Category Archives: Reviews

The Rocket Film Is Satisfying In Both Our Official Languages

The Rocket snows the camera

The Rocket is a story about a man, a husband, a machinist and a hockey player; a man juggling a day job, a marriage and a passion to play “the game.”

His journey is classical and it has all of the elements of a Greek comedy, with the effect, just like in the Aristotelian tradition, of purging our souls of fear and pity- it is a catharsis. The fact that this is the story of a hockey player trying to make it in the the big time is something many Canadians can relate to: the quest has become a modern day myth in itself with legions of hockey parents secretly living the dream vicariously through their children.

Imagine, then, the impact that Maurice Richard had on an entire generation of francophones. During his playing years, many French-Canadians suffered through an undisguised social prejudice; Richard perhaps more than most. But this was a man who never gave up for long. Despite the stigma of being French, and a labourer; despite being viewed as “too soft, too small for the game,” Maurice Richard rose above and became “The Rocket”.  For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

Playing on Netflix at the time of this writing. Watch for Shawn Avery the pesky New York Ranger left-winger in a casting coup.

C’est une histoire au sujet d’un homme, d’un mari, d’un machiniste et d’un joueur d’hockey.  Un homme jonglant un travail de jour, un rapport et une passion de jouer « le jeu ». Son voyage est classique et il a tous les éléments d’une comédie grecque et a l’effet de, juste comme dans la tradition aristotélicienne, purgeant notre âme de la crainte et le plaint est une catharsis. Le fait que c’est une histoire d’un joueur d’hockey essayant de faire le de premier rang est quelque chose beaucoup de Canadiens et Norfolkers peut se rapporter à et cette recherche est devenu un mythe moderne de jour en soi avec des légions d’hockey parents secrètement la vie le rêve délégué par leurs propres enfants.

Imaginez alors l’impact que Maurice Richard a eu sur une génération entière de francophone. Pendant ses années de jeu, beaucoup de Canadiens français ont souffert par un préjudice et un Richard sociaux ouverts
peut-être davantage que les la plupart. Mais c’était un homme qui n’a jamais abandonné pour longtemps. Contre les confins d’être un canadien français, contre les confins d’être un travailleur, contre les confins de l’visionnement en tant que « trop doucement, trop petits pour le jeu.

Maurice Richard est devenu le Rocket.

Maintenez une surveillance pour un garde forestier embêtant Shawn Avery de New York de gauche dans un coup de bâti.

Moon

Art imitates rural life.

If you’re like me and grew up on a rich diet of 1980’s science fiction films, you should walk (no make that moonwalk) to your nearest video store and ask for MOON. This little gem is an existential journey into the mind of a lonely farmer-astronaut and hits close to home. Sure there’s the usual high contrast and gritty sci-fi production values, but there are also some poignant connections to our rural habitat. Picture a massive, rambling, white combine harvester gathering hay under a full, late fall moon, except that in this case the moon is the earth. A tiny, lonely man is hunched over the controls in an elevated and sealed cockpit. Now remove all semblance of colour, add a few craters and hills, and you get part of what makes this film so familiar and, dare I say, rural.

Growing up here as a boy I imagined that the once plentiful silos and drive-sheds in Norfolk (especially the aluminum ones) were rocket platforms and moon bases. Even the large, four wheeled crop sprayers had a space age look to them. And that is why I felt especially connected to Duncan Jones’ incredibly moving MOON. It pulled me in and felt familiar.

If I had to bet the farm I’d say the production designer looked at both farms and farm machinery while working out the aesthetics of this movie. But more than that, the story pulls at your heartstrings.

Sam (played by the remarkably versatile Sam Rockwell in a breakthrough role) is a lonely astronaut working on the moon, farming the soil for energy until he begins to suffer from extreme isolation- complete with lucid dreams and hallucinations. What follows next is one of the finest surprise plot twists in contemporary cinema.

Satisfying space fiction from son of iconic rocker David Bowie. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker. 

The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom
THE BROTHERS BLOOM (2008)
D: Rian Johnson

I always get a little nervous when a movie starts with voice-over narration. Perhaps I shouldn’t– lots of good movies, especially American ones, begin with this omniscient voice. It’s arguably a lazy device, but effective if you want to pack a lot of background into a few short minutes. The Brother’s Bloom, writer/director Rian Johnson’s second major studio feature, manages to stand apart even in it’s use of this usually prosaic staple. Listen closely: the narration rhymes.

It turns out to be an appropriate opening gesture. The brothers, extremely literate con-men played by Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody, inhabit the modern world like glamorous anachronisms, gentlemen thieves in elegant suits who travel by steamer and luxury train. Into this consummately stylish dream falls–by no accident–Penelope Stamp, eccentric heiress and principle mark of their final job, played to perfection by Rachel Weisz.

Weisz is like heaven to watch. I can’t remember finding a woman so flawlessly beautiful for two straight hours (trust me, I’ve talked to a therapist about that irritating perfectionism). And a big part of the beauty of Penelope Stamp, apart from, or maybe as well as, her sad brown eyes and angelic countenance, is her deep intelligence, charm, whimsy and wisdom. Johnson has created a very compelling character here, and Weisz eats it up, scene after scene.

Another standout, in a movie full of standout acting, is Rinko Kikuchi as the brothers’ nearly mute and certainly odd explosives expert Bang Bang. Kikuchi has been a rising star in Japan for several years now–you can watch for her in some upcoming english-language films as well, notably Mikael Hafstrom’s Shanghai (she will take the lead in Ahn Hung Tran’s Norweigan Wood). Or just marvel at her here, as she carries on whole conversations without saying a word.

With The Brothers Bloom, Rian Johnson has assembled a stellar cast to follow his smart and very stylish lead, creating a film full of interesting, funny, even beautiful moments. Just wait until the tree falls over. I don’t think my telling you will ruin a thing. 

Widely available on DVD.