#SXSW: “YOU CAN CALL ME BILL” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

If I were to ask you who William Shatner is, you may have a different answer depending on when you were born. Most will always him as the original Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek, while others may just know him as the Priceline guy who appears regularly at fan conventions around the world. But who is the real William Shatner when he is not on the screen or stage in front of us?

Writer/Director Alexandre O. Philippe sets-out to answer this question in his latest Documentary/Vsual Essay, and it starts with letting us know that Shatner prefers to be called Bill now. What follows is a journey that beams around the proud Canadian’s life from a young man growing up in Montreal, to his time on television and the stage, right up to his recent flight to space on Jeff Bezos’ rocket ship. All the while, the camera stays on Bill as he discusses the journey, sitting alone in a production warehouse with the unseen spotlight focusing on him and only him.

What Bill also discusses are his feelings on life, humanity’s relationship with nature, the dying Earth and his own mortality – all delivered in his frank, precisely inflected manner of speech (including a small aside about that often parodied but never equaled style). He is more candid and open than I ever would have thought, and YOU CAN CALL ME BILL is at its best when we are watching him in these deeper moments in the warehouse or live on stage. The tiny clips of Star Trek and television ephemera (including scenes from shows he starred in pre-Kirk) are fun to see, yet seem rather trivial while Bill is tackling the sorrow of knowing that at 91, he does not have much time left.

For all those candid comments however, YOU CAN CALL ME BILL glosses over Shatner’s personal life and his relationship with the fan community. He gets in a few anecdotal comments and then goes on to something else. More frustratingly, Philippe’s breezy, thematic structure makes the film feel a bit too jumpy and unpolished. With the exception of last year’s Lynch/Oz (which was fascinating flawed), his previous films have been focused on one scene or one film. Here he is taking on an entire lifetime of one legendary individual and all the iconography that goes with it, and it feels like he is out of his element.

YOU CAN CALL ME BILL screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:

Mar 16 at 7:30pm at Paramount Theatre

SXSW: “FREMONT” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) has been living in the US for 8 months. In Afghanistan, she was a translator for American troops. Now she is working in a fortune cookie factory either packaging the cookies or writing the fortunes. She is struggling to adapt to her new life in America, and has trouble coming out of her traumatized shell. So she sets out to change that.

Co-Writer/Director Babak Jalali’s portrait of this young woman living in an Afghan diaspora is not going to be for everyone. It is slow moving, droll and only sporadically funny. It has a lot it wants to say about Donya and her journey, but does not always find the time or ability to say it. Jalali cribs from the work of Jim Jarmusch here (with a slight hint of Woody Allen), spending more time focusing on Donya’s isolation and the mundane, wordless moments of her day than it does on her as a character. When she does discuss her trauma with psychiatrist Dr. Anthony (Gregg Turkington), the conversations devolve into nonsensical observations and bizarre moments involving Jack London’s novel White Fang.

Hollywood It-Boy Jeremy Allen White (who was terrific on 11 seasons of Shameless before he struck gold with The Bear) shows up for a bit part that is more awkward than anything else, but what really impressed me about FREMONT was the way Jalali frames Donya’s story. He tells it in 4:3, in stark black and white with minimal music, which is an all too blatant reflection of her less than thrilling existence. Stripped of colour, we learn more about Donya than the dialogue ever attempts to tell us. That gorgeous cinematography and production design is what kept me invested in FREMONT. I just wish the story did too.

FREMONT screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:

Mar 11 at 6:45pm at Violet Crown Cinema 2

Mar 11 at 7:15pm at Violet Crown Cinema 4

Mar 12 at 8:15pm at Alamo Lamar A

Mar 13 at 7:00pm at Violet Crown Cinema 2

Mar 13 at 7:30pm at Violet Crown Cinema 4

SXSW: “NORTHERN COMFORT” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Sarah (Lydia Leonard) is a successful building developer in London with a well-guarded secret: she is deathly afraid of flying. To overcome her crippling fear, she joins the ‘Fearless Flyers’ course alongside other individuals suffering from Aerophobia. The final test is a trip on a real plane, which happens to coincide with the day Sarah is supposed to be going on vacation with her boyfriend and his daughter. And what should be a simple trip to Iceland becomes an ordeal no one saw coming.

NORTHERN COMFORT, named after an Icelandic beverage, is a cringe-inducing comedy that will have you wincing and laughing just as often as you are absolutely terrified for these poor souls. Co-Writer/Director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson puts the whole gang through absolute hell on their journey to getting over their fear and then delights in reshuffling the deck and completely changing the game in the second half of the Film. It manages to maintain the same tone throughout thankfully, but the jarring number of subplots becomes a lot to digest, as does the fleeting directions the Film continuously wanders into. When it is simply about Sarah and her journey, the Film is fairly solid. When it diverts into showcasing the supporting characters’ half-baked agendas, it gets a little lost in the weeds (or blowing snow drifts as it were).

That said, the Cast which Sigurðsson has put together here is game for anything and relishes in the madness that ensues. Leonard does a great job carrying the Film and balances the comedy and scarier elements quite well. Simon Manyonda has a whole lot of fun as an instructor who is in way over his pay grade, while comedian Rob Delaney drops in for an eyebrow raising extended cameo. Who really lets loose however is Timothy Spall, who goes for broke from start to finish. I only really know him as a dramatic actor (and as that rat of a wizard Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter series), so seeing him as the radically unhinged Edward was just as wild and chaotic as all the mayhem he gets up to in the Film. He is having a blast and easily steals the show.

NORTHERN COMFORT screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:

Mar 12 at 2:00pm at Stateside Theatre

Mar 13 at 6:15pm at Rollins Theatre at The Long Center

Mar 16 at 7:15pm at Violet Crown Cinema 2

Mar 16 at 7:45pm at Violet Crown Cinema 4

SXSW: “TETRIS” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

It is the late 1980s and Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) is looking for a hit. The Video Game Designer and salesman is hemorrhaging money, but may have found his salvation in a game called Tetris. He is not the only one who wants a piece of it though, and once he learns that the IP rights belong to the Soviet Union, Henk decides he is going to travel behind the Iron Curtain and negotiate for them himself.

Did that sound convoluted? Well, there are a whole lot more rights-related shenanigans where that came from on top of family drama and light Nintendo-related nostalgia. Some of the story has been clearly embellished (particularly a bit cribbed from the Oscar-winning Argo), yet it stays grounded enough to keep your attention. I loved how Lorne Balfe incorporated the music from Tetris into his Score, yet could have done without the recurring neon-soaked 8-bit motif anytime a setting changed.

While Henk’s story is straight-forward enough, it feels like it is at odds with the bigger tale Director Jon S. Baird and Writer Noah Pink are more interested in telling: the dying days of the Soviet Union and all the corruption that goes with it. The shady individuals, the double-crossing deals, the KGB, the spying, Gorbachev, all of it is fascinating and often downright terrifying. There are a whole lot more of these elements in the Film than you might imagine – considering it is called TETRIS – and I think it suffers from having them smashed-together with Henk’s story.

TETRIS is a well-made film despite these qualms and I enjoyed watching it. Egerton is just as charismatic and committed as always, and his chemistry with Nikita Yefremov, who plays Tetris architect Alexey Pajitnov, is wonderful. Had Baird and Pink focused more on that budding friendship or made a separate movie about the inner workings of the USSR, then we could have had a much more cohesive picture about one of the most ultra-popular pieces of media ever created, rather than the messy film we did get.

TETRIS screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:

Mar 15 at 6:00pm at Paramount Theatre

Mar 16 at 5:15pm at Alamo Lamar E

SXSW: “PAY OR DIE” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

PAY OR DIE follows the stories of three families who have a connection to Type 1 Diabetes and are struggling with the price of insulin in the United States. More specifically, it centers around Nicole Smith-Holt, her activism, and her lobbying to get a new health bill passed in Minnesota – named Alec’s Law after her late son who died from diabetes complications – that would force pharmacies and insulin makers to provide emergency supplies of insulin to diabetics in need for a more reasonable price.

PAY OR DIE is not so much a discussion around insulin and Type 1 Diabetes, so much as it is a full-blown Horror film. I sat, riveted in my seat, listening to the startling statistics and stories around insulin prices, Diabetics who have been forced to stretch their insulin reserves as long as possible and have survived, and the family members mourning the loss of the ones that did not. It is absolutely harrowing hearing these tales, and often flabbergasting and downright disgusting. Filmmakers Rachael Dyer and Scott Alexander Ruderman rightfully take Big Pharma to task here repeatedly, comparing the insulin prices to other countries and showing just how much they fleece from these individuals with a terminal disease. It outright includes an entire section where a mother and her 11-year-old daughter (both with Type 1 Diabetes) drive from Seattle to Vancouver to buy up supplies for nearly five-times less than what they would have paid in the US.

For someone who has a minimal understanding of the US healthcare system, PAY OR DIE is a necessary watch that will have you crying and raging in your seat. My only complaint was around the timeline the film sets for itself. It is chronological in terms of the profiles of each family, yet bounces around almost erratically between them with no real sense of what year we are in. We are at one point following a young woman navigating a recent diagnosis in 2020 alongside Covid-19, and then suddenly back in time to Smith-Holt leading rallies at Eli Lilly headquarters. It does not take away from the central message or theme of the film thankfully; it just would have benefitted from being more cohesive and cleaner edited.

PAY OR DIE screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:

Mar 11 at 3:15pm at Alamo Lamar E

Mar 13 at 3:00pm at Alamo Lamar C

Mar 16 at 2:30pm at Alamo Lamar B

#SXSW: “UPON ENTRY” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Diego (Alberto Ammann) and Elena (Bruna Cusí) are immigrating from Spain to the United States in the hopes of starting a new life. They have landed in Newark with all the necessary approvals and have three hours before their connecting flight leaves for Miami.

That is how UPON ENTRY opens, with the remainder of its 74-minute running time composed of anxiety, confusion and an endlessly grueling interrogation after Diego and Elena are taken to a secondary inspection area when the authorities discover some inconsistencies with the pair. No minute is wasted as this young couple are psychologically disarmed and made to question every detail of their lives together. It is harrowing stuff that does not get as deplorable as you might think, but certainly leaves you on edge with its palpable realism.

A few ill-timed blunders and underdeveloped plot devices aside, Writer/Director team Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez have crafted a picture that grips you from beginning to end. The suspense they manage to squeeze out of these characters, as they mainly sit in one cold, sterile interrogation room talking, is terrific, as is the way we learn about the characters’ histories – sometimes at the same time as they are. The minimal use of music amplifies Diego and Elena’s horrifying experience exponentially, as does the deliberate framing as they answer the immigration officers’ questions. Ammann and Cusí are dynamic in their roles, easily evolving their emotions as needed, and each delivering standout work. You never believe for an instant that these are actors and not real people. Laura Gómez (who memorably played Blanca Flores on Orange is the New Black) is just as convincing, if not even better than our two leads. She plays one of the no-nonsense interrogation officers with the dialed-up intensity of a wolf who just found its prey, and yes, she is just as scary as that sounds.

UPON ENTRY screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:

Mar 10 at 8:30pm at Alamo Lamar C

Mar 12 at 5:45pm at Satellite Venue: AFS Cinema

Mar 16 at 11:30am at Alamo Lamar E

SXSW: “APPENDAGE” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Hannah (Hadley Robinson) is a young fashion designer barely keeping it together under the weight of mounting anxieties. She keeps having sharp pains in her stomach due to all of the stress and one night, the pains get so bad that a literal appendage with eyes and a mouth violently pushes itself out of her. This monstrous entity can talk too and it seems keen on fueling her anxieties.

I am not going to lie to you – I laughed out loud the moment the “Appendage” appears. Kudos to the behind-the-scenes team for doing all the effects practically, but this ghastly creature is more hilarious than it is terrifying. That is, until Writer/Director Anna Zlokovic pulls the rug out and Hannah’s life starts to get increasingly more twisted as a result of this literal growing manifestation of anxiety and self-doubt. Zlokovic has adapted from her own wicked Short Film here (starring SXSW Queen Rachel Sennott as Hannah) and makes some very interesting choices along the way. Sometimes they are predictable, sometimes unpredictable, and other times positively outrageous. Not all of it works unfortunately, with some subplots and ideas introduced and forgotten within the same breath. I admire the ridiculous swings the film takes though and its lean and mean running time. I just thought there would be more to it.

All of that said, Robinson is terrific, absolutely relishing in the chaotic journey Zlokovic puts Hannah through. She is very much lock in step with the tone of the picture and has a way with pivoting her emotions with chilling precision. Schitt’s Creek’s Emily Hampshire does well in her juicy supporting turn as Claudia, who has a special connection with Hannah, and I loved the standout work from Desmin Borges and Brandon Mychal Smith (who starred together on the criminally-underrated FX show You’re the Worst). I only wish they got even more to do here!

APPENDAGE screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:

Mar 11 at 11:15am at Alamo Lamar C

Mar 14 at 9:45pm at Alamo Lamar E

Mar 16 at 2:00pm at Alamo Lamar C

#SXSW: SXSW 2023 PREVIEW

SXSW is set to kick-off Friday March 10, 2023 through March 18, 2023 in Austin. Team Mr. Will is here to bring you some of their top picks of the Film & TV component of the Festival, which is back again in-person fully. The Festival kicks-off this year with Opening Night selection DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES. The eagerly-awaited Blockbuster co-directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley stars an impressive Cast including Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, Hugh Grant, Sophia Lillis, Michelle Rodriguez and more. This follows on the footsteps of last year’s Opening Night film, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, which has been propelled to major Awards Season success.

Other high-profile titles to premiere at the Film & TV Festival include Evil Dead Rise directed by Lee Cronin; Problemista directed by Julio Torres; Flamin’ Hot directed by Eva Longoria; Janine Nabers and Donald Glover’s Swarm; Lee Sung Jin’s Beef and several more. 

Team Mr. Will preview for you some of their own most-anticipated titles at SXSW 2023.

AMANDA GILMORE (@GilmoreAmanda)

Bottoms

Toronto-born Director-Writer Emma Seligman is re-teaming with star-on-the-rise Rachel Sennott! And I CANNOT WAIT! I loved Shiva Baby and know that only greatness will come from this duo. Additionally, as a huge fan of The Bear, I am so excited to see breakout star Ayo Edebiri as part of its Cast.

Fancy Dance

I heard so many great things about this Film coming out of Sundance early this year. It’s the feature directorial debut from Erica Tremblay and follows a Native American hustler who kidnaps her niece from her white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in the hope of keeping what’s left of their family intact.

Joy Ride

I always search for Comedy at SXSW because they tend to be breakout hits. This Comedy directed by Adele Lim has a stellar cast including Everything Everywhere All at Once fav Stephanie Hsu. And it just happens to be produced by two funny men collaborators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

National Anthem

I’m a huge fan of Halsey and she’s acting in this touching story about a construction worker in New Mexico who joins a group of queer rodeo performers. There has been a lot of buzz going into the Festival for this Film and I am sure it won’t disappoint.

Bloody Hell

This Canadian film sounds like a blast. It follows a teen girl who is diagnosed with a reproductive condition that upends her sex life. Thus, sending her on a journey exploring unusual methods. It stars Maddie Ziegler and Emily Hampshire.

I want to shout out a film I’ve already seen and I believe all of you should: War Pony. It’s a breathtaking film that follows the interlocking stories of two young Oglala Lakota men group on on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

DAVID BALDWIN (@DaveMABaldwin)

I am three-years-deep and still fascinated by the films the SXSW team programs every March. It is such an odd and eclectic mix of indies, docs and genre films, and well, it speaks directly to my eclectic taste in cinema. And though it lacks the prestige of TIFF or Cannes, and is a little more punk rock than Sundance, I love how much of a unique identity SXSW has. Hopefully, next year I can take the plunge and go to Austin for a long weekend just to soak up all of the films, the BBQ, and this terrific community the festival has cultivated. I am intrigued about a number of pictures and twisted visions unfolding over the coming week and a half, but these are the ones I am most excited for:

Evil Dead Rise

I love the Evil Dead franchise, full-stop. The remake we got in 2013 was a whole lot better than it should have been, and this new entry (which trades the creepy cabin, horny teenagers and everyman Ash Williams for a family in a creepy high rise tower) looks and sounds positively bonkers. I was grinning like a maniac watching the R-rated trailer just recently, and am all in for the gory, grotesque and groovy blood bath that Writer/Director Lee Cronin has cooked-up. Might want to pack a poncho and an umbrella for this one.

Bottoms/I Used To Be Funny

Have you accepted Rachel Sennott as your new queen yet? This one-two punch of Dark Comedies – one about two loser high schoolers who create a fight club in order to get laid, and the other about an aspiring comedian and former nanny struggling with PTSD – should certainly clue you into what you have been missing in your life. They both sound like wild rides, and should certainly provide plenty of laughs from this star on the rise. Did I ask if you accepted her as your queen yet?

299 Queen Street West

If you are of a certain generation, you likely remember when MUCH was actually called MuchMusic. And it played music. Those days may be long behind us, but Sean Maynard’s Documentary about the life and times of the iconic building, studio and brand is bound to bring back a whole lot of memories. I cannot wait to see what artifacts he was able to dig-up.

Self Reliance

No need to even discuss a plot here – this is the directorial debut of Jake Johnson. He wrote and produced the Film too, alongside the Lonely Island. And he stars in it, alongside Anna Kendrick, Andy Samberg, Natalie Morales, Christopher Lloyd, Wayne Brady and Schitt’s Creek’s Emily Hampshire (also at SXSW 2023 with Bloody Hell). Do I really need to say more, or are you just as quickly on-board as I was?

Plan C

As a CIS white male, my opinion on abortion does not matter. Nor should it matter to the men who helped overturn Roe v. Wade. What a woman does with her own body is none of our fucking concern. Plain and simple. Sadly, not everyone feels that way, as we would not need Docs like Plan C if they did. The Film centres around a large group of individuals who have been networking since 2014 in an attempt to increase access to abortion pills across the United States. With how turbulent things are going, and the fact that I have my own daughter now, this one is quite simply a must-see.

MR. WILL (@mrwillw)

Tetris

Centering around true events and Henk Rogers’ (played by Taron Egerton) uphill battle to secure legal rights to international gaming sensation TETRIS, this Drama from Jon S. Baird is a must-see. Especially for those of us who grew-up in the ’80s and ’90s and played this religiously on our Nintendo Gameboys. This premieres more towards the end of the Festival on March 15th and arrives on Apple TV+ March 31, 2023. Who’d have known there was this much Drama behind something that brought us so much joy? Did you know the game actually originally belonged to the people of the Soviet Union?

American Born Chinese

Based on Gene Luen Yang’s Graphic Novel of the same name, SXSW is so lucky to continue this renaissance of the Asian-American experience. The upcoming Disney+ series centers on Jin Wang (Ben Wang), struggling with his school life and home life. He meets the new foreign exchange student at his school, leading him to become involved in a battle between Gods of Chinese mythology. The Series reunites EEAAO stars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. This also premieres later in the Festival on March 15th and it arrives May 24, 2023 on Disney+.

I Used to be Funny

Filmed right here at home, Toronto’s Ally Pankiw writes and directs this Comedy starring SXSW 2023 Queen Rachel Sennott (also at the Festival with the exciting BOTTOMS as mentioned by Amanda and David) as a Comedian battling PTSD and deciding whether or not to search for a missing teen girl whom she used to nanny. This premieres March 13th at the Festival.

Flamin’ Hot

Who doesn’t love Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? Flamin’ Hot is the story of Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia) the Frito Lay janitor who channeled his Mexican-American heritage and upbringing to turn Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into a snack that ignited a spice-loving frenzing, becoming a worldwide sensation! Eva Longoria directs this origins story which we can totally get behind. This premieres March 11th.

Problemista

Expect Julio Torres to be the breakout star of SXSW 2023 writing, directing and also starring in this Comedy about a Toy Designer from El Salvador who is stuck in a job assisting an unpredictable Art World outcast in order to stay in America. Also stars Greta Lee and TILDA SWINTON! This debuts March 13th at the Festival.

Also, a warm mention goes to Canada’s BLACKBERRY which recounts the rise of the mobile phone that once ruled the world, from Director/Writer Matt Johnson. Jay Baruchel stars as Mike Lazaridis in this Drama which will be released via Elevation Pictures April 28, 2023. This got plenty of traction out of its Berlin International Film Festival Premiere and we cannot wait to see. It premieres March 13th at SXSW 2023.

More on the SXSW 2023 lineup here. We’ll be bringing updates from the Festival daily. Stay tuned for more.

#REVIEW: “BABYLON”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

It is the 1920s, Silent Films are king and Hollywood is a hedonistic, drug-filled paradise. Manny Torres (Diego Calva) and Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) are young, ambitious and want to become a part of the action, any way they can. They meet at a massive party, and while Manny instantly falls head over heels, Nellie has time for nothing except her quest to be a star. With the advent of Sound and “Talkies” on the horizon however, a new era threatens to change the game forever.

BABYLON, Oscar-winning Writer/Director Damien Chazelle’s ode to a decadent, mythical Hollywood ideal that looks nothing like the current studio and blockbuster-driven system, opens with an elephant literally defecating all over the camera. It then proceeds into an outrageous and bombastic party featuring dancing, orgies, cocaine, alcohol, overdoses and horny fat cats who are all too pleased to be urinated on. It goes on like this for nearly the entire first hour of the picture – ending with the Film’s title card. And to me, it seems like Chazelle deliberately frames and paces the Film’s opening out this way as a litmus test for what is to come. Because if you are not on board and strapped in tight for the sheer madness of this Film’s party scene, then there is no point to continue on through the remainder of BABYLON’s gargantuan 188-minute running time.

You may as well just pack it in and move on. Thematically, the rest of the Film does not match its sheer audacity and perversity. But that chaotic and frantically frenzied style and energy? Well that never lets it up. It only gets more pronounced as Chazelle gets deeper into that tumultuous period of time, as well as the immediate, revolutionary effect sound had on the industry at large.

If you have not already guessed, I absolutely loved BABYLON. I have been a fan of Chazelle’s work since Whiplash knocked my socks off at TIFF’14, and this is easily his magnum opus – or at least his most ambitious and sprawling film to date. He pours so much love into every scene, recreating certifiably insane production days where multiple films would be shooting in the same location at the exact same time while also referencing the hardships and learning curves these early Filmmakers and actors went through to create the kind of art that has stood the test of time. A high-stress scene with a crew desperately waiting for a new camera to capture the sunset at just the right moment is a highlight, as is a maddening scene of a crew trying their very best to properly capture sound while trying to stay as quiet as possible. Much like that incredible party scene that opens the Film, Chazelle lets each of these scenes, and others, breathe and move at their own speed. It gets episodic in some instances (often reminding me of how Quentin Tarantino structured Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), yet never feels stale or boring. It just gets more fascinating as it goes on.

Suffice it to say, without further embellishing, what Chazelle and his team have created with BABYLON is stunning. All of the technical elements on display here are outstanding, from the Production Design right through to the camera work into the sound and back. Tom Cross’ editing is exquisite and Mary Zophres’ Costumes are divine. What really blew me away however was Oscar-winner Justin Hurwitz’s Score, which goes hard from the very beginning and never lets up. I have been listening to this soundtrack ever since it hit Spotify, and the way the trumpets and bass explode out of every speaker is a thing of beauty. He understood the assignment and creates an instant all-timer that is unforgettable.

Where BABYLON stumbles is in its story, or more specifically, its eclectic Cast of Supporting Characters and their tremendous amount of subplots. There are way too many of them, each one clawing for space on Chazelle’s enormous canvas, and each one at odds with the camera’s inability to look away from Calva and Robbie. Together or on their own, they light-up the screen in a way that no one else is afforded. Calva’s magnificent work is easily a “star is born” moment for anyone who witnesses it, and Robbie is practically incendiary in every single one of her scenes. I love her Oscar-nominated work in I, Tonya, yet it looks like amateur hour compared to her portrayal of the hungry and deeply-troubled Nellie. Much like Chazelle does with the Film itself, she pours her very soul into the role and positively swings for the fences every time she pops up. It is going to be incredibly difficult for her to ever top this performance.

While I wanted to see and learn so much more about Li Jun Li’s Lady Fay Zhu (who, no word of a lie, is introduced as a sultry siren singing a song entitled “My Girl’s Pussy”) and Jovan Adepo’s trumpet-playing stand-out Sidney Palmer (who has the single most devastating and aggravating scene in the entire picture), Chazelle wisely does not indulge in their tales. They are not his to tell and his restraint is admirable, even if it means that they often seem to pop in and out of the Film nonsensically. Jean Smart is positively delicious as gossip rag reporter Elinor St. John and Tobey Maguire’s late entry into the Film is genuinely unhinged. Again though, Chazelle never seems to know what to do with either of them and much like the rest of the Supporting  Cast, seems all too content to undercut and underutilize them.

That said, the one Supporting Player he does focus on is Brad Pitt’s aging Silent Star Jack Conrad. He is at the top of his game and part of the Hollywood elite at the beginning of the Film, and practically obsolete once sound is introduced. He is absolutely brilliant in the role, channeling both his legendary on-screen persona and his own career path. He gets many of the Film’s best laughs and just as many of its most emotional beats. He also lends himself beautifully to the Film’s thesis of the importance of memory and legacy in a way that is profound and ever so slightly meta. If anyone can even dream of competing with Calva and Robbie here, it is Pitt.

Imperfections aside, BABYLON is an incredible piece of cinematic art that needs to be seen to be believed. Chazelle has lovingly crafted a definitive, albeit fictional, portrait of an era of filmmaking unlike any other. The pastiche he has created with his behind-the-scenes team and on-screen players transcends the medium, and is easily one of the best films of 2022. Do not let all the talk about the debauchery dissuade you. This one demands to be seen big and loud.

Paramount Pictures Canada release BABYLON on Friday, December 23, 2022.

#REVIEW: “ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED”

Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong

Prolific Photographer and Artist Nan Goldin is the primary subject of ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED, the new film from Oscar-winning Director Laura Poitras. While the Documentary acts as a profile of Goldin’s tumultuous, outrageous and inspiring life story, it is also intercut with her many photographs and slideshows, her harrowing and brutally honest narration, and footage of her work as an activist trying to take down the Sackler family – the pharmaceutical kingpins who became even more wealthy after they started selling OxyContin.

That description certainly does not sound like the most uplifting subject matter and the Film is certainly not going to be for everyone. For me though, I was riveted and deeply-invested in literally every frame from beginning to end. Goldin is a magnificent film subject, opening up about the many taboos and controversies she has encountered over the course of her life. She never shies away from speaking about the darker moments she has lived through either (which include and are not limited to, extensive drug use, sex work, and the vicious domestic abuse inflicted on her by a former lover). Refreshingly, Poitras lets Goldin’s narration and her photographs do most of the talking, merely piping in with a question infrequently or archived footage from Goldin’s gallery shows and underground cinema work. These fragments and stories are divided into chapters and take up a large section of the running time.

The other half of the Film is comprised of footage from the many protests Goldin help organize at museums and galleries worldwide that have accepted donations from the Sackler family. As it turns out, Goldin happens to be a former OxyContin addict and has a very personal stake in the on-going opioid epidemic that has destroyed families across the United States. Poitras brings us right into the group meetings of P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) that Goldin holds in her living room, the extensive planning the group goes through preparing their sit-ins as well as the protest footage itself. There is no high gloss here. Everything is honest and often painful to watch. An extended moment where Goldin and others deliver victim impact statements via Zoom to members of the Sackler family is emotional and downright devastating to witness. I sat there breathless hearing these people speak their truths to the people that caused their trauma. It is powerful stuff and worth the price of admission alone.

My only real gripe with ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED, if I can even call it that, is that the juxtaposition between Goldin’s life story and her on-going activism with P.A.I.N. does not always mesh as organically as it should. At times, it feels like it would have been beneficial to stay in one lane and talk about just her life story or just the Activism, rather than both. And while Goldin is painfully candid the entire time, Poitras does not allow enough time for her to elaborate further on some choice eye-brow raising details – including how she became addicted to Oxy in the first place (nor her extended rehabilitation). When the back and forth works, it makes for the kind of film you cannot look away from. When it does not, it just leaves you struggling to figure out where best to focus your attention.

That said, ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED still manages to be another stellar Documentary in a year that has been positively filled to the brim with them. Poitras, her team and Goldin herself have come together to create an unmissable film that is raising my blood pressure just thinking about it. I did not think much of this Doc prior to watching it last week, and am now kicking myself for skipping it at TIFF. Do not hesitate like I did – watch it as soon as you possibly can.

Elevation Pictures released ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED in Toronto on Friday, December 2, 2022, Friday, December 2, 2022, and will expand into select markets starting Friday, December 9, 2022.