film review: The Apprentice

 

Directed by Ali Abbasi

Written by Gabriel Sherman

ChinoKino review: A-

Reviewed by Allan Tong

Donald Trump doesn't want you to see this movie.

Pulling no punches, The Apprentice traces his relationship with nefarious New York lawyer Roy Cohn. Cohn represented the young Trump when he was a real estate developer from Queens, New York, struggling to follow in the footsteps of his overbearing father in the family business. It's the mid-1970s and New York City is broke, but young Trump (Sebastian Stan) wants to build a luxury hotel in seedy Times Square. Another problem is that Trump is accused of discriminating against Black people in one of his properties.  Desperate, Trump hires Cohn to coerce the powers-that-be--using blackmail--into granting Trump a massive tax break to build that hotel.

Not only that, but Cohn grooms Trump, seeing dollar signs in his disciple's future. The Machiavellian Cohn imparts three golden rules to student: 1) Attack, attack, attack. 2) Admit nothing, deny everything. 3) And no matter what, claim victory and never admit defeat. Armed with Cohn's cruel amorality, Trump builds a real estate empire that leaves a trail of lawsuits and liens (from unpaid workers and angry creditors) in his wake, all the while claiming to be the master of the business deal. 

All true, by the way.

Let's take a step back: Who was Roy Cohn? Described as "vile" and "malicious" by his own cousin, Cohn was a lawyer whose clients included four Mafia bosses and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. He also hunted "homosexuals" and "perverts" in Washington, despite being gay and dying of AIDS in 1986. That same year, New York courts disbarred Cohn for unethical and unprofessional conduct for forcing a dying man to sign away control of his estate to him and the man's granddaughter.

Jeremy Strong (Succession) nearly steals the film with his powerful portrayal of Cohn. However, Strong and scriptwriter Gabriel Sherman add dimension to this villain, who actually believed he was on the side of Good using any means to fulfill his twisted, extreme-right wing view of America. Likewise, Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) delivers a fine performance as Ivana, Trump's first wife. She casts a powerful presence as one of the few figures to stand up to Trump, though I wish more light was shed on their fractious marriage.

No doubt, the Trump army will deny the film's portrayal of [spoiler alert] Trump raping Ivana (which she publicly alleged then watered down), his racism, his deadbeat history, addiction to speed, scalpal surgery to reduce baldness, his alcoholic older brother, and ultimately his betrayal of his so-called friend, Cohn. By the end of the film, Sebastian Stan succeeds in portraying Trump as a completely corrupt, empty man, the true successor to Roy Cohn.

The Apprentice opens across Canada in cinemas on Oct. 10.

fashion & art review: Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists

 

 Are sneakers art?

That's the question the Bata Shoe Museum of Toronto poses in its new show, Art/Wear: Sneakers x Artists, opening October 3 and running through March 2023, 2026.  

On view are vintage and recent pieces designed by artists, including Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat, KAWS, Vicky Vuong (top) Keith Haring, Kenzo Minami, Michael Lau, Peter Max, Ruohan Wang and many others. Some shoes are too beautiful to wear, such as the psychedelic psneaks designed by pop artist Peter Max. (BTW, his 1968 high-tops fetch around $2,000 these days.) Most of them alluring and downright cool. 

MACHE: Blank Canvas Mache Runners inspired by John Lennon's psychedelic Rolls-Royce of 1967

 

The show, curated by Elizabeth Semmelhack, wisely makes the connection between graffiti art, sneaks and the early days of rap, which blossomed in early-1980s New York. Eric Haze, Stash, Futura and Jean-Michel Basquiat were some of these key artists. Today, these designer sneaks reach a mass market and mean big business, such as the pair (above) designed by KAWS (above) tied in with The Simpsons TV series and Vans, the hip clothing brand.

 

Sneakerheads and fashionistas will delight in Art/Wear.

 

JUDI WERTHEIN: Brinco cross-trainer, 2005

film review: Russians at War

 

Directed by Anastasia Trofimova

Written by  Anastasia Trofimova & Roland Schlimme

ChinoKino review: A

Reviewed by Allan Tong

 

First of all, Russians at War is an anti-war documentary, not propaganda.  

For 129 minutes, this film depicts a squad of Russian front line soldiers and medics who are demoralized by their country's war against Ukraine. The soldiers, ranging from their early-twenties into their fifties, see no point to the fighting, are given few or no orders when entering battle, drink constantly, and distrust Russian state media and their leaders. Some just want to collect a paycheque. Others want to go home. 

Malaise overhangs the film. One soldier complains that he and his comrades are being sent into battle with no information like "blind kittens." Another points to the old U.S.S.R. hammer-and-sickle insignia in his tank. (This means the tank was manufactured over 33 years ago.) Yet another points to a Russian newspaper and TV broadcast and urges the camera not to believe either. A 50-year-old soldier risks prison by leaving the front line to see his wife and children in Moscow. A widow stands over the grave of her loved one and openly questions the war.

 

In one scene, Russian soldiers are packed into a truck heading somewhere into battle, and a few are chugging from an open bottle. It recalls news footage from 1968 when U.S. soldiers smoked pot as they combed the jungles of Vietnam. Both groups of soldiers didn't know what they were fighting for. The difference is that U.S. networks broadcast their soldiers' sentiments every night which soured American opinion and helped end that unjust war. The Russian war lacks this uncensored footage. Russians at War offers a rare glimpse of the Russian front lines as they are, which makes this film essential viewing.

These are the facts: Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and continues to ravage that country in an unjust war. Secondly, the word "war" is uttered many times in this film, which is a punishable offence  in Putin's Russia. For this reason alone, there's no way Russians at War can screen in the country where its subjects live. To call this documentary propaganda is to be deaf and blind.

Director Anastasia Trofimova was reporting for the CBC when Russian invaded Ukraine. Benefiting from the chaos at the front and the endemic confusion that paralyzes the Russian army, she embedded herself with a squad. During her Q&A after the second screening at the TIFF Lightbox last Tuesday, Trofimova explained that she hid in the woods whenever commanding officers inspected, and when she was caught they chewed her out. She never obtained official press credentials in her seven months of shooting and, as the footage shows, risked her life to capture it.

The documentary is shown largely in a fly-on-the-wall, verite style. The director inserts a voice-over here and there purely to add context. At times, she questions a soldier. She asks one whether he believes Russian soldiers are committing atrocities. He denies it. This same young soldier is gung-ho about killing Nazis in Ukraine. It's clear to the audience that he has swallowed Vladimir Putin's brainwashing. Another soldier turns militant after seeing footage of a wounded comrade begging for a drone not to kill him, but it shoots him anyway. Does this scene engender sympathy for the dead Russian soldier? Yes. Does either scene compel me to cheer Russia and vilify Ukraine? No.

"Hundreds of instances over verbal abuse" including threats of violence and sexual abuse against TIFF staff forced the festival to postpone screenings. Those were originally scheduled to take place at a 14-screen multiplex at the height of the fest, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey explained at a somber introduction before the Tuesday screenings. These took place at the TIFF Lightbox, a building far easier to secure. Indeed, there were many police and security guards on hand, stretching from the sidewalk on King Street where an angry protest raged, to the stage of cinema 2. In an unprecedented move, Russians at War was shown as the last screening of the venerable festival, two days after it ended.

How did we we come to this?

festival spotlight on IncluCity

 

The Italians do it in style, and that extends to their film festivals. At least in Toronto.

The ICFF, once the Italian Contemporary and since morphed into the multicult IncluCity, has weathered the ice age of Covid and the onslaught of Neflix and other streamers to survive and perhaps thrive. Unlike many fests, IncluCity doesn't chase world or even city premieres, but focuses on experiential programming. In plain language, this means giving audiences a good time watching movies, specifically on big, cushy sofas out in the open, under the stars as they nurse a Moretti or Campari-infused negroni and a chocolate. 

An example of sponsorship branding

The brand names are key, since IncluCity has managed to attract a range of sponsors to pay for filling the main street and a square inside the historic Distillery District of Toronto. Forget speakers. How it works is ticket-holders listen to a movie through headphones. The picture is surprisingly sharp, the sound clear and the sofas comfy. When it rains, the screenings move indoors.

A ticket runs $35-60 and includes a sample of pasta you can eat on the spot, plus a box of dry pasta from sponsor Barilla, a negroni or beer, a chocolate from Bari and a coffee from Lavazza. A ticket can include a sample from one of the Distillery shops, like a bar of orange and cinnamon-scented soap from Gentil Uomo one night. The price will be too high for some, reasonable to others. Also factor getting here, either by car, bus (not subway), bike or walk. (I bike.) All in all, this is the most satisfying way to watch a movie outside a 3D IMAX and perfect on a summer's night.

Movies run the gamut, from drama to comedy and kids, from good to meh, and released sometime in the past year. As mentioned, these are not premieres, so the screenings offer audiences a fun way to catch a flick they missed. As a bonus, the film's directors and stars introduce each film either in person, like Atom Egoyan, or by video.

 

An example of good is Weekend Heroes, a light German drama about a father who takes his autistic son to football (soccer) games around Germany so he can settle on a team to cheer. The father is at times too nice and the son at times is a little tyrant. Well, that's the point: teach the audience about autistic behaviour, though the movie begs the question, Are parents nurturing such kids or feeding their dysfunction? The performance by the actor playing the autistic son, Cecilio Andresen, is superb.

 

Another fine film was shown at the smaller Moretti Theatre, Il padre d’Italia and introduced by diretor-writer in person, Fabia Mollo. Mollo spoke on a panel with other filmmakers about adaptatig novels to films. The translation of his 2017 film is The Father of Italia, not the country, but a baby. That baby is carried by a carefree, but reckless young woman who sings in a band. She hooks up a gay mensch and they make an unlikely duo, searching for the baby's father in this road movie. The strong performances by the leads, particularly Isabella Ragonese, and a good script make this two-hander worth watching. The film has heart without lapsing into corniness, though the ending felt a little unresolved.

Tips for viewing: True, there's some audio bleed through your headphones from the surrounding patios if you sit at the edge of the smaller stage. Better is the larger Trinity Theatre, because the neighbouring shops are closed during screenings and the sightlines are good.

IncluCity offers programming beyond movies, including a wine tasting, and concludes July 26 with a gala honouring Isabella Rossellini. The latter is a pricey but lavish affair including an Italian dinner, which has been delicious in past years.

 

Completely free is a small, but fascinating exhibition of legendary director, Federico Fellini. On display in the box office mere steps from the Trinity Theatre screen are scripts, drawings, director chairs and even the great man's desk. IncluCity organizer, Dominic Sciullo, is displaying a sample of the collection that he's finding a home for. I certainly wish him well and would love to see more.

IncluCity (officially Lavazza IncluCity Festival) runs through July 26 in the Distillery and surrounding venues.

film review: Wicked Little Letters

 

Directed by Thea Sharrock

Written by Jonny Sweet

ChinoKino review: C

Reviewed by Allan Tong

In 1919, in the English seaside town of Littlehampton, two neighbours, Edith Swann and Rose Gooding, ceased being friends when Edith reported Rose to the authorities after Edith and other members of Littlehampton received poison pen letters full of threats and obscenities, including the C-Word. In Thea Sharrock's film treatement, co-scripted by Jonnny Sweet, Edith is prim and proper, upholding the values of early-20th-century England, while Rose is the free-spirited and feisty Irish immigrant. If the two were men, then no scandal or police investigation would have erupted. After all, it was fine for men to curse, at least in letters, but, oh dear, not women.

Though performances by leads Olivia Colman (as Edith), one of the Britain's top actors, and Jessie Buckley (Rose) are strong, their characters are thin and one-dimensional. I never got to understand them nor did I care to. Another problem with this film is the approach to race. Rose's lover is a Black man and Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) is of South Asian decent. I don't know if these two are based on real-life characters, but racism was rife in 1919 England and yet race is never mentioned in the film. Instead, sexism is placed front and centre.

 

Look, I'm all for racial diversity in films, including the ones I have made and the many I have programmed for festivals, but this casting doesn't work in this context. Sharrock has applied 2023 mores onto a 1919 setting, and the juxtaposition just confuses the viewer. The non-white characters are elephants in the proverbial room and amounts to awkward storytelling.

A final flaw with Wicked Little Letters is tone. This is supposed to be a black comedy, but it's played for broad laughs and few of the jokes land. Instead, all the white guys, including the cops (except Moss) are sexist buffoons, Rose is party animal and Edith is uptight. Their dialogue lacks wit, lacks bite. The two leads never feel like close friends to start the story, so there's no sense of loss when they fall out. Moreover, the scandal over the foul language doesn't translate to audiences. So what? What's the big deal? Some bad language in letters. Shrug. Sharrock doesn't establish the milieu where these letters are shocking to the public.

In the end, Wicked Little Letters is a big misfire, led by good intentions, but misapplied in an historic story that fails to condemn sexism.

Wicked Little Letters opens April 5 in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and expands to other cities on April 12.

film review: They Shot The Piano Player

 

Directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

Written by Fernando Trueba

Review by Allan Tong

ChinoKino score: B+

This is a stunning, but flawed animated docu-drama about legendary Brazilian jazz pianist, Francisco Tenório Jr. who disappeared in 1976 after a gig. He was 34. You probably never heard of him, but Tenório Jr. he played a role in elevating bossa nova to world status in the 1960s and 1970s.

Part detective story and part history lesson about this wonderful music but also the totalitarianism that strangled South America, They Shot The Piano Player is told from the point of view of a writer. New Yorker Jeff Harris is researching a book about boss nova when he stumbles upon Tenório Jr.s' masterful playing and is hooked. He proceeds to interview the pianist's close friends, bandmates and family in and around Rio de Janeiro as well as Buenos Aires where Tenório disappeared. 

These include bossa nova's godfather, João Gilberto, as well as Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Vincius de Moraes and Paulo Moura. Their music is liberally heard throughout the film in dazzling, colourful sequences. Pure pleasure. Altogether, they tell the story about boss nova's rise until it broke internationally through in 1964, even challenging the Beatles on the charts.

Harris spends equal time, if not more, learning about the U.S.-backed military regimes which terrorized Brazil and Argentina in the 1970s. Credit the film for not pulling any punches. A harrowing sequence finds Harris touring Buenos Aires' ESMA (Navy Mechanics School), a notorious place in the 1970s where political prisoners (mostly innocent) were tortured and execute. Appalling, ESMA had a ward for pregnant prisoners.

A sequence involving jazz great Ella Fitzgerald is a highlight

Eventually, Harris solves the mystery of Tenório Jr.'s disappearance. The problem is that this moment is not a revelation. The audience has a good idea of what happened long before the ending, which is a key flaw in this film. It lacks suspense. Perhaps the directors got too close to the subject, but the film could have been more powerful after another edit to shuffle scenes and gradually build to this reveal.

Another concern, though not a dealbreaker, is why the filmmakers created the Harris character to tell this story. Was it necessary?

That said, this is a highly enjoyable film of a worthy subject.

They Shot The Piano Player opens March 15 in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City; March 22 in Ottawa, Saskatoon and Victoria; then throughout the spring in other cities.

film review: Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer

Directed and written by Thomas von Steinaecker

ChinoKino score: A-

Review by Allan Tong

With Werner Herzog, warns German filmmaker Wim Wenders, "you can't be sure of anything. It's all unpredictable. You only know something will happen."

That something could be a dwarf rebellion, a doomed conquistador, Herzog eating his shoe onstage, or doing a guest spot in Star Wars. Great or disappointing, Werner Herzog's films are always interesting and unique. He follows neither formula nor agenda. This documentary makes that clear as it explores his life and career. It is worth watching.

Herzog guides us through his life, appearing on camera in L.A, his current home, and in Sachrang. His mother fled wartime bombing in Munich and sheltered Herzog and his brother in this remote Bavarian village. He grew up starving in the dying days of World War Two. Herzog points to a waterfall and declares that is him, his soul and identity. Seeing his old home makes him (and the viewer) emotional. He visits a ski jump and says he always wanted to fly. His brother recalls him breaking a few bones doing so.

Never mind. Herzog always shrugs off pain. He nearly died making two films in the jungle--Aguirre: Wrath of God (one of the greatest movies ever made) and Fitzcarraldo. The subject matter of his work spans an ocean, but a common thread is the obsession of a single character pursuing a dream at any cost. For instance, Fitzcarraldo is a rubber baron who drags a massive steamship uphill and across land so he can access rubber of the Amazon forest. This is a perfect metaphor about Herzog making this difficult film that he recast and postponed several times.

Of course, no discussion of Herzog is complete without Klaus Kinski. Intense, psychotic (and now discredited for abusing his daughters), Kinski was Herzog's leading madman, starring in Herzog's greatest fiction films, including the two made in the jungle. A lot has been said about their violent collaboration (watch Herzog's own doc, My Best Fiend), though Radical Dreamer does a good job of summarizing it.

Friends and collaborators lend additional voices to this documentary, including Volker Schlondorff (part of the 1960s German New Wave with Herzog), wives Lena Herzog (below) and Martje Grohmann, filmmakers Chloe Zhao and Joshua Oppenheimer, stars Nicole Kidman, Christian Bale and Carl Weathers (RIP), and fangirl and poet Patti Smith.

There's generous footage of Herzog on camera, accompanied by clips from his films, plus gorgeous establishing shots of Bavaria. The film is generally told chronologically, but footage of him in Los Angeles is awkwardly placed at the beginning and end of the film. Herzog workshopping a class of young directors is interesting, but disrupts the doc's momentum early on.

Another problem lies beyond the director's reach: there's so much to cover in Herzog 81 years and 60+ movies. For instance, nothing is said about Nosferatu or The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. To get a fuller picture, read his recent memoirs, Every Man For Himself and God Against All, and the Les Blank docs Burden of Dreams and Klaus Kinski Eats His Shoe. 

And watch Herzog films.

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer is released on VOD February 6.

IDS kicks off design weekend in Toronto

 

ARD Outdoor

Story and photos by Allan Tong

The Interior Design Show opened last night with a party to interrupt the cold snap gripping Toronto. Occupying the northern end of the massive Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the IDS (as it's commonly known) kicked off with flutes of champagne and canopes amid booths and booths of the latest in home furnishings, bathtubs, lighting, wooden floors, ceramic tiles, and even cabins. 

The annual design show runs through Sunday, January 21 with Friday being Professional Development Day aimed at industry folk. Highlights include a keynote by Marva Griffin at 2:00-3:00pm. Griffin is the founded Salone Satellite, the renowned showcase of young designers. She will discuss her unusual career path and how the industry has evolved over the last quarter century. Following her will be Oskar Zieta at 4:00pm speaking about his innovative, inflated metal furniture and Poland’s role in the European design industry.

Saturday and Sunday are open to the public. The line-up:

Saturday 11am-12 noon: Safoura Zahedi (Architect, Interdisciplinary Artist, Educator and Geometry Expert), Beverley Horii (Managing Director and Principal, IA Interior Architects), and Tatiana Soldatova (Principal, Syllable) will be imagining the impact of technology, wellness and culture on the interiors of the (near) future.

Saturday 1-2pm: Tura Cousins Wilson (Studio of Contemporary Architecture), Chad Burton (Fashion Editor and Product Stylist), and Krisette Santamaria (Industrial Designer, Krisette Santamaria Designs) answer the question: Multifunctional, multigenerational, multiuse and multiunit spaces pack in all the needs of modern life, but how do you create a multifaceted living space that still feels cohesive and represents your sense of style? 

Saturday 3-4pm Michael Murphy (Vice President, Fogo Island Workshop & Design), Janet Langdon (Textile Designer), and Ernst Hupel (Partner, 2H Interior Design) will reflect on the design legacy of the innovative Fogo Island Inn off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sunday 11am-12pm will see Brian Gluckstein dispensing his best design advice and predictions for 2024. Following him will be Christiane Lemieux discussing her collections at retail, books and online store as both an entrepreneur and designer. Also, she will offer tips on how she creates a minimalist, nurturing retreat. At 3pm, Aly Velji will reflect on his collaborations with Urban Barn and Rollout. Questions are welcome from the public.

 Of course, there are the exhibitors. Here's what caught our eye:

Kissing Chair by Alison Postma

Ruums repurposes this 160-square-foot cargo container into a painting or musical studio or as  a dwelling that's situated in your backyard. They'll walk through all the city permits and installing plumbing, if needed.

Lighting by Feelux

Wine flowed at Vicostone

Paint isn't just for walls, says Sherwin-Williams

Montauk Sofa

Roche Bobois

ARD Outdoor

Non-alcohol cocktails by Seedlip were popular

WOODca Design offered an example of cool wooden dwellings at this year's IDS, like this sauna

Of course, there are sinks at IDS, this sleek one by Facileklean

OCH Works

McKae Imaging's backlit canvases

Stylish sinks and faucets, indeed

Coffee's other use by Krisette Sanatamaria

For more coverage including videos, find us on Instagram at chinokino_to