Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Adaptation: A review of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Is it a bad adaptation of the source material? Yes. Was it the best decision Bryan Lee O’Malley could have possibly made? YES.

By Caleb Jackson

Caleb Jackson’s mouth falling agape at the sheer splendour that is Scott Pilgrim (Caleb Jackson/CanCulture)

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! GO WATCH THE ANIME BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER. I'M BEING SO SERIOUS RIGHT NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT ALREADY DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW. YOU WILL THANK ME LATER 

Scott Pilgrim is a franchise that has always been a huge part of my life. Ever since Scott Pilgrim vs The World came out way back in 2010, I have been an avid fan. I’ve seen the movie countless times, played the game to completion and own both the black and white original releases and the collector’s edition colour copies of the original comic series (which I read regularly). 

So, believe me when I say this anime ROCKED. MY. SHIT. It is simply phenomenal. From the gorgeous animation by Science SARU to the soundtrack by Joseph Trapanese and series staple Anamanaguchi. With the movie’s director Edgar Wright returning as an executive producer and the entire cast reprising their film roles, and the script written by none other than the creator of Scott Pilgrim himself, Bryan Lee O’Malley, it’s unsurprising that the show is as good as it is. 

That being said, there’s an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed before I can go into any further detail about it. This anime lied to everyone through its teeth and it can barely be considered an adaptation of the source material. 

The premise of this show can be boiled down to a relatively simple one: What if Scott (played by local Brampton-ite Michael Cera) were to… well, take off? What happens if we remove Scott Pilgrim from his own story? The entire first episode is almost a one-to-one recreation of the first book, with some things omitted for time constraints. It adds and changes stuff here and there like the replacement of the iconic Amazon.ca joke with a Netflix one, and the introduction to the League of Evil Exes immediately. But where it really goes off the rails is when Scott dies in his very first fight with Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha).

This move floored me. I was sitting on my couch with my jaw scraping the living room carpet. It was so abrupt, so sudden, and the show doesn’t give you any time to process what has just occurred by cutting to credits shortly after. The very next episode opens with Scott Pilgrim’s funeral. All of the promotional material led everyone to believe this was just another retelling of Scott’s battle against the League and his life but instead, we got something so much greater. 

The real plot revolves around Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) going on a who-dun-it? mystery adventure investigating Scott’s death and figuring out if he could possibly be alive. Because of this, the show gives a lot of the limelight to Ramona and the rest of the cast, most notably the villains themselves. The Exes get so much more time to grow and develop, and it is spectacular. 

Matthew Patel usurps Gideon Graves’ (Jason Schwartzman) job as the “G-Man” and leader of the League, and for the first time since Gideon was introduced back in 2004, we get a backstory for him. Apparently, his real name is Gordon Goose and he is some nobody from North Bay, Ontario. Go figure. 

All of the Exes are confronted by Ramona as potential suspects for Scott’s kidnapping/death, and in the end, they are all innocent. Beyond that, Ramona even reconciles with most of them and the Exes put their lives in the League behind them and grow as people. Something that they never got a chance to do with Scott around. 

The show takes this new premise and runs with it. Characters that have never previously interacted now have entire arcs together, and you get to see a lot more depth in Ramona than ever before. Due to Scott being an entirely unreliable narrator, Ramona remains a mystery for most of the entire book series and the movie. She certainly gets development and attention too, but with Scott in the picture, she never could truly flourish. 

What about our titular protagonist though? Where is that lovable douche? Well as it turns out, he is the big villain. Kind of. Scott of the future, labelled Older Scott (Will Forte) has kidnapped Scott to make sure he never has a relationship with Ramona due to her breaking his heart later on in their life. He doesn’t succeed however, and in the grand finale, he attempts to kill everyone in the cast to ensure his romance never occurs to spare his heart. This is by far one of the most interesting moves of the show, as it allows our protagonist to truly see the extent of his own flaws, and reflect on his actions in a way he never could before. 

It’s quite poetic really, the books and movie focus on Scott coming to terms with and owning up to his past mistakes. Now, Scott has to wrestle with what he could become. The show really pushes what the core of Scott Pilgrim’s story is about, flawed people confronting the worst parts of themselves to be better people towards others. 

The anime doesn’t hesitate to show you that Scott and Ramona’s actions are objectionable, but that doesn’t make them any less as people. It completely makes sense that this version of the story is written by O’Malley in his 40s when the OG was made when he was just as much of a confused 20-something as Scott himself. 

The show isn’t without some problems.With the relatively short runtime of 8 episodes, it tackles a lot of material that I feel could have benefitted from more time to explore. There are a lot of things missing here, like Stephen Stills’ (Mark Webber) coming-out arc and a few characters that are touched on loosely but not fully explored like the Katayanagi Twins (both voiced by Julian Cihi).

I also found the plot itself to move a bit too quickly, as Ramona’s “investigation” only really ends up as four of the eight episodes present. On top of all of this, I can see it being incredibly inaccessible to a new audience, as the entire plot and premise hinges on familiarity with the property to really engage with its themes and presentation.

Despite this, the anime is clearly a love letter for fans of Scott Pilgrim. Each episode is simply eye candy, with popping visuals and clean animation. The soundtrack is nothing but bangers, with the cast even lending vocals and instruments to all soundtrack versions of the songs Sex Bob-Omb plays just like in the original film. The voice cast has to be commended too, because everyone absolutely kills it. Especially Young Neil (Johnny Simmons), his whispery dream-like line delivery is consistently hilarious.

The writing is as witty and sharp as ever, and the quality on display is simply something to marvel at. If you’re a fan and can get behind the complete rug pull that is the first episode, it will take you on an unexpected and unforgettable journey that makes the world of Scott Pilgrim feel as if it has come full circle. 

If you aren’t, then what are you waiting for? Go consume some of the best media you will probably ever experience in your lifetime. 

9/10. Scott, you are the salt of the earth. Whoops, did I say salt? I meant scum. Slip of the tongue.

The future of deepfakes isn’t memes – it’s nonconsensual porn: A review of Another Body

Filmmakers Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn want to reclaim the online space for women in their new documentary on the misuse of deepfake technology.

By Sarah Grishpul

Imagine you received a message from a friend one day with a link to a porn site to which you discover that there are a bunch of pornographic videos with your face on them.

That is how directors Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn’s documentary, Another Body, starts. In the film, we follow Taylor, a young college student whose life turns upside down after discovering someone has posted deepfake pornography, using her face, online.

Deepfakes are artificially generated footage created by running a large collection of images through AI software. 

While many people may have encountered deepfakes through memes or silly videos of Nicolas Cage on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body, at least 96 per cent of this technology has been utilized for pornographic content. The majority of these victims are nonconsenting women.

The documentary is a slow-burn thriller that guides the viewer through a situation every modern young woman fears. There is a constant sense of unease and dread as we see Taylor close off from the world while more deepfake videos of her are posted. It’s heartbreaking to witness this youthful, carefree girl slowly become undone by such an act of hate.

Throughout this documentary, we follow Taylor’s journey as she works relentlessly to seek justice for this egregious invasion of privacy. However, as the film hammers home, most countries don’t have proper online harassment laws surrounding this new technology.

Even in Canada, there are no criminal deepfake laws in place. It is also difficult to punish the creators of pornographic deepfakes as the perpetrator is often hiding behind an anonymous online identity.

The documentary is shot similarly to most found-footage films (picture Aneesh Chaganty’s 2018 film Searching), with many scenes shot from Taylor’s phone or laptop while capturing her reactions in vlogs, Zoom meetings or through social media sites and forums. 

When initially developing the idea for this documentary, Compton and Hamlyn wanted to bring awareness to this growing issue that not many are aware of. In an interview with CanCulture, the pair discussed the ethics behind approaching Taylor and sharing her story without invading her space.

“By allowing her to self-record her story, she's the one who decides when the camera turns on and when the camera turns off, she decides when she wants to speak and when she doesn't and by sort of doing that, we provide her with control over how her story is told,” said Hamlyn. “It kind of makes her collaborator in the process more so than the junior typical documentary subject.”

Aside from giving Taylor control over her narrative, Hamlyn also mentioned that they wanted to reclaim the online platforms that had stripped so many women of their agency.

“We want to celebrate these online forms of communication and documentation, and so by recreating that in the style of the film, we're trying to put forward quite how powerful that can be as a mechanism of using your voice,” said Hamlyn.

The pair also utilized this AI tool to demonstrate how powerful this technology can be while also protecting Taylor’s identity, as it is revealed in the film that the face we’ve been staring at isn’t her actual face — but rather, a deepfake of another actress (Ava Breuer).

According to the filmmakers, deepfake technology isn’t inherently problematic. However, it becomes an issue when not used responsibly.

“They don't understand that this technology, when used to recreate a realistic-looking video, can be pretty much seamless,” said Compton. “And so by being able to use the technology in the film not just to protect our subjects, we also really can persuade the audience and clarify how terrifying the technology can be when misused.”

Compton and Hamlyn hope that this documentary will help bring awareness to this ongoing issue while destigmatizing the illusion of these online predators and addressing this kind of abuse and misogyny in our communities.

“The Internet is the most important public forum in human history, in my opinion, and the right answer is not to withdraw from it just to protect yourself from this,” said Hamlyn. “We need to find a way of making it safe for women to freely participate in online spaces.”

The documentary is part of their campaign #MyImageMyChoice meant to amplify the stories of survivors and advocate for stronger laws surrounding deepfake abuse. Compton says they started a petition to block these sites from promoting image abuse and email templates that people can send to political representatives.

“What we've really witnessed in Taylor's story is that if you persevere and keep investigating and reach out to people and find community, things can really shift,” said Compton.

“So, I hope that people sense the glimmer of opportunity and hope in that.”

Another Body will be playing at the Ted Rogers Hot Docs Cinema before streaming on CBC Gem on November 22nd.

Retro review: I've Heard the Mermaids Singing

An underrated gem in Canadian cinema 

By: Aditi Roy

Still from I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing

The 1987 Canadian film I've Heard the Mermaids Singing is less of a film and more of an experience. This queer cinema gem is an uplifting story everyone should watch.

The title of the film comes from T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The line is derived from the phrase "I have heard the mermaids singing each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me." This line captures T. S. Eliot's feeling of unworthiness to get the attention of potential women love interests. Though this poem does not directly correlate to the film, we see elements of this realization within the life of our main character, Polly Vandersma. 

Director and writer Patricia Rozema takes us into the world of Polly. Wonderfully played by Sheila McCarthy, this goofy character wins your heart by being a relatable woman in her thirties who is fun-loving yet deeply insecure. She isn't your typical put-together woman lead, but her innocence and kind-heartedness make her one of the most compelling characters in the film. 

Polly is an amateur photographer who serves as an assistant in one of Toronto’s art galleries. We see her journey navigating the daunting and superficial art world while simultaneously falling in love with the gallery manager Gabrielle St. Peres, played by Paule Baillargeon. 

We closely follow Polly's endeavours that occur more in her vivid imagination than in reality. In this film, we see Polly discover herself and come to varying realizations about her current state in life.

This one-of-a-kind film is beautifully tied together by its direction, cinematography, acting and storyline that works harmoniously together.

Douglas Koch, an acclaimed Canadian cinematographer, enhanced the film's message through his extraordinary camera work. Scenes of Polly's daydreaming sessions wonderfully capture the mystical figments of her imagination. We see Polly climbing the surface of a tall glass building only to fall down screaming. But this fall doesn't lead to disaster. In fact, she starts to fly! Polly continues to soar and admire the scenic views of Toronto while opera music plays in the background. Such colourful dreams make a frequent appearance in the film. His work in the film creates a wonderful viewing experience. The Academy of Canadian Cinema even recognized Koch's outstanding work as he was awarded the Genie Award for Best Cinematography. 

Meanwhile, the interactions between characters are captured authentically, making you feel like you are present with Polly as she stumbles into the most hysterical encounters. The story centres on Polly and her interactions with art gallery manager Gabrielle. We see the two characters develop a close relationship. Polly admires Gabrielle; she represents everything she's not: successful, elegant, and put together. She even gives Polly a full-time position at the gallery. Gabrielle looks past Polly's flaws, making her feel seen and recognized in a way she hasn't been before.

Though they have ups and downs during their journey, there is a sensitivity to their relationship that makes it seem genuine and unique. The two never date, but we sense the proximity they have through each scene. Each shot builds upon their relationship and captures the subtleties of their growth.

To say that director Patricia Rozema plays a significant role in this movie is a severe understatement. Rozema wrote, produced and directed this piece: this is her directorial debut. Her great direction fulfilled her vision of creating an impactful and unique film. In addition, she managed to perfectly administrate each production element to make the piece fluid and engaging.

Patricia Rozema's innovative use of music was also first showcased through I've Heard the Mermaids Singing. Rozema revealed in interviews that when directing films, she organizes camera shots in a musical sense to provide the movie with an effortless flow. In addition, her decision to focus her story on idiosyncratic characters provides the audience with new, exciting stories that they are unfamiliar with. As a result, Patricia Rozema manages to find a sense of transcendence through this well-executed film.

Despite the production's incredible work, the highlight of I've Heard the Mermaids Singing is undoubtedly the phenomenal acting. Sheila McCarthy steals the show with her portrayal of Polly, an eccentric and unconventional character. McCarthy managed to bring dimension to her with her subtle quirks and authentic delivery. Sheila McCarthy makes the mess that is Polly Vandersma into a charming and captivating character.

McCarthy's co-star Paule Baillargeon also does an exceptional job portraying the mysterious, sensual and elegant French Canadian art gallery manager. Other actors in the film include Brenda Kamino, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Richard Monette, John Evans and Rebecca Jenkins. Although this is a comedy film, the acting isn't overly dramatic and loud; it remains subtle. While the movie's central focus is Polly, all the actors playing the supporting characters give exceptional performances. 

If you are looking for a charming and hysterically funny queer movie, this is a must-watch. This extraordinary film makes you feel invigorated, offering you a more carefree perspective on life. 

RATING: 4/5

TIFF Review: Clara – Manic Pixie Dream Girls IN SPACE

By: Ben Cohen

Grade: C

The typical penultimate chapter – right before the reboot – in many franchises and genres is the port over to outer space. It’s a desperate move, taken by someone working on a worn-out, assembly line plot structure. Think Jason X, Dracula 3000, Moonraker, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Angry Birds Space. Clara is to the manic pixie dream girl genre what all those aforementioned creations are to their respective canons: one last piddling set change before the curtain falls for good.   

The titular character is a globe trotting, rock collecting, spiritualist and painter who decides to take up astrophysics, despite not having any post-secondary education whatsoever, believing strongly that being a quick-learning, hard worker is all it takes.

Ostensibly homeless, she responds to a wanted ad for an unpaid research assistant position with Dr. Isaac Bruno, astronomer, divorcé and disgraced professor, by showing up at his home unannounced.

Bruno rebukes her, but she still makes it into his apartment, with reluctant permission, to get her dog a bowl of water. There, the ex-professor tells Clara, once again, that she is unqualified for the job. She responds by picking up a record from his vinyl collection and asking to play it just once before she goes. The duo then discovers their shared love for the work of Bob Dylan, specifically The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, his second studio album, and that somehow gives them enough common ground for Bruno to not only hire Clara as his assistant, but also let her and her dog move in with him.

From then on, Bruno and Clara spend the film having multiple, nearly identical, sophomoric conversations orbiting the spirituality vs science debate. The team prattle on about it in a manner only slightly more sophisticate than two teenagers in a state of blunt-induced philosophical rambling.

“People are scared of the unknown,” said science-man Bruno. “We basically know nothing, so we make things up, these bedtime stories.”

Clara counters deftly by remarking that Sir Isaac Newton was religious. This fact somehow pierces Bruno’s hull of skepticism and ends the scene.    

The film’s second act drags on in this manner, with Clara acing the pixie muse’s standard programming. She teaches her assigned brilliant broken man, Bruno, social and artistic skills and helps him get over the loss of his son, all the while searching for alien life with him through satellite imaging.

“Finding some other life form isn’t going to bring (our dead son) back,” said Bruno’s ex-wife, Rebecca.

“I know, but it’s all I have,” he responds.

Clara then mutilates the astronomer’s grief with a nice screed about how quantum entanglement and recycled atoms mean that his late son will always be with him.

The third act abandons the alien hunting plot until the climax. This forces us to spend time with our two watered-down cliché composite leads butting heads over intelligent design for the umpteenth time.

Clara finally coaxes Bruno into having some sort of cosmological vision with the help of one of her magic rocks. This ends up leading to the discovery of alien life right at the very end of the film, but not before the audience is treated to the line of the night:

“You spend all this time looking at stars, you’re going to miss what’s right in front of you.”

Goodness gracious.

Clara isn’t all awful. The score features exciting orchestral tunes and some classic Dylan yowls. The cinematography is at times breathtaking, specifically the views of the cosmos the audience is treated to during scene transitions. Shots around Toronto and in TTC are a warm reminder of the staunch Canadianity of film’s cast and crew. The ending is surprisingly satisfying, with first contact being made and Clara’s devout spiritualism being ratified. It’s just a shame this pleasing payoff took so long to arrive and was so brief.

TIFF 2018 Review: Edge of the Knife

By: Isabelle Kirkwood

Grade: A

Edge of the Knife is a 2018 Canadian drama film co-directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown. It is the first feature film spoken only in dialects of the Haida language. Set in 19th-century Haida Gwaii, it tells the classic Haida story of the traumatized and stranded man transformed to Gaagiixiid, the wildman.

Gwaii Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown’s Edge of the Knife (Haida: SG̲aawaay Ḵ'uuna) forges a new method of storytelling from a long since unheard corner of Canadian cinema. Set in the 19th century Haida Gwaii archipelago in the vividly rugged Pacific Northwest, the film centres around a small 19th century Haida community.

More pointedly, the film follows a narrative that draws parallels from a moral era akin to Crime and Punishment. The death of a local child drives our implicated protagonist, Adiits’ii, into torment and grief, as he absconds his people into the unforgiving wilderness. We follow his descent into madness as he is, in a sense, ‘swallowed whole’ by the wilderness that soon becomes his own hell.

The dramatic coastal landscape sits on what seems like the edge of the Earth. Vast temperate rainforest and rugged, inhospitable shoreline epitomize the brutal and violent forces of nature and guilt that possess the protagonist, transforming him into a feral pariah. 

Adiits'ii’s character begins as incredulously charming, but as he descends into insanity, his character becomes more convincing. After the death of Adiitsi’ii’s young nephew, the film’s pace changes dramatically – the rather measured pacing of the community’s scenes breaths a sense of calm into the film. But the film abruptly kicks into action, as we see our now untamed protagonist tearing through harsh wilderness, covered in his own blood.

The film’s rather lurid imagery was able to effectively shock and disgust. By the time Adiits’ii returns to his community, every inch of his body is etched by dirt and blood trails. Urchin needles are protruding from his lips. The wilderness has turned the initially charming nobleman into a beast.

The acting throughout this film is rather strained, with many communal scenes opening with forced and prolonged laughter. The dialogue, too, is hard to relish – tone is lost in the actors’ ostensibly modest grasp of the challenging Haida language. 

The film is the first to be scripted entirely in Haida. For this reason, it only seems to fair to cut the actors some slack for a seemingly rudimentary grasp of the dialect. Often times, tone is difficult to read, and dialogue is spoken with a trace of vacillation. I wish I could say this didn’t take away from the film, but it did.

 The sound design is overbearing and often hyperbolic – Foley which should be ambient resonates more obnoxiously than it does evocatively. However, the sound design’s true victory is in its use of score. The rich percussive beat is an unfortunate dramatic trope in modern cinema, but works impeccably in Edge of the Knife. The unnerving turtle rattles, the haunting water drum and the rich vocal hums and whirrs seem to conduct Adiits’ii through his decline into a dark and otherworldly possession, and his community into a spell of grief and despair, without taking audience from its setting. Despite some of the paranormal elements of the film, many of its elements allow the story to maintain its realism.

This is an Indigenous film with an Indigenous cast and crew. It masterfully revives tradition and lore that remains culturally and historically relevant to Indigenous peoples in Canada. The fundamental clash between man and nature are omnipresent, themes of the turmoil of grief and one’s delivery from it are central. In this film, we are offered a dark and unnerving chronicle, where Indigeneity is not offered as a prop, trope or sideshow. Indigeneity is the main act.

TIFF 2018 Review: First Man

By Luke Elisio           

Damien Chazelle’s First Man is one small step towards Oscar gold, one giant leap for the director’s already impressive resume.

The biopic, starring Canada’s leading man Ryan Gosling, recounts the personal and professional life of astronaut Neil Armstrong leading up to the legendary 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

For those who doubted that the historically-musical Chazelle (director of 2014’s Whiplash and 2016’s almost-best-picture-winner La La Land) would be incapable of delivering a high-stakes thrill ride, rest assured that within the film’s first five minutes, he more than delivers. During those five minutes, Chazelle lifts audiences off the ground with a POV-shot test flight that is as exhilarating as it is realistic. To capture that indescribable sensation of rocketing to outer space is true movie magic. If you’re not watching this film in a theatre seat gazing up at the big screen, you’re not watching it properly.

The well-paced drama is the antithesis of Chazelle’s previous films, trading in themes of artistry and romance for two hours of utterly realistic tension and anguish. Chazelle manages to capture that realism by expertly utilizing the narrative tool of showing rather than telling. Whether it’s the heart-breaking look of mourners as they watch a casket descend into the ground, or a NASA physicist humorously assigning astronauts a simple 600 pages of equations to memorize, Chazelle knows how to punctuate a scene with masterful subtlety.

The star of the film, in every sense, is Gosling as Neil Armstrong. Completely stripped of any glamour or charm, Gosling’s portrayal as an everyday man who is called to exhibit emotional and physical strength of the greatest caliber, is mesmerizing to watch. If anything, see this film simply for Gosling’s gut-wrenchingly realistic portrayal of a man wrestling for control over his life while simultaneously writing his name in the stars as an American hero. Gosling will pull you in with all the force of a black hole.

Get it? Cause’ space.

Sharing the screen with Gosling is Claire Foy as Janet Shearon, Armstrong’s first wife. Foy displays an incredible range as she portrays a woman who celebrates in her husband’s greatest achievements, supports him through tragedy, and berates him when she knows he is wrong. For those familiar with Foy mostly for her role as Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix’s The Crown, she is physically unrecognizable. However, she brings the same unyielding strength and heart to Janet as she does to the Queen. A nomination for Best Supporting Actress is undoubtedly hers. This is easily a game-changing role for Foy and hopefully Chazelle will include her in his troupe of repertory actors.

In an era dominated by movies filled with video-game-level amounts of CGI, it was transcendent to watch a director utilize practical effects and sleight of hand filmmaking to craft a truly breathtaking piece of film. With First Man, Chazelle proves himself to be a director that studios should just unequivocally trust. Give him the money to make whatever kind of film he wants, and audiences will be anything but disappointed.

Classic Canadian Cinema: Goin’ Down the Road

By Ben Cohen

This is less of a review and more of a reflection. The quality of this film is undeniable, it’s been preserved as a "masterwork" by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada and was given a perfect 4/4 by the late Roger Ebert. We know it’s good, and a piece of Canadian history. Let’s talk about why that’s the case.

Peter’s had enough. Enough of the unglamorous Maritimes. Enough of toiling in perpetual poverty as a carpenter’s apprentice. He’s set his sights on a better life in Toronto. One where he’d be able to let his blistered, overworked hands and sun-fried skin heal inside an air-conditioned office. He corrals his friend Joey, and together they blaze on westward from Cape Breton in their spray-painted Chevy Impala.  

The iconic flame design and writing on Peter’s ‘60s Impala has become a fixture in Canadian pop culture. 

“I just wanna do something that matters. Somethin’ that shows for myself, says I was there; Peter McGraw was there,” he says to Joey.   

It’s not so easy, though. The pair spend their first big city night in the Salvation Army, flipping through newspaper classifieds looking for work. With barely enough money to eat, and certainly not enough to get back home, they find themselves with their backs pressed firmly against the wall.   

The following day, Peter decorates himself in a suit and barges into an advertising agency. The hiring manager can’t believe it. “You don’t even have a high-school diploma,” he reminds Peter. “The sort of job you’re applying for calls for a university degree.”

“Well what’s the sense in getting an education? I mean, you need an education to work on the docks? Or in the mines? There ain’t a hell of a lot to choose from in the Maritimes, you know,” he replies.

They give in, get menial jobs loading crates at a ginger ale bottling factory and spend their nights off by drinking and gallivanting down the almost unrecognizable 1970 Yonge Street strip. Joey acts as a foil to Peter’s – perhaps undeserved – ambition. He’s complacent. Though their new job is as back-breaking as anything they’d find back home, Joey appreciates the higher rate of pay that the Ontario minimum wage affords them.

In stark, realistic contrast to accepted Hollywood tropes, all of Peter’s attempts at bettering himself are thwarted. When he tries to learn how to operate some of the machines at work, he’s immediately shut-down by his superiors, who deride him, saying he’s “too stupid” to handle the responsibility. When he asks the office bombshell out, she tepidly agrees, but spends her time dancing without him and ends the night by slamming her apartment door in his face after a transparent excuse and a curt goodbye. While this may sound unpleasant to watch, it’s important to note that this movie was made before the advent of any real Canadian film industry. This somber, subversive, almost documentary-style tone helped define our country’s cinematic voice in the decades to come.   

Meanwhile, Joey’s girlfriend gets pregnant and they get married. They move out together. He gets himself a credit card on which he buys a fancy colour TV and expensive furniture. If only the guys back home could see all this, he says, beaming.      

Rejecting Hollywood convention once again, when both men find that they’ve lost their jobs due to seasonal downsizing, they don’t fall into something better right after. From that point on, the film becomes a desperate, frustrating, unfair crawl through the mire of unemployment as bills stack and Joey’s wife’s delivery looms closer.

The film ends when, after a botched grocery store heist, the two Nova Scotia men assault a cashier with a tire iron and flee into the night. They return home the following day to find that the police had beaten them there that morning and would return again soon. Having been swiftly evicted, they discover their belongings left unceremoniously on the street by the landlord. Fearing jailtime, Peter convinces Joey to abandon his pregnant wife, now staying with her aunt and uncle, and continue on to the west coast. She’d just slow them down, they rationalise, and she’s safe with her relatives. Plenty of husbands leave their wives, says Peter.

That’s it. This unforgettable, shoestring-budget tragedy finishes far from anything we’d hazard to call a happy ending. There’s no moral to the story, no reward for any risks taken, no punishment for any ethical lapses. The film’s unflinching realism depicts failure after failure. There is no God in Goin’ Down the Road, only men struggling to survive. That’s precisely what sets this movie apart from any of its contemporaries. It’s not a story that tries to make you happy, it’s a story about people trying to be happy.

Goin’ Down the Road is the Canadian Grapes of Wrath; it’s the story of anyone from a rural area who’s been seduced by big city lights, unaware of the loneliness and desperation hidden in the shadows they cast. This movie is as timeless as a love story, as gut-wrenching as a tear-jerker and as poignant as a documentary. That’s why it’ll never be forgotten. Goin’ Down the Road is a brand burned deep into Canadian film canon. This is the definitive story of so many real people that slipped through the fingers of prosperity and wound up cold and alone out on mean, unforgiving streets.

But, like so many other great artistic touchstones, there’s an unnecessary sequel released decades later to satiate a public that just can’t stop thinking about the original. Like Go Set a Watchman to To Kill a Mockingbird or Closing Time to Catch-22, there is a Down the Road Again to Goin’ Down the Road. More on that next time, though.   

This piece was edited by Brent Smyth.

TIFF Review- My Days of Mercy

by Andrea Josic

The daughter (Ellen Page) of a man on death row falls in love with a woman (Kate Mara) on the opposing side of her family’s political cause. – TIFF Description

Grade: B-

With director Tali Shalom-Ezer’s first ever screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, My Days of Mercy explores two extremely different narratives as a romance between two women with polarizing beliefs develops in a tense political atmosphere.

The movie follows Lucy Morrow (Ellen Page), her older sister Martha (Amy Seimetz) and her younger brother Simon (Elias Koteas) travelling around the United States protesting capital punishment in front of prisons. Early on, interest sparks between Lucy and Mercy (Kate Mara) and complications arise as Mercy is revealed to be a capital punishment supporter. This problem deepens when the audience finds out that Lucy’s father will be given a lethal injection in four months for the charge of first-degree murder of their mother.

Despite Lucy being the laid back, witty and blunt character Page is well-known for playing, Page delivers a performance so visceral and believable that it feels as though she strives to slowly drag the audience into the undercurrent of the love between the two characters. Page’s ability to contribute a playful nature intensifies the dynamic of the romance and creates an interesting narrative proving opposites attract.

As usual, love prevails and the two characters navigate conflicting views and Lucy finds solace in the ability to confide in someone. Unfortunately, as strong as Page’s character is, Mara’s acting fundamentally lacks the life and dedication to make Mercy likeable. Mercy’s suggestive innuendos give her personality an edge that is initially enjoyable but as Mara incessantly plays on this trait it turns bland and she loses grip on her character.

Seimetz does an exceptional job embodying Martha, conscientiously stable throughout the movie under the growing pressure of her father’s situation, making it easy for her younger siblings to look to her for guidance. Martha shows her strength by endlessly scrambling for evidence that is going to be effective enough to get their father off of death row. As their father’s day of execution approaches, Lucy’s emotions give in to the grim circumstances and the aggressive, perverse side of her character is exposed. The differences in Martha and Lucy’s characters creates a complementary balance as we see the two attempting to shelter their younger brother from the cruel, unjust reality of losing family members.

The political narrative remains consistently captivating throughout the movie and dives just deep enough to scratch the surface of the controversial topic of capital punishment. The reality of this issue hits the audience through beautifully planned cinematography that shows each prisoner’s last meal followed by protests outside of the mentioned prison. Suspense throughout the movie builds perfectly through the use of the countdown clock appearing every so often shows how much time there is until the father is put to death.

Overall, the combination of a lesbian, Romeo-and-Juliet-style romance and the complexity behind the death penalty play slightly more on each other’s strengths than their weaknesses. Despite Page’s outstanding acting that triggers raw emotions in the audience, Mara’s below-average performance makes the romance seem awkward and forced at times.

As the political aspect of the plot develops and the feelings between Lucy and Mercy are established, the stories, although loosely, tie together. The combination of two very different narratives produces an original story that ultimately remains powerful and emotional while providing a glimpse into the many aspects of human nature that arise in times of struggle.

Flashback Films: Silent Hill

https://youtu.be/Y2M8iYL8suw Silent Hill is everything you would expect from a video game-based movie: a compelling idea overshadowed by a crowded plot attempting to fulfill every element of game-play in a short span of two hours. In short, it’s kind of a disappointment.   

Directed by Christopher Gans, and written by Roger Avary and Nicolas Boukhrief, the film is about a woman named Rose (Radha Mitchell) who takes her daughter to the abandoned ghost town that haunts her dreams every night—Silent Hill. Her daughter, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland), is kidnapped in Silent Hill and Rose must go after her. After that, the plot gets lost in a whirlwind of ideas and doesn’t settle on just one. At the beginning, it appears to be like your typical creepy child horror film, until we are introduced to witches, reapers, cults, a crazed killer, rapists, and not to mention, strange zombie-like creatures that are supposed to be the victims of the fire that took place in Silent Hill 30 years ago.  

The movie, based on the Japanese video game of the same title, attempts to mimic the stylings of game-play through fade-to-black cut-scenes, clues and maps that the protagonist picks up to lead her to her daughter, and a non-playable character that comes in the form of the police officer Cybil Bennet (Laurie Holden).  

For most of the movie, the dialogue is completely lacking. The writers chose the most standard phrases of speech simply to connect the horror scenes. The amount of times the protagonist repeats the phrase “my daughter is lost, I need to find her” is borderline excessive. We get it, she’s lost. We gain more information about what is going on from the flashback monologue provided by Sharon’s evil twin.  Rose’s professed love for her daughter was not convincing, either. Mitchell’s acting comes off as unbelievable. The words are there, but there is no emotion or passion to back the script up making her words seem forced. Even when comforting Officer Bennett after a near-death experience with the typical line “hey, it’s going to be OK”, Mitchell’s voice is so level and monotone that she fails to bring life to the already boring script.

That being said the film is definitely horrifying. It is not for the faint of heart or the weak-stomached, for that matter. Not only are the deaths gruesome (I’m talking barbed wire being used in ways you could never imagine) but the actual beings that haunt Silent Hill are best described as weird contorted humans, each one unique and evil in its own way. The creatures are not horrifying in the sense that they are large, dark and menacing, but more so that each one possesses a terrifying quality. Child zombies roam the underground bowling rink, gray human-figures spew corrosive puss, a contorted janitor creates tree branches from his finger-tips, and a massive giant storms the hall of the school.  It could be compared to a Lord of the Rings movie, but instead of humble tree giants, elves, and hobbits, you have these deadly creatures.

Just when the movie comes to a close and you have made as much sense as you could from the cluttered plot and lack of dialogue, you are robbed from the one thing you were waiting 125 minutes for—closure. The ending leaves you more confused than before as you realize Rose and her daughter are trapped in limbo. They never really return home, and we never really get an ending. Lack of closure is the most unsettling part of the film.  

If you are looking for a horror film to watch during a night-in, this movie will deliver on the jump-scare and gore factor. If you’re looking for something a little more developed, with a clear plot, at-par dialogue, and at least a single element of realism, I would steer clear of Silent Hill.  

This piece was edited by Luke Elisio,  film editor of CanCulture.

Flashback Film: When Night is Falling

When Night is Falling is a Canadian romantic drama featured around the beauty of a same sex relationship between a deeply religious woman and a free-spirited circus performer.

The film takes us through Camille Baker’s (Pascal Bussières) heartbreak, loss and inner turmoil as she struggles to make sense of her fascination with Petra (Rachel Crawford), a girl from the other side of the tracks.

Directed by Patricia Rozema, the two women first meet when Baker is crying in a Laundromat after finding out her dog has died. Petra, is immediately intrigued by Baker and tries to comfort her.

In an attempt to see Baker again after their intimate yet brief encounter, Petra intentionally mixes up their laundry, drawing Baker to the outskirts of town to where she is living with the circus.

Their second encounter reveals Petra’s intentions for the mix up and her attraction towards Baker. Ultimately surprised by her forwardness, Baker flees from Petra`s trailer.

Wanting to apologize for her forwardness, Petra tracks Baker down at her house and the encounter leads to the two kissing for the first time. Baker is a college teacher at a highly religious institute and is in a long-term relationship with another professor is conflicted with her feelings for Petra. The film continues on with Baker's struggle to balance her beliefs and her growing desires for a woman.

When Night is Falling is a love story that proves love has no bounds. It is a perfect movie to watch while spending time with your significant other, it’s a film that reaffirms the bonds that tie one another together.  

This 1995 film has several sex scenes that captures the intimacy between two people and it maybe just the film to spark intimacy in your own love life this February.

Baker throughout this film, fights her attraction for a woman and in doing so sleeps with her male partner. The contrast between the love scenes with Petra, and Baker’s male lover illustrates the difference between sexual attraction and love.

Rozema does more than grasp the intimacy between lovers, she  also grasps the struggle that same-sex relationships face from their community; and the battle with accepting who you really are and coming out.

Not only that but the film challenges the views of those who are afraid of the unknown and how humanly imperfect love is, no matter the shape or form that it comes in.

Flashback Film: Meatballs

Meatballs, a 1979 Canadian comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman, is the film that started Bill Murray’s successful comedic career as a leading actor. This coming of age story centres around a summer camp, Camp North Star. It is about a group of  adolescents who are dropped off by their parents for the duration of the summer. Comedy genius, Bill Murray, plays the head counsellor, Tripper Harrison.

Harrison, leads a group of new counsellors in training, also known as CITs, for various age groups. Harrison throughout the film frequently enlists the help of the CITs in pranking the camp's director Morty Melnick (Harvey Atkin) as he sleeps. Thus, strapping him to his bed and placing him various areas of the camp during the night. Some places are a little more creative and difficult to execute with poor Morty waking up in his bed suspended up in the tree line or on the side of the road.

Meatballs, provides an entertaining and lively experience for the whole family. Also, it is the definition of a timeless piece that despite its aged date is still relevant to this day. It is an embodying film about what it's like to grow up and make new friends and fall in love. While exercising our own adolescent milestones and the free, adventurous spirit of a youthful soul.

Summer camp cannot be without a healthy dose of competition and in this case Camp North Star faces off against their much more wealthier opponent, Camp Mohawks, who are situated from just across the lake. Camp Mohawk participants pay on average of $1000 a day and has a cliche of better experiences and practices that rival those of a spa retreat. The Mohawks have subsequently beat Camp North Star 12 times in a row and appear to be well on their way to making it a13th time unless Camp Northstars band of flawed misfit CITs can come together successfully.

Faced with insurmountable odds, Harrison delivers a motivational chant that obliterates the fear of losing, because as Harrison puts it, “it doesn't matter whether we win or lose, because even if we win, all the pretty girls will still only go out with a Mohawk because of their money!” Once a loser always a loser, doesn't mean you can't do it with style. Needless to say with no other outcome but total failure, I guess it does take out the stress of winning.

This is the first film that Bill Murray appears as the starring role, and you can see from his performance that the actor we know and love today was just as goofy and hilariously outrageous as he was at the start of his career.

Meatballs made a grand total of approximately $43 million in the box office, which was nearly 29 times the amount of the films budget for production ($1.6 million).

Flashback Film: The Keeper

The Keeper a 1976 mystery film directed by T.Y. Drake, is garnered around a psychiatric asylum, Underwood. Its patients tend to be wealthy heirs and heiresses. The man in charge of Underwood is a greying cripple known as the Keeper (Christopher Lee). Lee is a famed and renowned actor known for playing popular bad guys such as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Count Dooku in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Just as in those big box office hits, Lee played his part as a “bad guy” so well that goose flesh is a common reaction to the sound of his voice.

However, despite being graced by the presence of “bad guy royalty,” the movie seemed to fall flat in all other aspects. In all honesty, the majority of the film comprised of repetitive scenes of flashing colourful lights, and the spinning white and black pattern normally associated with hypnotism. It was a visual effect used to help the audience understand that the characters on screen were being hypnotized, but it really hypnotized the audience into a state of perpetual boredom.

The method of hypnotherapy doesn’t quite fulfill those expectations of what we all have seen on TV to look like. The patients of Underwood Asylum were brought into a small white room with an electric door that had no handle with nothing inside but a chair. Instead, it came off as more of a weird torture mechanism, which includes the patients being placed onto a seat that is electrified. These scenes do formulate sympathy and an unsettling feelings, for the characters having their genitals zapped now and again as the camera films close ups of their squirming and pained facial expressions, while being asked a series of probing questions by Lee.  

To continue this low budget film’s descent into a burning pit of ‘nope’, the film's plot and characters  were badly set up and introduced right from the beginning. I admit I was confused for a third of the actual film, not knowing what exactly was happening. Normally, mysteries have audience members wanting to find out what happens next, with them sitting on the edge of their seats gleefully watching as it unfolds on the screen before them. However, the Keeper, was more effective in helping me perfect my list making skills, of all the things I would much rather have been doing than watching that movie.

The Keeper and the Underwood Asylum are being investigated by private investigator Richard Driver (Tell Schreiber), and the town’s police force because of a number of mysterious deaths surrounding the relatives of the patients who attended Underwood. When the reasoning behind all those mysterious deaths and the Keeper’s overall scheme is revealed, disappointment was inevitable. It turns out that the whole reason as to why he was hypnotizing these insanely rich people and causing the deaths of their relatives was so he could be “the richest and most powerful man in the world.”

History tends to repeat itself; the Keeper, like all mad geniuses, nearly met his own demise by the hands of the very device he created. The film ends (thankfully), on a small cliffhanger, with the audience wondering what exactly happens to the inspector as well as the keeper himself. The final scene is a weird close up of Christopher Lee’s face, with his black soulless eyes staring into yours through your screen.

This movie was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia on a budget of $135,000 and over the course of only 23 days. The film was never actually theatrically released but made its television premiere on December 19, 1985.

Flashback Film: My Bloody Valentine

This ‘80s movie My Bloody Valentine directed by George Mihalka is the bread and butter of horror movie clichés. From the movie being set in a small town, where everyone knows everyone, to a complicated love triangle, to the combination of sex and gore being wrapped up in a beautiful pink heart shaped box just in time for Halloween.

The coal mining town of Valentine Bluffs did not have a Valentine’s Day celebration in over 20 years. Ever since a coal mining accident that killed 4 miners and left one trapped for several days. Due to two negligent supervisors who had left their posts early, in order to attend a Valentine’s Day party.

Harry Warden, the sole survivor from the mining accident went after the two supervisors for revenge, killing them with a mining axe and removing their hearts and stuffing them into heart shaped boxes. He warned the town to never hold another Valentine’s Day party or more killings would follow. After some years had passed and the memory of Harry Warden’s warning were forgotten, the people of Valentine Bluffs have decided to hold the first Valentine’s Day party in over 20 years.

The movie starts off with two miners dressed up in full gear, covering their faces with breathing masks; heading down into the depths of one of the dark shafts of a mine. Arriving at what appears to be an intersection of two shafts crossing one another, where the two come to a stop. One begins to undress, revealing that one of the miners is a woman, almost naked, except for her underwear beneath the navy blue jumpsuit.

The end of the first scene is tied off with the typical horror movie cliché of boobs, sex, blood and gore. A plot point that has become overly predictable with horror movies produced within the ‘80s, which has remained prominent in today’s movie productions. It’s almost like painting a bright red target on specific characters; a symbol that foreshadows their impending doom.   

The Mayor (Larry Reynolds) of Valentine Bluffs has something extra to celebrate about, with the return of his son T.J. (Paul Kelman), after he up and left, over a year ago. When T.J. left, he didn’t tell anyone where he was going and if he was ever going to be coming back. In the Fray he left behind his then girlfriend Sarah (Lori Hallier) who has since moved on and is in a relationship with Axel (Neil Affleck) another miner who works alongside T.J. Sarah, however, still has feelings for T.J., causing tension between the two men.

Now if the love triangle is starting to bore you, have no fear, this slasher film is in no short supply of bodies dropping throughout the film. The way in which every character is killed off gives praise to their creativity. Not one is killed off the same way, which keeps the audience members riveted to their seats and gasping every so often, in sympathetic horror and pain for the dying actors on screen. Furthermore, the gore scenes in My Bloody Valentine are elevated to a whole new level by the stellar job done by the special effects makeup artists who had to individually design body parts and various other gory pieces that make those scenes stand out.

Filmed on location in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, My Bloody Valentine provides a satisfying thriller with plot twists and an unsuspected ending. It is not your typical jump out horror movie, My Bloody Valentine is a classic suspense story that has you sitting on the edge of your seat, as your favourite characters navigate the dark with a killer that seems to be ahead of them at every turn.