Based on English writer Vera Brittain’s 1933 memoir about her experiences during World War I, “Testament of Youth” is a handsomely presented, if sometimes a bit restrained story of one woman’s voyage into pacifism.
Alicia “Ex Machina” Vikander stars as Brittain, a tenacious young woman who battles against her father’s (Dominic West) wishes and the conventions of the day to take the Oxford University entrance exam. Her schooling is interrupted when WWI breaks out and brother Edward (Taron “Kingsman: The Secret Service” Egerton), her fiancé Roland Leighton (Kit “Game of Thrones “ Harington) and friends Victor (Colin Morgan) and Geoffrey (Jonathan Bailey) are sent to fight at the front lines. With her friends at risk Vera opts to join them, leaving school to enrol as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Tending to both German and English soldiers in London, Malta and France she learns first hand about personal loss, human suffering and the futility of war.
“Testament of Youth” offers up a different, parallel view to combat, than the usual war film. Told from the point of view of a battle nurse, it is different but no less effecting as a story of female strength. Vikander is the movie’s soul and strength, handing in a performance that is both strong willed and remarkably nimble. When Vera pretends to be the German girlfriend of a dying soldier, the performance transcends the “Downton Abbey” vibe of the production. Moments like these are almost an antidote to the melodrama that masquerades as actual emotion in other scenes. Almost but not quite.
The supporting performances work well enough, although other than Vera the emotional connection necessary for the anti-war message to be truly effective is missing. Large scale shots of dead and dying men in battle and hospitals visualize the sentiment but a real, personal connection with the characters would have been more fitting for a story about a woman so absolutely changed by the war and her experiences.
“Testament of Youth” is based on a true and well-documented story but a dose or three of melodrama—does she really have to get such bad news on her wedding day?—blunts the power of the story.
There was a time when there were Jewish delis on almost every street corner in New York. As richly textured as the matzo-ball soup, kreplach and pastrami may have been, they didn’t just provide nourishment for the body, but for the soul as well. These days with fewer than 150 left in the United States director Erik Anjou set out to preserve the culture in a documentary called “Deli Man.”
There are many deli men profiled in the doc, including Canada’s own Zane Caplansky, but the focus is on third-generation deliteur (my word, not his) Ziggy Gruber. He’s a New Yorker through and through who grew up learning at the elbow of his father and grandfather. The twist is that his deli, one of the best in the US, isn’t in NYC but Houston, Texas. Gregarious and passionate about the food, Gruber is an evangelist for the deli tradition and a convincing one. He’s a living testament to the deli rules of buy good food, prepare it well and always be a mensch.
Legendary deli’s like NYC’s Katz’s, 2nd Avenue Deli, Carnegie, the Stage and Los Angeles’s Nate ‘n Al’s round out the picture of a cultural tradition that is about so much more than just food. A visit to Montreal’s fabled Schwartz’s Deli would have been the pickle on top, but as it is “Deli Man” is a delicious look at how delis have influenced not only what we eat, but why we eat it.
From Small Press Reviews: “Word on the street is that Elvis Costello has a memoir due in October. For those who can’t wait, there’s Richard Crouse’s Elvis Is King: Costello’s My Aim Is True, a meticulously researched account of Costello’s early years and the release of his first LP with independent label Stiff Records…” Read the whole thing HERE!
Richard Crouse interviews “Inside Out” star Phyllis Smith.
“I started out as a professional dancer. A show dancer. No stripping, but there were plumes, feathers, g-strings and all that. I was also in two ballet companies, a jazz company. I studied modern dance. That was my passion. I always wanted to be a dancer. Not necessarily an actor. When I came to LA I had an injury and I knew logically it was time for me to make a switch in my career because I was getting older. It was hard to make that decision. For dancers at a certain age there is not a lot to fall back on. So I just did what I had to do to pay my bills. I worked as a receptionist. I worked at a movie theatre. I’d go to my nine-to-five job then I’d change my clothes and get to my movie theatre gig and work the box office until eleven o’clock at night. I did that for three years.
“Before I got to LA I worked for JC Penny in the warehouse tagging the merchandise. I don’t think they do it anymore. I used to stand there and tag thousands of fishing lures or bowling balls or roller shades, which were heavy as hell to lift around. The people were great to work with but the merchandise was a little challenging. I used to stand there, thinking about life, wondering what it is we all have in common because we’re not all given the same opportunity. Some people’s health is impaired when they’re born and they don’t even have that to start with and others are charmed with intelligence or looks or whatever they’re given. I thought, ‘There has to be something that we all have. A commonality.’ I figured out that it’s the ability to love. We all, in some form or another, to love and be loved. That was my big revelation. My lightbulb moment. Also to make sure if you’re standing on a concrete floor to make sure you’re wearing comfortable shoes or you’ll pay for it later.”
From “National Post” writer Rebecca Tucker: “About midway through the third episode of Reelside, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen sit beside one another on an outdoor couch, on the set of their 2013 film Neighbours.
“There’s two levels of famous,” Goldberg says. “There’s Seth famous and there’s…” He points at himself and shrugs…” Read the whole thing HERE!
From “Fangoria” editor Chris Alexander: “Now screening on Canadian pay television is REELSIDE , a new 6-part series executive produced by veteran Toronto film critic and journalist Richard Crouse in which key Canadian performers and artists explore the creative mechanisms of their similarly Northern based colleagues. In the first beautifully shot installment, David Cronenberg favorite Sarah Gadon joined forces with Cronenberg’s photographer daughter Caitlin on an art project, and future episodes will see the likes of Seth Rogen and Bruce McDonald also discussing their own processes and struggles to make their voices heard.
“But for FANGORIA readers, it’s the second installment that stands as the most interesting…” Read the whole thing HERE!
From Paul Salvatori: “Short doc on well-known Toronto movie critic and author, Richard Crouse. In this candid first-person profile, Richard shares unique insight into the art of film, writing, his early introduction to pop culture, and a newfound gratitude following his battle with cancer.”
Richard interviewed legendary filmmaker Spike Lee in a no-holds-barred on stage interview at Canadian Music Week. They discussed everything from watching movies on the big screen–“It kills me today that young people see Malcolm X on this (holds up his Blackberry) for the first time. We worked too long. Look, I know Blackberry is a Canadian company. We couldn’t see the future. Now if you’re on a plane, alright, but to see Malcolm X, Do The Right Thing, and not just my films, to see Apocalypse Now the first time, the first time you see 2001 on this? As a filmmaker, I know I might sound like a dinosaur, but that pains me.”–to race in America–“This whole stuff is not new. This thing’s happened forever — back to lynchings. So please do not believe that this is a phenomenon that all of the sudden is sweeping America. Now it’s just being caught. Everybody now, with a camera, is a photojournalist. Here’s the thing though, even with the footage, those cops in New York City got off with the stranglehold of Eric Garner.”
Based on English writer Vera Brittain’s 1933 memoir about her experiences during World War I, “Testament of Youth” is a handsomely presented, if sometimes a bit restrained story of one woman’s voyage into pacifism.
