My Week in Film: June 18, 2012: Cosmopolis

Image: Robert Pattinson and Kevin Durand star in COSMOPOLIS. Courtesy of eOne Films

This week I trekked out to the theatre to see our Book to Film Club selection of Cosmopolis (dir: David Cronenberg, Canada/France/Italy/Portugal/2012), and I now remember that a strong reason I picked it was to have a Canadian film included in the Book to Film Club and this was our first! Yay for that! Sadly, I didn't overly love the book by Don DeLillo as I couldn't connect to or believe in the protagonist Eric, played in the film by Robert Pattinson. He's introduced as rich, smart and with a staff so trained to respond to his every whim. Personally, I don't find that very interesting, and I didn't believe either the richness nor the intelligence of the character. Both the richness and intelligence were displayed, especially in the effects of, but I didn't believe it. I did find that it felt pretentious, which I had to look up to ensure it met the definition and "making claims to excellence or importance" and "doing things for show" both really describe the character, and the themes of the film. So left with not believing in the character, you are pretty much left with enjoying this 'near future' world, which again didn't quite read for me but baring that I was hoping with a cast that includes Juliette Binoche, Kevin Durand, Sarah Gadon, Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton and Jay Baruchel I would at least be in for some good acting. And there was some, but only some.

For those who may not know, I'm a big fan of Twilight and have been impressed with Rob in other films including Little Ashes and his supporting role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I think he's really got potential for acting but worry that due to his stardom the trajectories he can take don't match a normal learning curve, so he can be pretty much thrown to the wolves. In Cosmopolis, I felt that he is thrown to the wolves but from the structure of the film that parses out to many different conversations, often only with one other person, it's like many small battles as opposed to one big fight. The fight analogy is only in winning over the audience though, as it's how well the two people on screen work together that is going to win the audience over. I was won over by Samantha Morton the most, and it was strange because in a lot of what her character says is the most 'out there', yet I understood it and more importantly I felt that she understood it. If she wasn't in the film, I think I would have come away feeling very disappointed, but with her there I felt like I did walk away with something. I also enjoyed Kevin Durand as Eric's bodyguard/chief of security, although there wasn't much different in the various conversations in the film. The dialogue often felt like it was suppose to be very meaningful and insightful, yet I almost never felt it and on the flip side the there was so much flinging about in the limited space provided it really gave the impression of trying hard to be really interesting. But without impact on dialogue, this really felt like they were just making up for it.

I can sense the spirit of the book and the film are to engage the mind and tantalize the senses, and if people have that experience I am really happy for them. I know there are other films where I am right there with the character, nodding along in their challenges and cheering for them to take on and go for it, but I didn't feel that way about Cosmopolis. I felt pretty quickly that I wasn't the target audience because I didn't care about the characters. And if I don't care, then I'm barely there. It does feel trademark Cronenberg with the intellectual themes and speckled with visceral body craziness, so if that's what you are hoping for then Cosmopolis is one for you.

I saw Cosmopolis here in Toronto at the Varsity after it's June 8, 2012 wide release. For international release dates check here, although no US release date is noted I've 'heard' of August 2012 is when to expect if from several sources.

See also my Cosmopolis vlog review & Cosmopolis podcast review.

I'm excited to share that my vlog review of Cosmopolis has quickly become my most viewed video over at the Movie Moxie YouTube Channel. I do wish that had happened with a film I enjoyed more, but alas, that too could still happen.

Up next: Prometheus. I have actually now seen Prometheus but I need more than 24 hours to digest and relay my thoughts on it. I'll be reviewing it in vlog and podcast format this Friday June 22, 2012 as will write about it with next weeks My Week In Film post.


Image: Robert Pattinson and Sarah Gadon in COSMOPOLIS. Photo credit Caitlin Cronenberg Courtesy of eOne Films


Me seeing Cosmopolis!

32nd Genie Winners

The 32nd Genie Award were tonight and Monsieur Lazhar wins top honours of the night going home with 6 awards including Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Directing, Adapted Screenplay, Editing and 2 acting awards for FELLAG for Actor in a Leading Role and SOPHIE NÉLISSE for Actress in a Supporting Role. A Dangerous Method also went home with a hefty set of statues with winning including art direction, score, sound and sound editing plus Actor in a Supporting Role to Viggo Mortensen who wrapped his Genie in a Montreal Canadiens Flag, which was the highlight of the broadcast (although the meta-Andrea Martin non-co-hosting skit was pretty funny). I was a little surprized that the leading out of the gate film Café de Flore which was nominated for a whopping 13 films only won 3 awards but I think goes to show just how strong the competition was this year.

I can't forget to mention that the broadcast had actual on-stage figure skating to the nominated songs. When George Stroumboulopoulos said that, I really though he was pulling our legs. But no, there was lots of leg extension and figure skating. That's a first.

And with that - congratulations to the winners! Let's have a look at them now. They are listed in the order in which they were presented on the live broadcast (best motion picture) plus remaining awards.

32nd Genie Winners

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION MASCULINE DANS UN RÔLE DE SOUTIEN
VIGGO MORTENSEN - A Dangerous Method

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION FÉMININE DANS UN RÔLE DE SOUTIEN
SOPHIE NÉLISSE - Monsieur Lazhar

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION FÉMININE DANS UN PREMIER RÔLE
VANESSA PARADIS - Café de Flore

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION MASCULINE DANS UN PREMIER RÔLE
FELLAG - Monsieur Lazhar

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION / MEILLEURE RÉALISATION
PHILIPPE FALARDEAU - Monsieur Lazhar

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG / MEILLEURE CHANSON ORIGINALE
CAROLE FACAL - Starbuck - Quelque part

BEST MOTION PICTURE / MEILLEUR FILM
MONSIEUR LAZHAR - Luc Déry, Kim McCraw

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN / MEILLEURE DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE
JAMES MCATEER - A Dangerous Method

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY / MEILLEURES IMAGES
JEAN-FRANÇOIS LORD - Snow & Ashes

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN / MEILLEURS COSTUMES
MARIE-CHANTALE VAILLANCOURT - Funkytown

ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING / MEILLEUR MONTAGE
STÉPHANE LAFLEUR - Monsieur Lazhar

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP / MEILLEURS MAQUILLAGES
CHRISTIANE FATTORI, FRÉDÉRIC MARIN - Café de Flore

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE / MEILLEURE MUSIQUE ORIGINALE
HOWARD SHORE - A Dangerous Method

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY / MEILLEUR SCÉNARIO
KEN SCOTT, MARTIN PETIT - Starbuck

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY / MEILLEURE ADAPTATION
PHILIPPE FALARDEAU - Monsieur Lazhar

ACHIEVEMENT IN OVERALL SOUND / MEILLEUR SON D'ENSEMBLE
OREST SUSHKO, CHRISTIAN COOKE, JACK HEEREN, REINHARD STERGAR, DON WHITE – A Dangerous Method

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING / MEILLEUR MONTAGE SONORE
WAYNE GRIFFIN, ROB BERTOLA, TONY CURRIE, ALASTAIR GRAY, ANDY MALCOLM, MICHAEL O'FARRELL - A Dangerous Method

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS / MEILLEURS EFFETS VISUELS
MARC CÔTÉ, STÉPHANIE BROUSSAUD, GARY CHUNTZ, VINCENT DUDOUET, CYNTHIA MOUROU, ERIC NORMANDIN, MARTIN PENSA, LUC SANFAÇON, SYLVAIN THÉROUX, NATHALIE TREMBLAY - Café de Flore

BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY / MEILLEUR LONG MÉTRAGE DOCUMENTAIRE
LA NUIT, ELLES DANSENT / AT NIGHT, THEY DANCE - Lucie Lambert, Isabelle Lavigne, Stéphane Thibault

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE DOCUMENTAIRE
SIRMILIK - Zacharias Kunuk, Joel McConvey, Kristina McLaughlin, Kevin McMahon, Michael McMahon, Geoff Morrison, Ryan J. Noth

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT DRAMA / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE DRAMATIQUE
DOUBLES WITH SLIGHT PEPPER - Ian Harnarine, Ryan Silbert

BEST ANIMATED SHORT / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE D'ANIMATION
ROMANCE - Georges Schwizgebel, René Chénier, Marc Bertrand

SPECIAL AWARDS

CLAUDE JUTRA AWARD / PRIX CLAUDE-JUTRA
Anne Émond - Nuit #1

CINEPLEX GOLDEN REEL AWARD / Prix de la Bobine d'Or Cineplex
STARBUCK – Producer: André Rouleau (Distributed by Les Films Christal in partnership with Entertainment One).

The 32nd Genie Awards were broadcasted on Thursday March 8, 2012 at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Television.

The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom (DVD Review)

Writer/Dir: Tara Johns - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Macha Grenon, Julia Stone, Gil Bellows, Rebecca Croll, Trevor Hayes and the voice of Dolly Parton
Canada, 2011

Reason to see: Canadian & coming of age film is a yes/yes for me!

I’ve been aching to see The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom ever since it released here in Toronto almost a year ago, as I’ve realized I love the genre and we’ve had a really great run of young coming of age films recent that truly speak to and of the experience of young girls and women. It’s so refreshing to see moments of young girls depicted with an true, emotional resonance. The awkward stages of life, the changing wave of friendships during puberty, the realness of life and how the whole world of emotions that surface with fierce intensity at a time that can often be shown as just fun and games. Those of us that go through it know better, and it’s shown bravely in The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom.

I adored this film. It’s a Canadian film set in the early 1970’s about a girl who thinks Dolly Parton could be her mom. It really has the very young coming of age vibe perfectly, and I love when films get that right (see also Grown Up Movie Star). There is always a kitsch appeal for films set in the 60s and 70s and even now in the 80s and it’s lovely to see them get the time period so well in an earnest in true sense over flamboyant flavour appeal. The film actually makes interesting commentary on style and changing of the times in a way I’ve not seen before, which was very impressive.

The emotional journey of young protagonist Elizabeth (Julia Stone) is where the film really hits home, her struggle, her searching and her creating her possible past to make sense of her present self is a beautiful and often heart breaking story to see. She’s a great character, both unique and accessible, whom we live with and thrugh during the film. I loved many of the characters in the film, including her Phil (Gil Bellows in another fantastic performance) and Marion (Macha Grenon completely wowed me), and I especially loved the Stella (Rebecca Croll), the free-thinking, feminist hairdresser/friends mom who lives across the street. Who couldn’t love Stella? We all need a Stella in our lives, she was fantastic.

The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom was a complete treat. I’ve really come to cherish seeing young female protagonist stories, especially when they are journey film like this with have strong acting and interesting characters. It felt so real. Beautiful & daring, I highly recommend it.

DVD Extras:
Trailer

The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom is available on DVD as of January 24, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I loved it
I'll watch it again
I highly recommend it

Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews

Also see my review of The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:


© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Moon Point

Dir: Sean Cisterna - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Nick McKinlay, Paula Brancati, Kyle Mac, Kristen Gutoskie
Canada, 2012

Reason to see: Canadian comedies are always films I want to see

Moon Point is a quirky Canadian comedy, and for folks that don’t watch a lot of or any Canadian film it might be hard to explain, but a clear way to say it is that it has beautiful blend of comedy and quirkiness Canadian films do so well with spunk, a cast of great characters and a lot of fun.

I love the humour in this film, it was quite cutting and for me it might be more cutting than I normally take but there was a real humanity to it. It follows Darryl (Nick McKinlay) who decides to go on a journey to see his grade school sweetheart who is starring in an upcoming horror movie in Moon Point, and for the travel there he decides to take his friend Femur in his electric wheelchair. That is one heck of a travel to try and rekindle grade 5 loves! I love journey films, they always hold a special place in my heart and this one really had that beautiful blend of not only the quirkiness and Canadian-ness but also a nice blend of comedy, realness and humanity; and there was also an interesting theme in the film about being a jerk. Because, the main character is not the nicest guy and even though he gets kind of piled on for that and he pushes back on it; but it always felt real, and very timely and I really enjoyed that for some reason which feels completely bizarre to say. I don’t see that many comedies but this one really got me. There was a real sweetness in terms of layered nostalgia with this depiction of how people were when you used to know them, and how life was ‘then’ and will it be like that if you see them ‘now’, what would it be like, and then also even the question of why you would think back to your past when you are living your life today. That was interesting question theme in the film too, about if you are living in the moment or not, and even when you think about it the past is created so quickly so even though we are always in the ‘now’, it will eventually come ‘then’. I liked that aspect of the film, the kind of back and forth nature of it.

The cast is really good in Moon Point, I thought Nick McKinlay was great as Darryl, who really is kind of a jerk but somehow you do feel instinctively that like you should support him as the underdog, but also question if you should support him, although either way you are really with him throughout his journey. We also have his friend Femur played by Kyle Mac who is amazing, I haven’t seen him in anything else before but he was in a series called 'Valemont' with Kristen Hager and Eric Balfour that was on On Demand, which now I have to see because he was so good I can’t wait to see him in more; truly fantastic. We also had Paula Brancati as Kristen, she’s a character I really like to see –a strong woman who treated everyone the same, but was open and called people out and wasn’t a jerk and still held her own. An awesome independently spirited, strong-minded but also kind and fun-spirited; I sometimes find that you don’t always get that blend of fun and real with quirky and cutting but not mean but Paula Brancati found that perfect blend of real, funny and kind all in one. And that is also what I really felt and liked about Moon Point, is that it was funny and often cutting, but it wasn’t mean.

It really was funny too, there were certainly moments where I missed the next thing because I was laughing so hard. When you get these characters from all different perspectives and the sometimes comfortable or uncomfortable combination of things, it really levelled off with that unlikely but just likely enough go with them, and for that I really enjoyed it. Moon Point is a great journey film, great Canadian comedy, great quirkiness and it’s a great movie with a Valentine’s flavour to it. I would definitely recommend checking out Moon Point.

Moon Point opened in limited release on February 3, 2012 here in Toronto at the AMC Yonge & Dundas, and has been held over for an additional week.

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'd watch it again
I widely recommend it





Also check out my review of Moon Point on Episode 60 of the Movie Moxie Podcast.


© Shannon Ridler, 2012