I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres. Today we talk about the epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the court room drama “Anatomy of a Fall,” the raunchy “Dicks: The Musical” and the John le Carré documentary “The Pigeon Tunnel.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the court room drama “Anatomy of a Fall” and the John le Carré documentary “The Pigeon Tunnel.”
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to shut the door! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the court room drama “Anatomy of a Fall” and the John le Carré documentary “The Pigeon Tunnel.”
watch the whole thing HERE!
A look at a strained marriage through the lens of a public murder trial, “Anatomy of a Fall,” the Palme D’Or winning film now playing in theatres, is more concerned with human drama than the procedural aspects of the story. The result is a complex look at the search for truth in relationships and justice in court.
Set at a remote country residence in the Swiss Alps, home to best-selling writer Sandra (Sandra Hüller), her less-successful writer husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) and their visually impaired 11-year-old son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner). When Samuel is found dead outside the home, a pool of blood surrounding his head like a halo, questions arise.
Was it suicide or murder? Did he fall from an upstairs window, or was he pushed?
Sandra’s muted response to her husband’s death raises eyebrows, and soon suspicion leads to murder charges. In court her compassionate defense lawyer Vincent (Swann Arlaud), a man she once had an affair with, is pitted against a confrontational state prosecutor played by Antoine Reinartz in a trial that puts Sandra and Samuel’s complicated lives on display.
“Anatomy of a Fall” is not a “Law & Order” style procedural. As director Justine Triet moves through the story, the courtroom framework becomes a backdrop for a captivating study of human behavior.
At the film’s stone-cold heart is Hüller. In her hands Sandra is a compelling and complex person who confronts the usual courtroom trope of widowed wife as a sympathetic character. Her independence, powerful presence and chilly demeanor, broken by the occasional emotional outburst, stares down preconceived notions and subconscious prejudices about Sandra’s life and behavior.
Triet isn’t asking if Sandra is guilty or not. She is more interested in why we, as the observer, might pass judgment on the character, one way or another. Placing the onus of judgment on the viewer is a fascinating way to subvert the procedural genre.
At 2 hours and 30 minutes “Anatomy of a Fall” may test some viewer’s attention spans as it slowly layers detail upon detail, both procedurally and personally, but for patient audiences it offers up an interesting mystery and an opportunity to examine personal biases.
Richard and CP24 anchor Jamie Gutfreund have a look at the weekend’s new movies, Matthew McConaughey in “Gold,” the Oscar nominated “The Red Turtle,” “Trespass Against Us” starring Michael Fassbender and Germany’s entry for Best Foreign Film, “Toni Erdmann.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Richard sits in with CTV NewsChannel anchor Erin Paul to have a look at the big weekend movies, Matthew McConaughey in “Gold,” the Oscar nominated “The Red Turtle,” “Trespass Against Us” starring Michael Fassbender and Germany’s entry for Best Foreign Film, “Toni Erdmann.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
“Toni Erdmann,” a new German language film from director Maren Ade and nominated for Best Foreign Film at this year’s Oscars, is being billed as a comedy but that’s not exactly accurate. It is absurd and often quite funny, but those laughs come from a deep mine of pain and desperation.
Peter Simonischek is Winfried, an elderly music teacher and next level practical joker. When he isn’t teaching he’s wearing funny teeth and punking the mail delivery people, pretending to be a dangerous criminal just out of jail for sending bombs through the post. His daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller), a corporate bigwig working for an oil company in Bucharest, did not inherit the clown gene.
The two are polar opposites, so when he shows up unannounced to spend time with her, she’s not entirely pleased. After a falling out he leaves, presumably to catch a plane back to Germany, only to reappear in her life as “life coach” Toni Erdmann. Dressed in an ill-fitting suit, plastic teeth and a fright wig he tries to endear himself to her friends and co-workers in a strange attempt to forge a relationship with a daughter he bares knows.
Despite Winfried’s off-the-wall antics “Toni Erdmann’s” main feel isn’t one of humour but of desperation. The father is desperate to understand his daughter’s life and career choices. Ines’s desperation manifests itself in quick blasts of temper and a kill-or-be-killed attitude on the job. Both behave strangely, expressing their dysfunction in very different ways, but they share a feeling that something is missing from their lives.
It’s heady stuff for a film that features funny teeth and clownish wigs but it works because of Ade’s unblinking camera and naturalistic and emotional performances from the leads.
Ade allows the camera to linger on uncomfortable, bittersweet moments that at first feel unnecessary but soon become intimate glimpses that reveal the inner thoughts of father and daughter. More than just padding and making an already long movie even longer, they are windows into the personalities of the characters. Like watching someone when they don’t know they’re being observed, they provide a raw look at Ines and Winfried.
The movie’s greatest moment, a public display of catharsis from Ines comes with the singing of a song. At a party father prods his daughter to sings while he plays a small electric piano. She lets loose, finally dropping her carefully constructed public persona and belts out a version of Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All” that would bring the house down at any respectable karaoke joint. It’s a show-stopper, an exuberant letting loose that showcases much more than Ines’s way with a song. It is a great purge, a letting go of her inhibitions after getting her buttons pushed and it is glorious.
Simonischek and Hüller are wonderfully cast. Simonischek‘s sad sack father has found an outlet through humour and, sometimes infuriatingly, passes along his wisdom to his daughter. He’s all heart and often stands in stark contrast to his all-business daughter.
Hüller has the wider character arc and makes us care about someone who is being consumed by her own sense of emptiness. Did I mention this is being marketed as a comedy? That archetype of a successful person who swaps any sort of meaningful human connection for success is ripe for parody and Hüller mines it for funny moments as Ines slowly wakes up and comes to life.
“Toni Erdmann” has no real payoff other than spending time with two fascinating characters. For me that was enough.
