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TIFF

Sound of Metal: Deafening Stillness

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Sound of Metal tells the story of Reuben (Riz Ahmed) a heavy metal drummer who hammers out ferocious sets with his girlfriend and bandmate (Olivia Cooke). Committed to his rock and roll lifestyle, Reuben’s world is turned on its head when, all of a sudden, a persistent ringing in his ears worsens until sound drops out altogether. Feeling lost and overwhelmed, Reuben seeks help from a rural group home that provides a community for the hearing impaired. After temporarily moving into the facility, Reuben is forced to re-examine the very core of what defines him as he seeks to move forward in the next chapter of his life. 

Written and directed by Darius Marder, Metal is an energetic but thoughtful piece that grapples with what happens when the things that we feel define who we are suddenly taken away. As his first directing opportunity, Marder (who wrote Place Beyond the Pines) challenges his audience’s perspectives and understandings about deaf culture and the hearing impaired. By playing with the film’s audio in various ways throughout the film, Marder allows the viewer to get the briefest of glimpses into Reuben’s world, revealing how difficult his journey has become. While the entire cast feels invested in the film, it’s Ahmed’s staggering performance as Reuben that carries the piece. As the discombobulated drummer, Ahmed demonstrates his range and courage as an actor, portraying him with a combination of restrained ferocity and humanity. 

Furthermore, the film is a beautiful exploration of the realities and misconceptions surrounding deaf culture. When he first arrives at the compound, Reuben is determined to find an answer for his hearing loss, viewing it as a problem that requires fixing. However, his interactions with the other residents, especially group leader Joe (Paul Raci), reveal a deeper understanding of the world of the hearing impaired. To them, hearing loss isn’t a problem to be fixed but rather a community and way of life worth celebrating. Despite the fact that Reuben feels he has ‘lost’ something, those around him are determined to show him what he has actually gained.

However, Sound of Metal speaks to more than the misunderstandings surround deaf culture and the hearing impaired. At its heart, the film also points to the healing nature of stillness. As Reuben begins to process his new life situation, he attempts to find solutions and fight his ‘illness’ as best he can. However, his most difficult challenge comes from Joe, who orders him to sit and be ‘still’. Though it sounds simple, this assignment is almost insurmountable for the control-driven Reuben. Nevertheless, Joe demands that he continue to try, insisting that it’s in the stillness that Reuben will truly begin to heal his soul. (“It’s in the stillness that the Kingdom of God shows up and it’s those moments that stay with you,” he argues.) As a result, Joe’s assignment points Reuben towards spiritual clarity as a precursor to true healing, as opposed to forcing a solution to his perceived ‘problem’.

Though it may not be one of the highest profile films to come out in 2020, Sound of Metal is far from a mere noisy gong or clanging symbol. Anchored by a potentially Oscar-worthy performance by Riz Ahmed, Metal provides new insight to the beauty of a community of people that rarely find representation onscreen while pointing to the spiritual realities that give life to our souls.

For audio of our conversation with director Darius Marder, click here.

For audio of our conversation with star Paul Raci, click here.

Sound of Metal is in theatres now and will appear on Amazon Prime on Friday, December 4th, 2020.

The New Corporation: The Rise of Social Capitalism

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The more things change, the more they stay the same… or get worse…

In their latest documentary, The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel, filmmakes Joel Bakan and Jennifer Abbott return to explore the underlying issues of corporate greed and how it is currently affecting our lives. The sequel to 2003’s compelling doc The Corporation, Bakan and Abbott have yet again created an enthralling expose regarding the hypocrisy of the modern business mindset.  Whereas the first film explores the legal decisions that allowed business to define themselves as people, the sequel instead sheds light on new social piety embedded within corporate greed and how that is shaping our world. Since their last venture, much has changed in the corporate world with the rise to power of social networks and continuing de-regulations on domestic businesses that have allowed an unprecedented amount of money to be handed to the wealthy. As a result, the gap between rich and poor continuing to widen and civil unrest continues to rise. 

Perhaps the most significant revelation in New Corporation is the evolution of the perception of big business as motivator of social change. Since 2003, corporations such as Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and many more have publicly stated their intent to support and even spearhead reforms on social justice, globalization and the environment. In doing so, their public image continues to improve while they emphasize the financial bottom line behind the scenes. (In one particularly revealing example, Abbott and Bakan point out that, although efforts to improve education in 3rd world countries appear to be benevolent, the work actually brings more money in for the stockholders back home.) With this in mind, New Corporation proves that the underlying message of big business has not changed in the last two decades: profit. Despite their superficial public benevolence, this ‘win-at-all-costs’ mentality continues to drive their decision-making with little care for those who stand in their way, including influencing government policies.

However, in the midst of this, New Corporation also offers a glimmer of hope. Coming at a time when global culture demands genuine social action, the film is also a call for people to become actively involved in affecting change together. This is not a film merely interested in pulling back the cover on corporate greed but rather one that insists that something must be done to prevent it. Though the statistics and financial influence of these companies can seem deafening, Abbott and Bakan remind their audience that their voice still matters. As more and more people enter the political arena and speak out through social movements such as Occupy, there have been ripple effects that have managed to slow or even overturn the power of major businesses. As such, the film serves as a wake-up call to not only increase awareness for the viewer but also invite them to actively participate in the resistance. In this way, there is a pulsating heartbeat of justice that lies at the core of The New Corporation that makes the film essential viewing.

As The New Corporation comes to a close, one cannot help but feel frustrated by the ever-evolving relationship of manipulation between business and consumer. By returning to the world of high-stakes finance, Bakan and Abbott have once again uncovered a story that is as fascinating as much as it is upsetting. As corporations continue to tighten their grip on our lives, the filmmakers understand the importance of their message and prove that, as the title suggests, the film is ‘unfortunately necessary’.

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel is available in select theatres on November 13th, 2020. 

Ammonite: Reigniting the Spark of the Soul

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Set in the 1840s, acclaimed palaeontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) continues her daily search for fossils along the harsh coastline of Lyme Regis. Although she has made significant contributions to the scientific community, she is now largely ignored by the male-dominated historical society and spends her days looking for common fossils to sell to rich tourists. When wealthy visitor Roderick Murchison asks Mary to care for his young wife, Charlotte (Saoirse Ronan) in his absence, she begrudgingly accepts due to her financial needs. However, as Mary and Charlotte spend more time together, their mutual support for one another starts to bring their hearts back to life. As their friendship turns into a passionate love affair, the two women’s lives are irrevocably changed.

Written and directed by Francis Lee (God’s Own Country), Ammonite is a slow burn of smoldering sensuality. Based on the life of Mary Anning but not on true events, the film is an interesting look at a historical context without feeling forced to recreate actual events. As a result, Lee’s film is an intriguing mix of fact and fiction as he manages to tell a story that seems to flesh out the experiences of women during the 19th century yet also maintains his creative license to explore the modern female voice as well.

While period pieces can become tropes unto themselves, the performances in Ammonite help to elevate the film above other more recent examples. Both Ronan and Winslet have genuine chemistry onscreen and each unspoken glance offers more passion than any flurry of poetic words. Both women are excellent together onscreen yet it’s Winslet that is absolutely remarkable as the emotionally stilted Mary. Anchoring the film with her performance, Winslet says few words yet communicates much. Like the fossils that she uncovers, Mary too is frozen in time and requires gentle care to free her soul from her hardened emotional shell. As such, Winslet brings a complicated subtly to the role that reveals both an inner strength and underlying fear.

While the film’s sweeping romance remains the focal point of the narrative, the empowering of women in the midst of a toxically masculine society is telling. Having both been taken advantage by men in different ways, Mary and Charlotte have both been silenced by their culture. Though the effects of Charlotte’s abusive relationship are much more visible, Mary too has been neglected by the male-dominated historical society that features her work. As such, both women have lost their voices at the hands of others. As they begin to carry one another’s burdens, sparks of life begins to resurface within them and their spirits lighten.

photograph by Agatha A. Nitecka/RÅN studio

While Ammonite uses this spiritual resurgence to emphasize their sweeping romance, the joy that stems from feeling heard and seen by another is far more important. By highlighting the healing power of relationships, the film serves as a reminder of the value of each human soul and how easily they can be trampled on by the ignorant and selfish. Then, when their sexual journey finally comes together, their affair stems not merely from some base, animal attraction but from the fact that both women have empowered one another in ways that have restored their souls. In this way, Ammonite recognizes that genuine intimacy and mutual support is far more life-giving than raw physical attraction and celebrates the spiritual spark that such relationships bring.

While the film may not be for everyone, there is something poignant about Ammonite that stays with the viewer after the film is complete. As Mary and Charlotte’s relationship blossoms, their love carries an intimate beauty that is often missing from today’s romance films. Like each fossil that the women, Lee shows the viewer that the heart can be restored once again, even when it has been embedded in the muck and mire.

Ammonite is in select theatres now and will be available on VOD in early December. 

SPLINTERS: Struggling with Our Self

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Sofia Banzhaf in Splinters (2018)

Upon the death of her Father, Belle (Sofia Banzhaf) returns to her childhood home in gorgeous rural Nova Scotia after seven months away and is forced to face her past, including an antagonistic Mother, Nancy (Shelley Thompson).

This film is largely to do with sexual identity. Belle had previously gone through the process of coming out to her family, and although they were not particularly accepting, they were used to the fact that she chose to be with women. When living in the city, it seems as though Belle was comfortable in her own skin and confident in who she is, but when she returns to her small town, she seems to struggle with hiding her true self.

During this visit home, we learn that Belle is hiding the fact that she is in a heterosexual relationship with a man, Rob (Callum Dunphy). It’s clear she doesn’t want to give her mother the satisfaction of knowing this information. And I think Belle understood the importance of not making this visit about her, given her father’s death.

We see a lot of small town small-mindedness in this film, particularly in terms of homosexuality. When Rob comes to visit and is introduced as Belle’s “friend,” and despite not knowing that they are already together, Belle’s mother tries to convince Belle to date Rob so she can “fix it,” her sexuality. During a later discussion with Belle, Rob calls Belle “straight.” When Belle corrects him and says that she isn’t, he says “you are right now.” Even though Rob isn’t from the small town, and he seems accepting of Belle, he still seems to have a small-minded view of her sexuality.

There was also a very intriguing flashback scene where Belle remembers her father’s reaction to her coming out to him. He admitted that he and Belle’s mother were bigots: “We’d be bored if the world was full of people we approved of.” But he tells Belle she doesn’t need to be afraid of it and to be braver than him.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Belle’s brother, Greg (Bailey Maughan).  He added a much needed touch of comedy to this heavy film.  He felt like an authentic Canadian young man who is coming to terms with the death of his father and navigating through becoming the man of the house.

Image result for splinters movie 2018

We see a lot of attempts at navigating their new family dynamic. Not only is Belle navigating her own personal struggles amidst this tragedy, but Nancy is struggling with how to do life alone without her partner. She is forced to navigate a new found independence and even has to learn how to pay the bills.

During the post-funeral gathering back at the house, we are welcomed into a Maritimes singalong, a heartfelt and heartwrenching scene where attendees gather and sing modern folk in memoriam. This scene was so organic I forgot I was watching fiction. It will give you chills and immediately make you research Stewart Legere, a beloved Halifax artist who not only contributed the score to the film, but appeared in various scenes.

Originally a stage play written by Lee-Anne Poole, director (and writer of the screenplay) Thom Fitzgerald executed the transition to screen well. He kept the setting centered around the kitchen (as would be the case on stage) but balances it well with other rooms, their farm, and the beautiful Nova Scotian landscapes.

Cinematically, one of my favorite parts of the film were the flashbacks/memories. They were interspersed in the scenes so we experienced them just as Belle was. We see her Father lifting young Belle on his shoulder to pick apples from their orchard, her Father cutting wood and fixing a car. It was very special.

To hear my interview with Sofia Banzhaf and Thom Fitzgerald at TIFF, click here.

Trickster: Opening our Spiritual Eyes

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Adapted from Eden Robinson’s 2017 novel, Son of a Trickster, CBC’s new series Trickster follows Jared (Joel Oulette), an Indigenous teen who lives his life from one disaster to the next. Whether he’s dealing with his wild-child mother (Crystle Lightning) or supporting his father (Craig Lauzon), Jared struggles to get through the day, especially financially. When his part-time job selling drugs comes to an end, he feels lost within his own unstable, yet familiar, life. After he meets a mysterious stranger, Jared’s world is shaken as he begins to see talking ravens and doppelgangers. At first, Jared is able to write them off as wild, drug-induced hallucinations. However, as he explores the meaning of his visions, Jared soon discovers that the answer may lie in a tradition that he has long ignored.

Directed by Michelle Latimer (ALIAS), Trickster is a dark and mysterious ride through mythology as it collides with the modern era. While the series falls neatly into the ‘supernatural sub-genre’ made popular by True Blood, Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and, to a lesser extent, Riverdale, Trickster‘s style and celebration of Indigenous culture keep the series fresh and engaging. Through her use of colour and tone, Latimer visually interweaves the mundane with the mystical, seemlessly blending the interaction between them. Featuring solid work by its entire cast, the series also crafts some truly unique characters that bring the world to life. (Crystle Lightning, in particular, is an absolute joy to watch as Jared’s free-wheeling but loving mother.)

As Jared and his family struggle through their daily lives, the spiritual underpinnings of First Nations culture simmer below the surface of the community. Lost in a sea of unpaid debts and addictions, the characters of this world are primarily focused on survival. Consumed by banality, each day blends into the next as hope for something better has long since eluded them. In essence, this is a world where people never seem to change and lives remain frozen in time and place.

As a result of this static culture, however, the impact of these new spiritual revelations becomes all the more jarring. For example, though Jared seems lost as the mystery unspools, his world also becomes larger. Having been confined by the borders of his local neighbourhood his entire life, he begins to see that what he has known is merely one piece of a larger mystical fabric and his worldview begins to shift. In other words, Jared’s journey to discover the broader spiritual realities of his world opens his eyes in such a way as to recognize that there are aspects to his world that were unknown to him. As such, Trickster not only unravels its own mystery but unlocks a much deeper spiritual heritage that alters the way its characters understand the world. 

While unbelievable to many, the realities of the mythological world affect them all.

In this way, Latimer has created a world that intrigues as well as challenges. Fun and mysterious, Trickster is an entertaining ride that draws you in through its premise but entices you to stay through its strong characters and storytelling. What’s more, while it thrives in its celebration of Indigenous traditions and folklore, it also serves as a humbling reminder of what can be lost when we misjudge our own place within the universe.

Trickster premieres Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 9:00pm.

Wrestling with Relationships: 1on1 with Zach Woods (DAVID)

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It’s always hard to navigate family relationships… but when our home life collides with the work world, things can become even murkier.

This tension between the professional and domestic worlds is the basis of David, the new short film written and directed by Zach Woods. Best known for his work on comedies such as Silicon Valley, The Office, and Avenue 5, David puts Woods in the director’s chair for the first time and tells the story of a therapist (Will Ferrell) who is struggling to find the balance between work and life. In the midst of a session with depressed patient, David (William Jackson Harper), Ferrell’s son David (Fred Hechinger) arrives and demands that his father leave work to attend his big wrestling match. As the two men argue about priorities, personal and professional relationships collide and Ferrell’s character must navigate which is most important to attend to in that moment. 

Because his father worked as a counsellor, Woods has a unique perspective on the experience that he brought to the script. On a deeper level though, his interest for the piece lay in exploring the messiness of human relationships.

“In real life, my father’s a therapist, so I’m familiar with that setting,” Woods begins. “My relationship with my dad isn’t really anything like the one in the movie and I obviously I’ve never wrestled before. (If I had wrestled, I would still be in traction, even if I did it in high school. [laughs]) I think that I’ve always thought therapists’ offices were kind of interesting situations and sort of the myth of the therapist’s complete lack of means. Therapy is so based on this sort of fiction that the caretaking dynamics only flow one way. I just think that’s so interesting when the therapist’s humanity comes leaking in through the pipe, basically.” 

“More broadly, I guess I’m really interested in messiness, basically, and how, in order to be close to people, you have to endure messiness like your own and theirs. At a time when there’s so many fantasies of perfectibility, when we’re constantly sort of performing our lives for each other in these ways that feel slightly disingenuous sometimes, the idea of three people having to negotiate their respective messes and figure out how everyone can get fed in the way that they need was interesting to me, I guess.”

As a director, it can always be a challenge to get the best out of your cast. However, as his first time behind the camera, one might expect that Woods would be even more nervous. However, Woods explains that his experience was quite the opposite as each cast member was ready to engage the material fully from the outset.

“Surprisingly, it really wasn’t [hard to work with them],” he marvels. “I think it’s because they were so gracious and generous with their talent and their time and beyond that, just showing up. There’s way in which, as an actor, you can show up physically, but not spiritually. You can be there in body, but not in spirit and that’s almost worse than just not doing it in the first place. There’s like sort of two levels of commitment. When someone signs on for a project, there’s something where they say, ‘I will be at this place at this time’. Then, there’s the other much more daunting form of commitment, which is to show up with your whole heart. When somebody does that, it’s infectious. If I am there and I’m vulnerable and really invested and you’re acting across from me, that gives you permission to then be equally exposed. But it’s kind of like someone has to take the first leap. It’s like skinny dipping or something. Someone has to run into the water first. Sometimes, on set, it can take days of waiting for people to run into the water. In this case, it was like all three of them were charging for the water from the get-go. From a director’s perspective, that is a gift.” 

Central to the film is Ferrell’s therapist who finds himself caught between his love for his family and his commitment to his patients. Reflecting on the complexity of these relationships, Wood believes that the core of these relationships remains a healthy form of supportive love.

“I think [relationships are] really complicated. I think, with good therapists, love sort of is the active ingredient. Not love that’s boundary breaking but, I think that the therapists I’ve had who have helped me in my life, a lot of it has been [due to] their insight, expertise and clinical perspective, but a lot of it has just been [due to my] feeling cared about. I think that’s a real relationship. It’s not really transactional. If someone goes to a therapist for help and the therapist is trying to help them, I think that’s a deeply human connection. So, it’s tricky when your family shows up and you also hopefully have a deeper human connection with them too.” 

With this in mind, Woods believes that one of the great challenges of human relationships is one’s ability to understand the world from another’s perspective. As we attempt to empathize with one another’s struggles, he believes that there are many who struggle with a deep-seeded fear that to do so may somehow result in the value of their views getting lost in the process.

“Sometimes I think there’s an attitude of empathy that you have a finite amount (and maybe you do). I hope you don’t,” Woods posits. “I hope empathy just grows on itself. But I think that sometimes it feels like, ‘if I empathize with you, no one’s going to empathize with me’ or if I empathize with that person, then I won’t empathize with the person they hurt. It’s like you have an empathy allowance that has to be budgeted carefully and I think that makes people sort of… cautious, at least about stepping outside of their own perspective because they’re scared. They’re like, if I care about you, is anyone going to care about me? If I think about it from your perspective, will my perspective get completely disappeared in the process?” 

“I think it’s a huge leap of faith. That’s also why wrestling was the metaphor for me. Boxing is so beautiful and elegant to me (almost like a ballet) and wrestling, I always thought was just two guys on the floor, grunting and rolling around. It’s so messy and inelegant looking from a layman’s perspective. I think that’s more akin to my experience of being close to people, which is just like struggling, sweating and smashing your face into someone else’s back [as you] try to figure out how to exist together and not to get pushed out of the ring, basically. It’s a little bit of a bloody business, but I think it’s worth it.”

In this particular scenario, all three characters have complex motivations that affect their relationships with one another in any number of ways. Asked if there’s a character that he connects with the most, Woods argues that there’s a part of him that has related to each of them at different various of his life.

“[I connect with] all three of them.,” he explains. “I’ve felt like the therapist before in my life where I [had] the feeling of [that] I’m doing my best and it’s not enough. The panic of being yourself, coming up short with a loved one and not knowing how to do better and feeling the shame and rage of that. I felt that before. But the patient feeling so identified with his own fragility. he’s saying like, ‘I’m starting to think maybe this isn’t a failure. This is who I am.’ I think trying to separate from your own misery is challenging and I’ve struggled with that before… The son, I know I can relate to the idea of I’m not leaving here until I get the connections. I’m down for the fight and I’m not going anywhere. Maybe you’ve said there’s not enough go around, but there has to be enough to go around.” 

“I think language can be a maze as much as it’s a bridge, right?,” he continues. “It can separate us as much as it can connect us. For example, the therapist [in David] says that whole thing about [how] you can say something and it releases a toxin into their ecosystem of the relationship and blah, blah, blah. It all sounds very pretty and sort of eloquent in a brutal way, but a truthful one. Then, it’s one of my favorite moments is because of… the way William Jackson Harper listens and says ‘Is that true?’. It’s not accusatory or anything. He’s just kind of skeptical because it doesn’t ring true. Then he stands up and he holds him. At a certain point, language is a little bit of a crude tool for the task at hand and you have to just touch people… So, I think that I found [that feeling] very relatable. It’s coming to the end of language’s utility and needing other tools.” 

Tightly written and performed, David is an entertaining but poignant piece that deserves its day in the sun. However, unlike feature-length films, it can be a challenge getting shorts in front of an audience. Even so, Woods is excited about the response to David and remains optimistic that others will get their chance to see it.

“[The film] got chosen for Cannes, which then got canceled, but then I heard whispers about maybe there’s they’re actually are going to try to do something… So, they’re selling it to various tv stations in Europe and festivals. It’s just the festival route. Then, I hopefully we’ll find a way to get it to the widest possible audience. Like anything you want people to see the stuff that you care about.” 

David premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is touring festivals now.

TIFF20: Black Bodies

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Directed by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, Black Bodies is a short film on what it currently means to be black in America. Told through spoken word, the viewer experiences the major issues affecting the black community as a result of centuries of systemic discrimination, including police brutality and the disadvantages they have solely based on the colour of their skin. As a result, Black Bodies is a powerful film with a strong message that could not have been timed better.

Set in what appears to be a small prison complex, surrounded by murdered black bodies, the film immerses the viewer in the uncomfortable feeling of what it’s like to be Black. The spoken words describe the centuries of oppression brought on by their ancestors’ slavery at the hands of their white slave owners. Despite being “freed” not too long ago, it is no secret that black people still feel powerless and are still oppressed due to racist governing powers like the police. The film ends on a strong message, as the poet gets shot and a black woman is left powerless to help.

These intense visuals show not only the lack of power black people feel that they have, as but also how accustomed to pervasive racism and police brutality the community has become. Living in a society embedded with systemic racism, some members of the black community have accepted their place as a lower-class citizen and simply accepted they will be treated, not only less important than white people, but even human garbage due to the color of their skin. Black Bodies also shows the absurd amount of power police officers have in America, with a ‘license to kill, with no repercussions’.

Personally, I enjoyed Black Bodies greatly as it definitely felt much needed at this time. Over the course of this summer, we have seen many riots for police brutality on Black Americans. Highlighting the fear and how unsafe it is to be black in America, the film sums up some of this year’s major events, including Breonna Taylor’s murder in her sleep and Eric Garner’s famous last words, ‘I can’t breathe’. The film’s last scene also brings up how the “Black Lives Matter” movement current feels within the general public. Much like the woman who leaves the poet after mourning, Black Lives Matter feels like it’s lost momentum. After not being able to defund the police, they have accepted the racial system in place and unfortunately lost hope, even from its own communities.

Overall, Black Bodies is able to express the incredible struggle of how it feels to be Black in America. Highlighting the history of systemic racism on the Black community and how it’s still affecting black Americans to this day, Bodies is an effective piece that offers perspective to anyone who doesn’t understand the current Black Lives Matter movement and why it is so necessary.

TIFF20: 76 Days

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At a time when everyone is looking for answers, it can be frustrating when you don’t get the ones you’re looking for.

Thankfully, 76 Days is a reminder that we may be asking the wrong questions.

Directed by the team of Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous, 76 Days captures the madness surrounding the onset of this year’s global pandemic in Wuhan, China. As ground zero of the COVID-19 outbreak, Wuhan was thrown into chaos, forcing the government to put the city of 11 million people into a lockdown that lasted 76 days. As hospitals began to fill and panic gripped the infected, health care professionals worked long hours in dangerous conditions in an uphill battle against the mysterious and deadly epidemic.

Some may be surprised—or even disappointed—to know that 76 Days neither offers any new insight into the creation of the virus nor does it discuss any of the global effects of the pandemic. But what it does offer is far more compelling. Instead of investigating facts and data, 76 Days shows the utter terror on the ground of Wuhan at the time of lockdown. Patients demanding care at the hospital entrance are reminiscent of the chaos of a zombie apocalypse film. Hospital workers seal themselves into PPE gear with duct tape to prevent their exposure. With each new infection, tensions continue to rise as doctors and nurses scramble wildly to care for a mysterious virus that they know very little about.

In taking this approach, 76 Days may not address the harsh truths that so many are asking for. Instead, it presents the pandemic in a way that feels more personal and intimate. By not emphasizing issues of blame or painting wild conspiracy theories, 76 Days is freed up to honour the people of Wuhan that fought so hard for the sake of their people. Like so many health care professionals around the world, these staff worked tirelessly in extreme conditions to give proper treatment to their sick. 

Admittedly, for many people in the West, Wuhan may have seemed like little more than name on a map prior to these events. In this way, 76 Days reminds the viewer that whether or not the virus originated in Wuhan is irrelevant. The people of Wuhan have had their lives upended by COVID like all of the rest of us. 

As we all know, COVID does not differentiate.

Following stories of a couple separated from their newborn daughter, an elderly man who simply wants to go home and a grandmother who takes a turn for the worse, the film highlights the stories that connect us all. Like us all, these are not merely statistics but people with families who love them. 

People who matter.

76 Days lasers in on local wards and lets the stories of both the professionals and the infected take centre stage. As everyone struggles to suppress an outbreak that has begun to grip the world, we are reminded of the value of all human life and how fragile it truly can be. Powerful and poignant, 76 Days takes an event that has shaken the world and highlights the damages that have been caused to a very small percentage of families. In doing so, though the narrative may zero in on a few small stories, we understand that these same stories could be (or have been) our own.

76 Days is currently streaming on the TIFF Bell Digital Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival.

TIFF20: One Night in Miami

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One Night in Miami' Review: Regina King's Vibrant Directorial Debut | IndieWire

Regina King flexes her incredible directorial skills for the first time in a feature film by bringing the stage play, One Night in Miami by Kemp Powers, to the big screen (or little screen, as it were).

One Night in Miami is a fictional take on a meeting between real life friends, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) as they celebrate Clay’s title victory in 1964.

When these four men are in a room alone together it sparks deep and passionate conversations about faith, civil rights, racism, and freedom.  As this was a stage play, we are blessed with numerous impressive monologues from each character.  This is an extremely emotionally driven piece and it certainly compares their world in 1964 to ours in 2020.

One Night in Miami is a very impressive film that is not only entertaining but extremely relevant and important.  Each performance was incredible and the cast had great chemistry on screen.  (In fact, from the footage I have seen of these men in real life, the acting was spot on.)  You believed their friendship but you also believed their disagreements.  And perhaps we can take a note from these men in the way that they support each other, yet don’t hesitate to call it out when there’s an issue and a potential for growth.

One Night in Miami is currently streaming at the Bell TIFF Cinema as part of the Toronto International Film Festival.

TIFF20: I Care a Lot

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I Care a Lot follows Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike), a highly successful legal guardian who takes responsibility for the elderly and then exploits them for their vast fortunes. Sensing a huge potential windfall, she takes on a seemingly innocent new client named Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), immediately placing her in a nursing facility and strips her of her financial assets. However, when Jennifer’s ruthless benefactor Roman (Peter Dinklage) hears of her plight, Marla and her partner (Eiza Gonzalez) must go to war to protect their investments and potentially, save their lives.

Written and directed by J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed), I Care a Lot is an energetic dark comedy that commits to its wicked machinations and never looks back. Bursting with fire and entertaining from start to finish, Blakeson’s script pops with devilish glee as it highlights the malicious nature of corporate greed at the expense of the poor and oppressed. 

By unleashing its inner darkness, I Care allows greed to become the soul of Darwinian business practices. Ferociously attacking each other’s livelihood, both Marla and Roman exemplify the very nature of ‘survival of the fittest’. 

Though the heart of I Care a Lot may sound bleak, the film’s style and enthusiasm are hard to resist. Featuring solid performances across the board and a brutally fun script, Blakeson’s film breathes satirical fire that demands attention. As the stakes continue to rise and the inner darkness of his characters is unleashed in all its fury, Blakeson never loses sight of the damages caused by their carelessness.

Even if they seem completely unaware.

I Care a Lot is currently streaming on the TIFF Bell Digital Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival.