I was shocked! Shocked when I went through the ByTowne’s and the Mayfair’s calendars for the second half of March and tallied up 24(!) films I wanted to recommend to you. That’s more than I’ve ever recommended in one Magic in the Dark article. I’m positive that you’ll find films that will delight you no matter what your tastes are in cinema.
I’ll start with the films I’m most excited about, like my favourite of 2024—Flow (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8), showing for an astounding 14th week at the Mayfair. See why it captured the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and was in competition for Best International Film.
In my last Magic in the Dark, I recommended A Complete Unknown, the biopic about Bob Dylan’s meteoric early career. I’ve now seen it and found it a joy to watch. It has wonderful music and great acting, from Timothée Chalamet as Dylan to every supporting actor. I’d forgotten what a good poet Dylan is; I now appreciate why he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. A Complete Unknown had me digging out my old Dylan LPs, and I’m sure it will also introduce younger generations to this seminal artist. At the Mayfair.
No Other Land was the surprise winner of the Documentary Feature Oscar despite lacking a distributor in North America and having virtually no industry advertising. I’m pleased that the ByTowne has programmed it. Four brave activists–two Palestinians and two Israelis–recorded the unrelenting destruction and expulsion of a longstanding Palestinian community, Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank by the Israeli army. Basel Adra, who lives in Masafer Yatta, began the filming. He was eventually joined by Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist. However, their relationship isn’t one of equals—Basel lives under military occupation, whereas Yuval is free to move about without restrictions.
I have some must-sees from the vault, starting with what many consider the greatest film ever made—Citizen Kane. Orson Welles’ debut feature and his magnum opus, this story of a complex powerful man is full of cinematic innovations, masterfully employed to forward the story without distracting from its telling. If you’ve only read about Citizen Kane, you can now see it on a big screen at the ByTowne.
The great actor Gene Hackman died recently. As a tribute, the Mayfair has programmed a “Gene Sequence” of four of his films. Hackman’s role in Bonnie and Clyde brought him to the attention of Hollywood directors, with his first Oscar nomination for Supporting Actor. Hackman played Buck Barrow, Clyde Barrow’s stoic older brother and member of his murderous bank-robbing Barrow Gang. This 1967 film’s graphic violence revolutionized Hollywood moviemaking. Much later in Hackman’s career he played the sadistic sheriff Little Bill Daggett in Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Western Unforgiven. Film Threat said, “As great as the script and cinematography are (they are both unassailable), the real magic of Unforgiven is in the performances.”
Another must-see is the rarely screened 1966 absurdist feminist farce, Daisies. As I wrote in my last Magic in the Dark, it follows two rebellious young women seeking pleasure, running riot in banquet halls and nightclubs, ripping off older men, and feasting on lavish meals. Daisies is a terrific way for the ByTowne to celebrate Women’s History Month!
I’ve already enthused about Universal Language (1) (2), the delightfully odd story set in an alternate Winnipeg where Farsi (Persian) is the main language and turkeys have a special place of honour. It’s playing at both cinemas.
The newly released Can I Get a Witness? is also set in an alternate world—a de-industrial world in which, because of scarce resources, everyone 50 years old must commit suicide. It stars Ottawa’s own Sandra Oh, approaching that fateful age. Her teenage daughter decided to be a witness—someone the government hires to sketch the suicides’ final moments. At the ByTowne.
As you read in my last three articles (1) (2) (3), I was moved by the Brazilian film I’m Still Here. I was particularly impressed with Fernanda Torres as the courageous wife of a man whom the junta “disappeared.” Torres won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a drama and was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. The film has resulted in proposed revocation of the immunity granted to her husband’s murderers. Continuing at the ByTowne.
The Penguin Lessons is also based on a true story set in South America during a time of political dictatorship, this time in Argentina during the 1976 military coup. Tom, a blasé English schoolteacher (Steve Coogan), arrives in Buenos Aires to teach at an exclusive boys school run by a crochety headmaster (Jonathan Pryce). Shortly after, the coup d’état erupts, and Tom seeks respite from the turmoil with a vacation in Uruguay. There, he tries to impress a woman by rescuing an oil-soaked penguin on a beach. Nothing much transpires with the woman, but the penguin bonds with Tom, who smuggles the bird back to Argentina. And, as the film’s title implies, Tom learns a few things from his new friend. At the ByTowne.
Santosh is another new international film that I recommend. Set in Northern India, this police procedural has an interesting twist: the new police constable, Santosh, is the widow of a constable killed while in the line of duty. Initially, Santosh is lost in the corrupt misogynist environment, but things change after a lower caste girl is raped and murdered, and a female police inspector arrives to investigate the case. At the ByTowne.
The other new international film–The Way, My Way–is set on the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. As I wrote last time, it relates the story of Bill Bennett, a middle-aged Australian bloke who decided, on a whim, to walk the 800km route. As he walks, he discovers insights about the world and himself. A Camino enthusiast friend of mine in Toronto praised this film lavishly. Continuing at the ByTowne.
Citizen Kane isn’t the only golden film from the vault! I’ll move backwards in time from the most recent to the oldest to tell you about nine more films I recommend you see.
I’ll start with a personal favourite, Céline Sciamma’s 2019 drama, Portrait of a Lady on Fire. In 1790, on an island off the coast of Brittany, Marianne (Noémie Merlant), has been commissioned by a countess (Valeria Galindo) to paint the portrait of her daughter Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) as an inducement for a wealthy Milan nobleman to marry Héloïse. Because she is resisting this arranged marriage, Marianne must pretend to have been hired solely as her companion, and to paint the portrait at night. At the ByTowne.
Often considered David Lynch’s masterpiece, his 2001 Mulholland Drive is part of the Mayfair’s tribute series to Lynch. After a car accident, a young woman (Laura Harring) suffers amnesia. She pairs up with a fresh-faced ingenue (Naomi Watts) who arrived from Deep River, Ontario, seeking fame in the movie industry. Together, they try to unravel the amnesiac’s mystery. As if in a nightmare, they search for clues in the corrupt, depraved and sometimes dangerous corners of the City of Angels.
The Mayfair’s tribute series to Lynch also includes my favourite Lynch film—1999’s The Straight Story. Probably the most atypical Lynch film, it’s a true documentary-like narrative about a retired farmer in his 70s, Alvin Straight. Upon learning that his estranged brother Lyle has had a stroke and may not live long, Alvin decides to make amends with him. The trouble is that Alvin lives in Iowa and Lyle lives in Wisconsin. And Alvin doesn’t have a driver’s licence or car, so he decides to ride on his lawnmower to make the trip.
You probably saw one or two films of Alice in Wonderland, perhaps courtesy of Disney or Tim Burton. But I doubt you’ve seen anything as brilliantly creative as Czech animator Jan Švankmajer’s 1988 film, Alice. Alice is played by a real little girl, but the rest of the characters are puppets, some of them taxidermied animals. The sets and props are a strange collection of abandoned ephemera. Alice’s journey through this forbidding fantasy land is sure to stay with you. This unique film is screening at the ByTowne.
I’ve enthused about Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopian nightmare, Brazil. I’m pleased to see it’s back at the Mayfair. The concepts–pervasive technological monitoring coupled with ever-shoddy technology, the grotesque behaviours and characters, and strictures against love–are unique to this film. But the thing you’ll probably remember the most is the tragic story of a young man (Jonathan Pryce) whose romantic fantasies and gentle decency result in his downfall.
Those of you who regularly read Magic in the Dark may remember my enthusiasm for F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film Nosferatu, which I think is the most frightening vampire film ever made. But a close second is Werner Herzog’s 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre. It starred Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, Bruno Ganz as her husband Jonathan, and Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula. The Telegraph warned that “it will scare the living daylights out of you.” This classic is at the ByTowne.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, screening for the umpteenth time at the Mayfair, needs no introduction. But did you know it was made ‘way back in 1975?
Another in the Mayfair’s “Gene Sequence” film tribute, Scarecrow is a little seen gem from 1973 starring Gene Hackman as a volatile ex-con who pairs up with a gentle homeless ex-sailor (Al Pacino). Their dream is to establish a car wash in Pittsburgh, half a continent away.
From 1962, Ingmar Bergman’s Through a Glass Darkly is the oldest classic I’m recommending this month (other than Citizen Kane, of course). A moody psychological drama about a young woman who suffers from schizophrenia. Recently released from a mental institution, she returns to her emotionally distant family on their island home, only to slip from reality into delusion as she begins to experience visits from God. Winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar, this film is at the Mayfair.
But wait, there’s more!
The ByTowne has programmed a treat for art lovers: Dawn of Impressionism: Paris 1874. Given the universal love of Impressionist paintings, you can be forgiven for thinking that they were immediately popular when they first appeared. Not true! In 1874, the first Impressionists, having been ignored and ridiculed by the Establishment and hungry for recognition, held their own exhibition outside official channels.
Also at the ByTowne: the annual Cannes International Festival of Creativity—a collection of award-winning commercials from across the world that range from serious topics to delightfully silly memes.
And finally, the Canadian Film Institute’s annual International Film Festival of Ottawa 2025 (IFFO 2025) is underway. Three of the IFFO films will be screened at the ByTowne in the latter half of March.
Enjoy this wonderful cornucopia of films, folks!
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 its upcoming films’ schedule every week that 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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