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This busy week for new movies is also very promising for serious cinema fans. There are films that have very good prospects at the awards like the Oscars. Anora and Conclave will get there, I’m sure. The little-known Dahomy is already being submitted, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin should be and Born Hungry and Monkey on a Stick probably have a chance of being considered too.
I cover them all today but I’ll start lower on the quality chart, with the biggest film of the week.
Venom: The Last Dance: 2 ½ stars
Conclave: 3
Anora: 4 ½
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin: 4
Born Hungry: 4
Monkey on a Stick: 3 ½
Dahomey: 3
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE: It’s the third time for Tom Hardy to deal with Venom the parasite or symbiote that’s been inserted into the character he plays. And it serves him right. He co-wrote the story and co-produced the film as well as starring as Eddie Brock the fallen investigative journalist who has to struggle with this alien being. He also does his raspy voice as the two carry on, banter and often joke in a wanna-be buddy comedy. Unfortunately there’s not enough humor to merit that. There is a convoluted storyline that isn’t all that clear and misses a great opportunity. Brock finally gets to confront the man who put the thing inside him. Krull is his name but he’s such a brief and weak presence that a major set-to doesn’t materialize and the film just drags along. Kelly Marcel, who wrote all three films, directed this one.
Venom, who Eddie turns into now and then, is being chased by Krull who needs him (and something called “the Codex”) to control the universe. He sends creatures that look like giant insects after him. Eddie is also being chased by human police according to TV news reports and the military. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays that pursuer. Again, promising, but again unexciting. We’re not engaged because the story is obscure, even, apparently, to fans of the Marvel comics they came from. We do get to that sci fi movie staple, Area 51 where alien contact was covered up, allegedly. It’s about to be shut down although a lab underneath continues. A scientist played by Juno Temple is researching symbiotes. Meanwhile, the one character who shines is a hippie father played by Rhys Ifans who drives a VW bus and leads his family in a sing-a-long of Space Oddity (you know: “Ground control to Major Tom”). They’re tourists but somehow manage to get into Area 51 for no great purpose except to provide some levity in a film that has very little. (In theaters) 2 ½ out of 5
CONCLAVE: Watch for Ralph Fiennes to be nominated in all the awards races for his perfect acting in this tale of power and politics from within the Catholic Church. He's compelling as he displays a complex mix of emotions about idealism, doubt and clear, realistic thinking about human flaws. Too bad the film around him doesn't match his level.
Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence who is put in charge of organizing the conclave that will elect a new Pope. The old one has died and the leading candidates include two conservatives, a moderate (John Lithgow) and a liberal (Stanley Tucci). Lawrence too is considered a possibility but he's not interested.
There's also a late arrival who complicates matters in what develops into something of a potboiler, based on the novel by Robert Harris. There's intrigue, gentlemanly backstabbing, gossip and the revelation of a bunch of secrets. Not much talk about actual issues in the modern church though, except for the secondary role given to Isabella Rossellini which reflects the status of women. Eventually the film is undone by a revelation for which there is not a hint of foreshadowing and therefore feels inappropriate and unnecessary. A potentially valid discussion about the church falters. Edward Berger, whose last film All Quiet on the Western Front won four Academy Awards, directed. (In theaters) 3 out of 5
ANORA: It's played the festivals, won the top prize at Cannes and great praise at both TIFF and VIFF and remains my favorite film of the year so far. I expect great things from it at the Academy Awards too because it is so imaginative, artful and entertaining. And deceptively complex. It starts like a low-level comedy about a sex-worker, a lap dancer actually, who falls for a rich Russian, the son of an oligarch. Anora, who prefers to be called Ani, is played by Mikey Madison. Ivan, played by Mark Eydelshteyn, is nice but impulsive and a bit lost. After a night together at the huge mansion he lives in outside New York he takes her to Las Vegas and marries her.
His parents freak out and send three guys to handle things, except they don't manage to. Ani fights back, Ivan runs away. His parents have to come and take charge. His mother is steel angry. Ivan is described as a child who has never grown up. We've detected that too. The parents order the marriage be annuled and there are scenes of carefully stoked chaos, many laughs and a surprise tender scene. It's a very good film by Sean Baker, who in films like The Florida Project has explored class divisions between the privileged and the underclass. He does it again inside this screwball comedy. (in theaters) 4 ½ out of 5
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF IBELIN: What’s remarkable is what his parents learned about him after he was gone. Mats Steen was a young man in Norway who was born with a disease that gradually weakened his muscles and eventually killed him. He was confined to a wheelchair and wrote a blog with questions like “Why was I born with this condition?” He also got into that online role-playing game called World of Warcraft, using a nickname as most there do. Ibelin was his, its meaning not explained. His parents thought he was wasting his time but soon stood corrected. They thought he was isolated and alone. Dozens of messages came in from his online friends and showed he had a rich connection to many.
He also had a vibrant imagination which the film, drawing on the blog he wrote, shows in animated sequences. We see him interact with other players. We feel his wish to fall in love like regular people and see his attempts to get close to one young woman, even handing her a bouquet of flowers at one point. Online nobody knew he was in a wheelchair or suffering a debilitating disease. He didn’t tell them that. It was his personality, always positive, his offers to help and his innovative ideas that impressed. It’s a very moving film. For many, it’ll bring on tears. Good ones. (Netflix) 4 out of 5
BORN HUNGRY: This is a wonderful film, with a true story and an inspiring effect that’ll make you feel good. High praise but relevant, and these days much welcomed. It tells the story of a poor kid from India, who ran away, ended up in an orphanage and was adopted by a family in Toronto thanks to the help of an organization called Families for Children founded by another Torontonian. The kid, Sash Simpson, is now the owner of a posh restaurant there. The film finds him curious about where he came from, his family in India and exactly how he got to Canada. He starts a search to find out.
Filmmaker Barry Avrich read an article about him, saw the film potential and went along to document the quest. Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra Jonas joined on as co-producer. The result is a vibrant picture of India, both now with bustling streets and back then in Sash’s memories. He doesn’t remember where he lived, only that he had taken a long train ride. He finds the orphanage and a movie theater he once slept in but no official records. Nothing about his parents, to answer the big question: did they abandon him or did he just run away? A government office is looking but works very slowly. As he says he hasn’t found his family yet, but he has found himself. Persistence is a big part. (Streaming at CRAVE) 4 out of 5
MONKEY ON A STICK: It’s already played Toronto and Montreal and now opens in Vancouver where the director, Jason Lapeyre lives. Watch for it elsewhere. It’s eye opening. Extraordinarily so. You would be surprised there was this much dirt to dig up about the Hare Krishna movement that seemed so singularly devoted to peace and love and mediation. How about guns, drugs, money laundering, child abuse, even murder? Not in every temple run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness or by every acolyte who ever approached you at an airport. The film doesn’t say how widespread the problems were but does document several scandals. There’s a “hash bust” in California. There was drug smuggling from Pakistan. A school in Virginia where children said they were“guinea pigs.” There was a shooting spree. A killer for hire incident. And more.
It also gives the movement’s history. AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada came to the US from India in 1967, founded ISCON and grew it fast. There were 200 temples in 52 countries as hippies turned on to it. The problems came when he died and the organization divided into 11 zones, each with its own leader. One was primarily a businessman. One, a pretender to the throne, lived a high life, had an armed guard and even wore a crown. Another was known as the LSD guru. The film doesn’t say what remains today but does caution us about spiritual movements “where people are given absolute authority over other people.” (VIFF Center) 4 out of 5
DAHOMEY: The African nation is now called Benin and the issues in this film will resonate even here in Canada. They match what we saw in a recent film about efforts here to reclaim Indigenous art that was taken away to museums in other countries. Dahomey lost a lot too, to the French. Royal collections were plundered. Masks, statues, a carved throne and other pieces ended up in museums in Paris and a strong effort rose up back home to get them back. Success: 26 prime items were returned.
Well, what success is it, ask students in an impassioned discussion in a university lecture hall. Some 7,000 pieces were taken. Why should people be grateful that 26 have come back? It’s an insult. The film by Mati Diop, taking a step out of the narrative films she is known for, confronts issues of colonialism, racism and cultural appropriation. And does so with a neat device: she has the film narrated by the statue of King Ghezo who ruled Dahomey until 1818. Nothing dull about this look at history and what lingers after. Senegal is submitting the film to the Academy Awards. It has already won a top award at the Berlin Film Festival. (In theaters, Vancouver and Montreal now, Toronto next week) 3 ½ out of 5
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