Just floored by Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat’s searing documentary Sugarcane from Nat Geo/Disney. It comes with a strong warning as does this review. We follow NoiseCat, (of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escenemc band in British Columbia, as he researches atrocities, victims and the present-day reality of generational trauma in our indigenous population raised in Christian residential schools. He begins at St Joseph’s Mission near Williams Lake, BC where NoiseCat’s father Ed Archie was born. We learn of the pregnancies of young girls there and that their babies were tossed into the furnace; Ed Archie was lucky – he was found alive in a garbage can. One baby’s DNA was traced as an adult, his father was identified as one Father Price. Others learned their DNA was 45 % Irish and Scottish. Back in 1894 Christian entities and the Canadian government decided to end the “Indian problem” by stealing children from their families, cutting their hair, banning their languages, forcing Christianity on them and banning the ways of millennia of indigenous legacy. NoiseCat’s grandmother is asked about her time in residential school but can’t speak. Slowly it comes out; children were hung in the barn and lashed until they passed out. Unmarked graveyards discovered at the Mission and residential schools across Canada in recent years hit hard, reopening wounds, proving the extent of the church’s guilt, and causing great trauma and heartache. Researchers are carefully cataloging and studying documents, archival film and VHS, news reports, and victim statements, as part of ongoing investigations. Shortly after the discovery of the graves, churches across Canada burned. A bright spot was the Pope’s invitation to the Vatican to tell him about their experiences and hear his message. This beautifully made documentary with a stunning score hits home has excellent production values, it’s hard-hitting and not manipulative, paced to let these unthinkable things sink in, and offers hope as society works towards truth and reconciliation. Select Theatres now, and expanding August 16.
If ever a film was perfectly named, Cuckoo by Tilman Singer is it. Kudos to Hunter Schafer as the intriguingly out-of-place Gretchen, an American of German descent, who, during a visit to her father’s German Alps resort, unwittingly unleashes her inner demons. The place a hellhole – ghosts, entities, piercing noises, anonymous screamers and general feel-bad vibes. Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens is the terrifying Herr König, her father’s boss who runs the place like an unkind lion tamer. Gretchen’s just 17 and meeting her father’s new family for the first time and trying hard to stay sane as she’s besieged in that otherwise beautiful setting. She doesn’t seem to care for her young mute stepsister preferring to slip away from family weirdness to play guitar, but takes a job at the reception desk to feel more normal. Still, she’s well out of her comfort zone; a stranger tells her she doesn’t belong. She knows its true. She and a new acquaintance attempt an escape but as we know the place will have her back so the devolution can begin. Repugnant and entertaining and Schafer is a hoot! Theatres.
Apple’s Original The Instigators brings together Casey Affleck and his big brother Ben’s bestie Matt Damon in a testosterone-fueled heist comedy-drama about political corruption, underworld thuggery, and male friendship. Rory (Damon) needs $36K to satisfy debts around his child by his estranged wife. Cobby (Affleck) has strong ties to the criminal world and has just been bounced from prison; he needs getaway money. The pair are thrown together by an evil crime boss played with malicious glee by Michael Stuhlberg. Ron Perelman is the long-term, corrupt city mayor who has just lost an election, replaced by a minority member. His criminal circle and those who bribed him all these years are furious and seek revenge. The mayor has a stash of their money and Stuhlbarg wants it. Enter Rory and Cobby, who don’t mesh; they’re ordered to grab that cash. Rory’s in therapy, counselled by the enormously talented Hong Chau (Best Actress for The Whale). She joins them in their caper to kee an eye on him; he’s suicidal. And she has no idea the world she’s entering. Occasional comedy bits and poetry in nature, but in sum, it’s a particular kind of movie, old-fashioned with clearly demarcated good and bad guys and a few variations from the genre in contrast to our changed world. A stellar cast includes Paul Walter Hauser, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, and Toby Jones, with Jack Harlow making this a predominantly male enterprise – only one central female and she’s voice of reason! – with the usual car chases, fights, gunfire, stand-offs, threats … Directed by Doug Liman and co-written by Casey Affleck and Chuck MacLean.
Vinessa Antoine stars in the second season of CBC’s intriguing dramatic series Plan B. Antoine’s acting chops bring nuance to the police procedural in which her character, Officer Mia Coleman is haunted by an incident she and her partner didn’t stop that escalated tragically. They’d come to a domestic incident between an abusive husband and his excuse-making wife; Mia wanted the man arrested and legally constrained but her male partner let him off. Later the man, woman, and their two children are found dead. Mia’d heard a message from something called Plan B on an unconscious man’s cellphone; it appeared to offer travel to prior years! For 2023, press 1, for 2022 press 2, etc. She decides to go back in time to fix the situation and prevent what happened. She’s also dealing with personal difficulties, scaring her parents off at her birthday dinner, confronting her sister and facing trial in an unpleasant divorce from her ex-husband (Rossif Sutherland). And then she’s kidnapped. As bizarre as it all sounds, it’s a compelling sci-fi tinged series grounded in the realities of Mia’s need to help the world regain its equilibrium. If a second chance is offered to time travel to reverse things, so be it. Would you take it? you? August 11 on CBC Gem.
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