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Movies & TV

Film Friday: Ruby Sparks, The Queen of Versailles, Celeste and Jesse Forever and more

The Queen of Versailles (Lauren Greenfield) begins as a look at conspicuous consumption, then evolves into something that plays with our sympathies. Jackie Siegel is a buxom 40-something former beauty queen raising seven children with her septuagenarian husband, David Siegel, owner of a multi-million-dollar time-share business. When we first meet them, they’re constructing a 90,000-square-foot estate modelled on Versailles. Then the economic crisis hits and their empire and home life begin to crumble. Filming over three years, documentarian Greenfield captures remarkable moments – everything from manipulative real estate pitch sessions to shopping sprees, and has a great eye for the telling detail (she’s a former photographer). Jackie is a completely compelling character, bust-revealing outfits and all: smart, generous and – as much as we might be skeptical – totally in love with a man who once joked that when she turned 40 he’d replace her with two 20-year-olds. 100 min.

Rating: NNNNN (GS)

Opens Aug 3 at Varsity. See here for times.


Celeste and Jesse Forever (Lee Krieger) is a bittersweet comedy about exes (played by Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg) who haven’t quite figured out how to disconnect for each other. The script, which Jones co-wrote with actor Will McCormack, smartly captures the fluid dynamics of a breakup as well as the confusion and awkwardness that spill over to the former couple’s friends. Director Krieger slyly situates the action within Los Angeles hipster culture without being entirely beholden to it. The movie’s nicely self-aware on almost every level, right down to its deployment of slo-mo montages and musical flourishes that are remarkably similar to those used in Beasts Of The Southern Wild – here used to highlight Celeste’s considerable self-absorption. Jones is terrific as a conflicted, confused young woman just beginning to realize she isn’t as okay with moving on as she first thought. It’s a great dramatic performance don’t let the rom-com packaging fool you. 93 min.

Rating: NNNN (NW)

Opens Aug 3 at Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.


The Invisible War (Kirby Dick) finds documentarian Dick (Twist Of Faith, Outrage) addressing another obscene abuse of authority, the culture of rape within the U.S. armed forces. Opening with the statistic that approximately 20 per cent of women in the military have been sexually assaulted while serving, Dick and producer Amy Ziering proceed to show us how that’s possible, depicting a culture of alpha-male entitlement further enabled by a military structure that blames the victim and discourages the filing of complaints. (A rape victim can be charged with adultery if her rapist is married.) It’s an infuriating work. The testimonials from assaulted servicewomen and men – most powerfully from Coast Guard petty officer Kori Cioca, still struggling with chronic pain from a blow to her head during her assault and nightmarish PTSD – should be screened in every recruiting office in America. 99 min.

Rating: NNNN (NW)

Opens Aug 3 at Carlton Cinema. See here for times.


Ruby Sparks (Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris) feels like the best Woody Allen movie Woody Allen never made. It’s a clever magic-realist romantic fantasy about an author (Paul Dano) so infatuated with his newest character that he literally brings her into being. The dream girl is played by Zoe Kazan, whose adroitly constructed screenplay spends exactly as much time as it needs (not a second more) to establish the stranger-than-fiction conceit. Ruby’s fantastical origins are a springboard to consider relationships in general, the impossibility of ever finding a perfect partner and the myth of the manic pixie dream girl. Dano and Kazan are terrific, as are supporting players Chris Messina and Steve Coogan, and directors Dayton and Faris avoid the twee flourishes that made Little Miss Sunshine feel like an overlong sitcom. 103 min.

Rating: NNNN (NW)

Opens Aug 3 at Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.


Girlfriend Boyfriend (Yang Ya-che) follows three decades in the lives of three Taiwanese people, from their days as high schoolers printing leaflets through the 1990 Wild Lily Student sit-in and into adulthood, where their passions have cooled considerably. Yang does a fine job outlining the romantic currents coursing between the three, muddling the flows of desire as they fall in and out of love with one another. The main performances are strong, especially given the complex emotional material, but the opportunistic use of politics is problematic. The Wild Lilly rallies become a romantic backdrop for a doomed love affair in a film that’s more an ode to lovesick rebels than rebellion. Subtitled. 106 min.

Rating: NNN (John Semley)

Opens Aug 3 at Kennedy Commons 20. See here for times.


360 (Fernando Meirelles) is a low-key drama that follows a series of characters through various encounters, one after another, ultimately drawing a larger picture. Admirers of the late Anthony Minghella’s last film, Breaking And Entering, will recognize both the gauzy vibe and the ambivalent presence of Jude Law those who weren’t moved by Minghella’s empathetic insistence that everyone is connected will find director Meirelles’s version even more affected and insubstantial. Anthony Hopkins brings a magnetic kindness to his handful of scenes, and Rachel Weisz is sharply conflicted as a woman seeking romantic clarity, but Peter Morgan’s screenplay proves as frustratingly diffuse as 2010’s Hereafter – and even more simplistic. Some subtitles. 110 min.

Rating: NN (NW)

Opens Aug 3 at Grande – Yonge, Varsity. See here for times.


Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (David Bowers) is the latest in a line of charming gross-out movies based on the children’s book series. Screened after press time – see review August 3 at nowtoronto.com/movies. 94 min.

Opens Aug 3 at 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Coliseum Scarborough, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande – Steeles, Grande – Yonge, Interchange 30, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.


Hope Springs (David Frankel) stars Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as a middle-aged couple who seek advice from a therapist (Steve Carell). See review in next week’s issue. 100 min.

Opens Aug 8 at 401 & Morningside, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande – Steeles, Grande – Yonge, Kennedy Commons 20, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Mississauga, SilverCity Yonge, Varsity, Yonge & Dundas 24. See here for times.


Total Recall (Len Wiseman) is a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi actioner about memory and reality. Screened after press time – see review August 3 at nowtoronto.com/movies. 118 min.

Opens Aug 3 at 401 & Morningside, Beach Cinemas, Carlton Cinema, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Docks Lakeview Drive-In, Eglinton Town Centre, Empire Theatres at Empress Walk, Grande – Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, Scotiabank Theatre, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Mississauga, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale. See here for times.

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