Coincidentally, while many of us are intent of buying Canadian, the new movies this week offer three, count ‘em, three out of five, films that are Canadian. One from Newfoundland, one in animation and one from one of our best-known directors, Atom Egoyen. There’s also an Italian film done old-style and I start with the big film of the week, which is both American and South Korean.
MICKEY 17: Five years after he astounded us by winning a best picture Oscar (with Parasite, the first non-English film to do that) Korea’s Bong Joon Ho is finally back. He brings this science fiction vision of the future that also has many political and social allusions, something he’s well-known for.
There’s a character, an ex-Congressman played by Mark Ruffalo, who is down-right Trumpian and bombastic. Toni Collette plays his wife. The plot involves setting up a colony on another planet, which seems quite Muskian. Robert Pattison is sent there and plays not only Mickey 17 but also Mickey 18.
The special effects showing him interacting with his other self are exceptional. At one point he’s choking the other and it looks real. The story is serviceable, at best. New technology has been invented that can revive people right after they’ve died. It’s banned on earth, but can be used on another planet. Pattison’s character signs up to go there to escape a loanshark. His genes and memories are duplicated in a computer so that if he dies, he can be “reprinted” exactly. The film gives us a series of his deaths and then these clonings. But one that we see in the film’s very first scene turns out to be a problem. He survives; another has already been created; two are not supposed to co-exist. For some reason they have different personalities, become rivals for the affections of a woman (Naomi Ackie), fight each other and become allies in a fight against the system. And against the giant worm-creatures called Creepers. Interesting ideas but muddled in presentation and even tiresome at times. (In theaters) 2 ½ out of 5
THE SILENT PLANET: This film is also about outer space colonization and one of the several Canadian films I mentioned. It’s from Newfoundland, written and directed by Jeffrey St. Jules who had a notable hit 11 years ago with Bang Bang Baby and also teaches film and TV production. He imagines a future when extreme legal punishment sends criminals to another planet to do hard labor. Murder, terrorism or treason will get you there, and it’ll be like solitary confinement because there’s no one else around. You work as a miner, all alone. Except this time: because of a glitch.
Elian Koteas plays a long-time inmate who is unexpectedly joined by another, a young woman played by Briana Middleton. They get to talking, invite each other over for dinner to their moon-lander-like pods and try to find out more. She won’t say what crime she’s there for but does reveal she was involved in some kind of resistance movement where she lost her family. He won’t say what he did either but does let on that the name he’s using is not his real name. That opens up a panic for her because a soldier with that name killed her family, back on earth, at the Black Sea. Was he ever there?
He tries to be amiable to her testiness and under her provocation sees memory visions of his life on earth. In one, his wife tells him the young woman is trying to destroy him. He must kill her. He does wonder if it’s all a delusion but goes after her anyway. Rather than a space opera, this is science fiction about psychological breakdown and making do. It’s thoughtful, moody and engrossing. It was awarded best Canadian film at the 2024 Fantasia Film Festival. (Playing in one theater in Toronto and look for it streaming on Apple TV). 4 out of 5
THERE'S STILL TOMORROW: This is the one to see but you'll have to look and wait for it. I can only find times for it in Toronto and Vancouver right now. But it's excellent and is sure to be booked elsewhere. It's from Italy and perfectly re-creates the black and white ambience of classic films from there and tells a fine story about one woman's ambitions for a better life. Paola Cortellesi, who also directed and co-wrote the film, plays Delia a dutiful wife living with a super-patriarchal husband (Valerio Mastandrea).
He's quick to hit her when angry or feeling disobeyed. Delia wants her daughter to avoid a similar marriage and has misgivings about the son of an upscale restaurant owner she becomes engaged to. Still, she helps plan the wedding, finds a perfect wedding dress and even takes extra small jobs to pay for it. All the while continuing to endure control and abuse from her husband. Two twists you won't see coming change her life. One startles; the other is a routine advance in women's rights. Both are deftly given us by Cortellesi, known as a singer and actor, now in her first directing job. The film is emotive, was a huge hit in Italy and won big at the top movie awards there. (In theaters, as mentioned above) 4 out of 5
SEVEN VEILS: Atom Egoyan once directed a production of this opera by Richard Strauss and here shows us a fictional director doing the same. I don’t know if he’s thrown any personal experiences into this but he’s mounted a psychologically complex whirlwind. Amanda Seyfried plays the director who years before was an assistant on a production by a legendary director. She’s determined to outdo him, make some changes, which she insists are small, and honor his memory. She was carrying on an affair with him back then and so the tangled plot lines of the opera have some counterparts as this new show is brought to being.
Salome was in love with John the Baptist (says the opera and the Oscar Wilde play it is based on) but when she couldn’t have him, demanded someone cut off his head and bring it to her. (There’s an icky vision of that in the film).
As the director, Seyfried has to deal with too many backstage issues (probably avoiding them would have been unrealistic to Egoyan. There’s the woman in charge of props (Rebecca Liddiard) who lobbies to raise her girlfriend from understudy to star. The actor who is to play John the Baptist is caught groping a woman and a big debate erupts on whether to report him and call off the production. A me-too nod. And one of those “small” changes in the production involves some lurid sex play. On the other hand real opera stars, Ambur Braid and Michael Kupfer-Radecky, play Salome and John. That means real singers do the singing. The movie is mixed up but well-staged with energy and flair. (In theaters across the country) 3 out of 5
NIGHT OF THE ZOOPOCALYPSE: This amusing, delightful in fact, animated film is mostly for the kids: with a mild horror theme, but also for their parents, with memories of films like Gremlins, from their youth. Horror master Clive Barker came up with the idea and has a producer connection though there’s nothing too harsh here. And it is Canadian, from two companies in Toronto with some co-production affiliations in Belgium and France. So its international too which goes along with the theme of the film, connection, which is always worth stating, especially these days.
The plot is simple: a meteor comes down into a zoo; a bunny eats a fragment and is infected with a virus. He’s wrapped in aHe’sH slimy chrysalis, emerges with bright yellow eyes and his virus spreads, turning other animals into zombies. Several have to co-operate to stop it and that’s where the message of the film lies. A young wolf, voiced by newcomer Gabbi Kosmidis is at first only interested in re-joining her pack. She finds she needs the help of a mountain lion (David Harbour) and then others—never mind the species differences. There’s a capybara, a conniving monkey, an ostrich (Scott Thompson), a cute baby hippo (Christina Nova) and a lemur who speaks with a French accent and references movies he’s seen and their story arcs. He’s waiting for an inspiring speech in act three. The action gets frantic; the look of the animation is novel and this is good, sometimes silly fun, from directors Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro, a couple of veteran storyboard artists. (In theaters) 3 ½ out of 5
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