Archive
CrowdFUNding: Jamie Tiernay’s Kenny vs. Spenny: On The Road
By: Addison Wylie
It’s no competition that Kenny vs. Spenny – whether you like it or not – has become a staple in Canadian pop culture.
Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice’s reality television show featured the buddies going toe-to-toe with each other in various matches such as Who Can Win a Ten Mile Race and Who Can Stay in a Haunted House the Longest. However, as the competitions became increasingly irreverent and Hotz’s strategies more torturous to his mensch sidekick, the pair’s cult following grew as stakes got riskier with episodes such as Who Can Drink More Beer and Who Can Get Further With The Other Guy’s Mom. It was a classic case of Schadenfreude.
The show’s been off the air for over three years, and the men have spun off to do their own side projects; leaving Kenny vs. Spenny to settle.
The high demand of a comeback may be what started the inception of an on-the-road reunion. Hotz and Rice are teaming up to hit various parts of Canada and hold Q&As, screen segments from the show, and hand out autographs.
Jamie Tiernay, who worked on Kenny vs. Spenny as a crew member on Kenny’s side of the show, has started a Kickstarter campaign to accumulate funds to make a documentary about the tour.
Learn more below:
The Kenny vs. Spenny On The Road Tour Documentary Kickstarter Campaign is about documenting these two cult legends on their KVS tour across Canada.
Having worked with Kenny and Spenny for over 10 years I’ve convinced them to give me unrestricted access to the tour, themselves and the final cut! I’m going to be poking, prodding, manipulating and uncovering shit you couldn’t even imagine in your wildest wet KVS dreams. A road trip tour friendship extravaganza with dick jokes, fart jokes, drunken nights, insane fans, hot fans, dumb fans and shit that’ll make you pee your pants.
With this $46,000 campaign goal we’ll be able to shoot the whole west coast tour, edit and deliver a pretty kick ass film BUT there’s more tour locations and dates to come this year. So if we PASS OUR GOAL it’ll let us shoot more tours, more insanity and give more editing time to make this the most insane Kenny vs. Spenny documentary film ever!
Visit Jamie Tiernay’s Kickstarter page for more details.
My Two Cents:
Tiernay’s documentary sounds and looks promising, but $46,000 sounds like an inflated random number. However, I trust Tiernay, who obviously has the best intentions for his film and clearly knows how to handle these types of projects. After all, equipment rentals, transportation, and accommodations do add up rather quickly.
I hope the doc doesn’t take on usual road movie and concert film tropes these projects tend to helplessly accept (see: Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland and any live event featuring a member of the Jackass crew). Tiernay’s brief video preview featured enough farting around to make me weary.
But, Tiernay also appears to be focused on the love/hate friendship between Hotz and Rice. As a possible investor, this is a hopeful opportunity that could potentially propel the film in a surprising direction. This could shed more of a natural light onto these two performers.
I wish Jamie Tiernay luck with his upcoming film. It should, at the very least, act as that proper fix for Kenny vs. Spenny diehards.
**********
All italicized statements regarding Kenny vs. Spenny: On The Road are provided from their respected crowdfunding sources. Wylie Writes is not responsible for funds attached to these productions and we do not hold any accountability.
This project is that of the filmmaker’s. Use your own discretion.
Wylie Writes’ Ten Best Movies of 2013
By: Addison Wylie
Now that we’ve recognized the bad movies that were slingshot at audiences last year, it’s time to move on and engulf ourselves in the cream of the crop.
2013 introduced a wide variety of great films to audiences. I feel like I say that every year, but as I scour my selected picks, the only thing these movies share are the odd genre they’re grouped in.
Take documentaries, for example. Audiences were shown terrific autobiographies that opened their subjects like books. André Gregory: Before and After Dinner was one that caught my interest. Gregory is a writer, an actor, a director, an all around theatrical wiz, yet he presents himself as such a humble human being who could easily sweep the average movie goer off their feet. Director Cindy Kleine doesn’t have to stretch to find a comfortable groove for this pleasant doc.
Nicky’s Family wasn’t necessarily a straightforward autobiography like André Gregory: Before and After Dinner, but it told a revolutionary story involving Nicholas Winton. Winton, who rescued Jewish children before WWII, is shown in high regard with Matej Mináč’s film. Nicky’s Family may look like something you’d find on PBS on a Sunday afternoon, but the doc’s importance could impact a sold-out stadium.
Rounding out the list of sensational documentaries was Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel, a film that snuck onto our radars when the year was winding down. The message about the importance of safety during extreme sports follows alongside snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s inspirational story. Walker’s doc is incredible, and you’ll never want to take your eyes off of it.
There were a few independent films that caught my attention and impressed me with their storytelling. The Oxbow Cure, for instance, is a film that moves deliberately slow. However, Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas were able to chill me to the bone with their frigid settings and drawn out creeping.
Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil was a fantastic feature film debut, providing superb performances from actors who could rationalize their drastic arcs quite well. Sean Garrity’s Blood Pressure was a worthy-enough thriller with an anchoring turn from Michelle Giroux. The film has its flaws, but I enjoyed myself all the way through this low budget drama.
And, Tower. I desperately wanted Tower and actor Derek Bogart to receive more recognition for their contributions to Toronto’s indie scene. It was an uncomfortable, often amusing and unhinged jarring character study from filmmaker Kazik Radwanski. I’ve seen a lot of fine performances from lots of actors in 2013, but Bogart’s portrayal of a disconnected wanderer stuck with me all year round.
Of course, I had some mainstream picks. I thought The Wolf of Wall Street was great fun. It was a lengthly film, but it showed audiences that Martin Scorsese is still a gutsy filmmaker willing to tackle any genre at any given time. August: Osage County was another strong contender. It’s ensemble cast knocked the film out of the park, and frequently had me in stitches.
Blue is the Warmest Colour, The Spectacular Now, and The Way, Way Back were three coming-of-age films that were unforgettable. All three featured moving performances from everyone involved, the creative minds behind the flicks were fearless, and nothing was sugarcoated. Movie goers could sense the filmmakers treating the characters with earnest gratitude, which helped sustain the staying power of each flick.
But, enough lollygaging. Let’s take a look at what fleshed out the top spots of 2013.
Underrated Movies:
Everyday is Like Sunday
It’s A Disaster!
Nicky’s Family
Texas Chainsaw 3D
Warm Bodies
Honourable Mentions:
#15. Tatsumi
#14. Charles Bradley: Soul of America
#13. To The Wonder
#12. Nebraska
#11. Short Term 12
Wylie Writes’ Ten Best Movies of 2013
#10. Spring Breakers
Spring Breakers acts as a statement about the impatient youth of today, and about the need for constant change amongst a modern younger generation.
It’s also a stylistic blast and an interesting conversation starter. Filmmaker Harmony Korine reassures his fans that he isn’t leaving, and he brilliantly introduces younger audiences to a new way to look at movies.
#9. Her
Spike Jonze’s poignant work is a personal film about an impersonal society.
#8. Downloaded
Downloaded is a fantastic documentary on the brink of a remarkable level involving the rise and the inevitable fall of the file trading peer-to-peer service Napster.
#7. 12 Years a Slave
An absolutely brutal, but rewarding watch that’s extremely well acted by its vast ensemble.
Filmmaker Steve McQueen shows an anthropological side to the relationship between an owner and his slave, as well as a fascinating, stomach churning outlook on how easy it was for people to consider other people “possessions”.
Jim Mickle’s We Are What We Are shows a hauntingly humanistic portrayal of something that’s downright unfathomable: cannibalism. The film is an excellent slow burn with a jaw-dropping payoff.
#5. A Hijacking
Unfortunately overshadowed, A Hijacking is a riveting docudrama that I hope gets the respect and attention it deserves despite ingredients that some may be seasick about.
Dallas Buyers Club is an all around exceptional piece of work with flawless lead performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.
#3. Mud
Like the film’s stoic bluegrass backdrop, Mud resonates quietly. It’s an outstanding movie with phenomenal acting and careful direction.
#2. Before Midnight
Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight is brilliantly observant with its authentic portrayal of two people who love – and will always love – each other. The screenplay is simply one of the best.
#1. The Place Beyond the Pines
A complete 180° for filmmaker Derek Cianfrance. This sweeping drama about redemption, fatherhood, and “doing the right thing” is absorbing and never drops the ball. A true classic in the making.
**********
‘Ten Best Movies of 2013’ Artwork by: Sonya Padovani
Solo Speaks: A One-On-One with Annie Clark
By: Addison Wylie
After being featured at Toronto After Dark, the indie Canadian thriller named Solo is making a more public appearance with a theatrical run at Toronto’s Carlton Cinema.
Carlton Cinema is a very appropriate venue seeing as the theatre and the film both share a level of independence. Carlton Cinema is a quaint theatre that feels as if you step into another world of movie watching, and Solo’s lead is left in her own world to try surviving camp initiation.
Solo serves as a debut for writer/director Isaac Cravit, marking the flick as his first feature length film. The spooky movie is also actress Annie Clark’s first foray into theatrical films. It’s a big move for Clark who is often on screen by herself and having to support the eeriness Cravit has materialized.
I wasn’t too hot on Solo as a whole. It started off strong, and progressively meandered its way into a final product that lacks punch or chills. However, Clark does a commendable job at holding her own. She turns in a promising performance that makes the audience eager to see what else she’ll do with her budding career.
Wylie Writes correspondant Sky Wylie sat down one-on-one with Clark to talk shop about Solo. The two also discuss Clark’s departure from Degrassi: The Next Generation, how a real life camp experience inspired her hopes of becoming an actress, and whether she sees a future for Isaac Cravit directing tense fare.
Listen to the free-form interview here:
**********
Solo is now playing at Toronto’s Carlton Cinema. Click here for showtimes!
Read my review here!
Do You Tweet? Follow These Tweeple:
Solo: @SoloTheMovie
Annie Clark: @AnnieJClark
Sky Wylie: @SkyBaby5
Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie
Solo
By: Addison Wylie
Solo starts out on an “A” game, but ends up finishing with a generous “C” grade.
Isaac Cravit’s independent thriller is a straight-up campfire story – and, the filmmaker knows it. Gillian (played by former Degrassi: The Next Generation co-star Annie Clark) needs to prove herself to be a capable camp counsellor in order to obtain a summer job. The newbie needs to pull a “solo”, a two-night experience on a secluded island that will test her survival skills.
Cravit, directing and writing his first feature film, is having a lot of fun playing with the conventions of a campfire horror. The filmmaker even has fellow councillors telling Gillian rumours of haunted activity that took place on the island before she embarks on her trip.
These moments don’t feel like Cravit is pushing too hard for the audience to recognize what the film is trying to be and he sticks his landing well with these scenes of eerie dialogue.
When Gillian arrives at the island and is forced to investigate mysteries in the woods at night, Cravit nails the creepiness. As the camera slowly moves around a freaked out Clark, we can’t help but get sweaty palms as we feel ourselves growing more anxious. What’s better is that there aren’t too many of these moments, making these quiet pressure cookers enunciate strongly when they happen.
Cravit is also having a ball throwing red herrings at his audience, including possible antagonists that may have more to do with the island’s history than we realize.
Solo reveals more, including what’s overlooking Gillian. The routes the film travels on is all a matter of subjectivity. I watched Solo with my wife, who enjoyed where Cravit took his scary movie. I, on the other hand, thought these decisions made the film less effectively stimulating and increasingly mundane.
Without spoiling the main course, Cravit’s screenplay makes the right choice to make delirium the main evil in Solo. The problem is – for me, at least – he chooses the wrong type of crazy. Solo would’ve been better off as something more psychological than being so literal.
Solo is typical enough to get by. Some gory effects towards the end are appreciated and certainly help matters tonal wise. But, part of the joy of watching these smaller scale horrors/thrillers is finding steady specialties that make movie goers gush to others about the film – resulting in consecutive views. I just didn’t get that with Solo.
Sex After Kids
By: Addison Wylie
Every so often, a movie comes along and upsets me heavily with how it wastes prime opportunities. February has slung that film at me and it’s called Sex After Kids, a Canadian independent comedy helped out with a successful IndieGoGo campaign.
The only thing that stops me from getting really angry at Sex After Kids is that there is not a mean bone in its body. Filmmaker Jeremy Lalonde has truly tried to make a relatable movie about relationships (six of them, to be exact. All tied to each other in a Garry Marshall fashion) and the intimacy set backs that occur when kids are brought into the picture. He’d also love to make his audience keel over with unbarred hilarity.
There are concepts in Sex After Kids that are honest and could’ve genuinely led to organic emotions and laughs. Not all of them take off because Lalonde hasn’t spent enough time fleshing some of these out (a married bartender who’s tempted at work by a younger, flirty waitress who hands him risqué pictures, a desperate single mom who looks towards perversions to find love), but there are a few sub-stories within the film that have lots of potential.
Take the situation involving an older married couple who have said “goodbye” to their daughter as she tackles life by herself. Horton (played by Jay Brazeau) wants to invite sex back into the aging relationship, but Dolores (played by Mimi Kuzyk) wants to welcome it in with an adventurous bang (mind the pun) which freaks out Horton.
There’s also a story involving a successful husband (played by Peter Keleghan) and his wife, a former model turned housewife (played by Amanda Brugel). While she shows commitment to the relationship, he realizes that his affection was merely based on looks. He’s falling out of love because she dresses down and is frequently in shambles.
Lalonde takes these premises and dulls them down using the broadest of comedy while directing the scenes as if they were community theatre sketches. Poorly rehearsed ones at that.
The side story about the older parents is reduced to a load of jokes that result in punchlines that are only supposed to be funny because the characters are old. Instead of wittiness involving another generation trying to figure out modern day kink, Lalonde would rather have obtuse reacting and Brazeau’s bare backside generate the funnies.
The pluckiness among these troubled parents is too strong and pushed beyond comedic comprehension, while being accompanied with the “quirkiest” background music you’ll ever hear.
The title children are all used as props to get our characters from point A to B within their personal flimsy arcs. Whenever the children are acknowledged, it’s to point out how much of an inconvenience they are. You see a lot of kids being nurtured, but the audience never gets the impression that anyone really loves their children.
This also opens scenes up for chances to use baby sound effects. So, the audience has to struggle to hear the impersonal dialogue over the sound of a whaling toddler. It’s funny ’cause it’s true?
Gordon Pinsent shows up every so often to convince you to stay in your seat. Pinsent isn’t flexing his acting muscles too much, but I’ll take it. He’s always a pleasure to watch on screen. His persona is what generates minor snickers during a private therapy session with sexless couple Jules and Ben (played by Shannon Beckner and Ennis Esmer).
Otherwise, Sex After Kids is virtually charmless, lending minimal insight into what it takes to muster through the terrible twos and find time to be private with your loved one. With Sex After Kids finding its way into Toronto’s Carlton Cinema around Valentine’s Day, this night out at the movies will provide as much romance as a musty motel with stained sheets and thin walls.
More importantly though, Sex After Kids is the ultimate birth control. Forget condoms and the morning after pill. After you watch this staggering flick, you won’t want to have children or even start a relationship. You’ll want to grow a beard and live in the mountains.
Random Acts of Romance
By: Addison Wylie
Some movies can be summed up in one word. Katrin Bowen’s Random Acts of Romance can be summed up with a let down sigh.
It’s tough to see a movie worth rooting for bite off more than it can chew. Or, in this case, expand its focus so far that the target the film is aiming for becomes more difficult to hit.
Random Acts of Romance gets our attention with its overlapping screenplay structure. The film’s informal narrative starts telling the story of newlyweds (played by Robert Moloney and Ready or Not’s Laura Bertram), then follows an adoring but more aggressive couple (played by Zak Santiago and Amanda Tapping), and then latches onto a loudmouth living the single life (played by Ted Whittall).
Bowen along with her co-writers Jillian Mannion and Kevin McComiskie are surprisingly able to juggle all of these stories, making each of them interesting in their own ways. Save for a few moments where coincidences begin too much like too-perfect happenstances, these characters weave into other stories with ease and the audience can gel with the film’s “it’s a small world” mentality.
Bowen, Mannion, and McComiskie also prove they have strong voices when it comes to observant exchanges and humour between opposite sexes and their relationships. In the same way the crowd pleasing Canadian indie Young People F*cking did, the screenplay captures honest – occasionally crass – talks about intimacy and spontaneity.
Like that aforementioned film though, sometimes the back-and-forths get too wordy for an off-the-cuff conversation and the slight exaggerated delivery from one of the actors sneaks in. For the most part, however, the discussions have us laughing with how sincerely frank they are – which are then complimented by terrific comedic timing.
All of that dwindles, unfortunately. As a movie goer who was avidly engaged in Random Acts of Romance, watching the film try and up its own game was disheartening. It’s almost as if Katrin Bowen was worried her film was going to be just another brick in the romantic comedy wall and in order to make her work stand out, she had to insert a bizarre brand of quirk.
The direct stories about trying to figure out the crazy world of relationships slowly have a thick murky sheen applied to them. We’re supposed to embrace the tonal shift gradually, but we can’t help but reject this new approach that simply doesn’t work. More of that glaze is applied and our resisting just gets worse.
The central stories enter a ridiculous realm. A realm where stalking and kidnapping are considered endearing and thoughtful. And, yes, you read that correctly.
Of course, a lot of what Bowen throws at her audience is supposed to be darkly comedic in a weird way. We’ve seen filmmakers attempt similar mischievous play and some are actually able to pull it off because they know the distinction between what’s bad, what’s good, and where the voice of reason resides.
Bowen, on the other hand, is confused as to how she wants the proposed events to play out. But, what she is sure of is that everything must follow a path heading towards a happy ending. It’s impossible to have a happy ending when matters are this messed up and straining for giggles.
These characters who were once normal are now involved in a romantic comedy that goes for the broadest of tasteless laughs in the ickiest of situations. In all seriousness, this was one of those movies where things got so out of hand, I asked the movie out loud, “what are you doing!?”
Let’s say Random Acts of Romance is a gambler on a hot streak. Multiple rounds go by and the skilled film has been consistently dealt good hands. But, when it comes to keeping onlookers interested in the game, the gambler feels the need to chance everything and go for bigger pots.
The leaps-of-faith end up not faring well, people start to sputter off, and all you have is a scrambling discombobulate pulling all the stops to get back on their feet – only to lose all their winnings.
I’m only being hard on Katrin Bowen and her film because I saw so much potential in that first act. That risk taking attitude will benefit her career in the future, but she has to pick her moments to be gutsy. And, Random Acts of Romance was certainly not one of those times.
The Disappeared
By: Addison Wylie
I didn’t like The Disappeared, but I can at least compliment its opening shots. Director Shandi Mitchell quickly establishes the nothingness that exists around a crew of lost men at sea. Mitchell generates an instantaneous sense of fear and hopelessness as the vagueness in their whereabouts and time of day effects the audience greatly.
Then, someone speaks. And, more people speak. It’s not so much speaking as it is projecting and emphasizing that these six men are rugged and have spent a long time out on the water.
This is the type of movie where the would-be chemistry feels too forced. The frightening naturalistic elements are belittled against performances that often remind us that these are actors laying on a shore man’s mentality and vernacular incredibly thick. Relationships try to establish themselves in Mitchell’s direction and her self-written screenplay, but the fake rollicking and squaring off drowns out any authenticity that could survive on this sea bound quest for survival.
From there, The Disappeared goes through the tiresome motions of a movie featuring a group of buddies and co-workers who eventually begin buckling under the gruelling conditions – all of which include mirages, a worsening injury, and short tempers. Even the film’s title is a bit of a shrug, asking the audience,”did you expect anything else?”
A couple of months ago, I reviewed an independent drama called La Pirogue which was based on a true story about a similar stranded situation. While in the same vein but not based on a direct true story, The Disappeared swings the pendulum the other way. La Pirogue was underacted, The Disappeared is overacted.
With these independent films, it seems the productions seem to be dropping the ball with the casting. I wouldn’t go as far to say the actors in The Disappeared are bad. I’m sure the Canadian on-screen talent would impress in a theatrical production in Stratford, Ontario. But here, the cast are incapable of delivering the authenticity of a life-and-death situation such as the one represented in the film – despite plopping these men in the middle of the water.
I write this review having not seen more mainstream fare that take place at sea – like, Captain Phillips and All Is Lost. Even though the leads are recognizable, perhaps it takes someone with a wide range like Tom Hanks or Robert Redford to tackle such material. Because, as it stands now with A Hijacking being the lone exception, smaller movies like La Pirogue and The Disappeared seem to be striking out.
I’ll keep on waiting for that next little-film-that-could to come around from out of the sea and wow me. For now, I have no choice but to throw The Disappeared back with the fishes.
Wylie Writes at Toronto After Dark ’13: Pitch Black Laughs
Sitting in the theatre on the last night of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival is bittersweet. While one week is the perfect duration for a genre festival that pushes the wee hours of the night, it’s still tough to say “goodbye” to an event that almost always delivered on quality.
The last day of the festival ended with the dark comedy Cheap Thrills and acclaimed thriller Big Bad Wolves – which also happens to be Quentin Tarantino’s favourite film of the year so far.
My final stretch only consisted of one short film and the feature that followed it. And, it was a great note to end this year’s run on.
First, the Canadian short:
Remember Me (DIR. Jean-François Asselin)
Jean-François Asselin has a lot of smart things to say about those who constantly seek attention in public or over social media by being incredibly needy or obnoxious.
The reason as to why our lead character feels the need to constantly be in everyone’s thoughts is farfetched at first (even given the silly nature of the short), but it’s easy to buy into. When the satirizing comes into play, movie goers will find it very easy to go with Asselin’s film.
It’s funny, but not for those who find juvenile behaviour annoying. Remember Me, simply put, won’t be for that crowd. The film does push more buttons as it progresses and gets darker as more jokes are cheekily aimed towards the misfortunes of other people.
I never found Jean-François Asselin’s short to be mean spirited in a way that made me start hating it because of its willingness to poke its audience so often. Remember Me has a lot of admirable audacity to go the places it does.
Unfortunately, the laughs and the sharpness are muddled by a bloody finale that feels as if it’s only there to cater to those key gorehounds in the audience. It was one of those rare times in the short where I wanted Asselin to reel back on its aggressiveness and get back to making a hilarious statement about the inner workings of an attention whore.
Cheap Thrills (DIR. E.L. Katz)
To state the obvious, the best thing you can say about a gutsy movie like Cheap Thrills is that it does everything right. Cheap Thrills is one helluva knockout of a dark comedy.
After being let go from work, Craig (played by Pat Healy) grabs a drink before heading home and telling the bad news to his wife. After running into an old burnout buddy from high school (Vince, played by Ethan Embry) and then running into a rich couple celebrating a birthday (Colin and birthday girl Violet, played by David Koechner and Sara Paxton), the night turns into a crazy gamble as the couple start to dare the two down-and-outs to challenges for money.
The ultimate questions E.L. Katz’s film pitches is: what will helplessly hapless people do for money? And how, far will they go?
The questions are not setup in such a way that makes average Joes into jackasses who will follow a dangling carrot, no questions asked. It rather establishes this crazy night as two strategists try and map out potential success.
Craig needs the money to pay rent and support his family, while Vince would like money for the sake of having money. Sure, he could start a clean slate away from the dangerous life he lives, but to hold a wad of easy money would be a memory he could cherish for a while.
It’s very important for a filmmaker to be careful with their characters in dicey settings and material such as the stuff found in Cheap Thrills. The minimal cast – consisting primarily of those four aforementioned actors – all do a great job at making their warped performances charismatic and keeping us laughing without coming across as a group of spiteful people who have their moralities all over the board.
Koechner and Paxton may not look like your average couple, but they both do a terrific job at playing two carefree adults who have too much money to burn. Their portrayals are weirdly buoyant and watchable in their own ways (Koechner is more outspoken while Paxton keeps her eyes glued to her cell phone) and they keep us tuned in all the way through – even when the film’s twisted approach to the comedy becomes even more dark.
Healy and Embry are scene stealers (especially when they’re pitted against each other during competitions), bit it’s Healy that really make an impact with his well played role. It’s easy to feel for him. However, it’s just as easy to feel resentment towards him (in a good way).
He’s able to keep sympathy at a distance from the audience. The character of Craig is really whiny and has a weak spine, which makes us believe that he deserves all the potshots that are flying his way. But, he never complains to a point where we no longer care for his company. It’s a tough balancing act for Healy, but he has a super handle on things.
The challenges will have you giggling with each outlandish bet. As the gambles become more life altering, we’re mesmerized in the same way a fifteen car pile up would be able to draw eyes in. The stakes are raised to such an insane plight, that we can’t believe what will happen next.
Cheap Thrills isn’t afraid to go down some loopy alleyways with contorted intentions. That said, it always finds a way to bring the audience along for the fun. It’s got some very quick-witted dialogue amongst the thick tension and its unpredictable story flows quite well offering plenty of shocks.
Cheap Thrills is about as close to perfect as you can get when it comes to dark comedies. That’s a statement I haven’t made in a long time. Through the sea of alleged “messed up movies” with a screw loose that do nothing but shovel hate and cynicism towards an eager audience, Cheap Thrills is that diamond in the rough.
**********
This post ends Wylie Writes’ TAD coverage! A big thanks to Toronto After Dark, the staff, and all the volunteers. See you next year!
For more information on Toronto After Dark, click here!
Related Articles:
Read my anticipated Toronto After Dark picks here!
Read my reviews of KIN and We Are What We Are here!
Read my reviews of The Last Video Store and Big Ass Spider! here!
Read my reviews of The Guest and Silent Retreat here!
Read my reviews of Under the Neon Lights and Septic Man here!
Read my reviews of Beasts in the Real World and Evil Feed here!
Read my reviews of Liebe (LOVE) and Found here!
Read my reviews of The Vehicle and The Last Days on Mars here!
Do You Tweet? Follow These Tweeple:
Toronto After Dark: @TADFilmFest
Film Army: @FilmArmy
Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie
15 Reasons To Live
By: Addison Wylie
Alan Zweig won top honours at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September for his documentary filmmaking with When Jews Were Funny – but, I needed more convincing.
When Jews Were Funny – a doc on how a Judaic approach to comedy made its way into our funny bones – had appropriate subjects to interview, a proper conversational vibe about it, but its scope was too narrow. Zweig didn’t have enough material to make a feature length documentary.
So, while I was a doubter of Zweig’s filmmaking abilities, I wanted to be proven wrong with a second go. Luckily, 15 Reasons To Live opens this weekend and turned me into a believer.
Alan Zweig’s straightforward film was inspired by a list created by one of his neighbours. On the list were bullet points reminding everyone how beautiful life can be. Having never given full thought into reasons to live but fascinated with the list, the filmmaker set out to find 15 stories that correlate with themes found in essays from Ray Robertson.
Each story zips on by, but Zweig gives equal time and opportunity to each subject to inform the director and the audience of something that had a great affect on them. There’s a nice variety of stories ranging from pivotal life experiences to mini victories.
Each tale is loaded with honesty and vulnerability. Zweig has kept up with his interviewing ways and often converses with the subject between answers. He does so by making perceptions and finding parallels to his own habits. He isn’t shifting the focus to himself nor is he trying to manipulate his interviewees and making 15 Reasons To Live into something else entirely. Zweig is conducting his interviews in this way to maintain an intimate connection with his subject. A connection these people never could share while reliving their once-in-a-lifetime memory.
While that humanistic bond is developed, I can still see that Alan Zweig isn’t a guy for visual flare. The documentary isn’t interested whatsoever in trying to connect with audiences through Naomi Wise’s simple cinematography. And, when the stories are this chock full of authenticity, the more set-up cutaways involving the subjects acting “normal” as if they’re in the moment are noticeably fake and a little cheesy.
The stories may be on-going reminders as to why life is worth living, but movie goers are not conditioned as if we’re constantly being told to step away from the ledge. The doc treats its audience with the same respect it portrays towards the people on screen.
My review may be a positive one, but it’s understandable to consider 15 Reasons To Live a film you may not want to see in a theatre considering its small, basic scale. With TVO being attached to the production, it’s even more reason to wait out its possible television airing.
But, 15 Reasons To Live is incredibly uplifting and the cinematic equivalent to walking into a warm house that smells of fresh baking. It’s comforting to know a film like this is playing. You’ll walk out of the theatre feeling less stressed and a bit more lighthearted than you were going in. If that’s not a healthy recommendation, then consider me Adam Nobody.
My Awkward Sexual Adventure
By: Addison Wylie
The last thing I expect to feel during “riotous and outrageous sexual exploration” is snooze-inducing boredom. That was the case with My Awkward Sexual Adventure, an unadulterated Canadian sex comedy that sets up an array of absurd situations only to do nothing but fumble around.
I hate pointing all the blame towards one individual, but with My Awkward Sexual Adventure, it’s tough not to do that when Jonas Chernick is the source of all that goes wrong. There’s no way around the problem.
Chernick wrote the screenplay and stars as the lead, Jordan Abrams. Both his performance and his writing are equally as dull and mumbly and work wonders to drive any interest away from the average movie goer.
After a cruel break-up caused by sloppy intimacy, Abrams travels to Toronto where his friend Dandak (played by a drastically underused Vik Sahay) is open to showing him the ropes of being a ladies man. However, Dandak gets sidetracked by “the perfect woman” and Jordan believes there’s still hope between him and his ex.
Jordan’s stubbornness towards his crumbled relationship is the initial red flag that our ne’er-do-well hero is unlikeable. He tries to convince random women to take cell phone pictures with him to send as jealousy texts, he’s clingy, and unusually socially inept. In any other movie, some of Jordan’s schlepping mannerisms could be deemed as authentic or quirky. Here, he’s absolutely irritating.
A run-in with a kind hearted attractive stripper named Julia (played by Emily Hampshire) sparks a quest. Jordan will help Julia with her finances if Julia will be his “sex Yoda”.
Sexual situations are established as lessons, and while some of them take a while to get going, a few ensue predictable but surprising small laughs. There’s a ridiculous scene in a massage parlour that gets out of hand (and into the masseuse’s eye), a night of cross-dressing, and a silly play-by-play about cunnilingus while Jordan practices on a cantaloupe.
But, what follows are long stretches where the story plods along as Chernick attempts to add more depth to his characters – trying to make his gross-out flick into a more sophisticated romantic comedy. Some screenwriters are able to do this without breaking a sweat, but Chernick’s more exaggerated scenes and slow talky sessions come across as wildly uneven when paired together.
The production counts on Sean Garrity’s direction to liven up the material. Garrity’s showed lots of promise in his slow burn thriller Blood Pressure that debuted earlier this year in a limited release. Here, his bursts of creativity add to the unevenness even more. The quick time lapses and musical cues stick out like a sore thumb next to the meandering talks. He’s a well-equipped filmmaker, but this was the wrong project for his talents.
Also earlier this year, TIFF named My Awkward Sexual Adventure as one of Canada’s top 10 films of 2012. Maybe, they mistakenly took the film’s dry pace, the mumbled performances, and rawness for an art house drama with occasional shocks. But, really, I was only shocked by how bored I was with the comedy. In this day and age, high school Sex Ed. classes are funnier, more ambitious, and more exciting than My Awkward Sexual Adventure.
Wylie Writes 