classic Greek 1960’s film shows beautiful lampooning ahead of its time”
“Lost Contact”: Autistics as Aliens?
I encountered Jaina Kalifa’s film “Happy Android” as a short at Toronto Hot Docs Festival in 2019 and it was a simple uplifting story about a mentally distraught man creating a robot costume and trundling about making so many people, particularly children, happy. How could this be? A near “social reject” making people who mightContinue reading ““Lost Contact”: Autistics as Aliens?”
A Modern Greek Tragedy Both Human and Societal: “City of Children”
The Greek Film “City of Children” presents the viewer with a multitude of tragedies. There is nothing like a tragedy to make one feel like a fool for wasted time and bad decisions. There are four couples in the film and pregnancy is ostensibly the main theme but perhaps very subtly the bigger tragedy isContinue reading “A Modern Greek Tragedy Both Human and Societal: “City of Children””
“Coral Ghosts”: Stunning photography but a sad story
Toronto Filmmaker Andrew Nisker’s “Coral Ghosts” presents the viewer with stunning cinematography but a tragic story about the death of the world’s coral reefs. Coral is a living organism and as it is extremely sensitive to increases in water temperatures it is “bleaching out” and dying. With its death the ecosystem that inhabits these reefs isContinue reading ““Coral Ghosts”: Stunning photography but a sad story”
“Taken by the Muse”: On the Path of Becoming a Filmmaker”: Seemingly random events shaping your life
Anne Wheeler is perhaps best known as an Albertan documentarian and filmmaker. In the narrow sense this book is a chronicle of several life events in the 1970’s that shaped her into the filmmaker that she is. However in a more expansive sense it a universal story about certain events in our life that shapeContinue reading ““Taken by the Muse”: On the Path of Becoming a Filmmaker”: Seemingly random events shaping your life”
“Amityville Poltergeist”: Where is the horror?
Here’s a typical horror movie with perhaps a twist which might be totally out in leftfield but when you make a movie be prepared for possible multiple interpretations. Quickly then to the plot. After losing his mother to cancer Jim (Parris Bates) moves out of town leaving his father and sister behind. He hangs withContinue reading ““Amityville Poltergeist”: Where is the horror?”
“Moby Doc”: The Highs and the Lows
This is an autobiographical documentary featuring musician Moby who started with punk and moved to electro. He had a miserable childhood with an alcoholic father who died when Moby was a tot. The parents were arguing incessantly. His only solace were his pets and then music as he took to playing a guitar one ofContinue reading ““Moby Doc”: The Highs and the Lows”
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