#GIVEAWAY: ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN PASSES TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF “THE LAST SHOWGIRL” OR “HARD TRUTHS”

Happy New Year! Mongrel Media x Mr. Will are thrilled to give Readers a chance to attend Advance Screenings in Toronto and Vancouver, of HARD TRUTHS and THE LAST SHOWGIRL. Both premiered last year at TIFF ’24 to raves. The respective performances by Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Pamela Anderson, respectively, are both in awards contention.

Screenings:

Hard Truths

Legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh returns to the contemporary world with a fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous study of family and the thorny ties that bind us. Reunited with Leigh for the first time since multiple Oscar-nominated Secrets and Lies, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. Meanwhile, her easygoing younger sister, played by Michele Austin (Another Year), is a single mother with a life as different from Pansy’s as their clashing temperaments – brimming with communal warmth from her salon clients and daughters alike. This expansive film from a master dramatist takes us into the intensities of kinship, duty, and the most enduring of human mysteries: that even through lifetimes of hurt and hardship, we still find ways to love those we call family. In theatres January 24, 2025.

Toronto: Jan 15th at 7pm Varsity Cinema

Vancouver: Jan 15 at 7pm International Village 

The Last Showgirl

A seasoned performer must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Dave Bautista star in Gia Coppola’s #TheLastShowgirl —opening JANUARY 17, 2025 in Canadian theatres.

Toronto: Jan 16 at 7pm Yonge and Dundas

Vancouver: Jan 16 at 7pm International Village 

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. In the comments there, please let us know which film you are signing-up for, and which city. And it is fine to sign-up for both! Tag a friend in the comments whom you will take along with you!

Rules and regulations here.

(Photo/video credit: Mongrel Media)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW TRAILER FOR “THE LAST SHOWGIRL”

Hot off its TIFF ’24 premiere, Gia Coppola‘s THE LAST SHOWGIRL gets a new Trailer. Mongrel Media release January 17, 2025.

Synopsis:

A seasoned performer must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Dave Bautista star in Gia Coppola’s THE LAST SHOWGIRL.

(Photo/video credit: Mongrel Media)

#TIFF24: “THE LAST SHOWGIRL” REVIEW

By Amanda Gilmore

Director Gia Coppola’s latest is a stark look at how society and workplaces treat women as they age.

Shelley (Pamela Anderson) has been working as a showgirl at the last remaining tits and feather show on the Las Vegas strip. She’s been a part of the production since its conception three decades ago. When she finds out the show is being forced to close she has to confront the sacrifices she made in her personal life to be successful in her professional. Especially now that the profession she loves no longer loves her.

Coppola and screenwriter Kate Gersten have created an emotional, raw look at society’s ruthlessness of aging women. The harsh reality is that society treats younger women differently from older women, especially when it comes to the performing arts industries. Having this story set in the world of Las Vegas showgirls just heightens that reality.

The entire Cast comes from a range of generations of women and all give strong performances. The ever-charming Jamie Lee Curtis gives an impactful performance as a cocktail waitress who consistently gets sent home early when new employees get to stay. Brenda Song plays a dancer who gets shut down from all auditions because she’s deemed too old. Kiernan Shipka, the youngest of the dancers, gets hired immediately at a new show. Then there’s Anderson leads the pack in one scene and gets told the only reason she got her job all those years ago was because she was young and hot.

When Shelley hears the news of the show canceling, she immediately calls her daughter played by Billie Lourd who gives a touching performance. They’ve been estranged for years due to Shelley wanting to be bathed in the stage lights. This storyline of a woman’s sacrifice for her career is a clever touch as it takes us deeper into the female experience. Not only does the world judge women on their physical appearance, but also judges them evermore when they’ve got children.

The Last Showgirl screens at TIFF ’24:

Fri, Sept 6 at 3 PM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Sun, Sept 8 at 2:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Fri, Sept 13 at 6:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sat, Sept 14 at 7 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

#TIFF13: “PALO ALTO”

Published in 2010,  Actor/Director/Screenwriter/Producer/Author James Franco‘s Collection of Short Stories, Palo Alto, was inspired by some of his own memories as a Teen and those stories submitted by the students of Palo Alto High School. The Stories centers mostly on experimentation and Family conflict.  The Film Adaptation of the Book, directed by Gia Coppola (Granddaughter of Francis Ford), will see its premiere at TIFF next week!

See the brand new Trailer below:

Palo Alto stars: James Franco, Emma Roberts, Nat Wolff, Val Kilmer, Zoe Levin and Keegan Allen.

Those of you attending TIFF ’13 have three chances to see it:
Friday September 6, 2013 – Scotiabank 4 at 9:00 PM
Saturday September 7, 2013 – The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema at 9:30 AM
Friday September 13, 2013 – The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema at 6:00 PM

Pathé International handles sales for the Film, which still has yet to find North American distribution.

(Photo credit: Sammy Bandini)