Before I dive into the Oscars (the ceremony is on March 2), let me suggest how kids can enjoy March Break!
The ByTowne has a wonderful selection of movie treats for March Break (March 8 to 14). Their Klassic Kids series begins with two showings of Looney Tunes Cartoon Party—short films starring favourites like Elmer Fudd, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, Sylvester & Tweety, and of course, Bugs Bunny!
There are two Klassic Kids showings of The Princess Bride, the superb fairy tale that also appeals to adults! One of Rob Reiner’s best films, it features a star-studded cast, a dandy script liberally sprinkled with jokes, thrilling fights, and swoon-worthy romance.
Speaking of classics, the third film in Klassic Kids is Wes Anderson’s charming stop-motion animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox. All is well until Mr. Fox slips back into his old ways as a chicken thief and endangers not only his beloved family, but all the other animals in the community. And what great voice actors! George Clooney is the voice of the suave Mr. Fox, Merle Streep is his sensible wife, Bill Murray is Badger, Willem Dafoe is Rat… the list goes on!
Need more March Break ideas? There’s my favourite film of 2024–Flow (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)–another great option for March Break entertainment. Thanks, Mayfair, for holding it over yet again! I think Flow is a film that pre-teens and teenagers will love. So will their parents and all the rest of us! In a segue to discussing the Oscars, Flow is nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature.
What other Oscar nominated films are on offer?
A Complete Unknown, the biopic about Bob Dylan’s meteoric early career, is at the ByTowne. It’s nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Timothée Chalamet as Dylan), Best Supporting Actor (Edward Norton as Pete Seeger), Director (James Mangold), Best Sound, and Best Adapted Screenplay. This film has a decent shot at Best Picture and Best Actor.
The Brutalist is a major contender for a slew of Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor (Adrien Brody), Best Supporting Actor (Guy Pearce), Best Supporting Actress (Felicity Jones), Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing and Best Production Design. You can read more about The Brutalist in my last two articles (1) (2) and see it at the ByTowne.
The fraught political drama Conclave seems to be gaining ground in the Oscar sweepstakes, perhaps because of its stellar cast with Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini, and its prestigious setting (the Vatican during the election of a new Pope). Conclave is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Fiennes), Best Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Best Adapted Screenplay. Best Film Editing, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design. At the ByTowne.
Nosferatu, Robert Eggers’ remake of the eponymous 1922 classic horror film based on Bram Stoker’s famous vampire novel, garnered only a few “technical” Oscar nominations: Production Design, Makeup and Hair Styling, and Costume Design. Based on its trailer, it certainly seems atmospheric and true to its 19th century setting. You can see it at the ByTowne.
In addition to Flow, several of the Oscar nominees are strong contenders for Best International Feature. Here are two of them:
As you read in my last two Magic in the Dark articles (1) (2), I was moved by the verisimilitude of the Brazilian film I’m Still Here. I was particularly impressed with Fernanda Torres, who is nominated for Best Actress. She plays the courageous wife of a man whom the junta “disappeared” and who manages to hold the rest of her family together. Still at the ByTowne.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which I recently wrote about (1) (2), is another film about the impacts on a family of living in a repressive regime (in this case, in Iran). This masterful film is at the Mayfair.
Both cinemas are holding Oscar-viewing nights on March 2. The ByTowne’s is free, with attendees encouraged to donate to Cystic Fibrosis Canada. The Mayfair’s is free for members. There will be a menu from The SmoQue Shack and brewskis from Evergreen Craft Ale.
Ignoring the Oscar frenzy, there are two recent Canadian films for your consideration. Buy Canadian! 🇨🇦
I’ve praised the delightfully whimsical Universal Language recently. It was Canada’s nomination for Best International Feature Film and made it as far as the shortlist. A heartwarming story of quests and kindness, it’s set in an alternate version of Winnipeg where the secondary language is still French, but the primary language is Farsi and the culture is Persian. I loved it! If you missed seeing this charming film last month, you can still do so at the ByTowne.
The other new Canadian film–Seven Veils–is the latest from Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter). It’s set in Toronto as a young woman (Amanda Seyfried) directs her first opera—Salome by Richard Strauss. It’s a remount of her powerful mentor’s most famous directorial work. She’s haunted by memories of her traumatic past, especially memories involving her deceased mentor. Interesting that Egoyan made this film shortly after he had directed the same opera in the same opera house. At the ByTowne.
Our final new feature is a quasi-documentary about a self-centred middle-aged Australian, Bill Bennett, who decides almost on a whim to walk the 800km Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. The film is based on Bennet’s memoir and was directed by Bennet, but Bennet is played by an actor, Chris Haywood. The Guardian’s reviewer wrote, “The Way, My Way is hardly riveting viewing – but its softly inquisitive, life-affirming spirit is hard to hate.” Bennet will be at the first screening at the ByTowne on March 1.
I hope you’ll be tempted by the following older films.
The oldest is the 1955 film noir-influenced drama The Night of the Hunter. It was Charles Laughton’s first and only film as a director, which is a pity because it’s now considered a masterpiece. While a bogus fire-and-brimstone preacher (Robert Mitchum) is in prison, a prisoner (Peter Graves) about to be executed tells him about his hidden loot. The “preacher” marries the man’s emotionally fragile widow (Shelley Winters) and terrorizes her two young children because they know where their father’s loot is hidden. Don’t miss this at the ByTowne!
In 1957, Leo McCarey remade his 1939 classic Love Affair almost shot-for-shot as An Affair to Remember, this time with the debonair Cary Grant and the elegant Deborah Kerr. I’ve not seen the 1939 film, but the 1957 one has great chemistry between Grant and Kerr as two sophisticates engaged to other people, but fall in love with each other. It’s in the ByTowne’s Golden Age series.
I’m delighted that the ByTowne is showing Vera Chytilová’s absurdist Czech farce Daisies. This 1966 film follows the chaos-causing exploits of two brash young women attacking patriarchal society. Like frolicsome feminists/anarchists, they embark on a series of pranks in which nothing–food, clothes, men, war–is taken seriously. The film was banned by the Czech communist government, but was popular in Western Europe, where one critic compared it to Marx Brothers’ movies. The BBC ranked it as one of the top 100 comedies of all time. Daisies is a terrific way for the ByTowne to celebrate Women’s History Month!
The excellent 2014 sci-fi film Snowpiercer by director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) is in the ByTowne’s “The Zone” series. A failed attempt to reverse global warming has resulted in a frozen Planet Earth. The sole survivors are locked in a massive train–the Snowpiercer–powered by a perpetual motion engine that has been hurtling around the earth for 18 years. In the front of the train, the upper class luxuriates in comfort. In the rear of the train, the working class is imprisoned in squalid crowded quarters, subsisting on meagre rations. Then a revolt begins. But this isn’t one of those standard sci-fi “white hats battling black hats” movies. Salon says, “Politically provocative and visually spectacular Snowpiercer—the best action film of 2014, and probably the best film, period.”
Enjoy your cinema-going, folks! And place your bets on the Oscars.
Dates, times, and tickets for the ByTowne are at www.bytowne.ca. You can also buy tickets at the box office. The ByTowne publishes its calendar several weeks in advance. Dates, times, and tickets for the Mayfair are at www.mayfairtheatre.ca. The Mayfair finalizes their upcoming films’ schedule every week, they post online and advertise via email. Both provide information about future weeks’ films. You can buy tickets via their weekly email and at the box office.
