National Post (National Edition)
ALSO OPENING THIS WEEKEND
DO DONKEYS ACT?
Yes they do, and they speak too. And if you don’t believe me, just get lost in the dulcet narration provided by Willem Dafoe as he voices over scenes of abused donkeys recovering in sanctuaries in England, Ireland, Ontario and elsewhere. Some examples: “Harmonic cacophonies of acoustic communication.” “Darting donkeys flash a voluptuous gestalt.” Or my favourite, over an image of a donkey pulling against its lead: “A stereotype of stubbornness? Practise caution. Who enjoys going to the dentist?” This is one of the great donkumentaries. Do Donkeys Act? opens Sept. 29 at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs cinema in Toronto. ∂∂∂∂
DON’T TALK TO IRENE
An above-average entry in the lovable-misfits comic sub-genre, Don’t Talk to Irene is the kind of lowbudget gem that can get lost in the glare of the Toronto International Film Festival, where it had its world première. Fortunately, it’s getting some non-festival screenings as well. Michelle McLeod stars as 15-year-old Irene, living in the fictionalbut-we’ve-all-been-there town of Parc, Ont., an hour north of Toronto and home to kilometres of strip malls, a high school, a retirement home, a funeral home and not much else. (Hamilton gamely steps up for the thankless task of playing Parc.) Irene wants to join the school’s cheerleading squad, but the plus-sized hopeful becomes the target of school bullies, and winds up assigned to detention in the retirement home alongside her tormentors. Undaunted, she decides to teach the oldsters how to dance. The result feels like Patti Cake$ meets the indie comedy Wet Bum, with a bit of Yonng@Heart thrown in as the seniors sign up for a televised talent competition. Scott Thompson shines as their indifferent warden; when one of his charges seems to have died, he sighs: “You were a special lady, Ruth ... ... Spencer.” And kudos to writer/director Pat Mills (Guidance) for signing up Geena Davis as Irene’s imaginary god and confessor, handing down advice and life lessons guaranteed to perk up a disaffected teen: “Hey, I was in a movie called Earth Girls Are Easy, and I survived!” The performances are fine, but it’s the writing that truly stands out in this comedy, whether it’s someone relating the sad, ancient history of Milli Vanilli (they were a thing before you were born, kids!) or the fabulously androgynous Tesh (Andy Reid) declaring: “Success is just failure in drag.” There’s much more, but you should go see it yourself. Don’t Talk to Irene opens Sept. 29 at Yonge/Dundas in Toronto; Oct. 6 in Edmonton; Oct. 27 in Saskatoon; and Nov. 3 in Regina. ∂∂∂∂
THE MIDWIFE
Moviegoers owe a debt to France, and not just for producing the likes of Godard, Truffaut and Tati. What other nation could deliver a story like The Midwife, in which a middle-aged woman is visited by the former mistress of her late father, gradually bonding with the older woman while incidentally exploring an age-appropriate relationship with a neighbour who shares her love of gardening? These kinds of stories just don’t happen in Hollywood, Huntsville or Hackney. Catherine Frot stars as Claire, a midwife at a soon-to-be-closed birthing centre. (Fun fact: In French, a midwife is une sage-femme; literally a wise woman. Nice to see the profession getting some linguistic respect!) Diligent in her work, she remains a distant single mother to her sole son. Then one day she gets a call from Béatrice (Catherine Deneuve), her late father’s former mistress. Béatrice is looking for reconciliation after learning she’s dying of cancer. Between the easygoing drama, the economic undertones — Claire is being pressured to accept work at a new, much larger health centre — and the presence of Belgian star Olivier Gourmet, this feels like a romance directed by the Dardenne brothers. In fact it’s the work of actor-turned-writer/director Martin Provost, whose light touch with the material makes this a made-in-France pleasure. Subtitled? Bien sûr! The Midwife opens Sept. 29 at Canada Square in Toronto, and the ByTowne in Ottawa. ∂∂∂½
WHITE NIGHT
Here’s a clever cinematic conceit; assemble a quintet of five writer/directors and have them shoot a series of interconnected stories over one night — Nuit Blanche, Toronto’s annual all-night arts revelry. Then edit the thing into one coherent narrative in time to release it the following year. That’s precisely what Dan Slater, Matt Purdy, Brian Hamilton, Sonny Atkins and P.H. Bergeron have done. Some of the stories are simple, like the sensitive artist (Parveen Kaur) who gets increasingly annoyed that no one likes her cardboard installation. Some are far-fetched; a millennial Quebecer (Kimberly Laferriere) lost in Toronto and unable to speak a word of English? And to be honest I didn’t buy the couple-indenial played by Jonathan Keltz and Sara Mitich; too much of their dialogue came across as scripted: “Hey, remember the time when we...?” But anthology films usually have a weak link or two. Overall, White Night crafts a convincing portrait of the city — including its homelessness and violence — and manages mostly believable, often amusing interactions among its sprawling cast of characters. It also serves as the perfect appetizer to this year’s event. White Night opens Sept. 29 in Toronto. Nuit Blanche takes place Sept. 30. ∂∂∂
FLATLINERS
It’s been 27 years since Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt cheated death and brought themselves within one degree of Kevin Bacon in the original Flatliners. In that one, medical students experimented with neardeath experiences but discovered that it caused their guilty pasts to come back and haunt them. Now, why a new generation would want to repeat such an experiment is anyone’s guess, but say hello to Ellen Page, Diego Luna and a returning Kiefer Sutherland in what would seem to be a sequel but is also merely called Flatliners. This one wasn’t screened for critics, suggesting a movie that may be dead on arrival.
WOODSHOCK
Fashion designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy have written and directed a film in which a woman (Kirsten Dunst) helps her sick mother die, and then spends the rest of the movie in a fog of grief. The film had its world première at the Venice Film Festival but was not screened for critics in Canada, and currently sits at a sleepy 24 per cent at rottentomatoes. com, with The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane calling it “a serious test of the viewer’s patience.”