NXNE Film at multiple venues Saturday and Sunday (June 20 and 21). Platinum badge or $10-$15, Made In Texas free. Tickets available here.
NXNE’s film component might seem a little on the modest side this year, with just a few screenings, most in the decidedly non-theatrical space of the NXNE Hub at 170 Spadina. But don’t mistake “small” for “middling.” There’s some great stuff in here.
For instance, NXNE has the Canadian premiere of Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse documentary Amy (Saturday, 9:30 pm, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema). I’ve been asked to hold my full review until the film opens next month, so I’ll just say this: it’s funny and honest and almost unbearably sad, and one of the best movies of the year.
Built along the same lines of Kapadia’s 2010 doc Senna, it tells Winehouse’s story through archival footage and contemporary interviews with her family and friends, proceeding chronologically through her rise to fame – and, inevitably, exploring the personal problems that would destroy her. Go.
Pavan Moondi and Brian Robertson’s Diamond Tongues (Sunday, 8 pm, NXNE Hub) will also be opening in Toronto later this summer, but this would be a fun way to see it.
A dramedy about a young woman trying establish an acting career in Toronto, it bristles with musical talent – Brendan Canning composed and supervised the score, and Leah Goldstein (whom you may know better as July Talk frontwoman Leah Fay) gives a great, twitchy performance as the self-sabotaging protagonist. Moondi’s script is sharp and thoughtful, and the filmmakers create a terrific sense of place, bouncing around their downtown locations with just the right level of now-what exasperation.
(Full disclosure: Pavan and Brian are two of the three people behind the Toronto cinema site The Seventh Art, and we’re friendly. But if I didn’t like their movie, I’d say so.)
Made In Texas (Saturday, 2 pm, NXNE Hub), an anthology of six short films curated by Jonathan Demme to reflect Austin’s early-80s cultural explosion, and Industrial Soundtrack For The Urban Decay (Sunday, 5 pm. NXNE Hub), a documentary tracking the progress of industrial music from Europe to America, round out the program.
Specialized? Sure. But that’s what a festival is for.
normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner
