Buckle up, folks! There’s a cornucopia of films, new and old, at the ByTowne and the Mayfair, including the latest Palme d’Or winner and lots of scary stuff from the vault. There’s even a Halloween treat for the kiddies.
I’ll start with the winner of the 2025 Palme d’Or, It Was Just an Accident. This thriller from the brave Iranian director Jafar Panahi is partially based on stories Panahi heard from other prisoners while he was imprisoned and tortured in Iran. Vahid, an auto mechanic, had been imprisoned and interrogated blindfolded. One day, Eghbal, a man with a car that’s been damaged in a minor accident, enters his workshop, and Vahid thinks he recognizes one of his former torturers. He kidnaps Eghbal, planning revenge, but he isn’t entirely certain he’s got the right man…
The next two new films I’m excited about are about music, and what music!
Blue Moon is set in 1943 in Sardi’s, the NYC restaurant that was an intimate part of Broadway. World-famous lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) despairs over the end of his career. Why? His former collaborator, Richard Rodgers, is celebrating the opening night of what is sure to be his biggest hit, the musical Oklahoma! which he created with his new partner, Oscar Hammerstein. At the ByTowne.
Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett’s legendary and entirely improvised concert in Köln (Cologne, Germany) in January 1975 almost didn’t happen. Köln 75 is the true story of how an irrepressible, self-confident 16-year-old German girl, Vera Brandes, masqueraded as a 25-year-old concert promoter and repeatedly did the impossible to make the Jarrett concert happen. The resulting concert album is the best-selling piano recording and the best-selling solo album in jazz history, with sales of around $4 million. Köln 75 is at the ByTowne and the Mayfair.
The Mastermind, directed by Kelly Reichardt and starring actor-of-the-moment Josh O’Connor, is the obverse of Köln 75. O’Connor plays JB (James Blaine) Mooney, an unemployed husband and father who fancies himself a mastermind art thief. But JB’s first big heist goes pear-shaped due to his incompetence and inability to plan. At the ByTowne.
If The Mastermind is watching the slow unravelling of JB’s life, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is like watching a whirlwind of disasters and bad advice being inflicted on a panicked woman. That woman is Linda (Rose Byrne), a therapist whose life–and apartment ceiling–are crashing down on her. Her child has a mysterious illness which requires Linda to feed her through a tube, her husband is away on business for months, and when he calls, he criticizes her. The ceiling of their apartment collapses because of a water leak, forcing them to move into a crummy motel, and her therapist (Conan O’Brien) is callous and utterly unhelpful. At the Berlin International Film Festival, Byrne won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance. At the ByTowne.
For those of you who love cult hometown films, check out the ByTowne’s Staff Pick: Hot Knives. You’ll recognize several ByTowne’s staff up there on the screen and in the credits, including Phil Caracas. He plays a slacker whose search for a neighbour’s missing dog spirals into Cold War and stoner conspiracy shenanigans.
In honour of Halloween, there’s a bumper crop of scary films from the vault.
I’ll begin with the granddaddy of all horror films — F.W. Murnau’s terrifying 1922 silent film, Nosferatu. It will be at the ByTowne and the Mayfair; both will feature live synced music. At the ByTowne, the touring soundtrackers, The Invisible Czars, will perform their original score, combining rock and orchestral music. At the Mayfair, VOC Silent Film Harmonic will provide the musical soundscape.
At the ByTowne, on the same night as Nosferatu, The Invisible Czars will also be accompanying another silent film classic: Phantom of the Opera. If you’ve only seen the 2004 musical, you owe it to yourself to see the 1925 original, starring the brilliant “Man of a Thousand Faces,” Lon Chaney as The Phantom.
Like the last two films, The Innocents is based on a literary work: Henry James’ supernatural gothic novel The Turn of the Screw. Truman Capote adapted and intensified James’ ghost story. Deborah Kerr gives one of her finest performances as an emotionally fragile governess who comes to suspect that the house and grounds are haunted and that there is something very wrong with her precocious new charges. The black-and-white cinematography really adds to the sense of foreboding. At the ByTowne.
At the ByTowne, this month’s Art House Classics series features Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf. The story explores the mysterious disappearance of painter Johan Borg (Max von Sydow), who lived on a small island with his wife Alma (Liv Ullmann) and was plagued with frightening visions and insomnia. When the couple accept an invitation to dinner at a nearby castle, a coven of sinister aristocrats hastens the painter’s psychological collapse. The film is full of nightmarish effects and dreadful dream sequences.
Also at the ByTowne, there’s another film by a famous director: Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder. Though not a “spooky” film, it does feature a devilish husband (Ray Milland) intent on killing his wife (Grace Kelly). His modus operandi is to blackmail an acquaintance to force him to kill her. This being a Hitchcock film, things don’t go according to plan.
The ByTowne’s Detour series continues with An American Werewolf in London. Director John Landis blends the macabre with a wicked sense of humour, telling the story of two young American tourists who unwisely hike across the English moors during a full moon. They’re attacked by some sort of wild beast — one dies, the other is hospitalized but begins to have strange symptoms. The days pass, and the night of the next full moon approaches. I guarantee you’ll be astonished by the Oscar-winning special effects makeup during the transformation sequence.
I think the next three films are the scariest in this article.
William Friedkin’s The Exorcist is about the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl (Linda Blair). As a last resort to save her daughter, her mother (Ellen Burstyn) contacts two Catholic priests (Max von Sydow and Jason Miller) who are exorcists. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian wrote, “The Exorcist is diabolically inspired: it’s still capable of making you jump and yelp.” At the Mayfair.
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre stands alone as a horror film. Five teenagers are on their way to check out reports of grave robbing, though they are soon sidetracked to a creepy house. One by one, they wander into the murderous clutches of Leatherface and his trusty chainsaw. Wes Craven said it’s “a film that didn’t just shock but also haunted you long after it was over.” At the Mayfair.
Dario Argento is considered the premier director of giallo (the Italian horror-thriller sub-genre of films), with Suspiria as his masterpiece. A newcomer to a fancy ballet academy gradually comes to realize that the school is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of grisly murders. See it at the ByTowne.
Last but certainly not least, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is screening for the umpteenth time at the Mayfair. But did you know it was made back in 1975? What a way to celebrate the weird season!
Wait! There’s more! The Mayfair’s famous Saturday morning specials for kids are back with their All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party, Volume 38—Halloween Month Edition! Three hours of classic cartoons (including retro commercial breaks) and sugary cereals. Remember to bring your spoon and bowl.
Happy viewing, and happy Halloween!
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 weekly, posting online and advertising via email. Both provide information about the films for future weeks. You can buy tickets via their weekly email and at the box office.
