I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend, including the hypnotic “Stellar,” now streaming on Crave, the documentary “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe” and the legal drama “The Burial.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 38:45)
I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres. Today we talk about the legal drama “The Burial,” the documentary “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe,” the killer “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person” and the hypnotic “Stellar.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Renee Rogers to talk about the legal drama “The Burial,” the documentary “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe,” the killer “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person” and the hypnotic “Stellar.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the legal drama “The Burial,” the documentary “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe,” the killer “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person” and the hypnotic “Stellar.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
“Stellar,” a new film starring Elle-Máija Tailfeathers and Braeden Clarke, now on VOD and streaming on Crave, is about making a connection as a storm—or is it the end of the world?—brews outside.
Set in a Northern Ontario dive bar, the story revolves around two Indigenous strangers, She (Tailfeathers) and He (Clarke), as a storm rages outside. They meet, make a connection, unperturbed by the weather. They get to know one another, trading stories in Ojibwe and English, of lost loves, community and their deepest held feelings, as the bartender (Rossif Sutherland) grows agitated by the unsettling thunder and lightening.
Others come and go, including two Aunties (Billy Merasty and Tina Keeper) who ask if He and She know their way home, metaphorically. Then there’s a windbag professor (R.H. Thomson), in love with the sound of his own voice, who proclaims, “Knowledge is out foundation.”
“Your knowledge. Not required,” He replies.
Outside, the erupting storm is portrayed as another passing apocalypse in the timeline of Indigenous life. He and She are the calm in the face of the storm, resilient with an eye to the future. “I feel like the weather outside,” She says, “changing, challenging.” They are connected to nature, to their heritage, and to one another.
Strong visuals tell “Stellar’s” tale. Anishinaabe director Darlene Naponse blends the lyrical beauty of the love story inside the bar with cut-a-ways of the pollution and waste that mar the world beyond the bar’s walls. Her experimental, figurative treatment of the material creates a powerful, poetic allegory of Indigenous strength amid the storm of life, wrapped in a touching love story.
Mystical and metaphorical, “Stellar” is experimental in its storytelling, but hypnotic in its effect.
Richard joins CP24 anchor Nathan Downer to have a look at the weekend’s new movies including “Dumbo,” “Hotel Mumbai,” “Falls Around Her” and “Through Black Spruce.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in with CTV NewsChannel anchor Marcia McMillan to have a look at the weekend’s big releases including the live action elephant epic “Dumbo,” the terrorism drama “Hotel Mumbai” and Tantoo Cardinal’s “Falls Around Her.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard has a look at the new movies coming to theatres, including Tim Burton’s flying elephant epic “Dumbo,” the terrorism drama “Hotel Mumbai,” Tantoo Cardinal’s “Falls Around Her” and “Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes” by Swiss film-maker Sophie Huber, a deep dive into the history of the storied label with CFRA Morning Rush host Bill Carroll.
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Tantoo Cardinal has been acting for forty years, building up a resume heavy with dozens of film and television credits like “Dances with Wolves,” “Black Robe,” “Legends of the Fall” and cult favourite “Smoke Signals.” Her latest film, “Falls Around Her,” is a career landmark, her first solo lead in a feature film. After watching the Northern Ontario-set drama you’ll wonder why it took so long to put her front and center.
Renowned Anishinaabe musician Mary Birchbark (Cardinal) is at a professional and personal crossroad. Exhausted and feeling career burn out she returns to the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation in northern Ontario to recharge her depleted batteries; to reconnect with friends, family and the land. Unfortunately, the solitary she hoped for is elusive. She hears noises outside her cabin and has the feeling someone or something from her past is lurking outside.
“Falls Around Her” is a tale of resilience. When we first meet Mary she’s disconnected from the very things that ground her. As she slowly takes back her life, easing out of the road work and a new show in a new town every night, she opens herself to rediscovering what is really important, family, friends, being happy. She is not a victim. She’s in control, putting past trauma in the rearview mirror. Cardinal is a living breathing embodiment of Mary’s renewal. Her performance dominates the film, a fiery mix of experience, hurt and joy. It’s remarkable work, done with a minimum of dialogue, that presents one of the most complex and interesting characters in recent memory.
