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Category: Cinéma - Movies
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Published: Thursday, 23 May 2019 23:43
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Written by Gilbert Seah
LGBT INSIDE OUT 2019
This year’s 2019 Inside Out LGBT film festival scores two big mainstream movies for its grand opening and closing night Galas.
The Opening Night film is ROCKETMAN, the lively bio of Elton John that opens commercially next week. The Closing Night movie is the Emma Thompson vehicle LATE NIGHT which also opens the following week.
The films will be screened at the prestigious comfortable TIFF Bell Ligthbox. Check the Inside Out website for the full program of films.
Capsule Reviews of Selected Films:
DRAG KIDS (Canada 2019) ***
Directed by Megan Wennberg
DRAG KIDS is a Canadian documentary about drag kids i.e. kids that dress up in drag to perform, just as their adults counterparts - drag queens do.
Director Megan Wennberg’s doc takes advantage of this curiosity as well as proposes answers to questions like why would kids want to do drag and how their performances affect themselves and their close ones.
Four children are chosen from Canada, Europe (Spain) and the United States. The children are as diverse as they are drag kids. The four are: (their stage names used; just as their adults counterparts use) Queen Lactatia, Laddy GaGa, Suzan Bee Anthony and Bracken Hanke. The climax of the film is their performances, their first time at Fierte Montreal (the new name for Pride Montreal) where they come together and interact, just as their parents do. Needless to say, they have the times of their lives as in the words of Suzan: “This is the best time in my life - ever!” Suzan is the only female doing drag. One the music starts, and the kids go on stage, the remarkable happens!
One encouraging thing the doc exposes is the support provided by the parents of these children regardless of which continent they come from. The parents speak highly of their children and their ability to do what they want. One parent makes a good point putting down the fact of the question on whether his child is straight or gay. My son is only 9, is the valid response.
The doc offers close to equal time devoted to each of the 4. Which drag kid is the best? The answer is revealed at the end of the competition, but it does not really matter when everyone is having a good time, parents included.
It is also no easy task to perform drag, kid or adult as the film reveals. The children undergo intense choreography lessons in preparation for their show.
One glaring fact is that Wennberg only skims the surface of drag kids in her doc and fails to go deeper into any connecting issues. The result is an ok doc, pleasant to watch with a little information on the subject but fails to offer major insight to the its subject.
DRAG KIDS premiered at the Hot Docs in Toronto 2019. There will be two other opportunities to view the film - one at the LGBT Inside Out Film Festival that runs from the 23rd of May and the other, when it premieres on the Documentary Channel in July of this year.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUto5LJ2AmY
A NIGHT AT SWITCH ’N’ PLAY (USA 2019) ***
Directed by Cody Stickels
SWITCH ‘N’ PLAY is a drag show/Burlesque that takes place regularly at a Bar in Brooklyn. Tickets are modestly prices between $10 - $12. Audiences will be for a time of a grand night. But the audiences there are always respectful of the performers. The performers are part of an LGBT collective. hey claim the audiences is very good and they have never been heckled . A NIGHT OF SWITCH ’N’ PLAY documents a night out with the show, with various performs doing their thing.
All of the performances, hosted by Femmecee Miss Malice are spicy, hilarious and inventive. But beware that a few of them are sexual in-your-face.
The film begins with the introduction of Miss Malice as she opens the show with her aide Zoe Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld is dressed so that her pubic hair can be seen through her costume, which she keeps pulling (the hair not the costume). Ziegfeld performs again later on during the film, including a part where she does a hand stand on one of the audience’s chest.
Other performers on display include Divina Grans3parkle (with her Twinkie the Dik costume), Pearl Harbor, Max Satisfaction and Drag Kings, Vigor Mortis (Brooklyn Nightlife's Awards Drag King of the Year 2017) and K. James. Beside the regulars (not everyone feared in the doc), the show also features guest performers. Two of them Qualms Galore and Veronica Viper are featured in the doc.
Of all the performances, the most outrageous belongs to Nyx Nocturne. The reason will not be revealed in this review - but thus performance is the most shocking and outrageous and the audience loves it. Warning - be prepared to be utterly shocked for this one. But my favourite performances are the two done by the Drag Kings. The striptease by K. James as a milkman is both sexy and entertaining.
Besides the performances, the performers also talk how their drag characters have developed, how they chose their drag names and the reasons they do what they do (besides having a great time).
A NIGHT AT SWITCH ’N’ PLAY ends up more entertaining that it actually deserves. Sit back, enjoy the infectiously enjoyable show and ignore all the shit that is otherwise happening around the world. This doc is playing at the LGBT Inside Out Festival that runs this week. And a few of the drag performers including Miss Malice will be present at the screening.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/335301344
YO IMPOSIBLE (Being Imposible) (Venezuela/Colombia 2018) ***
Directed b Patricia Ortega
Finding ones identity is difficult at the best of times, but what if a critical piece of your history has been kept from you? When Ariel (Lucia Bedoya) has sex with her boyfriend for the first time she experiences intense pain. Her mother, who is quite ill and in hospital finally hints at the truth. The mother gives her strict instructions to visit a very specific doctor but will tell her nothing else. To make matters more confusing, Ariel has developed a strong attraction to her new co-worker, Ana.
YO IMPOSIBLE (BEING IMPOSSIBLE) is a film about intersex. There have not been many films (The recent Human Rights Film Festival this year in Toronto had a documentary entitled INTERSEX), particularly fictional ones about this human condition, so Ortega’s film makes intriguing viewing, despite its slow pace and fact that it comes in Spanish from South America.
Otherwise, the film’s production values are apt. The cinematography, particular the night scenes are well lit and certain scenes like the fist lesbian kissing scene is naturally blurred.
It is a slow paced movie that allows the audience to think and contemplate each segment - ow the protagonist feels and how she would react to different situations.
One problem of the film is that those entering the theatre before the film starts know that the subject is an intersex girl who discovers that an operation had been done on her without her knowledge. The knowledge of this key plot point spoils the otherwise well built up climax to this point of revelation in the film - which takes place close to just after the film’s half way mark.
Ortega’s film is very sexual, but not in an erotic sense. There are scenes with dildos that are used not for masturbation but for treatment of pain. In the sex scenes, Ariel is usually writhing in pain rather than pleasure. But the pain is not always physical. In Ariel’s words, when asked what hurts her the most, her reply is “the lie”.
Ortega’s ups the ante by including scenes at Ariel’s work in a garment manufacturing facility. The other female workers are nothing short of nosy bitches. Ariels’ s closest colleague turns out to be quite the nasty bitch, minding other people’s business. When a new employee, Ana arrives and Ariel begins a lesbian affair with her which he closest colleague discovers, all hell breaks lost including a cat fight. Ana is finally fired from work for being a threat to good morals. This indicates the unaccepted state of gays in South American society.
The film contains a tacked on happy ending that otherwise spoils the film’s narrative flow.
The film is shot in Spanish. Warning that the English subtitles are not perfect and arrive with a lot of spelling errors. The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and will also be played at this year’s LGBT Inside Out Film Festival.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/317169006
DRAG KIDS (Canada 2019) ***
Directed by Megan Wennberg
DRAG KIDS is a Canadian documentary about drag kids i.e. kids that dress up in drag to perform, just as their adults counterparts - drag queens do.
Director Megan Wennberg’s doc takes advantage of this curiosity as well as proposes answers to questions like why would kids want to do drag and how their performances affect themselves and their close ones.
Four children are chosen from Canada, Europe (Spain) and the United States. The children are as diverse as they are drag kids. The four are: (their stage names used; just as their adults counterparts use) Queen Lactatia, Laddy GaGa, Suzan Bee Anthony and Bracken Hanke. The climax of the film is their performances, their first time at Fierte Montreal (the new name for Pride Montreal) where they come together and interact, just as their parents do. Needless to say, they have the times of their lives as in the words of Suzan: “This is the best time in my life - ever!” Suzan is the only female doing drag. One the music starts, and the kids go on stage, the remarkable happens!
One encouraging thing the doc exposes is the support provided by the parents of these children regardless of which continent they come from. The parents speak highly of their children and their ability to do what they want. One parent makes a good point putting down the fact of the question on whether his child is straight or gay. My son is only 9, is the valid response.
The doc offers close to equal time devoted to each of the 4. Which drag kid is the best? The answer is revealed at the end of the competition, but it does not really matter when everyone is having a good time, parents included.
It is also no easy task to perform drag, kid or adult as the film reveals. The children undergo intense choreography lessons in preparation for their show.
One glaring fact is that Wennberg only skims the surface of drag kids in her doc and fails to go deeper into any connecting issues. The result is an ok doc, pleasant to watch with a little information on the subject but fails to offer major insight to the its subject.
DRAG KIDS premiered at the Hot Docs in Toronto 2019. There will be two other opportunities to view the film - one at the LGBT Inside Out Film Festival that runs from the 23rd of May and the other, when it premieres on the Documentary Channel in July of this year.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUto5LJ2AmY
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Category: Cinéma - Movies
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Published: Thursday, 25 April 2019 19:22
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Written by Gilbert Seah
HOT DOCS 2019 Begins this Week April 26th in Toronto.
For complete program,please check the HOT DOCS website.
(There are deals for senios and students with free movie screenings.)
Capsule Reviews of Selected Films:
ADVOCATE (Canada/Switzerland/Israel 2018) ***
Directed by Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaïche
The doc is he story of tireless and fearless Israeli lawyer Lea Tsemel who defends Palestinians: from feminists to fundamentalists, from nonviolent demonstrators to armed militants. She is not popular among the Israelis. ADVOCATE follows Tsemel’s caseload in real time, including the high-profile trial of a 13-year-old boy — her youngest client to date — while also revisiting her landmark cases and reflecting on the political significance of her work and the personal price one pays for taking on the role of “devil’s advocate.” Directing duo Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche assume the privileged position of a fly on the wall of Tsemel’s practice, where a year of documenting is like gathering a lifetime of evidence. The film is exciting as the two cases presented, and the audience sees not only Lea at work but how judicial systems work. Even if the accused is innocent, a plea bargain is created for the accused to plead guilty for a lesser charge or face greater penalty if found guilty. The film is hastily edited with the intercut cases and a lot of padding is evident from the life of Lea from student to her current position. The interviews of her family - husband, son and daughter break the flow the court cases.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/320517522
BUDDY (Netherlands 2018) **
Directed by Heddy Honigmann
BUDDY follows the stories of six guide dogs and their owners exploring the close bond between animal and human. Among them are a now 86-year-old blind woman who reflects back upon all the dogs that have been at her side since she was 21, an autistic boy who explains how his loyal friend Utah can tell when he’s upset and a war veteran suffering from PTSD. These owners are not very interesting to listen too and director Honihmann spends more time on the humans than the dogs. Nothing is revealed on how these dogs are trained on how they are bred or why a certain breed is suitable for different disabilites. The dogs look really sad in the way they are forced to care for their masters. I love dogs and dog movies, but BUDDY does not do anything for me nor shed any insight of these poor lovable caretakers.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xQjL-hmPiA
THE DAUGHTER TREE (Canada 2019) ****
Directed by Rama Rau
Indians are stubborn to have a boy. They abort the girls. Changing the natural order results in unbalances in the human ecology of things. There are insufficient girls to be married off and many males end up singles, unable to find a wife. Brides are often sold to willing males. The insightful doc THE DAUGHTER TREE, filmed in India is an entertaining and absorbing examination of the problem. This is a totally new Canadian documentary written, produced and directed by Rama Rau, an epic documentary film, six years in the making, about the disappearance of women in India resulting in all-male populations in some villages. If there is a feminist themed movie, this is the one as it deals with the subject from the roots. Females are just as important if not more important than their male counterparts. The film explores the aftermath of a cultural preference for baby boys sweeping through interior India, through the eyes of a fearless Warrior midwife called Neelam who counsels and advocates for baby girls, while a lone man in the Village of Men - so called because no girl has been born here the past three decades - goes on a quest to find a wife. The film is also beautifully shot by D.P. Nagaraj Diwakar. India never looks so stunning, especially not in a documentary.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/244731236
FOR SAMA (UK/USA/Syria 2019) ***
Directed by Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts
The doc begins with the image of a baby and a picture of a an 18-year old girl, that is supposed to be taken 10 years prior to the making of the doc. It turns out that the girl is Waad Al Kateab, the doc’s co-director and mother of the baby named Sama. She is making the doc for her daughter Sama, detailing the experiences she and her husband went through in evacuating the city of Aleppo, Syria, where she grew up. Over the course of several years, Waad al-Kateab has been filming the uprising in her home city of Aleppo, Syria. Capturing the brutal conflict all around her comes with added personal stakes as she falls in love and becomes pregnant with her first child. The film also attests the strength of women in war. At one point in the film, the women chant: “We are resilient! We are strong.” The film contains disturbing images of war. After six months of the city under siege, the camera pans the destruction of rubble and dust ads the citizens of Aleppo prepare their evacuation. FOR SAMA captures the danger and turmoil the citizens of Aleppo have gone through. Trailer: (unavailable)
INSIDE LEHMAN BROTHERS (Canada/France 2018) ***1/2
A film by Jennifer Deschamps
INSIDE LEHMAN BROTHER is a documentary about finance. Those involved in the world of stocks and finance will find this doc timely, insightful and interesting but how about the other group of people not dealing with the financial world. Director Deschamps, a French journalist (who co-wrote the script) attempts to bring interest to this group of people as well so that the film will have a larger target audience. The doc begins with what appears to be an ordinary woman caught in extraordinary circumstances. She is in a big residence in a large wooded area and says: “I would scream but no one would ever listen.” Deschamps clearly has got her audience’s curiosity piqued. As mortgage brokers for Lehman’s subsidiary BNC, Linda Weekes and her Californian colleagues were at the forefront of the subprime crisis. The whistle blower is Matthew Lee then headquartered in New York, who was the first leader to have refused to validate the accounts tainted by fraudulent transactions. Former CEO Richard (Dick) Fuld Jr. is the chief villain on display, an an evil villain at that. There are appearances of President Trump (another villain) and ex-President Obama (the hero) in the film. If Deschamps's aim is to infuriate the audience at the injustice, she has done a great job. The details are explained, making up the bulk the movie.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_2k-OXzgXY
PUSH (Sweden 2019) ***
Directed by Fredrik Gertten
Housing prices are skyrocketing in cities around the world. Incomes are not. PUSH sheds light on a new kind of faceless landlord, our increasingly unlivable cities and an escalating crisis that has an effect on us all. Cities that director Gertten examines and takes his audience to include Toronto and London. The film follows Leilani Farha, the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, as she is travelling the globe, trying to understand who’s being pushed out of the city and why. “I believe there’s a huge difference between housing as a commodity and gold as a commodity. Gold is not a human right, housing is,” says Leilani. The film shows that lean can make a difference as she organizes meeting around the world to combat the villains like Blackrock Funds. Gertten and Leinai will both be present during the film screening at Hot Docs.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/324962587
PREY (Canada 2019) ***1/2
Directed by Matt Gallagher
PREY opens with a shot of a man dress up in a tie and suit. He is Rob Tallach, a Civil Lawyer. He is nicknamed the priest hunter as he hunts down these priests perpetuators that prey on young boys. And he has quite a number of cases to his credit. Many have only recently come forward to speak publicly, while others have been silenced through settlements. One of the perpetrators, Father Rod Marshall, (interviewed in the movie when he was still alive) pled guilty to 17 assault charges; a colleague, Father David Katulski, called him a “very good pedophile.” One of his victims, seeking closure for this traumatic part of his childhood, filed suit against the Basilian Fathers of Toronto for its role in enabling Marshall’s depravity. The film is partly courtroom drama. Everyone loves a solid courtroom drama and PREY provides one of the best. But this trial was not about guilt or innocence, but about how much money the church should pay in compensation for the devastating fallout from the abuse. The climax of the film is the verdict.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/323986619
THE WORLD OR NOTHING (EL MUNDO O NADA) (Canada 2019) **
Directed by Ingrid Verninger
The film, the first doc from Canadian director Ingrid Verninger is a portrait of 29-year-old Cuban twin brothers, Rubert and Rubildo Donation Dinza, which begins two-months after their arrival in Barcelona, Spain. The film, shot in Barcelona explores the obsession and opportunity of today’s social media, the emotional cost of having big ambitions, the intimate bonds of sibling love, and the challenges of building a new life. For the brothers, “The World” means achieving one-million friends on social media, making their parents proud, starting a family, and gaining international recognition as a dancing, singing, performing duo. “Nothing” is not really an option. The twins are not particularly bright nor do they have anything worthwhile to offer, except maybe a bit of cool dancing. Why Verninger has selected these two as her subjects is puzzling. She has done better with her fiction films that are down-to-earth that offer the occasional insight on life. This one is simply boring.
Trailer: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5m82wqsb1dx13ql/WorldorNothing_Trailer.mp4?dl=0
