Goalie brings us the saga of Terry Sawchuk, known in Toronto as the last goalie to win a Stanley Cup for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mark O'Brien (Republic of Doyle) takes on the mannerisms of a physically and emotionally damaged human being. The story hit select highlights and lowlights in Sawchuk's life and career, his alcoholism, his obsession with Trader Jack Adams (Kevin Pollak), his rough childhood. The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is used throughout the film as a symbol. Joel Thomas Hynes and Jonny Harris make brief appearances. The film skates through a lot, focusing more on drama than the nuances of Sawchuk's life.
White Lie takes us inside the twisted world of Katie Arneson (Kacey Rohl) who is raising money for an experimental cancer treatment in Seattle. Katie spends a lot of time and money working on the backstory to convince people to give her money. Watching a liar is a little too real given the current climate. Watching a bad liar is a bit more fun. She fools her sexual partner but others seem more skeptical, especially her father. Rohl, who is one of the 2019 TIFF Rising Stars, juggles her need to lie without delving too far into her motivations.
Murmur is a brave film from writer/director Heather Young about Donna (Shan MacDonald), who helps out at an animal shelter as community service after a drunk driving arrest. Donna wants to talk with her daughter but can't get her to return her calls. She trades the addiction of alcohol for animals. Donna adopts a very needy older dog from the shelter. The dog and Donna both have murmur issues, hence the title. Soon, Donna finds one pet isn't enough. Young takes us further than we might want to casually go but stays faithful to the character. You might need a shower and a desire to hug your pet when the film is over but the journey is worth the effort. The film is considered docufiction with mostly non-professional actors but doesn't feel like a documentary at all.
Castle in the Ground is proof that Joey Klein has an unique film directing style that makes The Other Half look like Citizen Kane. Like his first film, Klein gives us a hazy world where we can't root for the main characters and don't really know what is happening. The star of The Other Half was mental illness while the star of Castle in the Ground is addiction. The young man helps his mother (Neve Campbell) deal with her pain, then sets down his own road on addiction for reasons that aren't clear. The next door neighbour is intriguing and addicted so they hang out. The film feels like a more amateurish version of Blue Velvet but makes less sense. Klein gives us a key sequence where the audience never learns what happens. Klein noted in the Q&A that Tatiana Maslany was going to be Ana, the female lead, but opted to do Network on Broadway. British actress Imogen Poots is the female lead as a brunette channeling Zooey Deschanel if she was hooked on drugs. Maslany's partner Tom Cullen is also in this film.
Easy Land is the debut film from writer/director Sanja Zivkovic about a Serbian mother and daughter struggling to establish their new lives in Canada. The daughter has to repeat Grade 12. Economic opportunity is a concern for both of them with the mother growing impatient with not being able to do what she can do. The mental illness revelation comes slow, reflecting the impact over time on a mentally fragile person.
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Acquainted is a film with an intriguing premise about the temptation of meeting someone while in a relationship. The problem is that the new couple has little chemistry, the standard relationships have zero chemistry. The fact that a couple buys a stand-alone house with a huge backyard in Toronto in 2019 without a speck of irony feels really false. The woman in the new couple is supposed to be a plants expert and doesn't say anything when the guy plants new flowers right next to a tall tree with long roots. The female supporting characters, who deserve their own small independent film, are more interesting than any of the primary characters.
Boys vs Girls is a local film that actually has Colin Mochrie in a somewhat prominent role and Kevin McDonald in a small role. The comedy about a camp is set in 1989 and 1990 for reasons that aren't clear. The premise is that the camp has separated genders but is forced to merge the primary genders together. The film takes on a boys vs. girls mentality but switches midstream to uniting to save the camp from closing. Neither direction is that redeeming in the film. The characters are washed out except for the 1-dimensional odd characters (her — tough; him — fat) in the group. Mochrie and McDonald are bright spots but can't do too much with the script.
The Lower Plateau can be viewed as a slacker film with a female protagonist of colour. She is at a crossroads in many avenues of her life, not quite sure where to go. Her main source of income is selling marijuana. Her former music partner Darcy has hit it big without her. The film is brilliant in that the pacing matches someone who is high a lot but problematic if you are not high when watching the film. Odd to watch a film set in Montréal that manages to avoid the French language. Nocturne cafe and The Word bookstore are real parts of the actual neighbourhood. A Montréal Expos hat is added as a nice touch.
photo credit: Goalie film
video credit: YouTube/TIFF Trailers
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