Reel Movie Mondays: Spring 2023

The Lost King

Directed by Stephen Frears | UK, 2023 | Drama, 108 mins, NYR | English, IFC Films

In this inspiring true story, amateur historian Philippa Langley believes she has made the archeological find of the century: the lost burial site of King Richard III. She takes on Britain’s most eminent historians, forcing them to rethink the legacy of one of the most controversial rulers in English history.

Stephen Frears’ latest retells the true story of an amateur historian (Sally Hawkins) battling skepticism and bureaucracy in a quest to locate the final resting place of King Richard III.

It is said that history is written by the victors. This was never more true than in the case of King Richard III, maligned from the moment of his defeat by Henry Tudor, the truth of his life contorted by subsequent generations (Shakespeare among them and arguably the guiltiest). Over the course of 500 years, “alternative facts” became conventional wisdom. That is, until Philippa Langley took up Richard’s cause.

Langley (Sally Hawkins) is a writer who finds herself suffering a midlife malaise after a divorce and some health challenges. She happens upon the Richard III Society, a group of amateur historians bent on rehabilitating the damaged reputation of Richard, and soon becomes obsessed with finding his long-lost remains.

Weathering derision from historians and concern from her family (the exception being her supportive but confused ex-husband John, played by Steve Coogan), our amateur sleuth does prevail. But her discovery of Richard’s true fate is not the last chapter in this fascinating story. The film’s irony-filled third act, when bureaucrats attempt to do to Philippa something akin to what Henry Tudor did to Richard, is an impassioned addendum to this true-life story.

Screenwriters Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (TIFF 2013’s Philomena) partner with Stephen Frears to create the perfect narrative tension between the past and the present. Through her sensitive and spirited portrayal of Philippa, Hawkins shows us a woman who fights ferociously to redeem Richard, all the while seemingly powerless to change others’ misunderstanding of her. In mending history’s fractured perception of Richard III, Philippa mends herself. “Sallly Hawkins has one of her greatest roles… a historical detective story that carries the kick of a true-life Da Vinci Code.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Reel Movie Mondays: Spring 2023

I Like Movies

Directed by Chandler Levack | Canada, 2022 | Comedy/Drama, 99 mins, 14A | English, Mongrel Media

Content advisory: themes of suicide, sexual abuse, and mental distress

Opening with an easy contender for most hilariously (intentionally) inept parody of A Christmas Carol ever made, Chandler Levack’s ultra-indie I Like Movies is a smart, funny, and ornery exploration of adolescent trauma and early onset cinephilia. It’s hardly surprising that one condition only exacerbates the other.

Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen) is an irascible, self- and movie-obsessed teenager living in the wilds of early-2000s Burlington, Ontario. He’s the kind of guy who, when he buys a movie ticket, mentions the director’s name just to show that he’s there for the right reasons. He dreams of NYU, where he’ll be mentored by a grateful Todd Solondz. But for Lawrence, who delivers every statement with utter certainty, this isn’t a mere dream: it’s locked in — as long as he can make thousands of dollars working part-time at his local video store, Sequels, to afford tuition.

Lawrence has more serious problems — ones that the 10 free video rentals he gets weekly at Sequels won’t solve. His egocentrism threatens his only real friendship, with longtime buddy and fellow lonely guy Matt Macarchuk (Percy Hynes White), the put-upon co-star and co-creator of his student short. It becomes increasingly clear that Lawrence’s movie obsession (and his inability to tolerate anyone) is a way of burying a world of hurt and avoiding any real connection.

Levack and her collaborators have created a touching and very recognizable world driven by empathy. As infuriating as Lawrence can be, the film sticks with him as he bounces from one small but impactful disaster to the next. We find ourselves rooting for him — not to realize his fantasies, but to engage with his reality. I Like Movies is also blessed with an excellent cast, led by Lehtinen and Hynes White and ably supported by Romina D’Ugo as Lawrence’s Sequels boss, and the ever-versatile Krista Bridges as Lawrence’s resilient mother.

L to R: Percy Hynes White (Matt), Isaiah Lehtinen (Lawrence) and Krista Bridges (Terri) in I LIKE MOVIES. Photo courtesy of VHS Forever Inc.

Reinstated

On January 26th we have received word that the distributor for The Whale has decided to honour our original booking of THE WHALE. 

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Reel Movie Mondays: Winter 2023

The Whale

Directed by Darren Aronofsky | USA | 2022 | Drama | 117 minutes | English, Elevation Pictures | Rated 14A

Brendan Fraser gives a career-defining performance in this arrestingly intimate drama from director Darren Aronofsky. The Whale invites us to identify with a man in a precarious state of isolation that has been exacerbated by a potentially lethal mix of technology and our culture of body shaming.

Writing instructor Charlie (Fraser) never seems to have his webcam enabled while teaching online. He makes excuses and is so good-natured that no one makes a fuss, but the real reason for his invisibility is his appearance. Charlie weighs 600 pounds. His obesity starts to pose a grave threat to his health and his friend Liz (Hong Chau, also at this year’s Festival in The Menu), a nurse, begs him to check into a hospital, but also recognizes that it might be more important to simply offer support.

Charlie’s current status quo is upended by the return of his long-estranged adolescent daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), though her willingness to resume a relationship seems prompted as much by Charlie’s offers to ghostwrite her school essays as it is by her sense of familial loyalty. Meanwhile, Charlie receives visits from a door-to-door evangelist (Ty Simpkins) who engages him in a dialogue about redemption that, despite Charlie’s lack of religious inclination, proves surprisingly resonant. Can any of these folks, regardless of their personal agendas, serve as the lifeline to self-acceptance that Charlie so urgently needs?

Screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter, here adapting his own play, has already proved himself a compassionate chronicler of offbeat characters with the FX series Baskets. With The Whale — the title a reference to Moby Dick, Charlie’s favourite book — Hunter has given us a story that fuses love, grief, and discomfort as a zigzag path to empathy.

Reel Movie Mondays: Winter 2023

Rosie

Directed by Gail Maurice | Canada | 92 mins | English, Photon Films | Rated PG

Métis writer-director-actor Gail Maurice’s feature film debut tells the story of a suddenly orphaned Indigenous girl and her newly chosen family in Montreal in the 1980s.

Rosie (Keris Hope Hill) is a visibly Indigenous, English-speaking, sweet, and headstrong little girl and her mother has just died. A children’s services agent brings her to her only living relative, her Francophone aunt Frédèrique (Mélanie Bray). “Fred” doesn’t have a solid foundation on which to raise a child. She is unprepared — she’s working at an adult entertainment shop and threatened with eviction — and is at first unwilling to take on caring for her adopted sister’s young daughter.

From images of people working on the street to a scene involving sleeping rough in a car in a junkyard, ROSIE captures an uncomfortable reality understood through innocent eyes. Seeing things from the girl’s viewpoint explains why Fred’s gender-bending friends — from the Cree perspective of being genderless — Flo (Constant Bernard) and Mo (Alex Trahan) appear in various forms of drag, and why the night in the car is seen as a fun camping experience. The film focuses on characters living on the fringes of society, including a homeless Cree man (Brandon Oakes), and how united and transformed they become through the eponymous character’s vibrant presence.

Touching on the Sixties Scoop and disconnection from Indigenous identity, ROSIE is an ode to finding your chosen family when your blood relations have been removed from the picture.