Dream Big explores the science of the Great Wall,
A Man Called Ove
(out of 4) Starring Rolf Lassgård, Ida Engvoll, Filip Berg and Bahar Pars. Written and directed by Hannes Holm. Opens Friday at the Varsity. 116 minutes. PG
A Hollywood adaptation of this Swedish heart-tugger is probably inevitable, especially if it wins the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film later this month at the Academy Awards.
It won’t be necessary. A Man Called Ove shamelessly, but also quite movingly, hits all the required notes of the most pandering of feel-good Tinseltown sagas, with its story of a grouchy guy who turns out to have a heart of gold and a past worth sighing over.
Writer/director Hannes Holm, working from a popular novel by Fredrik Backman, eschews the astringent and absurdist comedy of such Scandinavian contemporaries as Roy Andersson and Bent Hamer.
He instead makes a comic “Kumbaya,” embracing a world view that would make Donald Trump shudder: one where neighbours of varying nationalities, sexual orientations, physical abilities and ages learn to happily get along together, even if they do a fair bit of crabbing beforehand. The expressive Rolf Lassgard ( After the Wedding) plays title grumpster Ove. Old beyond his 59 years, the kind of guy who wears a shirt and tie even when he’s supposedly chilling at home, Ove wants people off his lawn and also the road through his gated community, which looks designed by Ikea.
Ove yells at anyone who violates the many road signs he’s posted as selfappointed neighbourhood watchdog, but he’s clearly an unhappy man. Newly laid off and recently widowed, he’s making typically best-laid plans to take his own life.
He wants to be reunited with his late wife, Sonja (Ida Engvoll), who is seen in numerous happier-day flashbacks where Filip Berg plays the younger and sweeter Ove.
Suicide attempts become comic through constant interruptions from the neighbours — one in particular. She’s Parvaneh (Bahar Pars), an immigrant from Iran expecting her third child with her clueless hubby Patrick (Tobias Almborg). Parvaneh needs help with her restless kids and she’s also eager to learn how to drive, despite having no aptitude for it — she wrecks Ove’s cherished mailbox while leaving her garage.
Maybe Ove could assist? And could he also look after a stray cat, the one with beseeching eyes? A movie this Hollywood might just win the Oscar, but all the tears and smiles are earned. Peter Howell
Land of Mine
K (out of 4) Starring Roland Moller, Louis Hofmann. Written and directed by Martin Zandvliet. Opens Friday at Canada Square. 90 minutes. 14A
The Second World War is over in Europe and for the Danish people, oppressed and ill-treated during a long German occupation, it’s payback time.
Sergeant Rasmussen, who demonstrates early on his penchant for brutality and red-hot hatred of the former occupiers, is given command of a massive mine-clearing operation along the country’s idyllic beaches, using young, untrained German soldiers to do the dirty (and deadly) work. The movie, based on actual events, was deservedly nominated for a best foreign film Oscar.
Writer/director Martin Zandvliet’s intelligent script has some unexpected turns, especially Rasmussen’s gradual, grudging respect for his young charges, and Roland Moller is astonishingly good in the role. Mikkel Folsgaard is chilling perfection as a sadistic and steely eyed senior officer. The remaining cast, playing the young German soldiers, do a fine job of making small roles memorable, particularly Louis Hofmann as Schumann who, as the de facto leader of the group, shows remarkable courage in trying to appeal to Rasmussen’s humanity.
Zandvliet masterfully brings all the elements together to create a suspenseful, sorrowful and memorable tale. Bruce DeMara
A Cure for Wellness
(out of 4) Starring Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs. Directed by Gore Verbinski. Opens Friday in GTA theatres. 146 minutes. 18A
Is there a cure for a disappointing ending?
Because A Cure for Wellness has a bad case of it and that’s a shame because the film shows such initial promise.
Dane DeHaan plays a young, ambitious corporate exec from a big U.S. firm sent on a mission to a Swiss clinic high in the Alps to retrieve a senior honcho whose presence is urgently required.
He finds himself being sucked into a strange and creepy vortex and intrigued with a free-spirited young woman who dances perilously along the high walls of the castlelike “sanatorium.”
Bojan Bazelli’s cinematography creates an eerie sense of place, setting the stage for the unravelling of the mystery of what’s in the water that makes the clinic denizens so disinclined to get better and go home. (Eels among other things. Ew.)
DeHaan nails the role to perfection and accomplished screen villain Jason Isaacs is wonderfully debonair and menacing as Dr. Volmer, the head of the clinic.
But the film is overstuffed and overlong, collapsing under the weight of a silly conclusion. BD
Kedi
(out of 4) Documentary on the street cats of Istanbul. Directed by Ceyda Torun. Opens Friday at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. 80 minutes. G
Colourful and ancient, Istanbul is also home to thousands of street cats. They roam the city, queens and kings of all they survey, occasionally deigning to cuddle up to the humans who provide them with food, shelter here and there, copious amounts of love and even the occasional antibiotic.
Turkish-born director Ceyda Torun, in her first feature-length documentary, and chief cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann provide a cat’s-eye view of the world that showcases both the warm-hearted people of this ancient Turkish city and the seamless integration of its felines into everyday life.
The down-to-the-road camera angles indicate that a large physio bill must have been included in production costs and a fun soundtrack contributes to this watchable film.
The cats inspire the philosopher in many of their humans. Says one fisherman who credits one cat with saving his livelihood: “God brings us closer to him in different ways. For me, it was these animals. I guess I was worthy of his love.” Kathryn Laskaris
Dream Big: Engineering Our World
(out of 4) Documentary on the wonders of engineering and human ingenuity. Directed by Greg MacGillivray. Opens Friday at the Ontario Science Centre. 40 minutes. STC
The Great Wall of China gets another starring role onscreen this week with inspiring IMAX documentary Dream Big, a kid-aimed flick that could cause a spike in engineering school enrolments.
Effectively weaving education with emotion, the focus is on three young female engineers and enthusiastic students. They’re slide-rule superheroes, capable of solving problems that transform lives, from urban centres to a small Haitian village.
Narrated by Jeff Bridges, the film capitalizes on IMAX’s trademark swooping visuals and sense of motion, making good use of the Ontario Science Centre’s massive OMNIMAX Theatre screen.
It’s being billed as the first film to “answer the call of the STEM initiative,” geared to getting kids excited about science, technology, engineering and math.
That mandate is handily fulfilled with an uncomplicated look at a complex subject that gets information across without talking down to its predominately young audience.
As for the Great Wall, British engineer Steve Burrows explains how laser imagery unlocked a mystery about its longevity: rice in the mortar. Linda Barnard Peter Howell’s Friday movies column returns next week.