THE LAST CONTINENT

Documentary
Original title: Mission Antarctique
Portions in French with English subtitles

F.Y.I.
The last of the seven continents to be discovered, Antarctica (from the Greek Aνταρκτική “Opposite of the Arctic”) remained neglected by the rest of the world because of its isolation, hostile environment and lack of resources. The first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by a Russian expedition. There are no permanent human residents and no evidence of any pre-historic indigenous population. Approximately 98% covered with ice only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there: mosses, lichen, algae, penguins and fur seals.

The Sedna IV is a 50 metre (165 ft) three-masted schooner that has been used for scientific expeditions and the filming of documentaries. Built by Abeking & Rasmussen in Germany in 1957 as a fishing trawler, she was refitted as a sailing vessel in 1992. In 2001 a Canadian film crew acquired the ship and fitted it out with a film studio complete with editing equipment. Also on board is high-precision scientific equipment to gather, compile and analyse data to fulfil the expedition's scientific research program.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Narrated by Donald Sutherland
Captain Jean Lemire, biologist and filmmaker
Mechanic Stéven Pearson
Mariano Lopez, mental health caregiver

REVIEW
Their mission: to observe and document what climate change is doing to Antarctica. What they saw and experienced is a bit of an eye-opener. Not simply the stunning views but what they had to cope with. With intelligent narration and a lovely musical score, the two hours plus goes by quickly.

CLASSIFICATION

MY WINNIPEG

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Ann Savage: the Mother
Guy Maddin: Darcy Fehr

REVIEW
Guy Maddin makes bizarre movies best appreciated by those into “niche-cinema”. Fans of Guy Maddin will no doubt love it. The rest of us will not.

This pseudo-documentary of Maddin’s hometown gets off to an unusual start with repeated takes of the Mother reading her lines. It then lurches into black and white out-of-focus shots of a very wintry place with a monotone voice-over by Guy Maddin describing what we see on screen, none of it very interesting. It’s asking too much of anyone to sit through that for very long.

CLASSIFICATION
PG for mature themes and some nudity.

P.S.
Guy Maddin produced, wrote, directed, stars in and even gets a credit as an “additional camera operator”. As I’ve said before, usually the movie is not worth seeing when someone takes on more than two principal roles in making the film. Imagine the results when one person has five?

A NO-HIT NO-RUN SUMMER

Drama
Original title: Un été sans point ni coup sûr
In French with English subtitles

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Pier-Luc Funk: 12-year-old Martin Garneau
Roy Dupuis: Gilbert Turcotte, coach of the pee-wee baseball club des Aristocrates
Patrice Robitaille: Martin’s father Charles
Jacinthe Laguë: Martin’s mother Mireille

REVIEW
The movie is a lightweight, one-dimensional story about a young fellow and the relationship with his father. Everything is mediocre (acting, cinemaphotography etc) except the great attention to period detail.

One thing that is amiss is the inclusion of two events, one that raises the spectrum of conjugal difficulty and the other some questions about a young girl. Then we never hear a word about them, as if they never existed. Both should be edited out since red herrings have no part to play in anything but a mystery and this is not one.

CLASSIFICATION

PLANET B-BOY

Documentary
Mostly in English with subtitles as required.

F.Y.I.
Breakdown sections of a musical piece (better known simply as breaks) are short interludes from all the other elements of the song such as vocals and basslines. Disc jockeys learned to string these breaks together as a strong rhythmic base providing dancers an opportunity to display their skills.

Breakdancing evolved as part of the hip hop movement among African American and Puerto Rican youths living in Manhattan and the South Bronx sections of New York City during the early seventies.

A b-boy or b-girl is a practioner of breakdancing.

The four basic elements of breakdance:
 Toprock: a string of steps performed standing up
 Downrock: moves done while on the floor
Power moves: impressive acrobatics borrowed from gymnastics such as the flare, headspins, backspins, handglides and windmills
 Freezes: halting all motion in a stylish pose usually to finish the set

A crew is a group of two or more BBoys (or BGirls) who dance together either simultaneously or separately.

Battles are head to head confrontations between individuals or groups of dancers who try to outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves. There are two types:
 the cypher battle is the name given to a circle of b-boys and/or b-girls who take turns dancing in the center. There are no judges other than the participants, no concrete rules nor any restrictions except for unwritten traditions
 organized battles are just that: there is a time limit, a limit to the number of dancers that can represent each side and there are unbiased judges chosen based on their years of experience

PRINCIPAL CREWS
Phase-T from France: mostly North African young men plus one blond white boy
Knucklehead Zoo from Las Vegas: a group of Latino-Americans
Ichigeki from Japan
Gamblerz from South Korea: the reigning champions
Last for One also from South Korea

REVIEW
For most people breakdancing had simply disappeared; apparently there has been resurgence since the early 1990s. This documentary profiles five of the groups that took part in the annual competition known as the Battle of the Year.

By taking time to interview some parents it soon becomes clear that some b-boys have more than difficult dance routines to deal with.

Obviously geared to those already familiar with this subculture, no attempt has been made to familiarise the rest of us with the terms noted above.

CLASSIFICATION

THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN

Original title: La graine et le mulet
In French with English subtitles

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Habib Boufares: 60-year-old Slimane Beiji
Bouraouia Marzouk: his ex-wife Souad
Farida Benkhetache: Slimane’s daughter Karima
Hatika Karaoui: Slimane’s lover Latifa
Hafsia Herzi: her daughter Rym

REVIEW
We all have busy lives and have to budget our time. One thing I suggest you should do today is stay away from this movie. It is terrible and such a waste of time.

Shot entirely with a hand-held camera (and not a very steady one at that) it moves at a ponderous pace with long, interminably long, takes. Patience (lots of it) is an absolute requirement for viewing as nothing it seems has been edited out and we get to see the film just as it was shot.

At the risk of giving away the plot during the 45 minutes I sat through the film the following transpired: an old-time employee is told he is to be laid off, he talks with some buddies on the wharf, visits his ex’s place, visit’s his daughter’s place, goes home, visits his lover, has a beer and then back to his daughter’s place.

The two principal subjects of conversation were about fish and the toilet training of the man’s 2-year-old granddaughter; both bore me to tears.

I haven’t got time for this. Few people do.

CLASSIFICATION
for brief sexual situations.

P.S.
Four people before me and three others left when I did; each of us forsaking the $11 spent to see the film. At that rate the theatre would certainly be empty before the end credits.

I checked it out and the film runs for over 2 and a half hours!

SAVAGE GRACE

Fact based drama

BACKGROUND
In 1909 Dr. Leo Baekeland developed the first plastic ever, which he named after himself. Bakelite was used for its electrically non-conductive and heat-resistant properties in radio and telephone casings and electrical insulators. It was also used in such diverse products as kitchenware, jewellery, pipe stems and children's toys. It made the inventor very rich.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Julianne Moore: Barbara Baekeland
Stephen Dillane: her wealthy husband Brooks
Eddie Redmayne: their 20-something-year old son Tony
Elena Anaya: his girlfriend Blanca

REVIEW
At the risk of giving away the plot any story about the incestuous relationship between a mother and her son to “cure him of his homosexuality” will probably be of interest to very few. Even if it is a true story.

I didn’t know anything about the main theme so I hung in as long as I could even though three people left the theatre before I did. Never a good sign.

CLASSIFICATION
For whatever reason the film does not have the usual MPAA rating so I gave it my own based on scenes of full frontal male and female nudity and several sex acts (both heterosexual and homosexual).

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Matthew Goode: Captain Charles Ryder, official war artist
Patrick Malahide: his father
Ben Whishaw: an Oxford student, Sebastian Flyte
Emma Thompson: Sebastian’s mother Lady Marchmain
Hayley Atwell: her daughter Julia
Ed Stoppard: her son Bridley
Michael Gambon: her husband Lord Marchmain

REVIEW
With uncompromising attention to detail (costumes, makeup, hair etc), lush settings, great cinematography and stellar performances nobody does period pieces better than the British. Sometimes called God's Own County, the Yorkshire County of Northern England has never looked so good.

Despite covering a period of some twenty years or so, the manner in which the flashbacks are handled makes it easy to sort out. Fans of this genre will not mind the fact it is a tad too long at 2 hours and 13 minutes.

CLASSIFICATION
for for some sexual content (very little I might add).

P.S.
Dipsomania: from the Greek dipsa thirst + the Latin mania which means “compulsive thirst”. This medical term is used to describe the uncontrollable craving for alcohol.