The movie news that caught my attention this week is the announcement of Participant’s closure. WHO? Think about the films the company produced, including Stand out and Green Bookboth Oscar winners, and of particular interest to readers of The National Observer, An inconvenient truth. Climate change was an important theme for them, as well as a number of other themes in the 135 films in which they participated. His last, Foods Inc. 2It arrived last week.
Jeff Skoll, the Montreal native who made money as an architect and for a time CEO of Ebay, founded the company 20 years ago to make films that promote positive social change. This week he said he will close it because the business has changed. He was vague about it, but the streaming revolution may be at least part of the cause. Its a big lost.
In other news, Monday is Earth Day and I’m looking forward to seeing the annual nature movie Disney brings out that day. They have all been excellent in recent years and this time the theme is majestic, El Tigre. Disney+ will be streaming it and I’ll be able to deal with it next week.
For now, there are these…
Don’t expect too much from the end of the world: 4 stars
Chicken for Linda: 3 ½
DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD: Radu Jude should be better known to us. His films are full of wicked satire that is very funny and politically sharp. They resonate far beyond his native Romania, where they take place. Their latest versions of corporate greed, labor exploitation, misogyny, intolerance and hatred spread on social media. Fun? In his vision of the world they are and he does not repress himself at all. A Tik Tok star spews vile comments about women, supports Putin and Orban and smears Zelensky as a “two-penny Jewish actor.” When Charles becomes king, he gets a comment or two and a corporation’s public relations stunt is the heart of the story.
A video promoting workplace safety is being produced and Angela, a production assistant, is in a hurry to find the right injured worker to speak on camera. She is so overworked; she calls it “slavery.” The pressure comes from “the Austrians” who own the production company and demand “emotion”, but not unpleasant graphic images. In a very funny sequence showing the actual footage, they impose strict lines on what the video can say. In effect, they try to blame the workers for the company’s failures.
The movie is almost three hours long, so there’s a lot more. Politics now and in the past. The state of Europe and Romania’s “poor” situation in it. Even cinema, which has always been a “business”.
Moviegoers will notice, or perhaps be happy, the appearance of Uwe Boll. He is the German director known for very silly films who lived for a time in Canada and owned a restaurant in Vancouver. The only other name I know is Nina Hoss, the German star who plays a company executive. Newcomer Ilinca Manolache shines sharply as Angela and her Tik Tok alter ego, Bobita. (In theaters) 4 out of 5
IRENA’S VOTE: It’s a Holocaust story that seems almost too impossible to be true. But it happened and as a film it is a tense thriller. Irena was 19 years old in Poland when the Germans invaded in 1939. She was assigned the task of supervising a sewing factory where 12 Jews were forced to make clothes and uniforms. She also caught the attention of a Nazi officer who promoted her to housekeeper at the mansion he had taken as her home.
When he learns that in a few days the entire region will be “free of Jews,” he decides to save the 12 and what better place to hide them than in the officer’s house. He sneaks them into the basement; They realize that it used to be a Jewish house and therefore must have a secret room, and when they find it, they retreat to it. Several times they were on the verge of being discovered. They have to keep silent to avoid being found but one woman can’t control her cough and another is pregnant. They discuss what to do about it. A live birth? An abortion?
A couple of scenes seem unlikely. The eldest organizes parties and while his guests sing O Tannenbaum, the people below sing a Hebrew song in a low voice. The older man is attracted to Irena, but her advance seems too sudden. The rest of the film, however, is gripping. It is a Canada-Poland co-production. Montrealer Louise Archambault directs, Dougray Scott is the eldest and Sophie Nélisse is Irena. Remember her when she was a child Lord Lazhar? Or from the current television series. yellow jackets? Here he gives a strong and moving performance. (In theaters) 4 out of 5
ON FIRE: Patriarchy comes from everywhere for young Mariam in this Pakistani film. Her grandfather dies and her brother suddenly shows interest in her and her widowed mother. He will cover her debts if they give him her apartment. Legally they, as women, cannot inherit it from her. The mother consults a lawyer but she needs to be paid and she has no money. Mariam begins dating a young man she meets in the library at her school. He does not prove to be entirely trustworthy. And worse: a guy breaks a window of her car and calls her a whore and another masturbates in the alley outside her apartment.
It takes a while for all of these elements to appear, but when they do they are a psychological horror story. In that society, women are controlled by ancestral methods that continue. The movie describes it perfectly. And it adds a touch that we don’t usually see in this type of films: the belief in ghosts and superstitions, so common in Pakistan. Mariam sees them and feels it in her dreams. It’s more than a nightmare; It is a complaint. And a strong film, also a co-production, directed by Zarrar Kahn, based in Toronto. He draws you in with the revelations and suspense of him and an excellent performance by Ramesha Nawal’s Mariam, who shows resilience. (In theaters) 3½ out of 5
THE BEAST: From a novella by Henry James, published back in 1903, this is more than relevant today. The main character is almost paralyzed by a feeling that, for many people, is also widespread these days. I’m probably exaggerating, but it’s the theme of the book and now this movie, albeit with big changes. In the book, the character afflicted by these feelings is a man; Here she is a woman. And the story is now set in three time periods, 1910, 2014 and 2044. In the third, people are controlled by artificial intelligence and emotions are not allowed. Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) is offered the opportunity to explore her past lives to purify her DNA. I don’t think Henry James wrote that.
French director Bertrand Bonello made it, along with two others, as an exploration of attitudes, especially fears, that continue across generations. The three different times show us three versions of the same characters. In 1910, Gabrielle meets Louis (George MacKay) at a social event and they see each other regularly. At least once in a doll factory where new technologies are used. That’s a recurring theme in this film, which culminates in 2044, when Gabrielle receives a DNA cleanse that reminds him of other periods of her life. In all three it’s an incomplete love story, but how that illuminates what the film is trying to say escapes me. In the second, Gabrielle is a model in Los Angeles and Louis is an incel, expressing hatred towards women who he claims are not interested in him. He is watchable but confusing. (In theaters) 2 ½ out of 5
CHICKEN FOR LINDA! Here’s a nice break from all the difficult topics this week. It’s a brilliant animated film from France about a bouncy girl and her family life. It doesn’t try to be photorealistic; her artwork is basic, with simple watercolors in super bright colors. Its focus is history and a difficult dilemma. How to kill a chicken.
Linda is falsely accused of losing her mother’s ring. She has been offered everything she wants to make it up to him and she says she wants a meal of chicken and peppers like her late father used to make her. However, a general strike has closed shops and places where you can find a chicken. The rocker guy at an egg farm doesn’t want to sell one. Stealing succeeds, but neither mom nor her sister have killed one. Before you know it, the police are involved, there’s a chase through a street protest and an exercise class, and Mom is handcuffed. Linda throws the chicken out the window; She perches on a tree and how does she get down? It’s frenetic, colorful fun, written and directed by Sébastien Laudenbach and Chiara Malta. (In theaters) 3 ½ out of 5