Museum Hours (Jem Cohen) is a conversation piece that explores the simpatico connection between a curious Canadian (Mary Margaret O’Hara) and a slightly older guard (Bobby Sommer) at Vienna’s wonderful Kunsthistorisches Art Museum, whom she asks for directions. They wander around the museum, and occasionally outside of it, talking about the way they see art while surrounded by its endless richness and glory. And delicately, gradually, Cohen reveals the movie’s thesis, which is that art can be found in just about anything. But aside from including a docent’s lecture on the complexity of Brueghel, Cohen doesn’t push it. Instead, Museum Hours just lets you take its ideas and do what you want with them, as O’Hara and Sommer connect so naturally and easily that they barely seem to be acting at all. They look at art. We look at them. Art is where you see it. 107 min.
Rating: NNNNN (NW)
Opens Jul 5 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. See here for times.
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (Drew DeNicola, Olivia Mori) celebrates the cult rock band with the most exhilarating music – and the most depressing story. Formed in Memphis by Alex Chilton and Chris Bell in 1971, Big Star released two albums featuring music of such complexity, artistry and exuberance that they should have been dubbed the next Beatles. DiNicola and Mori do their best to give the band the recognition it deserved while not backing away from the complex, complicated lives of Chilton and Bell, covering decades of false starts and tragic endings through interviews with the band’s friends and family and copious archival footage. And then there’s the glorious, glorious music. In the end, it’s all that really matters. 113 min.
Rating: NNNN (NW)
Opens Jul 5 at Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.
Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (Molly Bernstein, Alan Edelstein) is a cabinet of wonders in which Jay discusses the magicians and card sharps he grew up idolizing, like Al Flosso and Slydini, and those he actually got to know, like Dai Vernon. There’s also a priceless excerpt from the Dinah Shore show, sometime in 1977, in which fellow panelist Steve Martin tries to screw up one of Jay’s card tricks and Jay just rolls right on over him. There is very little about Jay himself that’s his choice, not the filmmakers’. Deceptive Practice tries to open Jay up, but he treats his life the way he treats his tricks: the audience gets to watch, but not to understand. We can only look on in wonder. 88 min.
Rating: NNNN (NW)
Opens Jul 5 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. See here for times.
20 Feet From Stardom (Morgan Neville) tracks the careers of Darlene Love of Blossoms fame Merry Clayton, famous for her vocals on the Rolling Stones’s Gimme Shelter Claudia Lennear, another Stones collaborator, and others to probe who’s got the power within the music industry. In some cases, exceptional gifts, even when recognized, do not a star make. Lisa Fischer, who has a three-octave-plus range, won a Grammy for her first solo record but lacked the ego and controlling personality required to pursue stardom. Love was victimized by power-tripping producer Phil Spector, who used her vocals while attributing them to others. Clayton, whose vocal chops are unique, failed as a solo artist. Same goes for Lennear and Táta Vega, artists with voices that might have catapulted them to stardom except for one thing: they’re black. By industry norms, two African-American supernovas – Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston – are quite enough, thank you. Spectacular voices, powerful stories in a must-see doc. 91 min.
Rating: NNNN (SGC)
Opens Jul 5 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. See here for times.
The Way, Way Back (Nat Faxon, Jim Rash) is a richly textured coming-of-age picture about 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James), who’s dragged to a cottage for the summer by his distracted mother (Toni Collette) and her new boyfriend (Steve Carell), who’s kind of a dick. When Duncan ditches them to hang out at a nearby water park, he’s befriended by the manager (Sam Rockwell), a bit of an overgrown kid himself. Faxon and Rash, who won an Oscar for co-writing The Descendants, let us understand the adults’ interactions in a way that Duncan doesn’t: Carell and Rockwell are particularly good at revealing the ways in which their characters haven’t fully grown up, and Allison Janney outdoes them both as an unapologetically boozy neighbour. Don’t wait for the DVD. 103 min.
Rating: NNNN (NW)
Opens Jul 5 at Varsity. See here for times.
I’m So Excited! (Pedro Almodóvar) takes a story about a Mexico-bound plane whose landing gear is disabled and makes it a social commentary about the state of Spain. But this suggests the film is smarter than it is. With economy-class passengers drugged by the crew, the film focuses on the business-class travellers: a dominatrix (Cecilia Roth), hit man (José María Yazpik) and others, each with a personal crisis. While two skycaps (Javier Cámara and Raúl Aré valo) knock back tequila, their repressed colleague (Carlos Areces) prays. All three are toxic gay stereotypes. The film looks terrific, all tight costumes and bright colours, and Almodóvar knows how to shoot in small spaces – especially when the three flight attendants lip-synch to the title track. But this is not a return to the trenchant social commentary of the director’s early stories. The satire here gets lost in the over-the-top sexual play. I’m So Excited! needs to see the wizard: it lacks courage and brains and has absolutely no heart. Subtitled. 90 min.
Rating: NN (SGC)
Opens Jul 5 at Varsity. See here for times.
Into the White (Petter Naess) is a WWII drama about stranded German and British fighter pilots who take shelter in an isolated cabin. The Germans mark their territory first and welcome the Brits as prisoners of war, not such a bad deal since that means they won’t freeze to death in the Norwegian blizzard. Power struggles ensue as the soldiers use any casual dialogue – about manners, women or cars – to profess allegiance to their country. That may sound like a great premise, but the entire film feels overly schematic. Every stilted conversation is like a pit stop on a map that will eventually guide both sides to bond over the realization that war sucks. The cast do a fine job playing types, but with material like this they can’t add much warmth to their characters. Blame it on the snow, I guess. Some subtitles. 104 min.
Rating: NN (RS)
Opens Jul 5 at Kingsway Theatre. See here for times.
