I appear on “CTV News at 6” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the big screen adventures of “Supergirl” and the drama “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE! (Starts at 38:44)
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Matt Skube to talk about the new releases in theatres, including the adventures of “Supergirl,” the jackassery of “Jackass: Best and Last” and the drama of “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to brush your teeth. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the adventures of “Supergirl,” the jackassery of “Jackass: Best and Last” and the drama of “Blood Lines.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Blood Lines,” a new family drama now playing in theatres, an estranged Métis mother and daughter’s attempt at reunion are thrown into disarray when a woman arrives in their community looking for her biological family.
CAST: Gail Maurice, Tamara Podemski, Dana Solomon, David Webster, Melanie Bray, Derica Lyn Lafrance, Margaret Maurice, Mary Burnouf, Bertha Durocher, David Webster, Michaela Washburn, Ryan G. Hinds,
REVIEW: A study of cultural belonging, “Blood Lines” is a powerful, if uneven, look at reconciliation and healing.
Set in the tightly knit Métis community of Wapamon Sipi, “Blood Lines” focusses on Beatrice (Dana Solomon) a Two-Spirited storyteller, local newspaper reporter and Eager Beaver store clerk. Her quiet life is upended when two women appear in her life.
First is Léonore (Gail Maurice), Beatrice’s estranged mother, who shows up after years away looking for a place to live.
“You can’t stay here,” Beatrice tells her.
“I’ll stay in the shack with my dogs,” says Léonore.
“Suit yourself.”
Around the same time Chani (Derica Lafrance) arrives in town looking for information on her biological roots. “It’s like a part of me is missing,” she says. “Like I can’t see part of myself.” Beatrice sparks immediately with Chandi and helps her track down her family.
Romance blossoms with Chandi, but Léonore’s return stirs up long buried resentment for Beatrice. “You chose alcohol over me.” As their lives intertwine, issues of intergenerational trauma, identity and the heartbreak of family collide.
With dialogue in both Michif, one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, and English, “Blood Lines” authentically captures the intricacies of life in its Métis community which, along with nice, natural performances, grounds the film with a lovely, lived-in vibe. Add to that comic relief from The Grannies (Bertha Durocher, Maggie Maurice and Mary Burnouf), a trio of meddling elder women who provide wisdom and laughs and you have a richly detailed portrait of life in Wapamon Sipi.
A late movie twist, however, doesn’t feel as organic. The turn feels a hair too melodramatic for a movie so based in tangible authenticity.
“Bones of Crows,” a new period drama now playing in theatres, covers decades of history, but is tied to recent, horrifying events.
Jumping through time, from the 1800s to the 2020s, the story of the intergenerational trauma caused by the Canadian residential school system, focusses on the family of Aline Spears (Grace Dove). A Cree woman born to a large, happy family in 1930s Manitoba, everything changes when Aline and her siblings are forcibly taken from their parents who are told they will be thrown in prison if they don’t sign over their children to the residential school system.
Abused, physically and emotionally—“I could kill you and bury you out back and nobody would care,” a priest snarls at the headstrong Aline.—the priests and nuns systematically attempt to strip the siblings of their Indigenous heritage, religion and identity, forcing them to assimilate them into the dominant Canadian culture. It is, as one character says, “a lesson in unrelenting cruelty.”
During World War II Aline escapes the horrors of the school by enlisting in the Canadian Army.
“The only way we can make sure they don’t send you back to that school is to send you to war.” During her raining to become part of an elite squad of code talkers who used the Cree language to disguise military intelligence, she meets and marries Adam (Phillip Lewitski).
Returning home from war to raise their family, Adam suffers PTSD, while Aline is haunted by the abuse she suffered at the hands of her sadistic teachers.
As the movie skips through time, we learn more about the residential school, Aline’s life after the war, her sister’s legal woes and the next generation, the children that carry the trauma in their DNA.
The process of healing is ever present, however, as Aline remembers the words her mother said to her as she enlisted in the army. “You be everything you are meant to be. Don’t let the darkness win. Don’t let them win.”
Métis-Dene writer and director Marie Clements covers a great deal of ground, much of it hard going. The cruelty and attempts to dehumanize Indigenous youth are brought to horrific life, and the depictions of residential schools; child abuse, sexual and psychological abuse and racism may be very unsettling for many viewers.
But even though the film chronicles a century of generational trauma, it is also a celebration of Cree resilience and tradition. There are eye-opening depictions of atrocities, necessary to tell the story, but as Aline confronts the past, there is also a sense of justice.
It is a story of hard truths, told with skill—despite its sprawling nature, it doesn’t feel bloated—and emotion that gets to the heart of how generational trauma forever altered the lives of the characters.
In “Through Black Spruce,” an adaptation of Joseph Boyden’s Giller Prize-winning novel, “Yellowstone” actress Tanaya Beatty stars as Annie Bird, a Cree woman from James Bay who travels to Toronto in search of her twin sister Suzanne, a model who disappeared without a trace.
As Annie explores the dark underbelly of the city’s fashion scene at home in Moosonee her Uncle Will (Mohawk actor Brandon Oakes) runs afoul of local drug dealers. They think Suzanne’s boyfriend ripped them off and want to talk to her about where he is. When Will won’t tell them he is beaten within an inch of his life.
“Through Black Spruce” comes with the weight of a backstory unrelated to what we see on the screen. The film, opening amid controversy over Boyden’s Indigenous identity and directed by Don McKellar, who is not indigenous, comes at a flashpoint in our cultural history regarding First Nations filmmakers and artists and who should tell their stories.
“Through Black Spruce’s” story touches on important issues. Annie’s grief over her missing sister puts a human face on the plight of missing First Nations women whose stories are rarely told let alone solved. The second story, Uncle Will’s struggle between the traditional and modern world, is played out in an interesting encounter with First Nations couple (Tantoo Cardinal and Edmund Metatawabin) in the deep woods.
As a narrative “Through Black Spruce” is split, connected in spirit, but separate. The story zig zags between the Toronto and Moosonee sections, laid out linearly. McKellar cuts back and forth, doling out the stories but the technique sometimes slows the film’s momentum.
More interesting than the structure are the performances. In subtle ways Beatty and Oakes both find psychological and cultural context for their characters, a framework missing from the script. As Annie, Beatty is a haunting and haunted presence. Oakes brings Will’s struggle with alcohol to vivid life.
