April is still delivering new films at the ByTowne and Mayfair cinemas. You’ll find lots to entice you to see films as they’re meant to be seen—on a big screen with a great sound system, enjoying them with a large audience.
Both cinemas are screening the exquisite French film La passion de Dodin Bouffant (The Taste of Things). I loved the luscious food preparations, but the best aspect of this film is its wonderful depiction of a long-term romance between two people who share a common passion. You can read more about it in this Magic in the Dark article.
Three new British films are still playing.
As I said recently, I’m a fan of British director Ken Loach. His latest, The Old Oak, is still playing at the Mayfair. Although the story arc is fairly predictable, it’s the details of the hard lives the townsfolk and the Syrian refugees are living–and their resilience–that will stick with you.
Wicked Little Letters is based on a 1920s scandal involving anonymous obscene letters and a wrongful accusation. The big draw is that it features the talented Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. At the ByTowne.
One Life (which I wrote about last month) is another “based on a true story” film. I found Johnny Flynn’s performance as the improbable young hero particularly riveting. It’s playing at the Mayfair.
I’ve not yet seen two other new films at the ByTowne, and they couldn’t be more different from each other. La chimera is an Italian fantasy/adventure/drama/comedy about an unusual young man who has a gift for finding archeological Etruscan treasures. He’s also searching for his long-lost (deceased) love. Meanwhile, the Australian film Limbo is a bleak drama about a jaded cop investigating a cold case—the disappearance of an Indigenous woman in the outback. Both films have had excellent reviews. I described them in my previous Magic in the Dark.
I’m a sucker for a good movie trailer, so I’m keen to see these three new films at the ByTowne:
The first is Humane, a Canadian sci-fi horror film written and directed by Caitlin Cronenberg (yes, she’s from THAT Cronenberg family). There’s been an environmental collapse and humanity’s survival depends on eliminating 20% of the population. The government has established a euthanasia program to accomplish this. A middle-aged couple announces to their adult kids over dinner that they’ve decided to enlist in the program. Then the mother backs out, leaving the kids to decide who will join their father to meet the quota.
Problemista is a surrealistic comedy about a young El Salvadorean immigrant in New York who will be deported unless he finds an employer who will vouch for him. He does, but she’s an “impossible” woman played by Tilda Swinton as a bizarre and demanding outsider who herself is trying to “make it” in the New York art world. The trailer had me grinning right from the start.
The third film with a terrific trailer is Linda veut du poulet! (Chicken for Linda!), an animated feature that won best feature film at the prestigious Annecy International Animation Festival. A young mother attempts to procure a chicken, which she promised to serve to her young daughter in a recipe the daughter remembers her father making. It’s a film for kids that I think adults will also love.
Everything old is new again—here comes this year’s batch of award-winning commercials. Yup, the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is back at the ByTowne. If you doubt commercials can be wildly creative and worth paying to see, check this out.
Now let’s turn to some classics.
The one that’s on my must-see-again list is Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders’ masterpiece. It’s a beautiful city symphony film, roaming about Berlin just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. We meet a pair of angels who watch over the city’s inhabitants, hearing each one’s thoughts. One angel is tired of his immutability; he longs to experience human life, including human love. So he abandons his immortality. Thank you, ByTowne, for bringing back this gem to Ottawa; it’s one of my favourite films.
To celebrate National Canadian Film Day, there’s a free screening at the ByTowne, courtesy of the Canadian Film Institute (CFI), of Don Shebib’s 1970 film Goin’ Down the Road. I remember the first time I saw it—it was such a Canadian story (it’s about two feckless young guys from Cape Breton seeking their fortune in Toronto), and it was so good.
This month’s ByTowne’s Sunday Afternoon Classic is a film for film lovers—Cinema Paradiso. It captures the wonders of the film experience through the eyes of a young boy who grows up to be a filmmaker. And it will remind you of cinema’s communal magic in the dark.
There’s a special treat for fantasy fans! The ByTowne has, for one showing only, the extended version (44 more minutes!) of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I’m betting this will sell out, so get your tickets online and get them early.
There’s another crowd-pleaser at the Mayfair: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Seen it multiple times? See it again! Never seen it? What are you waiting for?
Happy viewing!
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 usually publishes the coming week’s schedule midweek and adds to their “coming soon” list, so check their website for the latest updates.
