I would describe Lost and Delirious to people I met, telling them to imagine American actors Piper Perabo and Mischa Barton along with Canadian actor Jessica Paré in a coming of age film. When the 2001 film came out, Perabo and Barton were unknowns and Paré had just done Stardom the year before.
Pauline aka Paulie (Perabo) and Victoria aka Tori (Paré) are roommates and very good friends in a boarding school. Mary aka Mouse (Barton) is their new roommate. Over time, Paulie and Tori show Mouse that they are more than good friends, they are intimate with each other.
One morning, Tori's younger sister (Emily VanCamp) and her friends rush in to wake up the older girls. They discover Paulie lying in Tori's bed. Paulie tries to convince the girls that she was comforting Tori over her nightmares.
Tori explains to her sister that Paulie has a crush on her. Tori is more concerned about the love from her family, many of whom are homophobic.
Tori decides to move toward to boys where she isn't attracted over Paulie, the girl who she really loves. Paulie engages in destructive behaviour as a result of being scorned.
Léa Pool is a legendary Canadian director. This film was a departure for Pool since this was the first film she did in English and the first film where she was not involved with the script. Judith Thompson adapted the novel The Wives of Bath by Susan Swan.
This touching and tender film definitely benefits from Pool's direction. The intimacy of their worlds increases the emotion you feel for these characters. These young women fight for each other and sometimes battle within themselves.
Perabo, Paré, and Barton are truly amazing in the film and make the difference. The film also features Mimi Kuzyk, Graham Greene, Caroline Dhavernas, Luke Kirby, and Grace Lynn Kung.
We often review films that we only see once. We've seen Lost and Delirious a few times and could watch it again.
Lost and Delirious received 3 Genie Award nominations. The film won for cinematography by Pierre Gill. Kuzyk received a nomination for actress in a supporting role and Judith Thompson was nominated for screenplay.
The film is occasionally available via streaming though doesn't have a current U.S. home.
video credit: Peccadillo Pictures photo credit: Lost and Delirious
The TIFF Top 10 list of Canadian films in 2023 is strong (mostly). The 2022 list has more incredible films.
Then again, there are titles that may be difficult to find, even for Canadians. To Kill A Tiger from the 2022 list is finally getting a small push in the United States. Ste. Anne from the 2021 list is virtually invisible.
Let's get acquainted with the list of Canadian films. Here is the 2023 Top Ten list with the directors:
BlackBerry (Matt Johnson) Hey, Viktor! (Cody Lightning) Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize) Kanaval (Henri Pardo) Seagrass (Meredith Hama-Brown) Seven Veils (Atom Egoyan) Solo (Sophie Dupuis) Someone Lives Here (Zack Russell) Tautuktavuk (What We See) (Carol Kunnuk, Lucy Tulugarjuk) The Queen of My Dreams (Fawzia Mirza)
Kanaval might be our unofficial Canadian film winner of TIFF 2023. The film directed by Henri Pardo won the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian Feature. Kanaval also won Honourable Mention for Best Canadian Feature Film, which these days is better than winning the award.
Tautuktavuk from directors Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk won the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature. We applaud that this category has an overall winner and rewards first-time feature filmmakers. We just want the Best Canadian First Feature Film award back for Canadian films overall.
Solo from Sophie Dupuis won the Best Canadian Feature Film award. Unfortunately, this heralded award has lost a lot of its credibility in the last 3 years. Ste. Anne and To Kill a Tiger, the previous 2 winners, were also not the "best" Canadian film in the festival. Much better films win Honourable Mention.
Seagrass from Meredith Hama-Brown won the FIPRESCI Prize given by international critics and a Canadian film rarely wins this award. The plot intrigued me for a lot of personal reasons. This feels more significant this year than the actual Best Canadian Feature Film award.
The only 2 films on the list that didn't play at TIFF are BlackBerry and Someone Lives Here.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant won the 2023 WIFF Prize in Canadian film.
Your humble narrator has seen 6 of the Canadian films on the list: BlackBerry, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Seven Veils, Solo, Someone Lives Here, and Tautuktavuk (What We See). We have previously weighed in on these films in our 2022 Windsor International Film Festival reviews as well as BlackBerry.
Of the remaining 4 films, Seagrass and Kanaval would be at the top of my list. Hey, Viktor! is close behind. Even The Queen of My Dreams has potential. All of them are likely better than Solo.
Rojek, Canada's Oscars entry for Best International Feature Film, which didn't play at TIFF, did not make the list. Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres (2021) was the last Academy Awards entry to make the Top Ten list. Perhaps more subjective than objective but Fitting In and Backspot deserved to be on the list.
When the 2022 list was released, we had seen 5 of the Canadian films: Brother, I Like Movies, Something You Said Last Night, Riceboy Sleeps, and Rosie. We saw them at the 2022 Windsor International Film Festival.
In the last year, we saw Viking, Black Ice, and Crimes of the Future. We enjoyed the first 2 films as opposed to the other film.
Your humble narrator has seen all but 6 films from the lists from the last 3 years.
2022Cette Maison (Miryam Charles); the infamous To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja) 2021 the almost impossible to find Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette); Canadian film in name only The White Fortress (Igor Drljača) 2020 Canadian film in name only Fauna (Nicolás Pereda) and Judy Versus Capitalism (Mike Hoolboom)
Ste. Anne has all but disappeared into the atmosphere. To Kill A Tiger is theoretically available on Canadian soil via nfb.ca. Fauna features a "trailer" with a single scene with no dialogue.
We have seen every film on the 2019 list and the 2017 list. We will soon post a review of the final film from the 2018 list.
One way for those in Toronto to see the Canada’s Top Ten selections is to watch them January 25-28 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. We also have the list of Top 10 short films from TIFF for 2023.
The great thing about the list is that we have Canadian film options to find to watch over the holidays and into the winter. We also have a source for potential conversations about what films would belong on our list.
We don't often agree with Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta. Smith cited population growth in the province in the throne speech.
The speech referred to 2 rail projects: a train from Banff to Calgary's downtown and airport as well as a high-speed link between Calgary and Edmonton.
"And yes, we need to start planning for the inevitable need for high-speed rail through the Calgary-Red Deer-Edmonton corridor when six to seven million Albertans eventually call that corridor their home," the speech stated.
For those not familiar, the throne speech is given each year by the premier about the state of the province. Tradition says the premier does not actually deliver the speech so the lieutenant governor of the province actually delivers the speech. The lieutenant governor of a province is the representative of, well, now it is King Charles III, similar to the governor general on the federal level.
Back in the Greyhound days, I took the bus from Calgary to Edmonton and then eventually back to Calgary. A lovely, reasonable trip that also stops off in Red Deer. There are buses that go between the cities. I've also been on Greyhound from Calgary to Lake Louise with a local shuttle between Lake Louise and Banff. A high speed rail would be a wonderful addition.
Smith is correct in that if travel was easier in that corridor, people will travel and spend money in those areas. The only Via Rail train in Canada where Alberta is affected is Edmonton-Jasper. Rocky Mountaineer runs trains during the daytime only that start in Vancouver and covers Whistler and Kamloops in British Columbia as well as Jasper, Lake Louise, and Banff in Alberta. Calgary is not a stop on that train.
Via Rail does a better job at serving Ontario and Quebec than those in the west in Canada.
We have noted the transportation dilemmas in previous stories with the loss of Greyhound and the difficulties at serving remote communities where people often take buses to get better health care.
It’s the obvious choice to bring the @NHL to #Edmonton.
We look forward to welcoming the league and players here to Alberta to take in the beautiful province we have to offer. pic.twitter.com/kp0iN86vCP
Jason Kenney, then Alberta premier, pitched the ridiculous idea of areas of the province not remotely close to Edmonton as a way to get the NHL to have a bubble in the Alberta capital. If you forget everything about 2020, the video makes a nice incentive to travel to and within Alberta. Just not to Edmonton.
Calgary to Edmonton. Regina to Saskatoon. Winnipeg to Regina. Winnipeg to Calgary. Buses or cars are the only 2 options.
A train would be a better option in winter, which can be significant in western Canada. I've taken buses in Canada in the summer but not during the winter.
Canada is a country where its residents don't often travel within their own country. So many Canadians have told me they don't know the rest of the country. A high speed train, a regular train: this would be meaningful in Alberta. The trains would also serve as inspiration for the rest of the country.
As you might have guessed, western Canada had better train travel at some point. Winnipeg to Regina to Calgary to Edmonton. Vancouver to Calgary and Regina. Not between Regina and Saskatoon but you could get there via Edmonton. Sudbury to Montréal is intriguing since Sudbury has a significant French speaking population.
Brian Mulroney was the prime minister at the time when Via Rail cut back on routes in western Canada. That isn't to signal out Mulroney, just to show how far back the time was when western Canada had better train options. The intercity infrastructure has been a concern blown off by many prime ministers, including the current incumbent, Justin Trudeau.
This map is what Canada should look like. Buses need to be strengthened to serve these routes and remote communities. The needed infrastructure would mean good jobs. Travel in between cities in Canada will strengthen those places and bring Canadians from different parts closer to each other.
Even Danielle Smith agrees and again, we say on this topic, we definitely agree with Danielle Smith.
Breaking: Canadian filmmaker Charles Officer died Friday after lengthy illness. Just 48, the director (and one-time pro hockey player) burst onto scene with NURSE.FIGHTER.BOY in 2008, going on to deliver groundbreaking works THE SKIN WE’RE IN, UNARMED VERSES and AKILLA’S ESCAPE. pic.twitter.com/N8NVBM1Pt4
Charles Officer went into certain neighbourhoods, one where you might not pay too much attention. Officer came out of those neighbourhoods with incredible stories where you wanted to pay attention.
Maybe you just became a fan with Akilla's Escape. Perhaps you've been on board since Nurse.Fighter.Boy and you wondered why you cared so much about this story. Unarmed Verses, a documentary on the demolition of a Toronto public housing neighborhood, made the TIFF Top Ten Canadian films of 2017.
This is unfortunately another story of an amazing Canadian film director gone way too soon. Officer passed away at the age of 48 on Friday after a lengthy illness. (Some outlets list Officer as being 53.)
We have seen 3 of Officer's notable films: the 2 above and Unarmed Verses, which we haven't yet turned into a film review. Barry Hertz from The Globe and Mail mentioned The Skin We're In, which he not seen.
We had built trust in Officer's vision and would watch a film where he was significantly involved. Officer had a good working relationship with Canadian filmmaker/actor Ingrid Veninger, who was a producer and co-writer on Nurse.Fighter.Boy. They also worked on the short film Urda/Bone. Veninger is known for i am a good person/i am a bad person (2011) and Porcupine Lake (2017).
There are some parallels between Charles Officer and Jeff Barnaby, besides their tragic, unexpected deaths. They were under the radar yet film lovers know their work. Officer didn't get a chance to do too many films yet more than Barnaby did.
Officer also directed such Canadian TV shows as The Porter (4 episodes), Coroner (4 episodes), Ransom (2 episodes), Private Eyes (2 episodes), 21 Thunder (3 episodes), and an episode each for Saving Hope and Rookie Blue.
Officer was good at documentaries and feature films. His feature film style had a strong intimacy that drew you into the subject matter.
I remember when watching Nurse.Fighter.Boy: I asked myself "why am I still watching this movie." I couldn't stop watching.
I am not a comedian but love a comedian's comedian, those comedians who make other comedians laugh. Charles Officer struck me as a filmmaker who other filmmakers had a deep appreciation for his work.
Officer spent his time in urban Toronto neighbourhoods in the films we've seen. You can easily make the argument that his films had some impact on recent films such as Scarborough and Brother.
Appreciate this obituary and use this as a resource to explore his past films.
Akilla's Escape is available on Amazon Prime Video in the United States and CBC Gem in Canada. Nurse.Fighter.Boy can be found on Tubi in the United States and just got added to Starz in Canada.
Dwayne Roloson may not want to watch the lone TNT game in December (6) involving a Canadian team. The 2006 Stanley Cup final rematch could be triggering for Roloson. At least the Oilers have a new downtown arena instead of being out at Northlands Coliseum.
ESPN matches that with a rare trip to Canada where Connor Bedard will play Connor McDavid (12).
The NHL Network has a pair of Showcase games following the Vancouver Canucks to Minnesota (16) and Chicago (17). The Hughes brothers — Jack (New Jersey) and Quinn (Vancouver) — are a good reason for the U.S. channel to pay a visit to Vancouver (5).
The NHL Network has Canadian teams on 4 of the 5 HNIC Saturday nights: Boston in Toronto (2), Nashville in Canada's largest city (9), Sidney Crosby goes to Ottawa (16), and Carolina spends some of the holidays in Toronto (30).
ESPN+/Hulu is doing an unusual experiment, kicking up the Connor McDavid road obsession to 11. The streaming service will showcase Edmonton against the 3 New York City area teams in Belmont (19), Newark (21), and Midtown Manhattan between 7th and 8th Avenues from 31st to 33rd Street (22).
If Ray Ferraro is on those calls, we will be much more interested.
The NHL will take a seasonal break from December 24-26.
TNT
December 6 Carolina @ Edmonton, 9:30p
ESPN
December 12 Chicago @ Edmonton, 10p
NHL Network
December 2 Boston @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC) December 5 New Jersey @ Vancouver, 10p December 9 Nashville @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC) December 16 Vancouver @ Minnesota, 2p (NHLN Showcase) December 17 Vancouver @ Chicago, 3p (NHLN Showcase) December 23 Pittsburgh @ Ottawa, 7p (HNIC) December 30 Carolina @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
ESPN+/Hulu
December 19 Edmonton @ NY Islanders, 7:30p December 21 Edmonton @ New Jersey, 7:30p December 22 Edmonton @ NY Rangers, 7:30p
Hockey Night in Canada
December 2
Boston @ Toronto, 7p/Detroit @ Montréal, 7p/Seattle @ Ottawa, 7p Vancouver @ Calgary, 10p
Appreciate your patience in our 2023 Heritage Classic wrapup. This game really should have been in early December after the Grey Cup. We were covering the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival and couldn't even watch the game live.
The Oilers got their second win of the year in the game. The game wasn't a bounce for either team. Better than San Jose but not by much.
The NHL insults Canada by having the outdoor games in October.
Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft got to coach in the 2023 Heritage Classic. Edmonton fired Woodcroft and assistant coach Dave Manson on November 12.
Kris Knoblauch of the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack is the new head coach, joined by assistant coach Paul Coffey.
The Edmonton Oilers panicked after the team's 3-9-1 start, 1 of those wins being the 2023 Heritage Classic over Calgary, which hasn't fired its coach … yet. Knoblauch is Edmonton's 10th coach in the last 15 years.
Woodcroft had a 79-41-13 record as Oilers head coach. Will Knoblauch (nothing personal) do better? Neither of them is in goal for the Oilers.
Where was your favourite Canadian NHL team in the standings on U.S. Thanksgiving? For those who care, Vancouver is #2 in its division (Smythe), Winnipeg is #3 in its division (Norris), and Toronto in a wild card spot (Adams).
Montréal, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton hope that trend does not hold.
The TTC aka Toronto subway takes a lot of flak from those who live in Toronto. You can access Scotiabank Arena from Union Station without going outside.
Professional athletes make enough money to drive to work. So seeing a NHL player on your way somewhere is a nice treat. Be respectful. They are literally going to work, same as millions who take a bus, train, or streetcar.
Maybe there is something to what the Ottawa team did, but something where Las Vegas deserves some kind of punishment for having the player after Ottawa had that person and the Senators get severely punished while Las Vegas gets off scot free. That sadly feels like the NHL these days.
Ottawa fired general manger Pierre Dorion in part because of the loss of the 1st round draft pick. Steve Staios, the club's president of hockey operations, will assume interim GM duties.
The Ottawa Senators will forfeit a 1st-round draft pick in either 2024, 2025, or 2026. The ruling noted that Ottawa didn't tell Las Vegas about the no-trade clause after Las Vegas tried to trade Evgeni Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks.
Dadonov had a no-trade clause that the NHL claims Ottawa should have told Las Vegas. This non general manager imagines when a player is traded, the contract is forwarded to the new team. In said contract, any non trade clauses would be included.
Las Vegas made the trade, not Ottawa. The severe punishment doesn't come with an explanation on what Ottawa didn't do that would be different from normal NHL team protocol.
Since this rarely happens, we can't imagine of the NHL privileged teams (Las Vegas, Boston, Pittsburgh) would ever suffer such a penalty. We can sadly imagine a team such as Ottawa suffering such a penalty.
Dorion had been the Senators general manager since April 2016.
Movember is over. The mustaches have been out over the last month as a reminder about fighting cancer. Gord Downie died from cancer; the Tragically Hip Fireworks was a wonderful tune for the Hockey Night in Canada open on November 4.
Gary Bettman may not be interested in Quebec City though the Los Angeles Kings are drawn to the Quebec provincial capital for the 2024 preseason. The Kings will train in Quebec City from October 2-6.
The Quebec government is helping out with $5 million to $7 million. The Kings will have some open practices as well as a couple of preseason games with Boston Bruins (3) and Florida (5).
Montréal used to have a preseason game at the Videotron Centre yet that hasn't happened since September 20, 2018 with Washington as the opponent.
Philip Danault (Victoriaville), formerly with the Habs, and Pierre-Luc Dubois (Ste-Agathe-des-Monts), formerly with the Winnipeg Jets, are Quebec natives on the Los Angeles roster.
November 2 Toronto @ Boston, 7:30p Steve Levy/Ray Ferraro/Emily Kaplan ESPN+/Hulu November 4 Nashville @ Edmonton, 3p EJ Hradek/Kevin Weekes NHLN November 9 Edmonton @ San Jose, 10:30p Mike Monaco/Cassie Campbell-Pascall ESPN+/Hulu November 15 NY Islanders @ Vancouver, 10p Brendan Burke/Jennifer Botterill/Darren Pang TNT
Was fun to watch Ray Ferraro cover a Toronto game in Toronto, like in the TSN4 days. Not the same in a lot of ways, especially without Gord Miller. The November 9 game might have been part of why Edmonton fired Jay Woodcroft.
Brendan Burke is the Team B play by play person for TNT so Burke covered his day job team in Vancouver. Burke is a professional but that is not a good look. We found out this was Jennifer Botterill's return to Vancouver since she was on the gold medal team for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
TNT's Eddie Olczyk did a little moonlighting, co-hosting After Hours with Scott Oake in Seattle. Olczyk has a good history with the original Winnipeg Jets and shared some memories with Oake.
Sportsnet threw a few wrenches in watching After Hours right away. You can eventually find the whole episode online though Canadians could get faster access through Sportsnet+. Those who can access CBC can watch the segment on television.
We've seen John Garrett work a couple of Hockey Night in Canada games from Montréal this season. If you are cutting back your workload, Montréal trips are a good way to relax in a really beautiful city.
Ray Ferraro made his return to the Vancouver Canucks booth in Montréal. Ferraro and John Shorthouse proved to be a great combination on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific.
Gord Miller and Mike Johnson did an excellent job with the games in Sweden. They are used to international games. They even covered the Sunday game with Toronto for the NHL Network while John Bartlett and Garry Galley called that game from Stockholm on Sportsnet.
Kyle Bukauskas had some fun with an homage to Mister Rogers in Pittsburgh on November 25. Of course, Rogers started Mister Rogers Neighbourhood with CBC in Toronto.
We are catching up on October and November in our December month in preview for CBC promos during Hockey Night in Canada games as seen on U.S. television.
The Pan American Games ran from October 20-November 5. Chris Cuthbert noted the irony of running that promo the day before the end of the games on November 4. The Parapan American Games ran from November 17-26.
CBC used promos for a non-Canadian TV show (Ghosts), which would seem to be a violation of its own internal rules.
For those new readers, Rogers Sportsnet is required to air 6 CBC promos during Hockey Night in Canada. Ideally, there should be 2 promos per period, within game action and not next to a commercial.
The Chris Cuthbert telecasts seem to run 5 promos except for November 25. John Shorthouse only gave us 4 promos on November 11.
Rogers Sportsnet claimed exclusivity of the Vancouver-Toronto game on November 11. We have noted this strategy before in previous seasons. This also means CBC and Citytv carried the game from Montréal that night.
We don't run the ads from the NHL Center Ice free preview anymore. We did note the terrible ad with Zack Hyman (Edmonton) and his former Toronto teammate Morgan Reilly for Pepsi Zero Sugar. They disagree on a celly but agree on a crappy soda.
October 21 early game: CBC News app; Santiago 2023 Pan American Games (1st); Bones of Crows; CBC News app (2nd); Halloween movies (The Witch) on CBC Gem (3rd)
October 28 early game: Santiago 2023 Pan American Games; CBC News app (1st); BlackBerry; Bones of Crows; Black Life: Untold Stories (2nd); CBC News app (3rd)
November 4 early game: BlackBerry; CBC News app (1st); Santiago 2023 Pan American Games (2nd); Black Life: Untold Stories; Ghosts (3rd)
November 11 early game: CBC News app (1st); BlackBerry; Ghosts (2nd); Black Life: Untold Stories (3rd)
November 25 early game: BlackBerry; CBC News app (1st); Ghosts; Santiago Parapan American Games; BlackBerry (2nd); CBC News app (3rd)
We will not touch on the topic of whether Buffy Sainte-Marie is Indigenous or not. That is not up for us to decide. We do want to pick up on some threads on the impact following the investigation by The Fifth Estate on CBC.
The primary argument is the birth certificate. The investigation found that the birth certificate identifies the child as "white." Bezhig Little Bird/Esther Rosenblum — the primary character in Little Bird — says her birth certificate has her being born in Montréal. Bezhig knows that is a lie because she knows she was born in Saskatchewan and adopted by a couple from Montréal. Sainte-Marie was born before the Sixties Scoop; the story she tells matches what happened to Indigenous children stolen from their natural parents.
In the Front Burner episode, Geoff Leo, a senior investigative reporter with CBC Saskatchewan, told of conversations with younger relatives of Sainte-Marie. That would be labelled as hearsay in a court of law. I have a first cousin who didn't really know our grandmother. She wouldn't be a good resource to tell a first-hand story about our grandmother.
The people in the Front Burner episode infer (imply?) that Buffy Sainte-Marie benefited from saying she was Indigenous. This was back in the 1960s in the United States. The major Indigenous figure of that time was the Native American man who cried when he saw a bunch of litter.
Sainte-Marie did make an impact, teaching children about Indigenous people on Sesame Street in the 1970s. Americans and Canadians knew very little about Indigenous people, other than stereotypes. If this wasn't a big deal (it was a big deal), then why was Sainte-Marie the only one to step up back then?
The details Sainte-Marie gets right about what happened in the Sixties Scoop, talking about those matters when few white people even understood what was happening.
Little Bird shows us the adoption notices in the newspapers, advertising the positive elements of each Indigenous child. We watch as the head social worker goes through the dance where the children are taken away. The courtroom where the participants blatantly lie about the status of the children.
If you watched the documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On (which just won the International Emmy award earlier this month), her backstory doesn't make a lot of sense. There is a mystique to the story but that story doesn't hold up too well.
The story of Bezhig/Esther wouldn't have made sense within her adopted community. Ask yourself if you have that kind of mental retention, especially when society tells you this never happened. The struggles that Bezhig goes through just to find her family is rather remarkable for its time.
None of this proves that Buffy Sainte-Marie is Indigenous or not Indigenous. All we are saying is that if she isn't Indigenous, Buffy Sainte-Marie has been the Johnny Appleseed of showing settlers what Indigenous people have gone through.
For the record, Sainte-Marie has denied the accusations leveled in The Fifth Estate report.
Thanks to Little Bird, Bones of Crows, Birth of a Family and countless other Canadian films, your humble narrator has learned the basics of the Sixties Scoop.
We have noticed that Little Bird have included Buffy Sainte-Marie songs on the soundtrack. I Remember You is the song we hear as the title credits roll. We would be curious as to what co-creator Jennifer Podemski, among others, thinks about the use of the songs in light of the CBC News report.
As a settler, I have no clue as to why someone would pretend to be Indigenous. Michelle Latimer did a good job with Inconvenient Indian and Trickster yet her lack of authenticity was a significant concern.
The vetting process to receive grants going to Indigenous filmmakers would seem to be a good start. The Devery Jacobs response to the CBC investigation into Latimer seems like a good direction to go. Again, not our decision to make.
Sainte-Marie has done a lot to educate people about those who are Indigenous. Having authenticity is crucial for Indigenous people to tell their own stories. For so many years, settlers were telling those stories with little concern for accuracy.
The stereotypes that existed when I was young — amplified by various sports teams, pro and college — were highly offensive. I sadly recall the tiny "safe speech" areas around the Atlanta MLB stadium during Game 1 of the 1995 World Series featuring Cleveland and Atlanta. The people were protesting the stereotypes pushed by those teams. The Atlanta mascot, whose name we won't mention here, claimed he was afraid to walk outside in his mocking costume. That was embarrassing given that the space was very small and far away from where the mascot would have been.
Things are a lot better, though Little Bird reminds us that "today there are more Indigenous children in custody than ever before."
Determining authenticity is important even with someone as loved as Buffy Sainte-Marie. This is especially intriguing, given that the Merriam-Webster dictionary people selected "authentic" as the 2023 word of the year.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On and Little Bird are both available through PBS in the United States. Little Bird is available in Canada through Crave and APTN.
photo credits: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On; Little Bird video credit: CBC News Twitter capture: @kdeveryjacobs
In Her Place consists mostly of 3 characters: the mother (Gil Hae-yeon), her pregnant teenage daughter (Ahn Ji-hye), and a wealthy woman (Yoon Da-gyeong) who stays with them in anticipation of getting the baby once the teenager has given birth.
We briefly see the husband drop off his wife and then he disappears.
The mother wants the money to give a better life for her daughter. The woman wants the baby because she can't have one on her own. What does the daughter want?
The daughter loves her dog and wants to be with her boyfriend. The family challenges the boyfriend so he doesn't come around. The daughter grows unhappy with that as well as losing her dog.
The mother and woman see the daughter as a means to an end yet they don't consider the actual person carrying the child.
Albert Shin builds a quiet film with slow building momentum in his debut feature film.
All 3 women are going through their own journey during this time, though the daughter's path is more obvious. The mother-daughter dynamic serves as a warning for the woman who wants to be a mother.
The triangle (plus child) of females makes a crucial difference within the film, appreciating the power of women.
The film feels slow but the beauty lies in its subtlety.
If you saw and enjoyed Disappearance at Clifton Hill from Shin, you should see this 2014 film.
Mary T. Moreau is the latest justice on the Supreme Court of Canada. Moreau replaces Russell Brown, who resigned from the Court back in June.
Moreau is a Francophone judge from Alberta. She served on the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta for 29 years and had been the chief justice on that court since 2017. Moreau practised criminal law, constitutional law, and civil litigation in Edmonton before joining that court.
Brown represented Western Canada and so tradition requires that Moreau be from the same area. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did say that candidates had to be bilingual.
"I am confident that her impressive judicial career and dedication to fairness and excellence will make Chief Justice Moreau an invaluable addition to our country's highest court," the prime minister said in a statement.
Moreau is the 6th justice that Justin Trudeau has appointed since becoming prime minister in 2015.
We covered the mess that was the scenario for Russell Brown as well as not being all that well-qualified. We don't have the same doubts for Moreau.
Given the retirement age of 75, Moreau won't serve on the Supreme Court of Canada for all that long. Her reported birth year is either 1955 or 1956, making her mandatory retirement either in 2030 or 2031.
If you want to learn more about the Supreme Court of Canada, we definitely recommend Without Precedent: The Supreme Life Of Rosalie Abella, the documentary we saw at the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival.
The recently retired Rosalie Abella was one of 2 justices that Paul Martin appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Abella was the first Jewish woman appointed to the high court. As we noted, "The story is compelling enough to watch, even if you aren't a justice or political nerd. You will enjoy the film more if your interests are in those areas."
The Montréal Alouettes made it 8, as the team won its 8th Grey Cup. The 2023 version of the Alouettes won the last 8 games, with the last 2 against winning teams. Montréal outlasted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 28-24 to win the 110th Grey Cup at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.
Cody Fajardo, cast out by Saskatchewan last season, finished 21-26 for 290 yards with 3 TDs and an interception to win the Most Outstanding Player. Fajardo won a Grey Cup with Toronto in 2017 as a backup; this was his first Grey Cup as a starter.
Tyson Philpot was the Most Outstanding Canadian with 6 catches for 63 yards, including the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter with 13 seconds remaining. Philpot, from Delta, B.C., has a twin (Jalen) who was out for the year with Calgary. Their father Cory Philpot was a CFL running back for 8 seasons with BC and Winnipeg, winning the Grey Cup with the Lions in 1994.
Jason Maas earned his first Grey Cup as a head coach to go along with 2 as a quarterback with Edmonton (2003, 2005) and as quarterbacks coach for Toronto in 2012.
The Alouettes were a team in the making over the course of the 2023 season. The team was 6-7 in mid-September and, like Shoresy, just kept on winning. Injuries hit what we knew of the receiving core. Austin Mack was a first-year CFL player who rose to be a top receiver for Montréal. Greg Ellingson was a veteran signing as a receiver yet was out for virtually the entire season.
Shawn Lemon and Darnell Sankey on defence started the season in street clothes before GM Danny Maciocia brought them into the team's roster. Things were so bad for the team last season that Maciocia filled in as interim coach before bringing in Jason Maas in the off-season. The hiring of Maas was seen as bringing in a hotheaded coach who struggled as a head coach in Edmonton. The guy we saw in interviews was thoughtful and appreciative, a significant shift of growth.
Maas and Fajardo went through a 7-game losing streak as the Saskatchewan Roughriders floundered in 2022. Maas and Fajardo finished the 2023 season with a 8-game winning streak to win their first Grey Cup as a head coach and starter.
The Alouettes trailed in most of the Grey Cup. The Blue Bombers had a strong goal-line stance late in the second quarter, keeping Montréal out of the end zone. Winnipeg had a 17-7 halftime lead.
The Philpot catch came after a 3rd-and-5 conversion with a 31-yard completion to Cole Spieker.
Winnipeg win the Grey Cup in 2019 and 2021. The team lost to the Toronto Argonauts 24-23 in 2022.
Winnipeg running back Brady Oliveira seemed to be the odds-on favourite to be the Most Outstanding Canadian, running for 119 yards and a TD. The Blue Bombers took back the lead 24-21 with a Dakota Prukop 4-yard run at 9:32 of the fourth quarter.
Zach Collaros went 19-23 for 236 yards and an interception. As we have noted, Collaros was the first CFL quarterback to start 4 straight Grey Cups.
Collaros and Fajardo have a shared history. Both were backups in Toronto early in their careers. Fajardo got his big break in 2019 after Collaros got injured early in the opening game.
Collaros got the best of Fajardo in the West final in 2019 and 2021 with Winnipeg defeating Saskatchewan to go the Grey Cup. Fajardo finally got his first victory in 10 career head-to-head matchups versus Collaros. At first, you don't succeed … .
Anthony Calvillo won 3 Grey Cup titles as the Alouettes quarterback (2002, 2009, 2010) and adds a fourth Grey Cup as the offensive coordinator. Calvillo had his own struggles in the Grey Cup as well.
Winnipeg had some injury woes. Mike O'Shea activated wide receiver Dalton Schoen (ankle) and linebacker Adam Bighill (calf) for the game though neither were 100%. O'Shea said the players had earned the right to be there. We don't have the full quote but after hearing O'Shea say what he said, your humble narrator wanted to go on the field and play.
We don't spend too much time on what might happen in the off-season. Kyle Walters is the general manager of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and doesn’t have a contract for next season. "Why would anyone want to leave this organization willingly?," said Walters during the week. We would agree. Other CFL teams would love to replicate what Walters has done in Winnipeg.
Green Day had a nice halftime show. The production sounded good and you could follow the lyrics. Wondering how many in the neighbourhood slipped out of their doors to listen to the American band instead of watching on TV.
The game was a sellout of 28,808 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton. The city got to host another Grey Cup, knowing the 2021 festivities were muted due to the pandemic.
The 2024 Grey Cup is at BC Place in Vancouver with the 2025 Grey Cup in Winnipeg. Montréal hasn't hosted a Grey Cup since 2008: that is more about the status of Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Stadium has hosted 6 of its 8 games with Molson Stadium hosting the 1931 Grey Cup and the Autostade hosting in 1969.
Elliotte Friedman told a story on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday about not wanting to cross the line with Kevin Bieska over not winning a title. Friedman's story went back to the days of the CFL on CBC and dealing with Khari Jones. Friedman teased Jones about not winning a title and got "daggers" from the eyes of Jones.
Jones did studio work and game analysis at the end of the CFL's run on CBC leading up to 2007. Friedman was the studio host at that time with Jones, Sean Millington, and Greg Frers. Steve Armitage and Khari Jones were the second broadcast team behind Mark Lee and Chris Walby.
Sportsnet is not a CFL fan and the CBC almost never get mentioned. Friedman could have timed this knowing this was the Grey Cup weekend.
Rod Smith and Glen Suitor called the Grey Cup on television with with Matthew Scianitti handling the Montréal sidelines and Claire Hanna on the Winnipeg sideline. We miss Sara Orlesky because we are human. Claire Hanna has kicked up her game and deserved this assignment. The fact that the Ottawa Senators have been on Hockey Night in Canada and then Sweden freed her up to help with CFL duties.
Dustin Nielson and Duane Forde called the Grey Cup on radio. The CFL on TSN panel were live outside in Hamilton as well as the other panel with James Duthie, Paul LaPolice, Jim Barker, and Bo Levi Mitchell.
They replayed the predictions from the beginning of the season. Matt Dunigan said the Grey Cup would be Winnipeg and Montréal. Some even said Saskatchewan and Hamilton would be in the Grey Cup.
Son of a Critch, Run the Burbs, and Children Ruin Everything have been peas in a pod as Canadian comedies on the CW this summer and fall. They were supposed to be on Tuesdays in the fall, started on Mondays, and switched to Thursdays in October.
Unfortunately, the CW made a change this week, benching Run the Burbs and moving Children Ruin Everything into that 8:30 pm Eastern timeslot on Thursdays this past week.
The CW ran 15 episodes of Run the Burbs, all 12 episodes from Season 1 and 3 episodes from Season 2. There are still 10 more episodes from Season 2. The network is running reruns in the 9-10 pm Eastern block on Thursdays.
The U.S. network has run 17 of the 26 episodes for Son of a Critch and 17 of the 24 episodes for Children Ruin Everything covering the first 2 seasons.
The 10 remaining episodes could return to the CW later in the year, such as during a non-sweeps month. Funny how we leaned toward Run the Burbs over Children Ruin Everything while the CW audience went in the other direction.
We would fight for all of these shows, maybe not Sullivan's Crossing.
Several U.S. reports have used the word "cancelled" or "ax" to reflect the CW change on Run the Burbs. We can agree to disagree about not carrying further seasons but the U.S. network should air the remaining episodes in the near future or allow fans to stream them through the CW Web site. The ratings could not have been that bad for that specific show.
We realize that divorce from a U.S. network can come quickly. Private Eyes and Mary Kills People have seasons unseen in the United States but the U.S. outlets finished the seasons they aired.
We figured that the CW running shows with strikes all around would gamble to stick with shows rather than running reruns over original programming. Apparently, we were mistaken. Sigh.
Canadians can catch up with Run the Burbs on CBC Gem. Season 3 airs this winter on CBC and CBC Gem.
photo credit: Run the Burbs video credit: CBC Comedy
