As we say “goodbye” to fall and “hello” to winter, what better way to spend a dreary November evening than to escape to one of Ottawa’s independent cinemas?
One of this year’s most talked-about and praised films—Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer—is playing again at the ByTowne. I predict this film will become a classic that folks will be watching and discussing for decades. It’s a near-perfect film about one of the most important events in human history. If you’re one of the few folks who haven’t seen it yet—go! It demands to be seen on a big screen. And if you’ve already seen it, here’s your chance to revel in a near-perfect cinematic experience.
I was charmed by the sophisticated rom-com, She Came to Me. It stars the oh-so-versatile Peter Dinklage, the superb Marisa Tomei, and the ever-watchable Anne Hathaway. The quirky plot centres around Dinklage, a successful opera composer with composer’s block. He can’t think of a plot for his new opera until he meets a tugboat captain (Tomei) who is addicted to romance and has been prosecuted for stalking. From his psychoanalyst wife with a fetish for cleaning to his teenage son having a passionate affair with their cleaning lady’s daughter, complications arise. At the Mayfair.
Continuing at the ByTowne, Anatomy of a Fall is a suspenseful thriller about a rather unsympathetic woman put on trial for the murder of her husband, who plunged to his death from the top floor of their chalet. Did he jump or was he pushed? And if it was a murder, did she do it? The only witness to the husband’s death was their blind son. The film won this year’s Palme d’Or.
Film critic Pauline Kale described Talking Heads’ 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense as “close to perfection.” You have your chance to see this 4K remastered film at both cinemas.
Now let’s turn to some of the new offerings at both cinemas:
The new release at the ByTowne with a lot of buzz is Priscilla, director/writer Sofia Coppola’s tale of Priscilla Beaulieu’s long courtship and turbulent marriage to Elvis Presley. Almost universal praise from the critics for the direction, script and Cailee Spaeny’s portrayal of Priscilla from besotted teenager to conflicted wife resulted in Priscilla garnering a Metacritic must-see rating.
The esteemed Quebec director Denys Arcand (Jesus de Montreal, The Decline of the American Empire, etc.) has just released a new film—Testament. It stars one of my favourite actors, Remy Girard, as a retired archivist who lives in a retirement home which is besieged by protestors who object to an installation in the home which they say insults First Nations. I never miss an Arcand film and am looking forward to this one at the ByTowne.
The ByTowne has programmed a new and very timely documentary, Another Body, which will be followed by a virtual Q&A with the film’s directors. The film follows a college student’s attempts at justice after she finds deepfake pornography videos using her face.
In 1991, Martin Scorsese remade the 1962 thriller Cape Fear. The murderous psychopath seeking revenge on the lawyer whose legal malfeasance put him in prison for 14 years is played by Robert de Niro (terrifying!) and Nick Nolte (soon terrified). The Washington Post called it “a brutal, demonic film with a grip like a vice.”
You have the opportunity to see a classic silent horror film, The Hands of Orlac, at the Mayfair. Created by the director of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this film tells the story of a classical pianist who loses his hands in an accident. An evil doctor grafts new hands onto him—hands which once belonged to a murderer. There will be live music to enhance the atmosphere.
I’ve saved the weirdest offering for the last. In October, the Mayfair programmed Stanley Kubrick’s terrifying film based on a Stephen King novel, The Shining. Kubrick has been quoted as saying “The Shining is a film that is meant to be watched both forwards and backwards.” Well, someone has made an experimental film which does just that! To quote from Mayfair’s website, in The Shining: Forwards and Backwards, the original film “is digitally re-edited so it plays both forward and backwards at the same time… the two versions are superimposed equally on top of each other. Only the audio from the forwards playing version is heard so that pure sonic chaos doesn’t overwhelm the viewers.” See it if you dare! (Or if you’re a Kubrick completist.)
Dates, times and tickets for the ByTowne are at www.bytowne.ca. The ByTowne publishes its calendar at least three weeks in advance. Dates, times and tickets for the Mayfair are at www.mayfairtheatre.ca. The Mayfair announces next week’s schedule on Tuesdays, so check their website for the latest info on the next week and the “coming soon” films.
