Anti-war melodrama addresses dangers of nationalism
Times Colonist movie writer Michael D. Reid is covering the Victoria Film Festival, which continues until Feb. 12. Ratings are out of five stars. Go to timescolonist.com/entertainment/filmfestival for updates
Frantz Where: Vic Theatre When: Tonight, 6:30 Rating: two and a half stars
Considering the frightening state of affairs in President Donald Trump’s America these days, the chilling consequences of unbridled nationalism addressed in Francois Ozon’s anti-war melodrama are nothing if not timely.
Set in a post-First World War German town and inspired by Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 drama Broken Lullaby, this is surprisingly sombre material for Ozon (The Swimming Pool), who is better known for his provocative, sexuality-driven work.
He gets the job done, however, and his obsessive attention to period detail helps compensate for a dearth of emotional engagement amid this largely black-andwhite drama.
It chronicles the story of a young German woman, Anna (Paula Beer), who is profoundly affected by an encounter with Adrien (Pierre Niney), a Frenchman who, it appears, was a friend of her late fiancé, who was killed in combat. Suffice it to say complications ensue within what plays like classic melodrama highlighted by top-shelf art direction, some powerfully evocative sequences that reflect postwar anger and Beer’s magnificent performance as the mournful young woman who views the dashing but fragile Frenchman as a link to her lost love.
Theatre of Life
Where: SilverCity/Vic Theatre When: Tonight, 6:15/Sat., 6:30 Rating: four stars
Writer-director Peter Svatek has cooked up an epicurean documentary about food waste that is as mouth-watering as it is inspirational as he profiles Massimo Bottura, the Italian master chef with a social conscience, and his humanitarian Food for Soul project.
In an abandoned Milan theatre from which the film takes its title, Bottura opened the Refettorio Ambrosiano, a communal dining room where recovering addicts, homeless people, refugees and impoverished locals are fed gourmet dishes made with food that would likely have been thrown away from Expo 2015 pavilions.
“We’ll give them two hours, a small moment of joy,” says French culinary icon Alain Ducasse, one of many chefs from around the world who contribute to Bottura’s recipe for success.
“Stale bread … can become gold,” says another chef, commenting on the base for most of the dishes.
While you could quibble that, as colourful as they are, there are perhaps too many cooks in this kitchen, including what amounts to a cameo appearance by Mario Batali, their culinary contributions and commentary are effectively offset by fascinating input from those they feed.
When you aren’t salivating over this delectable doc’s food porn, you’ll be captivated by disenfranchised diners such as Giorgio, a former heroin addict now hooked on helping others; Stefi and Marco, a couple who prefer to live in a train station rather than crowded homeless shelters; and Fatou, a disabled Senegalese refugee who dreams of becoming a model. Their contributions provide food for thought, although, as Bottura himself says: “We don’t pretend we’re going to change their lives.”
Still, it has inspired a movement, and that in itself is cause for celebration.
Girl With All The Gifts Where: SilverCity When: Tonight, 9 Rating: three stars
A gruff military leader’s declaration that “our mission statement is to stay off the f---ing menu” reflects the subversive wit that pervades Scottish director Colm McCarthy’s dystopian British zombie thriller, a captivating genre-bender laden with sharp social commentary, cool post-apocalyptic art direction and nostalgic sci-fi tropes.
Despite the presence of A-listers such as Glenn Close as a ruthless scientist, this survival-of-the-fittest drama belongs to newcomer Sennia Nanua as Melanie, an intelligent, eager-to-please teenage prisoner who potentially holds the key to a cure for a fungus that is turning infected victims into flesh-eating entities known as “hungries.”
Shackled in a wheelchair in a Guantanamo-like bunker with other routinely terrorized human lab rats at risk of becoming monsters at the smell of blood, Melanie resembles an adolescent Hannibal Lecter when forced to wear a protective mask.
It’s how Nanua conveys this young brainiac’s humanity, however, that allows McCarthy’s bleak morality tale and survival adventure to transcend genre clichés and a draggy midsection before survivors head for London.
She’s the chief asset in a film with plenty, including literary references and a mind-blowing zombie assault shot in a single take.