Dear readers, life's got me a little bit behind and that includes my blog posts. This is a short review I was working on for Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy after learning it was playing this week at the Projection Booth Theatres. I'd written previously about attending the Renegade Film School screening and my tale of meeting Irvine Welsh. This includes some material from that blog entry but focuses solely on the film.
If you are keen to see Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy, tomorrow is the last day it's screening so haul ass over to the Projection Booth East. Again, apologies I didn't get this review posted earlier. -A
Currently playing at the Projection Booth is Irvine Welsh’s
Ecstasy.I know, you’re thinking “What’s
playing at the where?”
This little movie that could actually screened at the
Projection Booth East (there are two Projection Booth theatres in Toronto), a
grungy little rep theatre on Gerrard St. in Leslieville, in late October as
part of the Renegade Film School program.This was a special screening as director Rob Heydon and the acclaimed
author (of Trainspotting fame) himself, Irvine Welsh, were in attendance!
I'd never been to the Projection Booth theatre before, it's
all exposed painted concrete and threadbare half-broken seats. I'm not
ashamed to admit I checked to make sure they were not mysteriously sticky
before I sat down. It was the perfect venue for a screening of Irvine
Welsh's Ecstasy.
If you’re familiar with the novel of the same name by Welsh, it's based on the
short story The Undefeated about Lloyd, partier/low level dealer/drug mule, who
meets Heather, a young woman trying to escape her unhappy marriage. They
find happiness together but it's not without obstacles, not only must Lloyd
figure out how to get out of his mounting debt with the shady Solo, there's trouble
in paradise with Heather. While she's
willing to experiment and enjoys their partying lifestyle, she disapproves of
his constant drug use and living for the weekend. The wiki description
puts it best..."they are faced with the question of whether they love
their drugs, each other, or are just drugged into loving each other."
Welsh and Heydon kicked off the day's events with a 45 min candid conversation
and Q&A, regaling us with tales about the trials and tribulations of
getting this film made.Heydon recounts
in detail the numerous times funding fell through and other challenges that
they faced. It began 10 years ago as a UK/Canada co-production but a
series of circumstances led it to be exclusively Canadian.It was shot primarily in Sault Ste. Marie,
with one day in Toronto, and a B-unit in Scotland and Amsterdam to give it that
authenticity.
What winds up on the screen is an understated indie diamond
in the rough.It’s not going to win a
lot of Oscars, and you’re not going to rave about its productions values
(though I’ve had a lot of personal experience recreating club scenes and rave
scenes for the camera, and I’d say the ones in Ecstasy are realistic and
believable, no one’s getting over ambitious and I mean that in a good way), but
it’s entertaining, engaging, relatively well-paced, authentic, and well adapted
from what I remember of the short story. Understanding the challenges in
the making of the film made me appreciate the movie more. Though it does
feel like a film that should've been made 10 years ago, when slacker fiction
was at the height of its popularity. Treat it as nostalgia I say, there
was a time when being a weekender and a high-functioning drug addict was a
reality.It’s definitely a period best
relived exclusively through the movies.
In theatres today is the winner of this year's Toronto International Film Festival Blackberry People's Choice Award... Silver Linings Playbook.
I caught it during TIFF and these were my thoughts from back in September:
TIFF draws a wide
audience, from those seeking out rare films from the other side of the world
that will likely never to be screened in a theatre again, to those hoping to
catch the celeb-laden Oscar contenders before they are released in regular
theatres.I’m a believer in diversity
and try to get in a mix of both, but I have to admit Silver Linings Playbook
was never high on my list of must-sees while in festival-mode, despite being penned and directed by
David O. Russell (in a follow up to his very successful last film - The
Fighter).Maybe it had something to do
with the fact that it starred pretty boy Bradley Cooper, whom I associate with
fluffy rom-coms and other sub-intellectual roles (don’t get me wrong, I very
much want him in my bed, we just wouldn’t be reading Shakespeare or anything),
but I wasn’t expectinga standout.However, when I had a few hours open to catch
a film one morning, I thought it might just be the thing
to see while waiting for the caffeine to kick in.It looked like it would be easy on the eyes, have
no subtitles, and probably not a lot of brain power required either.I won’t say I was wrong in thinking this (I’m
a little conceited and don’t like to admit that I’m wrong) but I was misguided
in believing this wouldn’t be a standout.
The Weinstein Company provides us with this synopsis:
“Life doesn't always go according to plan. Pat Solatano has
lost everything - his house, his job, and his wife. He now finds himself living
back with his mother and father after spending eight months in a state
institution on a plea bargain. Pat is determined to rebuild his life, remain
positive and reunite with his wife, despite the challenging circumstances of
their separation. All Pat's parents want is for him to get back on his feet -
and to share their family's obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles football
team. When Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own,
things get complicated. Tiffany offers to help Pat reconnect with his wife, but
only if he'll do something very important for her in return. As their deal
plays out, an unexpected bond begins to form between them, and silver linings
appear in both of their lives.”
The story of a down and out individual (Bradley Cooper)
struggling to bounce back and make good is nothing new, but it is a good way to
build a story arc and climax.Main
character wants to get his girl back but suddenly a “mysterious” new woman
(Jennifer Lawrence) enters the picture and they form an “unexpected
bond”…again, a bit formulaic. If you can’t guess what happens at the end, I’m
going to personally come to your door and hit you over the head with a copy of
Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist (circa TIFF 2008).
So what is good about this movie then?Everything else!David O. Russell really kicks the movie up a
notch with superb casting. Jennifer
Lawrence and Robert DeNiro (as Pat Solatano Sr, the superstitious
Eagles-obsessed patriarch) play up their characters’ quirks and eccentricities just
right.They touch the limits of
believable without going over the top.Bradley Cooper also comfortably tackles his role as the bi-polar Pat Jr.
who’s in denial that his marriage is over. Also look out for Chris Tucker making a
subtler-than-usual, but equally hilarious contribution. What makes the movie
for me though is the dialogue, it’s driven by the script without ever coming off as
overly wordy.For every conventional
aspect of the story, fresh lively banter makes up for it.The exchanges between Lawrence and Cooper are
charged whether the intent is humour or stir emotions, they’ll have you
hanging on for every last retort and jape.
I had a really good time at this movie, I was right to
believe Silver Linings Playbook to be easily digestible and easy on the eyes
(I’m so busy drooling over Cooper that I neglected to mention Jennifer Lawrence
is a total knockout with dark hair, forget being blonde honey) but in an Oscar-worthy sort of way.Check it out with your best friend, your mom,
your neighbor, or your dog sitter.It
will appeal to a very wide audience and likely see some Oscar nods.
To commemorate the opening of the final installment of the Twilight Saga this weekend, I would like to break open a bottle of cheap champagne, throw confetti around and shout "Good riddance" from the rooftops! But since confetti is a real pain to clean up and bad bubbly upsets my stomach, I'm just going to stick with this post.
Though I still haven't been able to bring myself to watch Breaking Dawn Part 1, I have read through the entire series of books. I will concede that the first book is good. Maybe not as a gothic horror novel, but a coming-of-age romantic drama where we can overlook the sparkly-ness of the supposed "vampires". I experienced far more heart-wrenching moments where my chest physically ached than I'd care to admit while reading that book. Stephanie Meyer so accurately depicts the female psyche as it falls in love for the first time, no other piece of writing reminded me so much of the first time I fell in love as a teenager. (Movie Ogre: If you're reading this, I apologize for comparing our teenage selves to Edward and Bella, hopefully you're not deleting me from your facebook right now)
The ridiculousness of these angsty adolescents with superpowers (and perfect shimmery skin) increases with each book. The only reason I found Breaking Dawn better than 2 of its predecessors is because the story had become so over the top, with so many characters and factors about to collide, you knew it would be nothing less than a series of epic events. Anyway, I'm not here to write you a book report...
When the "Still A Better Love Story Than Twilight" meme first popped up, I was on it like syrup on pancakes. Someone(s) quickly began collecting them on dedicated sites such as this one.
Some of my favourites include:
<insert obligatory spoiler alert here>
Though not strictly part of the "Still a Better Love Story" series of memes, this was the first one I saw and I fervently agree. I enjoy Harry Potter a great deal, and was easy swept away by Potter mania during the release of each of the movie. The aforementioned 'chapter' is one of my favourite things about Deathly Hallows, though there's much to choose from. It did stir something in my heart.
Still off-track from the original meme but a very good example. This reminds me, I should pick up a copy of Up for myself.
Scrat's dedication to his acorn is admirable. How many partners have you had who would scurry past glaciers risking life and limb (and tail) to follow you?
Precious.
Wall-E traveled across the universe for Eva; Edward bailed on Bella just to soothe his guilt. (Wall-E is one of the greatest love stories ever told though)
This last one hasn't been made into a meme, but it's one I came up with and remains my favourite:
BONNIE & CLYDE
Clyde was in all likelihood gay and they ended up riddled with bullets, but...
Sometimes even I forget that this blog was never intended for movies alone. As the title alludes, I don't have to explain my art to you, I never said anything about movies exclusively and there was a reason for that.
The 2nd half of October was (pop) culturally packed for me (that's why I'm only getting around to writing about it now!)
On October 24th, my good friends Eugene, Chris, Rob, Christy and I went to the long-awaited New Order show. The single greatest band from the 80's if I have anything to say about it. They haven't performed in Toronto since 1993! It was the second of two shows, at an interesting choice of venue - The Sony Centre for Performing Arts (formerly The Hummingbird Centre, formerly the O'Keefe Centre...), where I usually go to see ballet/musicals as opposed to rock shows. I learned an important lesson not to underestimate a venue for its ability to deliver quality sound for diverse purposes. I never once found the music to be too loud or distorted due to volume, but my hearing was a bit muffled afterwards, something I rarely experience at the Air Canada Centre after what I perceive to be much louder concerts.
Christy got herself some floor seats, while the rest of us were in the balcony. Security was kind (naive) enough to simply tell me not to use my big camera for photos/recording during the show, but with no need for flash, a 35x zoom, and seats a fair distance from the nearest usher. As soon as New Order took the stage, out came the camera. All the videos I took (ranging from shaky little excerpts to full tracks) are on my you tube channel. Before the headliners, we were treated to a toe-tapping set by DJ Nick Fiorucci. I say toe-tapping because Rob and I hadn't had enough to drink yet to start dancing in the aisle, instead he kept elbowing me to shazam every other song the DJ spun.
Some highlights include dancing to True Faith live, this is my favourite New Order song and an activity that would've been on my bucket list had New Order not been broken up the past few years.
The Perfect Kiss sounded amazing live, it's a good song but usually doesn't come to mind when we're on a road trip listing our Top 5 New Order songs. True story, Rob and I have done this, it was during a drive to Montreal.
One of the things I was able to observe through a 35x zoom lens on camera that I couldn't with the naked eye was the pairings of water bottles and wine glasses on the edge of the risers on the stage (you can see it in the Crystal video and one other that I posted). I've seen bands take the stage with water (obviously), beer bottles, Johnny Walker Black (that would be the Detroit Grand Pubahs who even shared a little with members of the audience lol), and other forms of hard liquor, but never water and glasses of white wine. How's that for a classy aging rock act?
It being the final night of the tour, we got a bonus encore in a round of Joy Division covers, the bonus being Shadowplay. Now I just need to hear The Killers perform their version and all my Shadowplay fantasies will be complete. (This might be a little blasphemous, but I actually like the Killers cover better than Ian Curtis' original rendition) Our only other real complaint was that Blue Monday needed more cowbell (let's take it back to '88!), next show will definitely be BYOC(owbell). Even the official concert tees were relatively well-priced at $30 (if you collect official tour merch you'll agree, $30 has become the "fair" price these days *sigh*).
The final encore was Love Will Tear Us Apart, which pretty much made my life complete. Love Will Tear Us Apart is my song, not just my favourite song, but a part of me. No joke, it's tattooed to me.
The show was everything I hoped it would be, and I don't' think I could've chosen better companions. Rob and I were the rambunctious ones, after a while we figured it wasn't our fault if the girls behind us weren't adequately excited and on their feet, that wasn't going to stop us from dancing. Chris and I have an unspoken deal to meet on the dancefloor anytime a New Order song plays when we're out, so it was awesome to finally catch the live show with him. And finally, a special thank you to Eugene, who's not the boogie sort, for taking videos of Blue Monday and Love Will Tear Us Apart for me as I was far too excited to hold still with a camera.
That weekend was part two of my Brit week, with just my buddy Chris this time. It was a special screening of Ecstasy with director Rob Heydon and writer Irvine Welsh in attendance. This was at the Projection Booth East, a grungy little rep theatre on Gerrard St. in Leslieville. I'd never been to the Projection Booth theatre before, it's all exposed painted concrete and threadbare half-broken seats. I'm not ashamed to admit I checked to make sure they were not mysteriously sticky before I sat down. It was the perfect venue for a screening of Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy.
If you've read the novel of the same name by Welsh, it's based on the short story The Undefeated about Lloyd, partier/low level dealer/drug mule, who meets Heather, a young woman trying to escape her unhappy marriage. They find happiness together but it's not without obstacles, not only must Lloyd figure out how to get out of his mounting debt with the shady Solo, there's trouble in paradise with Heather, while she's willing to experiment and enjoys their partying lifestyle, she disapproves of his constant drug use and living for the weekend. The wiki description puts it best..."they are faced with the question of whether they love their drugs, each other, or are just drugged into loving each other."
Welsh and Heydon kicked off the day's events with about a 45 min conversation and Q&A, much of it related to the trials of getting the film made, the numerous times funding fell through and other challenges. Once upon a time I think I would've hung onto every work Rob Heydon had to say, I mean, the event was entitled "Renegade Film School" after all. I endured the inevitable film student questions, you know, those asking for tips, advice on starting a career, does the filmmaker think a film degree is necessary for success. They were there because of the movie and so it was only fair that Irvine fielded questions about his role in the making of this film and others. Eventually a few questions steered him towards his writing, and writing novels vs. writing for the screen. Here are some iphone videos Chris and I took (I haven't checked the audio all the way through so hopefully you can kinda hear what's being said):
I was particular amused by Welsh's admission in his interest in characters who are fuck ups, but wanting to root for them anyway. Of course we all instantly think of Mark Renton in Trainspotting, but on a personal level I can relate as I've written my share of characters who are addicts/weekenders/sketchy ravers.
The movie itself was good. I don't think it's going to make my top 10 of the year, but it was entertaining, engaging, relatively well-paced, authentic, and well adapted from what I remember of the short story. Understanding the challenges in the making of the film and some knowledge of the settings they used (Sudbury I believe it was, one day in Toronto, and B-Unit in Scotland) made me appreciate the movie more. It does feel like a film that should've been made 10 years ago though (when it was first green-lighted) when Slacker fiction was at the height of its popularity. I have to say, much as I like zombies, vampires (that don't sparkle), the supernatural resurgence and fairy tale revivals, a part of me really misses slacker fiction. I would count certain Douglas Coupland titles in that genre, most books by Toronto writer Jim Munro, and Irvine Welsh made up the bulk of slacker fiction that I read in University. It was good stuff. Then "Chick Lit" exploded... I digress though...
The best (and worst) part of that day came actually before all this, let me start from the top. It'd been raining pretty heavily all day, I'd been out the night before, nothing crazy, but I was still sleepy and soggy when I arrived at the theatre. I'd eaten very little that morning and had only my large coffee to rely on for sustenance. I was in my seat while Chris stepped out to the lobby for a minute to speak to his friend and felt a bit of a dip in my energy levels, I didn't think much of it only that I was tired and hoped I wouldn't nod off during the movie. Chris returned mentioning that Irvine was outside signing books...
Ok, I do need to digress for a moment this time...for those of you who've seen my TIFF pics, the framed photos of me and Tarantino, etc. you'll know that I've done my share of celebrity stalking. You may have noticed I don't solely go for photos, or autographs, there are many ways to create celeb memories in my opinion. It also depends on my mood and whether I have a camera/sharpie handy, but sometimes I want the pic, or the signed DVD, but having a chance to speak to one of your idols can be an amazing experience too. I didn't really know which I was going for that day, but given that Irvine Welsh is an author, a book signing seemed most likely.
When Chris said Irvine was out in the lobby, I wasn't sure if he meant for just a moment or whether there was a line-up forming. I hesitated then decided I needed to go scope out the situation and jumped up. That was my first mistake, I saw black spots in front of my eyes. Nevermind, I thought, this will pass, and I made my way to the lobby. Yeah, when your vision is swimming, moving around more is not going to help. As I reached the lobby, a violent sickness struck me, I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up, or pass out. I stood there, not really able to talk, and undecided whether I should dash to the washroom or outside for some air. Poor Chris didn't know what the hell was happening, he was pretty much getting ready to catch me because he thought I was going to fall down any second. (Yeah, I looked that good) I went outside for a few minutes, and slowly the sickness subsided some. Weeks later I still cannot tell you what happened, a part of me suspects the milk in my coffee might have gone funky, but we'll never know. After much deep breathing and standing in the breeze under the canopied entrance, we finally went back inside. My vision had cleared up but my stomach clearly still wasn't right.
Enough about my nausea though. I walked in, and there he was, one of the greatest contemporary writers I could think of, just standing there by himself in front of the shelves of DVD rentals. And that's when it struck me, I want to shake this guy's hand. So I walked over, stuck out my hand, half mumbled something about being a great admirer of his, and shook his hand all the while praying that I wouldn't throw up on his shoes.
Everything after that was a bit of a blur, I think I stepped away and came back (or had an out of body experience?), but eventually Chris and I would have a conversation with Irvine Welsh and Rob Heydon about, of all things, New Order! Awesome, right??? I'd seen on Irvine's twitter that he'd been having dinner with the band a few days prior, so we talked a little about the show, I commented that Bernard's voice was sounding more like Ian's nowadays, and Irvine agreed! He noted how it was unfortunate that things went sour between Bernard and Hooky, and continued on with stories of the band. Weeks later I'm still wondering, did that really happen? Did I just shoot the shit with one of my favourite writers about one of my favourite bands and a concert we were both at??? I guess it must've happened though because when I tweeted a summary of the afternoon's event and "shooting the shit with @WelshIrvine about New Order" he favourited my tweet! Sure, sure, to him I'm just another weirdo fan, but I will not be forgetting the likes of this day anytime soon!
(Nor will I be flippant towards any signs of illness)
