Etz Limon (2008)

A government official moves to the edge of one of Israel's borders with Palestine. One the Palestinian side, a lemon grove grows right to the border of the back yard and this is seen as a security risk by the Israeli government as a sniper could easily hide in the grove and harm the official. So the grove is ordered to be cut back with significant impact to the grove's owner, a Palestinian widow.

This David and Goliath battle happens in the press and in court.

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The Way Back (2010)

I often fear that film interpretations of fact based epics will default towards the emotional rather than take pains to help the viewer enter the pain of the protagonist. The Way Back tackles the incredible trek of gulag escapees from the Soviet north down into northern India. It becomes clear that while they can not spend time on each of the characters, they do not default to a soft retelling. The harsh realities are depicted unfettered by too much orchestral dazzle.

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L'illusionniste (2010)

The Illusionist is a lovely tale from the makers of The Triplets of Belleville - this one is far more melancholy and far less violent.

A French illusionist ends up on the road in a rustic and remote island off of Scotland. There he picks up a loyal fan who has is urbanized slowly when they settle in Paris. The film centres on his resourcefulness, her quaintness, and their devotion to each other.

The animation is lively which is good because the film is rather slow. Great story telling though and you will find yourself responding out loud with the emotional movement.

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For What it's Worth, Milk a Goat (2012)

I really shouldn't be reviewing my own film, so instead I'll share my sentiments on my little production. It took four years to complete from the filming in 2007-8 in Guatemala and the segments filmed in New Brunswick in summer 2009 to the logging of footage in 2010 and the final edits of spring 2011. Justin Jeffery contributed some wonderful piano music to accompany the film. Angus McLean gave me a hand with recording the narration. Danny Bourque and my father helped with the translation into French.

I submitted the 72 minute feature documentary to six festivals, but it wasn't accepted into any of them, so I premiered it myself on March 3, 2012 with friends and family. I've just released it online here.

My favourite aspect of the film is that it is very sensitive in its treatment of birth, death, and the remarkable attachment that I had with keeping goats. Several people have told me how moved they were by the burial scene because it was so raw.

I also love the one liners my 2-yr-old son delivers throughout the film, unprovoked and unrehearsed.

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Festen (1998)

The Celebration is a cross between Monsoon Wedding and Gosford Park with some Noah Baumbach and Lars Von Trier thrown in. The setting is a Danish country mansion where family and friends have gathered to celebrate the 60th birthday of Helge - a successful restauranteur and freemason. We learn quickly of the family's disfunction and several sparks have already flown by the time the real fuse is lit at supper.

Perhaps the most remarkable touch of the film makers is their ability to infuse such brilliant humour in such a dark film. Humour and resilient humanity.

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The Seventh Continent (1989)

Yet another bleak contemplation on violence, hopelessness, and the inexplicable nature of what causes people to give up and how it must be linked to our increasingly secluded society from Michael Haneke.

The Seventh Continent - literally Australia, but symbolically it is death - follows the unceremonious daily routine of a family of three, then it shows their deliberate march into oblivion.

Not a picker upper. About as haunting as they come.

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The Cove (2009)

The film was much less disturbing than I expected. It focuses on a dolphin slaughter in a remote part of Japan. Dolphin meat is highly toxic and yet it is peddled as other types of fish and so the act, while not illegal, is still practiced despite much public pressure.

As a documentary, it is more personal than most. The producer is in on the stunt of trying to get film and audio footage in this circumferenced cove and the stories and reasons of the other professionals was a nice touch.

Gotta feel for those porpoises.

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Food, Inc. (2008)

This polemic puts the microscope on the food production industry of the United States of America. We learn, not so surprisingly, that it is rife with huge lobby groups and corporations that continue to muscle their way over the small farms.

Oh, we also learn that corn is in everything.

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Vanishing of the Bees (2009)

This documentary was distributed with an intent to educate and raise concern for a relatively recent plight of one of our foundational agricultural components. Bees began vanishing a few years ago without any recognizable reason causing concern for beekeepers and crop owners as bees pollenate their crops.

The film focuses on a few possible causes, the main one being new strains of pesticides being used that may affect the bees.

Viewers are asked to share the film and get involved in trying to support healthy growth of food in their areas.

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Okuribito (2008)

Departures tells the beautiful story of a Japanese cellist who, when faced with unemployment, begins to prepare bodies for burial at traditional ceremonies. The stigma attached to the work causes rifts in his personal life, but the impact he has on the mourning families brings a lovely meaning to his work.

The music is gorgeous throughout the film and the lead actor does a tremendous job facing inner conflicts. Japanese culture is lovingly portrayed too.

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How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

A glorious classic! My favourite part is when the Grinch's dog is hanging over the cliff. In fact the dog is my favourite character.

True worship, true love, true community can transform even the greediest people.

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No Impact Man: The Documentary (2009)

A small film crew recorded an experiment that a family undertook in downtown NYC of which the father wrote a book called "No Impact Man." The experiment involved trying to bring their energy consumption down to zero (no electricity, no travel, no purchasing of goods that had to be transported from afar, no plastic, etc.).

The film is a fascinating study of what it would be like to live a hundred years ago and also the benefits of doing so. It is not meant to be a call to live this way completely, but to reduce consumption gradually individually and as a society.

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Amreeka (2009)

Amreeka details the life of a mother and son as they emigrate from Palestine to the USA. It's a lovely story of resilience and pride, but at the same time it is formulaic and at times too predictable. It tries to teach about immigrant hardships more than it tries to tell a story I think. The most affecting parts of the film focus on the relationship between the son and his mother.

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Julie & Julia (2009)

A smart film from Nora Ephron, we get a look at how our actions have been inspired by the past and how what we do now can affect the future. We also get a look at some delectable dishes.

The movie is a mirror story of Julia Child's life learning how to cook and trying to publish her first and definitive French cookbook and Julie's life in modern day NYC as she blogs her way through the cookbook. They battle through food and enjoy tremendous spousal support and then fame.

By far, Julia Child's story is much more engaging and inspiring and not just because Meryl Streep plays her, but because of her authenticity and fortitude of character.

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The Road (2009)

Adapted from the exquisite novel by Cormac McCarthy, The Road is a harsh poem of contrast.

A man and his son travel on foot down abandoned highways and through burnt out towns after the world has suffered some kind of massive catastrophe. Marauding gangs are an ever present danger as is hunger, cold and depression.

While many films fall far shorter than the novels they've adapted, this one stands squarely on its feet thanks to the attention of the humanely portrayed characters, a simple soundtrack by Nick Cave, and magnificent direction by Australian director John Hillcoat.

I loved this film.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Wes Anderson matches his quirky and sentimental take on life with Roald Dahl's children's book to create this beautifully animated film. He again discusses fatherhood (see The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, etc.). One should note that Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) helped write the screenplay too.

Mr. Fox has given up robbing farmers Bean, Boggis and Bunce in order to pursue a less dangerous career as a writer and please his wife. His discontent leads him back into the chicken stealing business and now the entire burrowing animal population is under mortal threat from the evil farmers. Mr. Fox now has to use his cunning to save them all. This is the external story, but on the inside it's about identity, fatherhood, sonship, and living well.

Anderson manages once again to generate plenty of laughs as well as tension and sentiment into this film. He also plugs more British 70's rock into the soundtrack and produces a very satisfying film.

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Gran Torino (2008)

There is very little of Clint Eastwood's films that I dislike. He consistently delivers human drama and tension that can be understood and empathized with.

Gran Torino tells the tale of Walt - a Vietnam vet with a racist streak and little tolerance for the aires that people put on. Walt becomes entangled with his Asian neighbours after his wife passes away. The end result is one of transformation and love. Can you tell I don't want to give away the plot?

I discussed this film at great length with my pastor before he preached a sermon about the film. You can watch/listen to the sermon here. We can see tremendous parallels between Gran Torino's and the transformation that the Gospel proclaims. There is also little room for pretending in the film which speaks volumes about truth. I was struck particularly by the action of grace at the end and analyzed how I accept/live the grace so tentatively even after understanding at what great cost it was given so lovingly to me.

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Darwin's Nightmare (2004)

This brilliantly edited and investigated documentary comes to us from a European filmmaker telling the hellish story of Tanzanians.

From the shores of Lake Victoria, on of the greatest fresh water lakes in the world, we receive the account of those languishing from the fishing trade as thousands of crates of frozen Nile perch are flown north to Europe every day. We get the angles on ecology, arms dealing, AIDS, street kids, prostitution, unemployment, famine, violence, etc. All of this from what should be one of the most prosperous areas in Africa.

The film is shot in digital video, but no matter. The content is powerful and the emotion desperate.

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Fast Food Nation (2006)

While I admire writer/director Richard Linklater's intentions in all of his films and while I also agree on many of his posits, I find his films to sermonize a tad too much. The stories are interesting enough, we don't need to be lectured 8 times in a 2 hour movie.

This film has over a dozen main characters who play various roles connected to a meat processing plant - from the fast food worker to the rancher to the immigrant workers who cut the meat to the advertising executive. The thrust of the film is that since meat is such a big business, there isn't anyone big enough to control the quality of the meat, so it's bound to be subpar healthwise - plus the workers are treated like E. coli generators.

The beginning of the film, as all films are allowed to, contains expository elements, but it doesn't stop there, it continues to explain everything, veiling the sermon with too many weak stories, though the immigrant one is compelling when it makes it cyclical appearance.

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La Boulangère de Monceau (1963)

This is the first of 6 short films on morality set in France in the early 1960s by director Eric Rohmer. 

The Baker's Girl of Monceau is about a young law student is confronted with a moral dilemma. He is fascinated by a woman he crosses paths with in the street and makes contact with her where they determine to meet again in the future. She then disappears for 3 weeks and he is left wandering the streets looking for her on his lunch breaks. He ends up in a bakery where the attendant flirts with him.

What is most fascinating about this movie is chauvinist the protagonist is. The morality is really about how or how not to treat women. It is also really cool to see Paris as it was in the 60s.

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