Wednesday, November 20, 2024​

Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 &  8:20 pm

Director: Erica Tremblay
Cast: Lily Gladstone, Isabel DeRoy-Olson, Shea Whigham
Running Time:   91 minutes
Language: English, Cayugaa

Hamptons International Film Festival: Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking; Austin Film Critics Association; Breakthrough Artist: Lily Gladstone; Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards: Excellence in Independent Filmmaking. Tacoma Film Festival; Best Narrative Feature. Eight other wins, four other nominations. 

“A potent, layered and beautiful heartache of a movie grappling with traumas but finding hope and even joy in the bond between these women.”—Radheyan Simonpillai, CTV’s Your Morning

“Fancy Dance” focuses on white intervention in Native communities and the challenge of keeping families together no matter what. 

Lily Gladstone ( “Killers of the Flower Moon”) plays Jax, a queer Cayuga woman living with her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) on a reservation in Oklahoma. Jax’s sister Wadatawi has been missing for two weeks, and Jax fears the worst. Tribal police and the FBI have turned up nothing. . 

Roki’s forcibly placed in the care of her estranged grandfather (Shea Whipham). Acting on pure instinct, Jax “kidnaps” Roki and the pair try to make their way to the tribal Powwow in Oklahoma City where Roki’s hoping that her missing mother would miraculously show up at the Pow Wow as planned for the mother/daughter fancy dance. Originally a war dance, this contemporary version survives as a symbol of expression of native pride and the gathering of tribal members.

“Fancy Dance” excels at showing the authentic lives led by Jax and other women, making the most of the few options for their life on the reservations: minor drug dealing, stripping. Gladstone and Deroy-Olson work well off each other, betraying no judgement. 

Roki and Jax’s journey together is a dangerous one, with white men posing a threat to them at every turn.  

Despite some sentimentality, “Fancy Dance” is a film about resistance against a careless, racist government that thrives on assimilation and cultural amnesia. The same FBI that made its good name off of the murders of Osage people now cares little about  the harm caused by racism and greed. “Fancy Dance” reminds us of how communities care for each other, regardless of the risk involved. Director Erica Tremblay’s narrative debut is impressive, heralding a promising talent. 

Wednesday, November 6, 2024​

Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Greg Kwedar
Cast: Colman Domingo
Running Time: 105 m  
Language: English

Based on the real-life arts rehabilitation programme founded at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Greg Kwedar’s new film follows a troupe of incarcerated actors who work on a play as part of a theatre workshop at the prison.

Every six months, the men gather in a circle of chairs, often looking to Divine G (Colman Domingo) to help decide their next play. When he recruits a new member called Divine Eye, he gets more than he bargained for. The group’s dynamic begins to shift as Divine Eye suggests they do a comedy for the first time, prompting the men to throw out a jumble of wild ideas — from pirate ships to Roman gladiators to Old West gunfights. 

Flustered at first, Divine G quickly starts to see Divine Eye’s discomfort with the vulnerability required for what seems like a silly pursuit. While planning for his own clemency hearing, he tries to forge a connection with Eye, as the men collectively unpack the pain of their experience while undergoing the joy and escape of creativity.

Domingo gives one of the most memorable and affecting performances of his career, bolstered by a cast made up almost entirely of formerly incarcerated actors and alumni of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts programme. Their participation brings an authenticity to the group’s founding principle that human dignity must be a part of the justice system. 

Directed with a dynamism that matches the charm, mischief, and compassion of the men themselves, “Sing Sing” recognizes the value of a place we can gather in which to discuss, debate, and create, wherever that may be. It’s an ode to art as a process, much the same as life, through which we can strive to better understand ourselves and each other.

Wednesday, October 23, 2024​

Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Pablo Berger
Running Time: 101 m  
Language: 

This animated, dialogue-free story about the miracle of true friendship between a dog and a robot was nominated for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars.

Prepare to enjoy one of the best animated films of the year, as Spanish director Pablo Berger — last at TIFF with “Blancanieves (2012), his surprising black-and-white take on “Snow White” — returns with an enthralling, dialogue-free story about the miracle of true friendship and what the end of a platonic relationship feels like.

The hand-drawn film, based on the 2007 graphic novel by Sara Varon, is set in New York City in the 1980s. Paradoxically, the city’s relentless flow of activity can make for rather lonely lives, such as the one the quiet, composed Dog leads. But when Dog orders Robot from a TV sales channel and assembles him, he brings to life a kind, strong, and flexible buddy with a great smile and incredibly expressive eyes. 

Their instant, honest bond allows them to enjoy an unforgettable summer together to the beat of Earth, Wind & Fire’s funky “September”, only to be involuntarily separated at the beach after a day of underwater antics.

Unable to figure out a way to take Robot home with him, Dog leaves his dear friend behind. The seasons pass and, after countless failed efforts to reconnect, Dog tries to find new friends and has some success, while Robot has no choice but to dream of more ideal situations. They move on with their lives out of necessity.

Suitable for every family member, the beauty of this jewel of a film is its reminder of the good fortune of having a caring pal, even if it’s only for a brief time.

Wednesday, October 16 2024​

Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Minhal Baig
Cast: Blake Cameron James, Glan Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson
Running Time: 93 m  
Language: English

Two young boys, best friends Malik and Eric, discover the joys and hardships of growing up in the sprawling Cabrini-Green public housing complex in 1992 Chicago in the latest film from director Minhal Baig (“Hala,” TIFF ’19).

Constructed over several decades beginning in the late 1940s, Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing complex embodied contemporary thought on housing and urban development. By 1992, however, the community — and the world — had changed significantly. That’s captured in the latest film from director Minhal Baig (Hala, TIFF ’19).

Along with his mother Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) and grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson), 12-year-old Malik (Blake Cameron James) has lived in this community all his life. The same is true for his best friend Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) and together the boys know every nook, stairway, and rooftop — all of these a playing field for their (sometimes forbidden) adventures. 

But change is intruding on their childhood idyll. Drugs and crime are seeping into the neighbourhood and, when a sudden tragic event further shakes the families, the children’s future becomes uncertain. 

As Dolores weighs a new job that would take them to the unfamiliar suburbs, Malik and Eric struggle with accepting that they may have to say goodbye to each other.

Anchored by astonishing performances from young newcomers James and Ramirez, “We Grown Now” serves as a rich and textured portrait of the friendships we often neglect to acknowledge when we talk about what a community is. Baig spent significant time with former residents of the now-demolished Cabrini-Green homes, gathering their stories and garnering support for the telling of them. The result is a lyrical and poignant tale of boyhood innocence, social change, and the fight to hold on to optimism.

Wednesday, September 25 2024​

Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Thea Sharrock
Cast: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Timothy Spall
Running Time: 102m  
Language: English

Best Feature Film Nomination: Cleveland International Film Festival

“Wicked Little Letters is a broad and funny period piece, and it sparkles with sharp dialogue.”---Liz Braun, original.cin

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley play neighbours who get on each other’s nerves in this dark comedy about a small English town where residents start receiving anonymous, expletive-laden letters, igniting a scandal in their community.

It’s the 1920s and there’s a scandal brewing in the charming seaside town of Littlehampton. Residents have started receiving anonymous, poison-pen letters, brimming with curse words and scandalous prose. Who is writing them and how can they be stopped?

Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) — pious and respected (if not well-liked) — is one of those residents. The letters assassinate her character in the most blue-tinged language imaginable and, when they start to stack up, her autocratic, scripture-quoting father Edward (Timothy Spall) insists the culprit be found. With law enforcement reluctantly investigating, Edith bandies a pet theory that her neighbour Rose (Jessie Buckley) might mean her harm.

Rose is the opposite of Edith: loud, brash, a lover of spirits and dancing, and unapologetic about all of it. When the police arrest her in the letters case, assuming her guilt because of her “loose moral character,” it doesn’t sit well with Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan). With her superiors unwilling to listen, she gathers a group of unlikely yet resourceful female volunteers to get to the bottom of the mystery.

What begins as a village whodunnit suitable for the pearl-clutching set evolves into a profound statement about the stifling social confines around women’s behaviour and their possible tragic consequences. Screenwriter Jonny Sweet provides fabulously sharp dialogue, made even more enjoyable through the talents of the cast.

It’s all brought together by director Thea Sharrock (“Me Before You”), who makes room for the darker narrative undertones of misogyny, hypocrisy, and repression while keeping the many twists of this story moving at the perfect clip for its comedy.

Wednesday, April 17th, 2024
Showtimes: 6:30pm & 9pm (Filmmaker Q&A after each screening)
Location: Silvercity Thunder Bay
​Runtime: 97-minutes

SHORT SYNOPSIS: 
Unveiling the harsh reality of substance use in Thunder Bay, Ontario, this universally themed documentary, told through personal narratives and expert insights, exposes a lack of resources while aiming to shatter stigmas and ignite compassion for those grappling with addiction.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT: 
Embarking on the journey of creating this documentary was a plunge into the unknown. Initially, I had no connection to the main subjects grappling with addiction in Thunder Bay, Ontario, or any understanding that addiction can be a disease. Their stories were unfamiliar, and as a filmmaker, I entered their world with an open heart and an unbiased lens, eager to shed light on the challenges they faced.
What began as a professional endeavour transformed into a personal exploration, forging unexpected connections with the people at the heart of the narrative.
In the end, my journey as a filmmaker not only captured the struggles and triumphs of some of those facing addiction but also became a testament to the transformative power of human connection. From my inception into this venture, I strived not merely to shed light on a local predicament but aspired to bestow a voice upon the often-overlooked community of individuals who are, essentially, voiceless.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Suze      Canada
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Directors: Linsey Stewart, Dane Clark
Cast: Michaela Watkins, Aaron Ashmore, Sara Waisglass, Charlie Gillespiens, Aaron As
Running time: 93 minutes
Language: English 

Awards: Calgary International Film Festival: Best Canadian Narrative Feature

“This is a breezy, enormously amiable film.”—Debanjan Dhar, High on Films

“Suze” is an enjoyable comedy-drama that deals with an unlikely inter-generational friendship. Stage and screen actress and improv comic Michaela Watkins plays an empty-nest single mother who loses one parental responsibility only to be saddled with another. It is a combination comedy of manners and a personal growth story, as touching as it is genuinely amusing.

Single mother Susan (Michaela Watkins) aka ‘Suze’, divorced from her unfaithful husband, is bracing herself to send her daughter, Brooke (Sara Waisglass), off to university. Susan is finding the idea of her only child growing up and leaving home difficult, despite her offspring’s indifference. 

One day, Suze’s brooding is interrupted by the appearance of Brooke’s former boyfriend, Gage (Charlie Gillespie), who is heartbroken over being summarily dumped by Brooke.

Gage is as hilarious as he is annoying, full of youthful energy and awkwardness, lacking any kind of filter, and given to the worst of adolescent speech mannerisms. Susan takes pity on his obvious distress and reluctantly befriends him. 

Things take a turn when Gage is injured and his macho father finds an excuse to leave Gage with Susan while he recuperates.

Much of the humour comes from the interaction between the mature, sensible Susan and young Gage, who is erratic, emotional, and full of uninformed enthusiasm. 

The two leads have wonderful chemistry, bouncing off each other in a lively and funny first act. Their relationship evolves during Gage’s extended recuperation. Susan takes a more maternal attitude toward him, trying to offer help and encouragement.

Not only does Susan manage to direct Gage away from the negative direction his life has taken, but Gage also helps Susan come to some realizations about her life, her daughter, and herself that mercifully avoids mawkish sentimentality.

In finding both the humour and the dramatic potential in personal and generational differences, “Suze” recreates the buddy movie in a new and surprisingly successful way.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Perfect Days  Japan
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:45 pm

Director: Wim Wenders 
Principal Cast: Kôji Yakusho, Min Tanaka, Tokio Emoto, Aoi Yamada, Sayuri Ishikawa, Arisa Nakano, Yumi Aso, Tomokazu Miura
Running Time: 124 minutes
Language: English, Japanese with English subtitles

Awards: Cannes Film Festival: Best Actor (Kôji Yakusho); Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: Wim Wenders; Asia Pacific Screen Awards: Best Film; Montclair Film Festival: Junior Jury, Wim Wenders; 24 other nominations

“The director has crafted a film of deceptive simplicity, observing the tiny details of a routine existence with such clarity, soulfulness and empathy that they build a cumulative emotional power almost without you noticing.”—David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

After several years away from the silver screen, Wim Wenders is back with “Perfect Days,” a poignant character study and emotionally charged journey into the soul of Tokyo. Radiating charm and embracing all his best work, this unique mix of fiction and ordinary life finds an unusual, poetic angle to guide us: the architectural marvels of some of Tokyo’s public toilets. 

Kôji Yakusho, in one of his best performances to date, plays Hirayama, a cleaner of these toilets. (He is named after the protagonist of Yasujiro Ozu’s last film, “An Autumn Afternoon” — a quiet tribute to the great master of Japanese cinema, an auteur beloved by Wenders.) 

Hirayama lives alone in a small house full of plants, his days going by according to quiet rhythms that never seem to change. His is a neighbourhood of tiny cafés frequented.
by the same people, of bookshops that sell works by Patricia Highsmith or young, contemporary Japanese writers. 

Hirayama speaks very little and has a great passion for music, books, and the trees he loves to photograph. He drives to work in his minivan, fully equipped with his cleaning gear, while The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, or Lou Reed ring in ageless, husky hums from a tape player. 

As if in search of a new cinema on the road, Wenders follows his protagonist and instead discovers new places of the heart. Through Yakusho/Hirayama, Wenders captures the poetry of the everyday with intimacy and stunning simplicity. 

Wednesday, March 6, 2024
The Zone of Interest   Poland, United Kingdom
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Jonathan Glazer
Cast: Sandra Huller, Christian Friedel
Running time: 106 minutes
Language: German, Polish; English subtitles

Awards: Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, International Film, Direction, Adapted Screenplay, Sound; Cannes: Grand Prize Winner, FIPRESCI Prize (Jonathan Glazer) 
Technician Prize, Soundtrack Composer (Mica Levi); Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Picture, Director, Actress, Music Score, National Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Director, Actress; Toronto Film Critics Association Awards: Best Picture, Director. 29 other wins, 159 nominations. 

“The Zone of Interest is possibly the least overtly traumatic film about the Holocaust ever made, yet it’s devastating in the quietest way.”—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine

Master of portraiture Jonathan Glazer (“Under the Skin”) was awarded the Grand Prix at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival for “The Zone of Interest,” adapted from a 2014 novel of the same title by Martin Amis. 

The film centres on the domestic life of Hedwig (Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”) and Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), beneficiaries of lebensraum, whose family home — nestled between train tracks and gas chambers — is spitting distance from Auschwitz, the infamous German concentration camp located in occupied Poland, where Rudolf serves as commandant.

Towards the final days of the Holocaust, Hedwig is fixated on self-preservation, while Rudolf is increasingly burdened by his duties. We reside inside the family’s encampment, with background voices of ghost-like prisoners muffled by the perpetrator’s quotidian musings. 

At one point, Hedwig and her atrocious friends joke about their new luxury goods, received from Canada — the nickname of the storage facilities where such items, after being confiscated, were stored — at the demise of their former neighbours.

Shot on location, “The Zone of Interest” weds banal and overt acts of evil with unforgettable reminders of resistance (it was shot in monochrome by thermal-imaging cameras). 

And just as we can't take any more, the film gives a crushing nod to Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” (2012). Hauntingly scored by Mica Levi and shot by Łukasz Żal (“Cold War”), this film will stay with you for a lifetime, for better or for worse.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Monster    Japan
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:45 pm

Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu 
Principal Cast: Andô Sakura, Nagayama Eita, Soya Kurokawa
Run Time: 127 minutes
Language: Japanese with English subtitles

Awards: Cannes Film Festival: Queer Palm (Kore-eda Hirokazu), Best Screenplay Yûji Sakamoto; Chicago International Film Festival: Gold Q-Hugo Award Kore-eda Hirokazu;
Stockholm Film Festival: Best Film; Vancouver International Film Festival:  Audience Award; 12 other nominations

““Monster” is one of the finest films of the year, and its structure — like its circle of characters — carries secrets that can only be unraveled through patience and empathy.”             —Natalia Winkleman, New York Times

After a detour in France (“The Truth,” TIFF ’19) and South Korea (“Broker,” TIFF ’22), Kore-eda Hirokazu returns to his homeland to reconnect with the roots that nourished the deepest spirit of his cinema. His art thrives on subtle, delicate emotions, disregards the obvious, and explores the ordinariness and variables of the human experience. 

Quiet and reserved Minato (Soya Kurokawa) — no longer a kid, but not yet an adolescent — lost his father when he was a young child and lives with his mother (Sakura Ando). When he starts behaving strangely, obsessed with the idea his brain has been switched with a pig’s, his mother suspects his teacher Hori (Eita Nagayama) and calls a meeting with the school principal (Tanaka Yuko) only to face a wall of silence and stiff apologies. 

Someone must have put that idea in Minato’s head, but something doesn’t add up. Is Minato telling the truth or is his professor innocent? Looking at the story from various points of view, in a “Rashomon”-inspired structure, reality changes and the actual subject becomes the hidden friendship between Minato and one of his schoolmates, often bullied by other kids. 

A great storyteller of family dynamics, Kore-eda shows once again his unique ability to depict the inner world of children, unveiling uncomfortable realities with a natural and necessary tenderness. 

A milestone in his impressive body of work, “Monster” is marked by two major collaborations: one with co-screenwriter Sakamoto Yûji; and the other with the legendary musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died last March, “Monster” being his last soundtrack.