Britt-Marie was Here (Sweden
2019)
Adapted from a novel by Frederik Backman
(A Man Called Ove) this modestly
entertaining Swedish drama centres on the character of the middle-aged
Britt-Marie (a wonderful Pernilla August) who exits a 40-year marriage in which
she was content with the routine of domestic chores. A homebody, she has no interest in her frequent
traveler husband’s passion which is watching soccer. But then, in the wake of his suffering a mild
heart attack, she discovers he’s been cheating on her with a younger
woman. Britt-Marie abruptly splits and
takes a job as a youth worker in the small town of Borg that requires her to
coach a team of multiracial kids. It seems improbable at best but we’re on her
side as she wins over the hearts of the townsfolk (including a lonely
policeman), inspires the kids, and expands her horizons. B+
In writer-director Paul Down Colaizzo’s
dramedy, Brittany Forgler (Jillian Bell) is an unhappy underemployed chubby single
young woman who, counselled to drop the pounds, takes up running as an
affordable fitness routine. Brittany has been wallowing in bad habits, and has
testy relations with her roommate Gretchen and an intrusive neighbor
Catherine. Still she joins Catherine’s
running group where she also bonds with a gay man Seth. Training for the New York City marathon, they
become a mutual encouragement group that lifts her up after she suffers a
stress injury. In a subplot Brittany
lands a paying gig as a house/dog sitter for an affluent couple and hooks up
with the indolent house-crashing Indo-American guy Jern hired for the night
shift. It makes for some amusing if implausible moments. Brittany may be a
lovable loser but we want to cheer her on to cross the finish line. B
Matthias and Maxime (Canada
2019)
Quebec actor-writer-director
prodigy/enfant terrible Xavier Dolan has not been wowing critics recently. This
2019 Cannes competition feature was not in the Toronto film festival; perhaps
wise after his first English-language film The
Life and Death of John F. Donovan bombed so badly last year and has barely
been distributed.
Matthias and Maxime is more in Dolan’s homegrown
wheelhouse with ensemble episodes accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack. He again casts himself in a central role—as
Maxime, a tattooed dude with a large reddish birthmark on his right cheek who
is set to move to Australia. Maxime’s best guy pal is the bearded Matthias
(Gabriel d’Almeida Freitas) who’s starting a career in commercial law and gets
assigned to schmooze with clients. The film opens with rapidfire slang among
their group of bros when Maxime and Matthias are induced into doing a kissing
scene for a dumb student film by someone’s sister speaking a Québécois
franglais patois. Despite Matthias having a girlfriend, the latent
homoeroticism is left to smolder until it blows up at a house party and later
catches fire. Meanwhile Maxime’s dealings
with his recovering addict mother Manon (Anne Dorval, who was in Dolan’s 2014
Cannes jury prize winner Mommy)
involve screaming matches and transferring guardianship to an aunt. Dolan, who
is outspokenly gay, suggests Maxime’s ambivalent queerness through hints of the
male gaze leading up to an enigmatic ending—should he stay or should he
go? B
Helmed by Rupert Goold adapting a
stageplay “The End of the Rainbow”, this biopic belongs to Renée Zellwegger who
inhabits the role of a deeply troubled Judy Garland during her final London
performances in 1969 before her death at age 47. Brief flashbacks to her days
as a child star (played by Darci Shaw) under the thumb of tyrannical studio
mogul Louis B Mayer set up what would become a tragic career beset by
addictions and chronic money problems. The girl of The Wizard of Oz (released 80 years ago) never found a yellow brick
road. Still Judy was devoted to her two children, fighting an ex-husband for
custody (which acquiring a fifth Mickey Deans unfortunately did nothing to help).
Even with all these personal demons Judy could touch hearts and a subplot
involving a homosexual couple gives a nod to her becoming a gay icon. Don’t be
surprised if Zellwegger is rewarded with an Oscar nomination (Garland had two
but never won). B+
Pretenders (US
2018)
Despite a dismal 14% rating on
metacritic.com I saw this feature from prolific actor-director James Franco (The Disaster Artist) because it was recommended by film critic and Canadian Film
Institute head Tom McSorley who observed its “meta” properties. How bad could it be? There are allusions back to the French “New
Wave” (especially Godard’s A Woman is a
Woman with Anna Karina) and Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers as a shaggy-haired film student cum critic Terry (Jack
Kilmer) falls for an actress Catherine (Jane Levy). The visual style and the late 70s-early 80s period
vibe (in which everybody smokes) is also retro with a love triangle, serial
sexual couplings, even an AIDS angle. Eventually the elusive Catherine
disappears and a besotted Terry pursues her to England and then France. By that
time my patience had run out. C
*Franco limited himself to a small role
in the above. He is much more present,
with a shaved tattooed head, in a subsequent feature Zeroville (https://zerovillethemovie.com/);
only released 2019 though shot in 2014) which also includes brother Dave as the
ghost of Montgomery Clift. Another mashup of movie geekdom, fair warning it has
a 28% score on metacritic.
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