Love Jacked is a romantic farce where a Black American woman goes off to Africa for a trip and tells her family she has a fiance. Before she leaves to come back, the relationship ends but she doesn't tell her parents. She ends up with a pool hustler (Shamier Anderson) to impersonate Mtumbie.
Maya eventually falls in love with Malcolm / Mtumbie. He has to pretend he is from Africa. Maya went to South Africa but he ends up with what he says is a Nigerian accent. He makes up stuff about Africa and everyone around him believes his every word. The writers and director either are making a brilliant point about Black people in the United States being ignorant about Africa or they don't know much about Africa.
Technically a Canadian film, this looks and acts like an American film, not necessarily a compliment.
Anderson and Lyriq Bent (Tyrell) play the hustlers. Nicole Lyn and Kim Roberts are Canadian actors with minor roles. Alfons Adetuyi directed the film with his brother, Robert, co-writing the screenplay with Linda Eskeland.
Veteran American actors Keith David and Marla Gibbs play Maya's father and grandmother. American actor Amber Stevens West gives a lackluster, uninspired performance as Maya.
Malcolm tells us early on that he was born in Montréal. Their car in the beginning has a Quebec license plate. Malcolm admits to Maya early on that he is Canadian and so is Tyrell.
Most of the film takes place in southern California with some footage from Cape Town, South Africa. Some of the film was shot in Hamilton, Ontario.
Anderson is fun to watch onscreen and the actors in Maya's family do a nice job. Otherwise, watch this 2018 film only if this genre and approach appeals to you.
Love Jacked is available in the United States on Netflix.
video credit: YouTube/Alfons Adetuyi photo credit: Love Jacked film
The headline was juicy about Twitter adding a warning label to a tweet from Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland. The tweet summarized that Conservative leader Erin O'Toole would agree to bring private, for-profit health care to Canada. O'Toole responded "yes" to the question. O'Toole said in his remarks that universal access remains paramount.
The manipulation came in not having the entire excerpt in that moment. Freeland did tweet the entire response in a separate tweet.
The manipulated media charge would have to imply/infer that people would jump to the wrong conclusion about O'Toole's position on health care access.
O'Toole wants to bring private, for-profit health care into the mix to Canada. He said this on the "manipulated media" and the full excerpt and in subsequent interviews. As far as we know, no one thought that would be in lieu of getting rid of universal access. The manipulation would imply that universal access would disappear. Even the most hardened NDP or Greens supporter wouldn't believe the Conservatives are arguing in 2021 about giving up universal access.
The Conservatives have run for years on a two-tier system. If you have enough money, you can move to the front of the line. You might disagree with that approach, and most Canadians do. No one is saying that isn't the conservative position.
There is also the concern of the friendship with Kate Harrison (Conservative strategist who was asking O'Toole questions in the video) and Michele Austin. Both were staffers with then Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Austin is in charge of policy at Twitter Canada.
This isn't to justify what Freeland and the Liberals did. The idea is to look beyond the headlines. Is there fire behind the smoke? Do Canadian voters feel manipulated by the video or the subsequent coverage?
Strategically edited material should be addressed in political campaigns. Having covered more than my share on the U.S. side, I've seen too many countless attempts at strategically edited material by mainstream journalists.
Didn't want to bring in an American story but felt the need to show true manipulated media. Katie Couric was managing editor and anchor of the CBS Evening News. The interview with presidential candidate John McCain was altered to provide a different answer on Iraq than the one McCain gave in the interview. This happened after an accusation of plagiarism earlier in her tenure. That is manipulated media.
Between the Twitter Canada charge and the Willy Wonka ad, let's say the 2021 campaign is not off to a good start.
When they talk 905 areas (suburban Toronto), Bolton, Ontario could be a picture of what that looks like.
The Liberal Party rally in Bolton on Friday night was cancelled over security concerns. The venom and signs were disturbing.
Conservative candidate Kyle Seeback (Dufferin–Caledon) said Saturday some of his campaign volunteers were at the Liberal event and as a result they are "no longer welcome on my campaign." Conservative leader Erin O'Toole said any Conservative volunteer found to have been a part of the Bolton event "will no longer be involved with our campaign, full stop. I expect professionalism, I expect respect. I respect my opponents."
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau will meet "anger with compassion."
"No one should have to cancel an event because they worry about the safety of people coming out. I just want to condemn that. Mr. Trudeau and his team should never worry about their safety," NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said.
Erin O'Toole is checking off boxes to show he is not Andrew Scheer. The previous Conservative Party leader, Scheer wasn't terribly convincing in 2019 when he said he was "pro-life" yet wouldn't move to change abortion laws.
O'Toole says he's pro-choice. That could have been the end of that. Instead, O'Toole had to defend the Conservative platform position of supporting "conscience rights" allowing medical professionals to not perform medical procedure for moral or religious reasons.
“This is not at all a contradiction. I think it’s very important to defend the rights of all Canadians. That’s what I will do. Making sure that women have the right to access abortion services across this country. I am pro-choice, I have a pro-choice record and that’s how I’ll be. I think it’s also possible to show respect for our nurses, our health-care professionals with respect particularly to the expansion of medical assistance in dying,” O'Toole said.
"Pro-choice doesn't mean the freedom of doctors to choose. It means the freedom of women to choose. Leaders have to be unequivocal on that. He's saying certain things to some people and the opposite to others and that's not good enough," Justin Trudeau said.
There is some recognition of "conscience rights" on the provincial level, where health care is administered. In those cases, doctors are supposed to refer their patients to other resources available.
Trudeau announced earlier this summer that the federal government will withhold $140,000 in transfer payments to New Brunswick for the province's refusal to fund abortion services outside 2 hospitals in the entire province. New Brunswick covers abortions in hospitals, one in Moncton and the other in Bathurst. Clinic 544 in the provincial capital of Fredericton has been trying to fill that gap.
Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin (recently turned Liberal, formerly of the Green Party) announced $366,000 for University of New Brunswick researchers to look at “the work done at Clinic 554 between 2015 and 2020 and identify gaps and barriers, such as costs, transportation, and discrimination.”
Bathhurst is in far northern New Brunswick. Moncton is a couple of hours east of Saint John and a similar distance southeast of Fredericton. New Brunswick is a very rural province. Poor people would pay a great financial cost to travel that far for a surgical abortion.
Paul Wells was on a Canadaland episode saying what we had suspected: Wells and MacLean's are not doing a debate in 2021. Wells hosted debates in 2015 and 2019. These debates were problematic since he didn't hide his preferences. Justin Trudeau did Wells a favour by not showing up in 2019 to make him seem more important.
Wells talked with Jesse Brown in the Canadaland episode about how there should be more debates, especially on specialised topics. We absolutely agree with Wells as long as he isn't hosting any of them.
Wells' bias in the debates was definitely pro-Conservative and anti-Liberal. His tone and questions to parties on the left weren't as hostile as they were toward the Liberals. Moderators and others who ask questions should be a lot more neutral.
The Toronto Star was the first to report, at least in English, on a French-only debate on September 2. Pierre Bruneau from TVA Nouvelles will once again host a debate on TVA at 8 pm Eastern. The Green Party will not be in this debate; the 2019 logic was that the party doesn't have a MP from Quebec.
We refer to TVA Sports in our NHL coverage. That is a cable channel. TVA is an over-the-air network. The network is essentially CFTM, Channel 10 in Montréal, but does have affiliates throughout Quebec, including Gatineau (Ottawa). If you can't access TVA, CPAC will likely carry the debate with an English translation.
The consortium debates will run September 8 (French) and September 9 (English)
You have to go back to 2011 to find an election where there were only 2 debates. Those were the consortium debates.
Wells might want to consider that the consortium debates have reporters asking the questions. Moderators who ask their own questions lose perspective on what the public needs to know.
We know the 2021 consortium debates will have the Bloc Québécois, Conservative Party of Canada, Green Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada and New Democratic Party. Maxime Bernier and the People's Party did not qualify. The Leaders' Debates Commission calculated the People's Party of Canada's average level of national support at 3.27%, slightly below the 4% threshold.
David Johnston, former governor general and debates commissioner, was highly generous to Bernier in the 2019 debates. The big difference is that Bernier is no longer a MP.
The Bloc Québécois has released its electoral platform. The Bloc did really well in the 2019 election, going from 10 seats in 2015 to 32 seats in 2019. Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet is now upon the challenge of whether the party will win more seats or fall from the high mark of 2019.
The +22 boost is higher than the 15 seats needed to get a Liberal majority.
The party did get a boost as a result of the 2018 provincial election where the Coalition Avenir Québec won a majority and brought back the nationalist voice to power.
We haven't seen the electoral platform from the Green Party of Canada. Will gladly post that when we see it.
The folks at the Backbench podcast pointed out in their last episode that Annamie Paul hasn't left Toronto during the campaign. We noted last week that Paul is running in Toronto Centre. As a federal party leader, Paul should be traveling to areas where the Greens are strong, candidates with promise.
ATTENTION STUDENTS! Many of you have asked us about whether you’ll be able to vote on campus for #Elxn44. Due to the challenges brought on by the pandemic and the minority government situation, we are not able to run the Vote-on-campus program this election. 1/3 #CdnPolipic.twitter.com/VI4Z2zmpnn
The Vote on Campus program allowed students to vote in their home ridings while they were away at school. The program started in 2015 and expanded to 109 colleges and universities in the 2019 federal election.
We assume the Elections Canada wording on "the minority government situation" has to do with the uncertainty of when the election would fall.
Students could vote before they leave for school, if still applicable. They might be best advised to vote by mail if there is some concern and to make sure they are registered. Most college and university students would be voting in their first federal election.
Making voting easy for young people strengthens a democracy by ensuring people can participate.
We do try to approach things in a non-partisan fashion (always pick non-partisan over bipartisan or tripartisan) to the political notebooks. We will gladly point out serious spelling errors, regardless of party. We have our own spelling errors on the blog, but certain words really need to be spelled properly. The city where the government is would be a great example. When you trying to spell anti and you leave out the "i."
The Conservatives flyer is concerned with "ant-corruption" in "Otawa" and falls short with "creatng" and "essental." Some Canadian spellings can confuse most Americans but not these mistakes.
The question we wonder if are they checking and not catching mistakes or just not checking.
Occasionally people ask why we don't publish poll numbers. Good question. The only poll that counts is who people vote for in an election. Politics isn't a horse race. The point is the politics matter because people's lives can be improved or made worse.
Treating politics like a horse race is demeaning to the people whose lives are helped or hurt by who is in power.
photo credit: @cafreeland; CBC News video credits: Liberal Party of Canada; Conservative Party of Canada Twitter capture: @ElectionsCan_E
The CFL is truly eastbound this week with the furthest west game being in Winnipeg.
The Elks were scheduled to travel to BMO Field to play the Argonauts on Thursday Night Football. The Elks had as many as 12 positive COVID-19 tests.
Friday night has an all-east matchup of the Tiger-Cats in the home opener in La Belle Province. U.S. viewers can find that game on ESPNews.
The lone Saturday contest is the Ottawa home opener, welcoming the BC Lions. This marks the return of Rick Campbell back to Ottawa, being the first coach in RedBlacks history and winning a Grey Cup in 2016.
Calgary will be in Winnipeg for a rare Sunday night game. ESPN2 will have the TSN simulcast.
The Roughriders get to relax in the late August sun.
ESPN2
Sunday Calgary @ Winnipeg, 7p
ESPNews
Friday Hamilton @ Montréal, 7:30p
TSN
Thursday Edmonton @ Toronto, 7:30p Friday Hamilton @ Montréal, 7:30p Saturday BC @ Ottawa, 7p Sunday Calgary @ Winnipeg, 7p
Bye week: Saskatchewan
The CFL will try to reschedule the Edmonton-Toronto game. If the game is rescheduled before the next CFL update, we will include that here.
You could find an odd situation where Toronto could get a forfeit win and yet not get paid for the game. Edmonton would be in danger of losing AND not getting paid if there is a forfeit. If Toronto is not at the level, they would win a game but not get paid. Presumably, the team could make up for lost time and be fully vaccinated before a decision is reached.
We are starting to see new requirements for the CFL and NHL for everyone in the stadium to either provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to get inside the stadium. Edmonton and Saskatchewan are the only CFL teams without a vaccination proof plan. That may change soon.
The theme for last week's games was the team that wasn't expected to do well did quite well.
Edmonton was 0-2 going into Vancouver and won. Calgary was 0-2 and won at home against the Alouettes. Toronto was the underdog at home to Winnipeg and came away with a win.
Vernon Adams Jr. went into Calgary with a 3-0 record against the Stampeders. The Alouettes were going up against American quarterback Jake Maier instead of Canadian Michael O'Connor or regular starter Bo Levi Mitchell. Yet Calgary won its first game of the season.
Jimmy Camacho was perfect as the new BC Lions kicker. The Lions lost its home opener to Edmonton as both Alberta teams finally got into the win column.
Nick Arbuckle looked comfortable in his first start in the double blue at BMO Field. Zach Collaros, who started his CFL career in Toronto, never looked comfortable.
Even though Ottawa came into the game in Regina with a 1-0 record, the favoured Saskatchewan Roughriders won another home game.
Saskatchewan is the only undefeated CFL team at 3-0. Hamilton is the only winless team at 0-2.
Dane Evans will start for the winless Tiger-Cats as Jeremiah Masoli is nursing an injury.
You have to wait until tomorrow but single-game betting will be a reality in Canada starting Friday. Previously, Canadians could bet on multiple games but not on a single game (legally).
This stems from Bill C-218 that was passed and reached royal assent this summer.
We have seen a lot more gambling information in the CFL on TSN telecasts this season. Old-timers might scoff, noting that CBS had Jimmy the Greek on NFL Today talking about odds. The NFL on NBC responded eventually with its own expert, Pete Axthelm. The gambling setup is more complex these days.
Your humble narrator is nervous about this rising talk of gambling. There was talk that single game betting would be a needed financial boon for the CFL. Not clear how that works specifically. Maybe someone can explain how that helps out the league.
The CFL expanded beyond the Prairies into areas of Canada with attendance limits. The BC Lions could only seat 12,500 and they hit that limit. The Toronto Blue Jays could have as many as 15,000, except that the Ontario limits factored in everyone in the stadium, not just fans.
The Toronto Argonauts, on a warm day, drew 9,866. We know the issues the Argos have had on attendance. Just seems like after being without the sport in 2020, fans would jump at the chance to catch a game. The Canadian National Exhibition, normally around this time of the year, offered Argos fans a treat since an Argos ticket would get them into the CNE for free. Of course, there is no CNE in 2021.
Until that 15,000 Ontario threshold changes, those apply to the Ottawa RedBlacks (Saturday) and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Labour Day).
Glen Suitor has called 8 of the first 12 games this season compared to 4 for Duane Forde. That dynamic should shift with more games to come in the east. Matt Dunigan is still in the United States.
Dustin Nielson and Suitor got a chance to talk with Amar Doman, the new BC Lions owner, during the game in Vancouver Thursday. Doman got the sense that work needs to be done on getting more fans out to the games, especially from the South Asian community.
Rod Smith and Suitor were in Calgary on Friday and Regina on Saturday. Nielson and Forde were in Toronto on Saturday.
Matt Dunigan wasn't on the panel on Thursday. That is usually a signal that he would call a game but that did not happen this time.
We mentioned Tim Long when The Simpsons took on Canada in D'oh Canada in 2019. Long is the resident Canadian on the writing staff.
Long has a new movie out called The Exchange. The fictional town is Hobart but Long writes about growing up in Exeter, Ontario, home of the white squirrel. Coincidentally, Hobart also celebrates the white squirrel.
The main character wants an exchange student to be his new best friend but that doesn't work out quite the way he intended.
The film, shot in Ottawa and Almonte, Ontario, features Canadians Avan Jogia, Jennifer Irwin, and Paul Braunstein, along with Australian actor Ed Oxenbould and American actor Justin Hartley.
The film is out now in theatres in the United States and Canada. You can listen to the Tim Long interview with Q from CBC Radio One.
Free Guy is not a Canadian film, not even close. Still, a Canadian leading actor (Ryan Reynolds) and a Canadian director (Shawn Levy) on a major American film is rather unusual.
"In my first meeting with Ryan, we talked about wanting to (create) a metaphor for innocence and how does optimism and civility survive in an often cynical world?" Levy said in an interview.
"‘I need you to play your most Canadian, Ryan,’" Levy recalls telling Reynolds. "And that was literally the first piece of direction I gave him before we even agreed to sign up and do this movie."
"While I didn’t frame it as Canadian-within-the-U.S. context, that character is absolutely intended to be Ryan‘s kindest, most idealistic, civil Canadian self."
The Canadian piece de resistance is the final cameo from the late Alex Trebek. You can also listen to the interview with Reynolds and Levy on Q from CBC Radio One.
Domee Shi won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Bao in 2019. Now Shi will direct a full-length feature film Turning Red, a Disney movie set in Canada, specifically Toronto.
The animated Disney movie is scheduled for release in Spring 2022.
Canadian actress and producer Sarah Gadon is on the 2021 Venice Film Festival jury. Joining Gadon on the jury are the last 2 Best Director winners at the Academy Awards. The Oscar winners are Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) and Bong Joon Ho (Parasite).
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, will have its world premiere at the festival. The documentary comes from directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine. The festival runs September 1-11.
You can also find Gadon on screen in All My Puny Sorrows, the latest Michael McGowan film, at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. That festival runs September 9-18.
Editor's note:This story has been updated to include the screening of Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine.
The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival will be significantly larger than the 2020 version but falling short of 2019. This means more Canadian films than the 5 plus co-productions from the 2020 lineup.
Celebrating Alanis Obomsawin will be in the words of TIFF, "the centrepiece of the 46th Toronto International Film Festival."
Obomsawin has been a legendary Indigenous documentary film director telling stories that otherwise might have been underappreciated or completely ignored outside Indigenous circles.
She is likely best known for her portrayal of the 1990 Oka crisis in Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993). You might know Obomsawin from her recent documentaries: We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice (2016); Our People Will Be Healed (2017); and Jordan River Anderson, the Messenger (2019).
"Her voice as a filmmaker, musician, visual artist, and activist has been consistent. She tells the stories of how Indigenous people in Canada have resisted injustice and abuse inflicted by the most powerful authorities a country can have, and how those people have fought back in the streets and in the courts. Most of all, her more than 50 documentaries made with the National Film Board show how Indigenous peoples have drawn on rich, deep traditions going back thousands of years to assert their presence as vital communities determined to continue on for thousands more years into the future." said TIFF in promo information.
Here is a list of full-length Canadian films, including co-productions. All descriptions of films supplied by TIFF.
Contemporary World Cinema
Maria Chapdelaine (Sébastien Pilote) A teen in rural Quebec must decide her future by choosing one of three suitors, in the moving adaptation of Louis Hémon’s 1913 novel.
Kicking Blood (Blaine Thurier) A sultry, perma-stoned, ultra-modern spin on the vampire genre evokes cult-horror figures like George A. Romero and Stuart Gordon.
Discovery
Learn To Swim (Thyrone Tommy) The feature debut from Toronto’s Tommy charts the stormy romance between two very different contemporary jazz musicians.
Quickening (Haya Waseem) The debut feature explores the life of a young woman of colour navigating love, heartbreak, and family turmoil.
Scarborough (Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson) Three kids in a low-income neighbourhood find friendship and community in an unlikely place, in this adaptation of Catherine Hernandez’s award-winning book.
Wildhood (Bretten Hannam) Link and his brother flee their abusive father and embark on a journey where Link discovers his sexuality and rediscovers his Mi’kmaw heritage.
Night Raiders (Danis Goulet) Singular thriller draws on Canada’s ugly colonial legacy for a propulsive piece of genre cinema set in a dystopian postwar future.
Lakewood (Phillip Noyce) Naomi Watts stars in a nerve-rattling thriller about a mother struggling to rescue her son from a school shooter.
The Survivor (Barry Levinson) A biographical drama starring Ben Foster as boxer Harry Haft, who looks to carry on after fighting to survive in WWII concentration camp.
Platform
Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres (Ivan Grbovic) A drug-cartel worker runs afoul of his boss and migrates to Canada, in this timely tale of star-crossed love and starting over.
Special Presentations
All My Puny Sorrows (Michael McGowan) Michael McGowan’s touching adaptation of Miriam Toews’ beloved novel about two sisters boasts a fine cast led by Alison Pill and Sarah Gadon.
Charlotte (Tahir Rana, Eric Warin) The remarkable true story of Charlotte Salomon, a German Jewish artist defying incredible odds to create a masterpiece during World War II.
The Middle Man (Bent Hamer) In a town plagued by disaster, one man holds the job of breaking the worst news to its citizens, in director Bent Hamer’s latest oddball comedy.
TIFF Docs
Oscar Peterson: Black + White Picture (Barry Avrich) Director Barry Avrich’s affectionate celebration of Canada’s greatest jazz musician situates the master pianist in the genre’s pantheon.
Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace (Heather Hatch) The many environmental, social, legal and human perils of BC’s controversial Site C hydro dam project are explored in Heather Hatch’s must-watch doc.
Wavelengths
Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette) This stirring debut feature by the Manitoban filmmaker and artist is a formally alluring examination of home by way of places and people.
If we were to focus on a singular film on this list, we would lean toward All My Puny Sorrows. Michael McGowan has a strong track record in our world with films such as Saint Ralph (2004); One Week (2008); and Still Mine (2012). We even forgive him (ha ha) for Score: A Hockey Musical (2010). This is McGowan's first film in 9 years. The major roles in the film, besides the on-screen sisters of Alison Pill and Sarah Gadon (shown above), belong to Amybeth McNulty, Donal Logue, Aly Mawji and American actor Mare Winningham.
Sébastien Pilote is back with Maria Chapdelaine. You might remember his 2018 film The Fireflies Are Gone | La disparition des lucioles.
Scarborough could be a breakthrough. Wildhood might be difficult to watch but worth the watch. Ste. Anne could be a sleeper.
The Middle Man is from an established Norwegian director. Sault Ste. Marie, ON is used for the American Midwest. The cast features some fine Canadian talent such as Paul Gross, Don McKellar, Rossif Sutherland, Kenneth Welsh, Sheila McCarthy, and Bill Lake. Would watch this even if it wasn't a Canadian film.
Oscar Peterson: Black + White Picture and Wochiigii lo: End of the Peace documentaries look promising.
The beauty of film is there will always be pleasant surprises that may not be as obvious.
TIFF will run 3 episodes of Sort Of, the new CBC comedy from Fab Filippo and Bilal Baig about "a young gender-fluid caregiver, whose life plans are disrupted when tragedy strikes the family they help to maintain." The CBC show runs this fall and has a U.S. deal with HBO Max.
The Toronto Raptors were not the first NBA franchise in Toronto. The Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in the first NBA game in 1946.
TIFF is celebrating that 75th anniversary with NBA Films For Fans, a collection of 5 short films (one for each player on the court) from Canadian filmmakers and basketball fans Romeo Candido, Shawn Gerrard, Kat Jayme, Thyrone Tommy, and S.M. Turrell.
A last-minute addition covers a Canadian band your humble narrator knows pretty well, even if others have to Google their music. Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine ought to be a fun time.
Denis Villeneuve will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award at the 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards. His latest film Dune will premiere at 2021 TIFF. While Villeneuve hasn't written any of his "American films," he co-wrote the screenplay for Dune.
We couldn't help but notice that in the TIFF release, they listed all of his American films and Incendies. They forget about August 32nd on Earth (1998); Maelström (2000); and Polytechnique (2009). The first 2 films were the Canadian entries to what was then the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards.
Sitting through Enemy, your humble narrator was missing the quality of his earlier films.
The 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards will be broadcast on CTV and streamed internationally by Variety.
Romantic comedies follow a nice, clean flow chart of maneuvers and predictability. I Propose We Never See Each Other Again After Tonight is a reminder that imperfect people who feel screwed up might get it right for once.
Winnipeg in winter is the setting for the film. Our protagonists represent prominent communities in Winnipeg: Simon Friesen (Kristian Jordan) is Mennonite and Iris Dela Cruz (Hera Nalam) is of Filipino descent. Simon and Iris met accidentally while pushing someone's car out of a snow bank.
Simon and Iris seem like very nice people but a bit damaged. Iris suggests they tell their secrets to each other, figuring they will never see each other again after that night.
That works out until they realise separately that they like each other. After running into each other at a local market, they decide to start dating.
We find out that Simon and Iris have way more secrets than one night could handle.
Sean Garrity directed My Awkward Sexual Adventure, which partially took place in Winnipeg. This film has its own awkwardness in very different ways. He understands the idea of awkwardness. Guy Maddin would be proud.
The film is about as real a love story as the screen can handle. Vulnerability is difficult when you don't think you are good enough to be with someone. Simon and Iris want to be close but end up doing things that push the other away.
Simon's best friend Gord (Matthew Paris Irvine) is not the typical best friend in a romantic comedy. Gord is a physically intense character who craves intimacy even in non-sexual relationships. We see a lot of Iris' family life, especially her sister Agnes (Andrea Macasaet), who has a fiance Justin (Aaron Pridham) who is physically inappropriate with other women, especially Iris.
The idea of intimacy in side characters while the main characters struggle to find intimacy is a bookmark worth noting.
The film spends most of the time in Winnipeg in the winter. We also get to see Morden, Manitoba and the Mennonite presence. The Friesen name is quite common. Amusing side note: Loreena McKennitt, one of my favourite musicians in the world, is from Morden.
Garrity gambles that we will follow along for the ride. Abandonment is an issue on screen and you might feel abandoned watching the film. Hang in there and, well, you might not get rewarded like a romantic comedy but the ride is worthwhile.
Actors tell us they love to play flawed characters. The main characters struggle in their worlds because they want love but really find love difficult.
Garrity directed My Awkward Sexual Adventure but wrote and directed I Propose We Never See Each Other Again After Tonight. He has a strong writing voice, delivering mostly authentic dialogue.
If you really love romantic comedies, you might enjoy this film. If you struggle with love, you will have characters that are relatable.
I Propose We Never See Each Other Again After Tonight is currently available in Canada on Crave.
video credit: YouTube/Mongrel Media photo credit: I Propose We Never See Each Other Again After Tonight film
How Not to Start a Political Campaign: run a terrible, negative ad that upsets people in your party as well as the general public. Violate copyright infringements. Make reporters who would rather cover issues get tied up in a mess.
This ad is bizarre, tone-deaf, and misogynist. Using a 50-year-old film as your canvas is an unusual take. Asking millennials to go back to a scene from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a big ask. Justin Trudeau as Veruca Salt throwing a tantrum might have been good to let off steam in a room or a Zoom call hoping there isn't a leak. Releasing said video on Twitter on purpose: yikes!!
Attacking the prime minister is a way for the opposition party leader can be a good way to start off the campaign. When your move is more childish than the tantrum you spotlight, you might want a mulligan.
The coverage honed in on how some conservatives thought the ad was in poor taste. Mainstream journalism is less likely to be critical of conservative actions if conservatives aren't complaining. The ad isn't magically better or worse depending on how some conservatives react.
Free advice: Conservatives, introduce your candidate. Average voters know little about Erin O'Toole. You have a slightly better candidate than the last one. Might not have been as memorable of an introduction but better strategy than what the Conservatives did in 2021.
"Vaccines are not a political issue. To try and make them one is dangerous and irresponsible," said Conservative leader Erin O'Toole.
O'Toole said, if elected, he would demand travellers pass a rapid test before boarding a bus, train, plane, or ship. We know Conservative voters tend to drive more cars and take less public transportation. Imagining Canadians having to pass a rapid test before boarding a TTC streetcar or the 99-B express bus in Vancouver. The morning commute will be so much worse.
The same would apply for Via Rail and flying within Canada. The bus companies that had to replace Greyhound would struggle with that requirement.
This is more about the dance where conservatives encourage something but don't require the practice. The Liberals did respond with strengthened requirements just before calling the election, seen as possibly unfair. That approach has put the Conservatives on the defence.
O'Toole's solution wouldn't politicize vaccines, just make everyday Canadians lives bogged down in unnecessary time wasters. Also, everyone on the O'Toole campaign bus and plane must be fully vaccinated.
We would love to see the intercity bus issue be asked in any debate, English or French, to the party leaders. We would be highly shocked if anyone asks a single question on the issue, in a debate or a press conference. Let us know if we are gladly wrong on this prediction. Intercity bus travel is crucial to a lot of Canadians who would love to know where the parties stand on the topic.
A more optimistic political ad. Jagmeet Singh and the NDP in a 15-second ad on the impact the party made on this minority government. The ad crams a lot into 15 seconds but this is good information to know.
The stark contrast of an empty apartment is an excellent background to tell this story.
As we noted in our preview, 4 of the last 6 federal election have gone to a minority government. The NDP won't be as obvious about that (smartly), but essentially the party is advocating the status quo. An intriguing argument to make.
The Conservative ad whined that Trudeau wants a majority government. The NDP ad argues the same premise (minus the whining) but goes into why that isn't a good idea.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul doesn't have a seat in Parliament. Elizabeth May is the Green leader in Parliament because she has a seat.
Leaders sometimes run in a different riding, such as what NDP leader Jagmeet Singh did by running and winning the Burnaby South riding in 2019. Singh is from Ontario.
Paul ran for the by-election in the Toronto Centre riding last fall when Finance Minister Bill Morneau resigned his seat. Marci Ien won the seat last October.
Paul once again is running in her home base in Toronto Centre. We love applauding tenacity but also like to see party leaders in Parliament, where they can do more good.
The Conservative Party dumped their Yukon candidate Jonas J. Smith. His stance on not wanting vaccine passports is likely the reason.
Parties have become more diligent in dumping candidates, just not in vetting them. As we noted in our Nova Scotia election coverage, Nova Scotia outgoing Premier Iain Rankin gave a lesson in how not to dump a candidate. Have not seen the alleged “boudoir photos” but that seems a lame excuse to get rid of a candidate. The party was better off leaving Robyn Ingraham on the ballot. The party wasn't likely to defeat NDP incumbent Claudia Chender in the Dartmouth South riding.
Parties have to do a balancing act and need to do better on juggling those priorities.
We went after Global's Dawna Friesen for her clueless tweet last week. We loath lazy journalism, especially when that action is biased, even if we might agree. Ask tough questions to people who want to be prime minister. They may not answer them but get the question on the record.
The beauty of this interview from Neetu Garcha of Global BC with Conservative leader Erin O'Toole is her calm voice but tenacious determination to get in some really good questions. O'Toole dances as best that he can but his inability to address good questions is a bit embarrassing.
The issue is when mainstream journalists ask tough questions of the Greens and NDP, in particular, that they never would dream to ask of Conservatives. True non bias is asking tough questions to every candidate, Liberals included.
We critique journalism as part of our political coverage. So this question is fair: why give extra attention to the negative Conservative ad featured at the top of this page?
Most of the coverage has been about "look at how terrible this ad is" while still running the video. Our presentation gives a critique of the ad and places the ad in context to the start of a campaign for a party who has a new leader.
You shouldn't assume everyone has seen the ad or can place that in the proper context. Regular people have busy lives. The notebook helps people catch up on what is happening in a relaxed Sunday environment.
The coverage might seem like we are rewarding bad behaviours and negative ads. Some of the coverage does that; other parts don't as much.
Most of the ads we will spotlight will be positive ones. Most of the coverage doesn't do that as well.
Podcasts are a great way to catch up on the Canadian election, especially for late summer listening. They also cross over easily if you are tuning in from south of the 49th parallel.
We've mentioned Party Lines from CBC in the past. The pairing of opposites is the appeal of the show: Rosemary Barton and Elamin Abdelmahmoud. The show took a summer hiatus with the understanding that the show would return if/when the election was called.
Party Lines has been better of late without the pressure of an election. The content had been a little too much on whether points were scored than issues of the day. Party Lines comes out on Thursdays.
Backbench (formerly Oppo) is a new Canadian politics podcast from Canadaland. Host Fatima Syed has a revolving door of panelists with a wide variety of perspectives. The podcast is willing to tackle issues reasonably in depth. They have fun with politics and know when to take a topic seriously.
Backbench has been running every other Tuesday but will go weekly during the election cycle. If you like Canadaland, try Backbench.
CBC News provides you with a thorough guide on the ways you can vote in the 2021 Canada federal election.
Advance polls will be open from September 10-13 for the September 20 election.
You can vote at an Elections Canada office until September 14. You do have to complete a special ballot application.
You can mail in your vote. You have to complete a special ballot application. You then get a special ballot voting kit in the mail. Return your ballot using the pre-addressed return envelope. The vote has to get to Elections Canada on September 20 (Election Day) at 6p ET.
Obviously, you can vote on Election Day. Your humble narrator always voted on Election Day until the pandemic.
The options may depend on whether you know right now which candidate will get your vote or if you are the type of voter who waits until closer to Election Day to know the candidate they will choose.
You might have missed our Nova Scotia election coverage. The election was the first in the pandemic to flip a party, making some political experts excited about whether this would happen in the federal race.
This expert says no. Atlantic Canada, in a good way, marches to its own beat. The Liberals had been in power for 8 years. That party ran a poor campaign while the other 2 parties ran good campaigns.
This also was the first pandemic election where people were vaccinated. The federal election will be decided on its own merits. Here is hoping in a truly non-partisan fashion that the new Nova Scotia government can improve health care in that province.
photo credit: Conservative Party video credit: NDP
The CFL finally goes east of Winnipeg and west of Alberta for the first time since 2019. In other words, the CFL will go beyond the Prairies.
The BC Lions play the home opener welcoming the Elks to Vancouver on Thursday Night Football.
Montréal completes its Alberta trip with a visit to Calgary on Friday night.
The Toronto Argonauts host Winnipeg at BMO Field in the second half of a home-and-home series. Let's hope for a decent crowd. Toronto sports fans haven't been able to watch their teams at home until recently.
The RedBlacks trip to Saskatchewan (insert Roughriders/Rough Riders jokes) completes the Saturday doubleheader.
Hamilton may spend its week off back home in the east.
ESPN2 has a pair of games with the home openers on Thursday in Vancouver and Saturday afternoon in Toronto.
Calgary and Edmonton aren't just 0-2; the Alberta teams are 0-2 at home. Montréal won for the first time in Edmonton since 2013. Calgary's offence is struggling but the Stampeders are a kilometre ahead of their northern neighbours. The Elks finally scored a TD late in the game against the Alouettes in Week 2.
Winnipeg and Saskatchewan are 2-0, both at home. Hamilton accounts for half of those wins. The Blue Bombers have won 13 of the team's last 14 home games.
Montréal and Ottawa are 1-0, both in Edmonton. Based on the results against the Elks, the Alouettes have the edge over the RedBlacks.
The Tiger-Cats offence was virtually missing in both games while the Toronto Argonauts offence struggled in Week 2.
McLeod Bethel-Thompson excelled in Week 1 for Toronto. Nick Arbuckle was the spark in Week 2, replacing Bethel-Thompson and leading the Argos to the team's lone touchdown drive in Winnipeg.
Michael O'Connor becomes the second Canadian quarterback to start a CFL game in 2021. O'Connor replaces Bo Levi Mitchell for the Calgary Stampeders. The Stamps are home this week to Montréal.
Mitchell didn't look good last week with 4 interceptions. 2019 was the year of the backup quarterback. O'Connor gets more time with the first string offence than Nathan Rourke had with the BC Lions in the opening week. The CFL has never had 2 Canadian quarterbacks start games in a season.
O'Connor played in 2 games in 2019. He is a product of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
The CFL is electrified by kickoff and punt returns for a touchdown. Montréal's Mario Alford had the first CFL punt return with an 86-yard touchdown run in Week 2. The CFL/TSN contest potentially gives $1,000,000 to a selected fan if there are 2 kickoff returns for a touchdown in a game. That money has been earning interest for a long time.
Ottawa's Abdul Kanneh had a significant 102-yard interception return for a touchdown in Week 1. Still impressive but not with the same flavour as a kickoff or punt return.
Takeru Yamasaki made history by becoming the first Japanese-born player to score a point in the CFL. Yamasaki has been off to a rough start for the BC Lions, going 4/8 in field goal tries. The Lions went for the 2-point conversion early in Week 2.
His misses have been on short kicks and those misses have come at crucial times for the Lions.
The Lions released Yamasaki, who had been the team's 3rd round pick in the 2021 Global Draft.
BC started on the road in tough places such as Regina and Calgary; the team has its home opener this week. Making those kicks is the idea, no matter where you are from in the world.
The team will have a new kicker and has a new owner: Amar Doman, founder and sole shareholder of the Futura Corporation, is the new owner of the BC Lions.
The Blue Bombers solid start is more remarkable since Andrew Harris has been out with a calf injury. Winnipeg native Brady Oliveira made this easier for the Blue Bombers, running for 126 yards against Hamilton in the opening week. While Oliveira only had 29 rushing yards against Toronto, a solid running without Harris will be made that much stronger once he can return. Harris, like Oliveira, is also from Winnipeg.
The CFL on TSN should fine any on-air person for using the old Edmonton nickname. The panel members have been good. Glen Suitor would lead the way in fines; Rod Smith would have had at least a single fine. The money should go to Indigenous groups.
We get an actual slip up or beginning to say that e-word. The difference is that the word is being used to show context for past events for the team. The Edmonton team/franchise is a nice generic term to use. You can even say "the old nickname" without saying that nickname.
The cruelty of using these words as sport team nicknames is that the word gets repeated over and over ad nauseam.
Some CFL fans will be thrilled to not hear Rod Black for most of August. Black is calling games at the IIHF Women’s World Championship.
Dustin Nielson and Duane Forde were in Calgary on Thursday and Regina late on Saturday. Hope Nielson got to do his morning show on TSN 1260 from Calgary on Friday.
Rod Smith and Glen Suitor had a quick turnaround from Winnipeg on Friday to do the early game in Edmonton on Saturday.
Milt Stegall and Matt Dunigan are still working from south of the border on the panel. Dunigan has been the go-to for a 3rd game analyst on tripleheaders. With all the talk of those who do play by play, Suitor, Forde, Dunigan, and Henry Burris have been the only CFL analysts for years.
The Progressive Conservatives are back in charge of Nova Scotia for the first time since 2009. Tim Houston is the premier-designate, the first PC premier since Rodney MacDonald, who won in 2006.
Houston and his party ran on concerns over health care.
The anecdote of the 86-year-old Nova Scotia man made an impact. The man was in his driveway after breaking his hip waiting for an ambulance for more than 3 hours. A police officer took the man to hospital after what was supposed to be another 2-hour wait. The gentleman lived 5 km from Dartmouth General Hospital yet the ambulance was dispatched from 175 kilometres.
Houston might have the label of Progressive Conservatives but doesn't share some views with his fellow conservative premiers or the federal party.
The PCs won 31 seats compared to 17 for the Liberals, 6 for the NDP, and a single Independent (all numbers preliminary). The majority mark was 28 for the 55-seat legislature.
The general concession was that the race might be close, certainly not this kind of a flip for the PCs away from the Liberals.
Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin, who took office back in February, had a rough start to the campaign for the Liberal Party.
The Liberals picked Lesley MacKay to replace Robyn Ingraham, who ran into issues over “boudoir photos,” in Dartmouth South. Ingraham cited mental health issues for withdrawing but later said the party told her to lie about why she left. NDP incumbent Claudia Chender won the riding.
NDP leader Gary Burrill, the only veteran leader of the campaign, boosted his party's total at Province House in Halifax.
The NDP campaigned on affordable housing, especially permanent rent control.
Rankin pulled a classless move by starting his speech while Burrill was giving his speech. Every time a politician gets interrupted, they never run the whole speech. CBC News did an interview with Burrill to try and make up for that, something they don't usually do.
Nova Scotia has a significant Black presence in the province, something that hasn't been reflected in the legislature. Bringing back the Preston riding was designated to increase the likelihood of Black representation. All the major parties ran a Black candidate. Liberal Angela Simmonds will be the MLA from Preston.
Only 5 Black MLAs have ever been elected in Nova Scotia. Looks like 4 of the new MLAs will be Black.
There were 11 Black candidates, 3 of them from Preston.
The preliminary numbers have 15 women in the new legislature, up from 12 (with 4 new seats). The PCs had an increase of 4 women plus the new female independent while the Liberals lost 2 women in the election.
Some of the backlash against the Liberals was tied to the lobster fishing rights with the settlers and the Mi’kmaw. There were 2 Mi’kmaw candidates who ran in the election. Bryson Syliboy (NDP) ran in the Richmond riding in Cape Breton. Nadine Bernard from the We’koqma’q First Nation (Liberal) ran in the Victoria-The Lakes riding in Cape Breton. Neither of them won.
The turnout at the end of the night was given at 50.5%, down 2.9 percentage points from the 2017 election. The advance ballots still to be counted will boost that a bit.
The turnout was strong early in the contest. Elections Nova Scotia said a total of 75,367 early votes were cast compared to 32,935 at the same point during the 2017 election.
Those looking for a trend will note that this is the first pandemic election in Canada where the government changed parties. Perhaps this wasn't too much of a pandemic election after all. Nova Scotia reported 9 new COVID-19 cases on Monday with 24 active cases in the province.
The Liberals in Nova Scotia ran a poor campaign after being in power for 8 years. The PCs and NDP ran targeted campaigns.
We see Honey Bee, as she is called, get Ryan's name tattooed on her wrist as the film opens. You might think Ryan is her boyfriend but Ryan is her pimp.
She doesn't really understand the difference between love and turning tricks. She has had a rough life. Her life changes dramatically when she is caught in a sting. Because she is underage, Honey Bee aka Natalie (Julia Sarah Stone) is sent to a foster home in Cochrane, Ontario.
She ends up on a farm with farm chores as well as school. She is not in the mood for any of this.
Natalie steals a girl's phone to call Ryan (Steven Love). He wants to have nothing to do with her.
Her new foster mother Louise (American actor Martha Plimpton) is tough. Louise and Natalie butt heads a bit.
Natalie shares a bedroom with Chante (Michelle McLeod). Matt (Connor Price) is the other foster kid in the house. Natalie thinks Chante is square and Matt is really shy. Natalie kisses Matt by the horses, getting both of them in trouble.
Ryan had promised Honey Bee they would go to the Big Nickel aka Sudbury. Natalie finds out that Sudbury is a few hours south. She makes her way to try and find him.
You might think you've seen this type of film before in more of an exploitative story. Bonnie Fairweather and Kathleen Hepburn with director Rama Rau approach this story in a much more thoughtful process. We see Natalie as tough and vulnerable on multiple levels. Chante is a fully formed complex character who is treated beyond the typical 1-dimensional presentation.
The hope throughout the film is that Natalie can learn about what love truly is but she learned a lot of bad ways.
They give Natalie, Chante, and Louise the vast majority of the lines and scenes. Peter Outerbridge, an amazing Canadian actor, plays the foster father. He might have 6 lines in the film.
One amusing Easter egg in the film: Pat Mills has a minor role in this 2018 film. Mills wrote and directed Don't Talk to Irene (2017), which stars McLeod.
Julia Sarah Stone is most of the reason to see Honey Bee. Stone is a young actor who has shown her willingness to be very vulnerable on screen. Unlike Allure, she has a great script and strong direction.
video credit: YouTube/Movieclips Indie photo credit: Honey Bee film
