“May the fourth be with you!” Yup, it’s May 4—Star Wars Day. And the ByTowne has a pretty sweet deal for all of you Star Wars fans: see the first three Star Wars films, back to back, for the price of ONE regular ticket. I won’t summarize the plots, name the actors or quote critics and Metacritic scores. You know what you’re getting: Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. See them all on the ByTowne’s big screen with their great big sound system.
Want a more current space adventure? I suggest Mickey 17, the latest film from Bong Joon Ho. His boisterous sci-fi adventure is set in the future. It stars Robert Pattinson as a hapless “expendable” employee—a disposable crew member on a colonizing space mission whose leader is a wacko authoritarian. Mickey is assigned dangerous tasks, and when he (inevitably) dies on the job, he’s “reprinted” as a new body and most of his memories are uploaded into his brain. He’s now at iteration 17, but one regeneration goes wrong. Though Bong skewers hyper-capitalist society as he did with his award-winning Parasite, Mickey 17 has more flashes of comedy. At the ByTowne.
Back on earth, as I wrote in several recent articles (1) (2) (3), The Way, My Way is about an insufferable Aussie who learns to be less self-centred while walking the Camino de Santiago. Continuing at the ByTowne.
There’s another “true story of a life lesson learned” in The Penguin Lessons (1) (2) (3). Based on a true story, it’s a charming tale of a cute animal teaching a cynic an important life lesson. The setting, however–the first months of the brutal “Dirty War” in Argentina–is the background to this story. The film is still on at the Mayfair and the ByTowne.
I’m pleased that the ByTowne has brought back the hard-hitting political Palestinian/Israeli documentary No Other Land, which scored the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary (1) (2). This film demands to be seen.
From Hilde, With Love is not a documentary, but it does tell the true story of an ordinary young woman who became a hero. In the summer of 1942, Berlin, Hilde Coppi was madly in love with her husband, Hans and joyfully pregnant with their first child. When Hans became involved with an anti-Nazi resistance group of other young people, Hilde decided to join him. Both were arrested, and Hilde gave birth to their son in prison. Although their “crimes” were trivial (such as distributing anti-Nazi posters), Hans was executed, and Hilde’s execution was postponed for eight months so she could nurse her son. Despite everything, Hilde developed a quiet inspirational strength in prison. This film is part of the German Language Film Festival of Ottawa at the ByTowne.
If you are a hockey fan, especially a Habs fan, you’ll want to see the new documentary MAURICE, which is full of biographical vignettes from Maurice (Rocket) Richard’s life. Much previously unseen footage. A genuine “feel good” film. At the ByTowne.
Often, the most important thing Canadian films lack is a marketing campaign. Perhaps that’s why I’d never heard of Darkest Miriam before I found it in the Mayfair’s schedule. It’s the story of a grieving Toronto librarian (Britt Lower) whose sudden love affair with a taxi driver coincides with receiving oddly threatening letters. At the Canadian Screen Awards, it received Best Motion Picture, Direction, Leading Role Performance (Britt Lower), Supporting Role Performance (Tom Mercier) and Adapted Screenplay, and the film was a Sound Editing nominee.
Had I not been enthralled by the trailer, I wouldn’t include the weirdly intriguing Thom Yorke & Mark Pritchard’s TALL TALES: A Global Listening Event. The trailer is full of beautiful, bizarre animation and mesmerizing music. The ByTowne calls it “a fairy tale for the modern world.” And it’s a special screening event only on May 8 and in theatres. This may be the strangest film (with the longest title) that I’ve encountered at the ByTowne. Check out the ByTowne’s write-up and the trailer and decide for yourself.
LATE BREAKING NEWS: The Mayfair has extended Flow for a record-breaking 21st week. See my previous nine Magic in the Dark articles (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) for the reasons why Flow is my favourite film of 2024.
There’s a trio of great films from the vault.
The French Connection–one of Gene Hackman’s best films–is still at the ByTowne in their Detour series. The car chase scene alone is worth the price of admission—imitated but rarely, if ever, equalled.
What’s the best way to treat your mom on Mother’s Day? A delightful romantic comedy, enjoyed with tea and a scrumptious Scone Witch scone, of course! The event is ByTowne’s High Tea Cinema. The film is the Oscar-winning delight, Shakespeare in Love. It stars Joseph Fiennes as the young Will. He’s struggling with his latest comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter, when he chances to see the beauteous (and betrothed) Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) and falls head over heels. Lady V has, it seems, a passion for theatre. And Dame Judi Dench steals the show in her brief scenes as Queen Elizabeth.
I’m delighted that Paul Thomas Anderson’s spell-binding exploration of American capitalism at its worst, There Will Be Blood, is at the ByTowne in its Spectacle series. The brilliant Daniel Day-Lewis is Daniel Plainview, a rapacious, cunning capitalist who will stop at nothing to build his oil empire. Paul Dano is Eli Sunday, a Holy Roller preacher who buts heads with Plainview.
Enjoy yourselves at our wonderful independent cinemas!
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 available at www.mayfairtheatre.ca. The Mayfair finalizes their upcoming films’ schedule weekly, which 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.
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