Hi, folks! I’m back from my summer vacation and delighted to see all the offerings at the ByTowne and Mayfair. My recommendations include a slew of Metacritic must-sees (one with a “99” score) and a couple of family-friendly films.
Frances Ford Coppola’s The Conversation has been on my list of favourite films since I first saw it in 1974. The ByTowne is screening a 4K restoration of this brilliant high-tension drama which won myriad awards, including the Palme d’Or and BAFTAs for editing and sound. Purported to be Coppola’s favourite film, theatre screenings include a new introduction by him. Don’t miss this!
Another iconic American film from the 70s is also at the ByTowne. I can’t imagine Taxi Driver made without director Martin Scorsese, writer Paul Schrader, or star Robert De Niro.
An equally dark 1971 drama–Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange–is at the Mayfair in their Malcolm McDowell series. It’s set in the near future of Britain. It’s about an immoral thug who delights in rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven. Arrested and imprisoned, he’s reprogrammed to be “a clockwork orange”—seemingly normal on the outside, but crippled within by reflex mechanisms beyond his control. Some critics consider it Kubrick’s finest work. And it’s terrifying.
Lindsay Anderson’s satiric O Lucky Man! (released in 1973) is the last in the Mayfair’s McDowell series. He plays an ambitious coffee salesman whose bizarre adventures destroy his naive idealism. It was a Palme d’Or nominee in a year awash with great films.
This surely is the month to see 1970s films!
Jaws, the 1975 granddaddy of summer blockbusters, is at the Mayfair. I recommended it in my last article. This screening is a fundraiser for the Ottawa Rowing Club. The ORC needs some bigger boats!
And the Mayfair is again screening the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. A different set of jaws!
Going back to the 1960s, there’s a 1969 film I’m very eager to see—Army of Shadows. This hard-hitting WWII drama about the French Resistance by auteur Jean-Pierre Melville (who was himself in the Resistance) has never been screened in North America. It has an exceedingly rare “99” Metacritic rating, meaning the critics found it almost perfect. This 4K restoration is a great opportunity to see it at the ByTowne.
I recommend two films at Mayfair in their Audrey Hepburn series: the 1961 romance Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the 1963 thriller Charade. The former made Hepburn a star; based on a Truman Capote story, Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, an eccentric New York playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. Her matrimonial plans go sideways when she meets a struggling young writer. It’s a sophisticated romantic comedy with some bite.
In Charade, Hepburn plays a widow pursued by several men trying to get the money that her murdered husband stole. She soon crosses paths with a charming man (Cary Grant), but can she trust him?
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Jumping to the 1980s, the ByTowne has a treat for its regular Cinema Slumber Party: the 1987 dance-and-romance delight Dirty Dancing! It’s 1963. A young woman vacationing with her parents at a staid Catskills resort falls for the resort’s sexy dance instructor. Get ready to have the time of your life!
Turning to recent releases, the delightful action-adventure Thelma is still at the ByTowne. Rated PG-13, I would take anyone to see this film.
Also at the ByTowne, My Penguin Friend is a PG film appealing to all the kids in your family, and you too! Based on a true story, a humble grieving Brazilian fisherman rescues a penguin from an oil spill. The animal bonds with his rescuer who begins to find joy in life again. Then the penguin returns to the ocean and heads south. But that’s not the end of the story.
The new release I’m the most eager to see is Sing Sing. It’s a docudrama based on a real program at the infamous Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where prisoners learn to stage theatrical productions. Colman Domingo plays one of the inmates, and Paul Raci plays the theatre coach, but the rest of the roles are played by ex-inmates, often acting as their younger selves. The reviews of Sing Sing have been stunning, and there’s been universal praise for Domingo. At the ByTowne.
There’s another crime film at the ByTowne. The Chinese film noir Only the River Flows is about a murder. A woman’s body washes up in the river running through a small town. The chief of police is on the case, and the obvious murder suspect is arrested. While the higher-ups congratulate themselves on resolving the case, the chief has his doubts.
And finally, two Canadian films…
Nos belles-sœurs (Our Sisters-in-Law), by Quebecois director René Richard Cyr, is the film version of Michel Tremblay’s superb Les Belles Sœurs, which I think is the best play ever written in Canada. Having seen the play staged three times, I’m eager to see how it translates to film. At the ByTowne.
Sugarcane is a Canadian/US documentary examining abuse and missing children at a First Nations residential school that ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve in BC. This was the first of the residential schools at which many unmarked graves were found. This school was one of 139 such institutions in Canada and 408 in the US designed “to get rid of the Indian problem.” Sugarcane focuses, delicately and with patience, on what this looks like from the perspective of those directly affected by it, for whom it’s not just a story in the news. One of the film’s three directors has family connections to the victims, and it won the US Documentary Directing Award at Sundance. Critical praise has been lavish. At the ByTowne.
Enjoy your Magic in the Dark time!
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 and emails for the latest updates.
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