originally posted at the Globe and Mail
Land: Where land is all they’ve got
Documentary examines the impact of developers on a pristine stretch of the Nicaraguan coast
Editorial Rating: **** (out of 4)
by Jennie Punter
In January, 2006, three starry-eyed American resort developers, two expat eccentrics and some increasingly restless locals were living in imperfect harmony in a sleepy fishing village on a gorgeous stretch of Nicaragua’s Pacific coast dubbed the Central American Riviera. Toronto filmmaker Julian T. Pinder’s captivating, intimate and often funny documentary Land lets us join the citizens of this “underdeveloped” community during the months leading up to a general election that threatens radical change to the status quo.
Of course the November, 2006, election results in Nicaragua are known: Former revolutionary leader Daniel Ortega became president for the second time. But this knowledge in no way detracts from this rich film, which uses the looming election (with artful use of archived footage and photographs providing historical and political context) to build tension.
The main attractions of Land, however, are the engaging folk Pinder finds to illustrate the complexity of land issues in Nicaragua. The issues aren’t as simple as “developers bad, locals good,” although some gringos do exploit cheap local labour. Pinder makes sure his key characters are not merely “representative” but real people whose fates we care about – even if we don’t like some of them that much.
My favourite is Dean, an irascible, foul-mouthed, beer-swilling American expat who’s a hilarious commentator on the intrigue between developers (“land whores and dirt pimps”) and locals. His gruff poetry finds its counterpoint in lovely scenes with Nicaraguan poet and ex-guerrilla Sebastien Narvaez, who feels for the nation’s broken, forgotten soul.
We also get choice words from politician Eden Pastora, who once cut a dashing figure as a revolutionary leader nicknamed Commander Zero. Pastora points out Nicaragua has few exports and no industry: “All we have is our land.” This passion drives some locals to take both legal and illegal actions to change the game.
With a personal touch, Land tells a universal story of foreigners transforming paradise to attract more foreign tourists. Whether this is good or right depends on your idea of the ideal vacation.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Straight.com: Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space
originally posted at Straight.com
by Ken Eisner
With the social, financial, and environmental problems bubbling up at the moment, we can’t be blamed, exactly, for failing to search the skies for trouble. Still, we’re idiots to ignore the warning signs above, and that’s the main message of this troubling documentary.
Directed by French-born Denis Delestrac, and written by him and others, including Siobhan Flanagan, Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space details the history and possible outcomes of a space race that began with Russia’s 1957 Sputnik launch. Of course, things started much earlier, when Hitler sent those V-2 rockets into English airspace, followed by Washington’s instant de-Nazification of rocket man Wernher von Braun, who put a big smile on NASA’s public face.
The prevalence of “kill vehicles” and other potentially lethal exotica in space sped up under Ronald Reagan, who gave carte blanche to the U.S. Air Force to expand dominance of the stratospheric high ground. And every president since has increased the budget for this dangerous grandiosity, always in the guise of national defence, of course—a position asserted by the many military figures seen here.
As illuminated by a welter of commentators, including Noam Chomsky, Helen Caldicott, and Martin Sheen, this less-than-heavenly push has been a spectacular boondoggle for the military-industrial complex—a “long con”, as one congressional observer calls it, designed as a licence to print money for programs that generally fail before getting off the ground. The scam may hide even more sinister purposes, but the most threatening aspect could be the proliferation of fast-moving space junk encircling our planet even before a catastrophic conflict or accident takes place.
Given all these fright factors, it almost seems wrong that the 85-minute film, goosed along by fast edits, high-tech graphics, and Amon Tobin’s electronic music, should be so cosmically entertaining.
by Ken Eisner
With the social, financial, and environmental problems bubbling up at the moment, we can’t be blamed, exactly, for failing to search the skies for trouble. Still, we’re idiots to ignore the warning signs above, and that’s the main message of this troubling documentary.
Directed by French-born Denis Delestrac, and written by him and others, including Siobhan Flanagan, Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space details the history and possible outcomes of a space race that began with Russia’s 1957 Sputnik launch. Of course, things started much earlier, when Hitler sent those V-2 rockets into English airspace, followed by Washington’s instant de-Nazification of rocket man Wernher von Braun, who put a big smile on NASA’s public face.
The prevalence of “kill vehicles” and other potentially lethal exotica in space sped up under Ronald Reagan, who gave carte blanche to the U.S. Air Force to expand dominance of the stratospheric high ground. And every president since has increased the budget for this dangerous grandiosity, always in the guise of national defence, of course—a position asserted by the many military figures seen here.
As illuminated by a welter of commentators, including Noam Chomsky, Helen Caldicott, and Martin Sheen, this less-than-heavenly push has been a spectacular boondoggle for the military-industrial complex—a “long con”, as one congressional observer calls it, designed as a licence to print money for programs that generally fail before getting off the ground. The scam may hide even more sinister purposes, but the most threatening aspect could be the proliferation of fast-moving space junk encircling our planet even before a catastrophic conflict or accident takes place.
Given all these fright factors, it almost seems wrong that the 85-minute film, goosed along by fast edits, high-tech graphics, and Amon Tobin’s electronic music, should be so cosmically entertaining.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Straight.com: Pax Americana delivers history lesson on weaponization of space
originally posted at Straight.com
by Travis Lupick
Nuclear weapons are frightening. The prospect of kinetic bombardment is even scarier. And if you believe the information presented in Pax Americana: The Weaponization of Space, it won’t be long before delivery systems capable of kinetic bombardment are orbiting Earth.
The concept is simple. Load a satellite up with rods of tungsten that can be fired down to the surface. Those projectiles would travel at an estimated 11,000 kilometres an hour and, with all of that energy, strike the planet with the force of an atomic bomb.
Even with a small network of such satellites, any target on Earth could be destroyed in less than 10 minutes of the press of a button.
In Pax Americana, which opens at the Vancity Theatre on Friday (June 4), director Denis Delestrac methodically presents publicly available information that should serve as a warning: the weaponization of space is happening and could end with a scenario not unlike the one outlined above.
“What is inevitable is that there is always going to be somebody who will want to dominate any territory,” Delestrac told the Straight in a telephone interview from Barcelona, where he is currently based. “That doesn’t make inevitable the fact that we can’t stop it.”
Which is what Pax Americana, Delestrac’s first feature-length film, is trying to do.
“The first step we need to take…is to inform and to get people to know what is happening,” the French-born writer and director said.
He explained that a handful of nations—primarily the United States, but China and others as well—are already far along in the process of weaponizing humankind’s final frontier, and that the public is largely unaware of this fact.
“It is called the Pax Americana, or the ‘American peace’,” a preacher delivering a sermon on a US military base says in the film. “It refers to the period in which American influence throughout the world has caused a relative peace to come about.”
Delestrac, who previously worked on the 2005 IMAX film Mystery of the Nile, said encountering that sort of attitude was an intriguing part of making the film.
“Some of the people who want to weaponize space really believe that if somebody has to dominate, then it has to be the US,” he said. “They have a good heart.”
The problem, Delestrac continued, is that moving militaries into space will likely bring consequences dangerous for the entire planet. As the film illustrates, a new arms race may already be under way.
Since former US president Ronald Reagan started the country’s “missile defence” program in 1983, the American government has spent $200 billion trying to figure out how to use satellites to shoot down projectiles launched from earthbound sites. In January 2007, China successfully destroyed one of its own satellites in a military exercise that caused international alarm. And Russia has vowed to destroy any weapon the US deploys in space.
Delestrac emphasized that all of this is happening just 100 kilometres above our heads.
“When the weapon is there,” he said, “there could always be a hand that could use the weapon not the way that it is supposed to—not to protect or not to defend, but to attack.”
by Travis Lupick
Nuclear weapons are frightening. The prospect of kinetic bombardment is even scarier. And if you believe the information presented in Pax Americana: The Weaponization of Space, it won’t be long before delivery systems capable of kinetic bombardment are orbiting Earth.
The concept is simple. Load a satellite up with rods of tungsten that can be fired down to the surface. Those projectiles would travel at an estimated 11,000 kilometres an hour and, with all of that energy, strike the planet with the force of an atomic bomb.
Even with a small network of such satellites, any target on Earth could be destroyed in less than 10 minutes of the press of a button.
In Pax Americana, which opens at the Vancity Theatre on Friday (June 4), director Denis Delestrac methodically presents publicly available information that should serve as a warning: the weaponization of space is happening and could end with a scenario not unlike the one outlined above.
“What is inevitable is that there is always going to be somebody who will want to dominate any territory,” Delestrac told the Straight in a telephone interview from Barcelona, where he is currently based. “That doesn’t make inevitable the fact that we can’t stop it.”
Which is what Pax Americana, Delestrac’s first feature-length film, is trying to do.
“The first step we need to take…is to inform and to get people to know what is happening,” the French-born writer and director said.
He explained that a handful of nations—primarily the United States, but China and others as well—are already far along in the process of weaponizing humankind’s final frontier, and that the public is largely unaware of this fact.
“It is called the Pax Americana, or the ‘American peace’,” a preacher delivering a sermon on a US military base says in the film. “It refers to the period in which American influence throughout the world has caused a relative peace to come about.”
Delestrac, who previously worked on the 2005 IMAX film Mystery of the Nile, said encountering that sort of attitude was an intriguing part of making the film.
“Some of the people who want to weaponize space really believe that if somebody has to dominate, then it has to be the US,” he said. “They have a good heart.”
The problem, Delestrac continued, is that moving militaries into space will likely bring consequences dangerous for the entire planet. As the film illustrates, a new arms race may already be under way.
Since former US president Ronald Reagan started the country’s “missile defence” program in 1983, the American government has spent $200 billion trying to figure out how to use satellites to shoot down projectiles launched from earthbound sites. In January 2007, China successfully destroyed one of its own satellites in a military exercise that caused international alarm. And Russia has vowed to destroy any weapon the US deploys in space.
Delestrac emphasized that all of this is happening just 100 kilometres above our heads.
“When the weapon is there,” he said, “there could always be a hand that could use the weapon not the way that it is supposed to—not to protect or not to defend, but to attack.”
Friday, May 28, 2010
Toronto Sun: Documentaries Thrive on DVD
originally posted at Toronto Sun
by Bruce Kirkland
Sadly, despite being an exciting art form and a source of enlightenment, documentaries do not travel well through cinemas.
Exceptions such as Oscar-winner An Inconvenient Truth ($48.8 million worldwide) and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Fahrenheit 9/11 ($222.4 million worldwide) merely prove the rule. Obviously, they were hits as well as controversial catalysts for public debate.
But docs in general are almost dead in theatres.
So it is great news that the genre is alive and well and living on DVD in specialized collections. One outstanding series comes from Canada’s KinoSmith, run by its president, Robin Smith. This innovative independent distributor just added four new titles to its Hot Docs DVD Collection, bringing the series to seven.
The first-wave was: The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins, RIP!: A Remix Manifesto and FLicKeR. The new titles are Unmistaken Child, The Bodybuilder and I, Prom Night in Mississippi and The Betrayal. With three more titles due in June (Burma VJ, Collapse and The Unforeseen) and two in July (Army of One and When We Were Boys), the Hot Docs DVD Collection is heating up. For those of us who love docs, it is incendiary.
Hot Docs is a Toronto phenomenon, a filmfest that is as important in its specialized niche in the spring as the Toronto International Film Festival is for all film genres in the fall. KinoSmith’s DVD series takes Hot Docs across Canada. Everyone can participate, at least for these titles.
All major DVD stores can carry these films, or order them in if they do not stock them. But two major chains are on-board with special displays devoted to the collection.
One is HMV, which has always supported docs by celebrating the offbeat, odd and obscure on its shelves. Good on them. The surprise partner is Blockbuster, which has an appalling record of supplying only mainstream fare. Giving the Hot Docs Collection its own focus in many Blockbuster stores is a nice change of pace: Hurrah!
For obvious reasons with documentaries, it is worth knowing what they are about. While filmmaking style is critical to getting the message across, it doesn’t mean much if the message does not intrigue the viewer. So here are capsule takes on the new titles:
One bonus is that KinoSmith will donate a percentage of each sale to the Hot Docs Education Fund for school programs related to documentary films. Youth need not be wasted on the young — if they are learning.
by Bruce Kirkland
Sadly, despite being an exciting art form and a source of enlightenment, documentaries do not travel well through cinemas.
Exceptions such as Oscar-winner An Inconvenient Truth ($48.8 million worldwide) and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Fahrenheit 9/11 ($222.4 million worldwide) merely prove the rule. Obviously, they were hits as well as controversial catalysts for public debate.
But docs in general are almost dead in theatres.
So it is great news that the genre is alive and well and living on DVD in specialized collections. One outstanding series comes from Canada’s KinoSmith, run by its president, Robin Smith. This innovative independent distributor just added four new titles to its Hot Docs DVD Collection, bringing the series to seven.
The first-wave was: The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins, RIP!: A Remix Manifesto and FLicKeR. The new titles are Unmistaken Child, The Bodybuilder and I, Prom Night in Mississippi and The Betrayal. With three more titles due in June (Burma VJ, Collapse and The Unforeseen) and two in July (Army of One and When We Were Boys), the Hot Docs DVD Collection is heating up. For those of us who love docs, it is incendiary.
Hot Docs is a Toronto phenomenon, a filmfest that is as important in its specialized niche in the spring as the Toronto International Film Festival is for all film genres in the fall. KinoSmith’s DVD series takes Hot Docs across Canada. Everyone can participate, at least for these titles.
All major DVD stores can carry these films, or order them in if they do not stock them. But two major chains are on-board with special displays devoted to the collection.
One is HMV, which has always supported docs by celebrating the offbeat, odd and obscure on its shelves. Good on them. The surprise partner is Blockbuster, which has an appalling record of supplying only mainstream fare. Giving the Hot Docs Collection its own focus in many Blockbuster stores is a nice change of pace: Hurrah!
For obvious reasons with documentaries, it is worth knowing what they are about. While filmmaking style is critical to getting the message across, it doesn’t mean much if the message does not intrigue the viewer. So here are capsule takes on the new titles:
- Prom Night in Mississippi: Fuelled by Morgan Freeman’s passion for Civil Rights, this uplifting, life-affirming, Canadian-made doc examines how a high school in Charleston, Miss., was forced to integrate its student population in 1970 but ignorantly refused to allow blacks to go to the senior prom. In 2008, that finally changed when the school finally accepted Freeman’s offer to pay for the prom — if integrated. And, guess what, it became a great experience for all. Directed by Canadian Paul Saltzman.
- Unmistaken Child: When Tibetan Buddhist leader Lama Konchog died in 2001, he left behind a daunting task for another monk: To find his reincarnated being. This Israeli film chronicles the extraordinary, four-year mission. Directed by Nati Baratz.
- The Bodybuilder and I: In this Canadian production, an estranged son, filmmaker Bryan Friedman, rediscovers his father during the elder man’s bizarre odyssey to regain his competitive bodybuilding crown at 59.
- The Betrayal: It took 23 years to film and earned a 2009 Oscar nomination as best documentary feature. Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath’s American-made film shows what compelled Phrasavath’s family to migrate from Laos to New York after America’s dirty Vietnam War spilled over into their home country.
One bonus is that KinoSmith will donate a percentage of each sale to the Hot Docs Education Fund for school programs related to documentary films. Youth need not be wasted on the young — if they are learning.
Friday, April 30, 2010
National Post: Passenger Side
originally published at the National Post
by Vanessa Farquharson (April 29, 2010)
A scene near the end of Passenger Side involves Michael (Adam Scott) trying to figure out whether he's a stupid white guy sadly wasting his life, or a sad white guy stupidly wasting his life.
He concludes it's the former, although if this is true, one must admit that watching a feature-length film about precisely how a stupid white guy sadly wastes his life has never been so entertaining -- or come with a better soundtrack (think Wilco, Leonard Cohen, Dinosaur Jr., Evan Dando and more).
The third effort from Canadian writer-director Matthew Bissonnette, whose 2006 film Who Loves The Sun was nominated for a Genie award, Passenger Side relies very much on its script, achieving that elusive balance of smart, funny and -- most difficult of all -- authentic.
That said, Bissonnette can't take all the credit; his brother Joel, who plays recovering drug addict Tobey, and Scott, in the role of a not-quite-successful writer with a not-quite girlfriend, have clearly spent enough time together off-screen that their chemistry and sense of timing is bang-on. After all, it's one thing to come up with snarky banter and lines like, "I love the future -- in fact, I have a feeling it's going to be the next big thing," but quite another to deliver this with the perfect mix of ennui, defensiveness and bitter sarcasm.
Certain moments seem so natural, it's hard to know whether they were improvised or not -- one, in particular, comes when the guys are standing outside a car wash; Michael compliments Tobey on his new shoes, which are fire-engine red. "They look really good," he says, pausing only for a second before adding, "They match your eyes."
The story itself involves a languorous, day-long drive in and around Los Angeles to find Theresa (Robin Tunney), the love of Tobey's life. A range of bizarre characters end up tumbling in and out of their car (the dog is the only one that sticks around until the end), which makes for some added humour amidst the more serious discussion.
There's a nice twist, too, but it's hardly essential -- audiences will feel as though they could sit in the backseat forever, alternately listening to Guided By Voices (on cassette, of course) and the ramblings of Michael and Tobey as they tackle everything from existentialism to how the Habs will win the Stanley Cup again and whether they'd have sex with Laura Bush or Dick Cheney.
About halfway through the film, they get a flat tire while in the desert -- but just when viewers may be thinking this feels slightly clichéd, Scott's character comments on how flat tires never provide much in the way of plot development.
Clearly, this director is always one step ahead, incredibly self-aware, and even willing to poke fun at himself. These are traits not often found amongst the indie Canadian filmmaking set; hopefully, it leads to more critical recognition and a long road ahead for Bissonnette.
by Vanessa Farquharson (April 29, 2010)
A scene near the end of Passenger Side involves Michael (Adam Scott) trying to figure out whether he's a stupid white guy sadly wasting his life, or a sad white guy stupidly wasting his life.
He concludes it's the former, although if this is true, one must admit that watching a feature-length film about precisely how a stupid white guy sadly wastes his life has never been so entertaining -- or come with a better soundtrack (think Wilco, Leonard Cohen, Dinosaur Jr., Evan Dando and more).
The third effort from Canadian writer-director Matthew Bissonnette, whose 2006 film Who Loves The Sun was nominated for a Genie award, Passenger Side relies very much on its script, achieving that elusive balance of smart, funny and -- most difficult of all -- authentic.
That said, Bissonnette can't take all the credit; his brother Joel, who plays recovering drug addict Tobey, and Scott, in the role of a not-quite-successful writer with a not-quite girlfriend, have clearly spent enough time together off-screen that their chemistry and sense of timing is bang-on. After all, it's one thing to come up with snarky banter and lines like, "I love the future -- in fact, I have a feeling it's going to be the next big thing," but quite another to deliver this with the perfect mix of ennui, defensiveness and bitter sarcasm.
Certain moments seem so natural, it's hard to know whether they were improvised or not -- one, in particular, comes when the guys are standing outside a car wash; Michael compliments Tobey on his new shoes, which are fire-engine red. "They look really good," he says, pausing only for a second before adding, "They match your eyes."
The story itself involves a languorous, day-long drive in and around Los Angeles to find Theresa (Robin Tunney), the love of Tobey's life. A range of bizarre characters end up tumbling in and out of their car (the dog is the only one that sticks around until the end), which makes for some added humour amidst the more serious discussion.
There's a nice twist, too, but it's hardly essential -- audiences will feel as though they could sit in the backseat forever, alternately listening to Guided By Voices (on cassette, of course) and the ramblings of Michael and Tobey as they tackle everything from existentialism to how the Habs will win the Stanley Cup again and whether they'd have sex with Laura Bush or Dick Cheney.
About halfway through the film, they get a flat tire while in the desert -- but just when viewers may be thinking this feels slightly clichéd, Scott's character comments on how flat tires never provide much in the way of plot development.
Clearly, this director is always one step ahead, incredibly self-aware, and even willing to poke fun at himself. These are traits not often found amongst the indie Canadian filmmaking set; hopefully, it leads to more critical recognition and a long road ahead for Bissonnette.
Globe and Mail: Passenger Side
originally published at the Globe and Mail:
by Liam Lacey
Editorial Rating: *** (out of 4)
Simple and smart, Canadian director Matt Bissonnette’s Passenger Side is what’s known in theatre circles as a two-hander, a two-person play in which everything depends on dialogue and performance. The film also fits into another familiar genre, the road movie, although in this case it’s two brothers on a wandering day trip around Los Angeles and its environs in a beat-up vintage BMW. The older brother, an acerbic writer, is Michael (Adam Scott); the younger brother is a recovering junkie named Tobey (the director’s brother Joel Bissonnette).
The film begins with that most annoying of attention-getting devices – the unanswered telephone – which rings in Michael’s apartment repeatedly. Michael is a technophobe; his answering machine still uses a cassette tape. We subsequently learn that he’s an author struggling to write a second novel, and to compound things, today is his 37th birthday. Tobey wants Michael to pick him up and drive him around town to run errands since his own car has broken down. Reluctantly, Michael agrees and the rest of the movie consists of their day, as they go on a sojourn out of the city, to the desert and back.
Michael and Tobey dive immediately into a kind of hostile, familiar banter. Tobey’s annoyed with Michael’s message machine, which he describes as “like calling East Germany in 1982…You have a fear of the future.”
“No, I don’t,” says Michael. “I love the future. I think it’s going to be the next big thing.”
And so the talk goes along with the journey, both pointed and somehow pointless. Tobey says he has a new job. Michael sounds skeptical. Sad, indie-rock songs play on the soundtrack. We learn that Tobey is a failure but an optimist, while Michael is slightly successful but embittered. While Tobey keeps stopping to visit various houses, we spend a lot of time sitting with Michael in his car. At one point a trans-sexual prostitute, Carla, hops in with him and begins initiating business, which rattles Michael’s facade of cynical composure.
In the course of their day travelling through un-touristy backstreets and dull byways of Los Angeles, they meet a lot of eccentric characters, including a Mexican man who has just severed two fingers, a spooky clairvoyant who serves them lunch, a drunken party girl with right-wing political views and the cast of a porn movie. Early on, Michael believes Tobey is using him for a drug connection, but Tobey says no, he’s on a different kind of quest, a search for a woman.
At times, the plot meanders, but there’s a shape to the events, a sense that the brothers – Canadians, as it turns out – have been orphaned here in Los Angeles in their adult lives. In the midst of the verbal and physical detours, there’s a conversation about hockey (like director Bissonnette, they’re Montrealers). Later, they’re chased by an angry anti-Canadian gas station owner, one of the film’s quirky evocations of The Odyssey. Finally, they arrive back in Los Angeles for an ending that has been signalled but has a twist which puts their journey in perspective.
The lead actors have their familiar, sibling banter down cold – dialogue that’s half-funny, half-bitter and designed mostly to kill time. Scott, in particular, shows himself to be one of the best young American actors going. Though he has appeared in small roles in dubious mainstream films (Monster-in-Law, Leap Year and Step Brothers) and has a lead role in the upcoming horror film (Piranha 3D), his best work is here and in another indie film The Vicious Kind, which had its debut at Sundance last year. There are echoes of a young Michael Keaton or even Jack Nicholson in his performances, which have that great rare quality of vulnerability and danger.
by Liam Lacey
Editorial Rating: *** (out of 4)
Simple and smart, Canadian director Matt Bissonnette’s Passenger Side is what’s known in theatre circles as a two-hander, a two-person play in which everything depends on dialogue and performance. The film also fits into another familiar genre, the road movie, although in this case it’s two brothers on a wandering day trip around Los Angeles and its environs in a beat-up vintage BMW. The older brother, an acerbic writer, is Michael (Adam Scott); the younger brother is a recovering junkie named Tobey (the director’s brother Joel Bissonnette).
The film begins with that most annoying of attention-getting devices – the unanswered telephone – which rings in Michael’s apartment repeatedly. Michael is a technophobe; his answering machine still uses a cassette tape. We subsequently learn that he’s an author struggling to write a second novel, and to compound things, today is his 37th birthday. Tobey wants Michael to pick him up and drive him around town to run errands since his own car has broken down. Reluctantly, Michael agrees and the rest of the movie consists of their day, as they go on a sojourn out of the city, to the desert and back.
Michael and Tobey dive immediately into a kind of hostile, familiar banter. Tobey’s annoyed with Michael’s message machine, which he describes as “like calling East Germany in 1982…You have a fear of the future.”
“No, I don’t,” says Michael. “I love the future. I think it’s going to be the next big thing.”
And so the talk goes along with the journey, both pointed and somehow pointless. Tobey says he has a new job. Michael sounds skeptical. Sad, indie-rock songs play on the soundtrack. We learn that Tobey is a failure but an optimist, while Michael is slightly successful but embittered. While Tobey keeps stopping to visit various houses, we spend a lot of time sitting with Michael in his car. At one point a trans-sexual prostitute, Carla, hops in with him and begins initiating business, which rattles Michael’s facade of cynical composure.
In the course of their day travelling through un-touristy backstreets and dull byways of Los Angeles, they meet a lot of eccentric characters, including a Mexican man who has just severed two fingers, a spooky clairvoyant who serves them lunch, a drunken party girl with right-wing political views and the cast of a porn movie. Early on, Michael believes Tobey is using him for a drug connection, but Tobey says no, he’s on a different kind of quest, a search for a woman.
At times, the plot meanders, but there’s a shape to the events, a sense that the brothers – Canadians, as it turns out – have been orphaned here in Los Angeles in their adult lives. In the midst of the verbal and physical detours, there’s a conversation about hockey (like director Bissonnette, they’re Montrealers). Later, they’re chased by an angry anti-Canadian gas station owner, one of the film’s quirky evocations of The Odyssey. Finally, they arrive back in Los Angeles for an ending that has been signalled but has a twist which puts their journey in perspective.
The lead actors have their familiar, sibling banter down cold – dialogue that’s half-funny, half-bitter and designed mostly to kill time. Scott, in particular, shows himself to be one of the best young American actors going. Though he has appeared in small roles in dubious mainstream films (Monster-in-Law, Leap Year and Step Brothers) and has a lead role in the upcoming horror film (Piranha 3D), his best work is here and in another indie film The Vicious Kind, which had its debut at Sundance last year. There are echoes of a young Michael Keaton or even Jack Nicholson in his performances, which have that great rare quality of vulnerability and danger.
Eye Weekly: Passenger Side
originally published at Eye Weekly:
by Chris Bilton
Editorial Rating: *** (out of 5)
In director Matthew Bissonette’s third feature, Passenger Side, much fantastic dialogue punctuates the cassette-tape aesthetic of older brother Michael (Adam Scott) and the whims of his dubiously life-embracing ex-junkie brother Tobey (Joel Bissonnette) as the pair drive around on a hopeless day-long journey from place to place through regular people’s LA. (There’s not one pass by Grauman’s Chinese Theatre or the Disney/Gehry opera house.)
Carefully paced and, at times, cleverly self-conscious, the gentle unfolding of the brothers’ relationship via an urban road trip is full of nostalgia and regret, hope and forgiveness, all of which emerge from the unlikeliest of places. Consequently, Passenger Side feels a bit like Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy if it were set in downtown LA instead of the Pacific Northwest wilderness. Bonus points for the Can-con hockey talk, which is excellently paired with a Leonard Cohen song.
by Chris Bilton
Editorial Rating: *** (out of 5)
In director Matthew Bissonette’s third feature, Passenger Side, much fantastic dialogue punctuates the cassette-tape aesthetic of older brother Michael (Adam Scott) and the whims of his dubiously life-embracing ex-junkie brother Tobey (Joel Bissonnette) as the pair drive around on a hopeless day-long journey from place to place through regular people’s LA. (There’s not one pass by Grauman’s Chinese Theatre or the Disney/Gehry opera house.)
Carefully paced and, at times, cleverly self-conscious, the gentle unfolding of the brothers’ relationship via an urban road trip is full of nostalgia and regret, hope and forgiveness, all of which emerge from the unlikeliest of places. Consequently, Passenger Side feels a bit like Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy if it were set in downtown LA instead of the Pacific Northwest wilderness. Bonus points for the Can-con hockey talk, which is excellently paired with a Leonard Cohen song.
NOW Toronto: Passenger Side
originally published at NOW Toronto:
by Norman Wilner
Editorial Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
In writer/director Matthew Bissonnette’s follow-up to Who Loves The Sun, brothers Tobey and Michael (played by the director’s brother Joel and Step Brothers’ Adam Scott) spend a day driving around the greater Los Angeles area looking for Tobey’s ex-girlfriend.
It’s like a Richard Linklater movie from the mid-1990s: very little happens, and that’s sort of the point. The conversation is engaging, the two leads snap instantly into the relaxed but guarded vibe of lifelong adversaries, and the script parcels out little bits of information as needed.
The twist at the end is unnecessary, though. Had Passenger Side ended five minutes earlier, it would have been much more fulfilling.
by Norman Wilner
Editorial Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
In writer/director Matthew Bissonnette’s follow-up to Who Loves The Sun, brothers Tobey and Michael (played by the director’s brother Joel and Step Brothers’ Adam Scott) spend a day driving around the greater Los Angeles area looking for Tobey’s ex-girlfriend.
It’s like a Richard Linklater movie from the mid-1990s: very little happens, and that’s sort of the point. The conversation is engaging, the two leads snap instantly into the relaxed but guarded vibe of lifelong adversaries, and the script parcels out little bits of information as needed.
The twist at the end is unnecessary, though. Had Passenger Side ended five minutes earlier, it would have been much more fulfilling.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Montreal Gazette: Passenger Side Takes On Gunless
originally posted at the Montreal Gazette:
by Brendan Kelly (April 28, 2010)
How about this for a David vs. Goliath battle? In one corner, we have Gunless, the new multi-million-buck western spoof starring Paul Gross, who is like the closest thing we have to a real bona-fide movie-star in English Canada. In the other corner, the ultimate underdog - former Montrealer Matthew Bissonnette's micro-budget, shot-on-the-run Passenger Side. Matt Bissonnette's flick opens on a grand total of 3 screens Friday - one each in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Gunless, well it opens on a load more screens across the country and benefits from a mega promotional campaign from heavy-weight distributor Alliance Films.
It's the battle of two oh-so-different visions of Canadian cinema. On one side, you have the Paul Gross school - spend a lot of money, go for big commercial projects and chances are it'll work (which it did for both Men With Brooms and Passchendaele).
Then there's the auteur guy. Bissonnette makes little ultra-personal films, like the memorable Looking for Leonard and Who Loves the Sun, and with Passenger Side, he's hit his stride creatively. L.A. Weekly called it "a thinking man's Judd Apatow flick" and they're right. It's a brilliant film - smart, funny, a little disturbing and utterly original. It's about two brothers who spend a day driving around L.A. looking for one brother's ex-girlfriend. That's it for plot. (For more on the movie, I will have a profile of lead actor Joel Bissonnette in The Gazette Monday.)
Like I said, two different visions of Canadian cinema. Now wouldn't it be cool if Passenger Side somehow turned into this year's little-Canadian-film-that-could. You could help make it happen if you live in Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver. Go see the film. And, if you still have any money, then you can go see Gunless too, if you want.
by Brendan Kelly (April 28, 2010)
How about this for a David vs. Goliath battle? In one corner, we have Gunless, the new multi-million-buck western spoof starring Paul Gross, who is like the closest thing we have to a real bona-fide movie-star in English Canada. In the other corner, the ultimate underdog - former Montrealer Matthew Bissonnette's micro-budget, shot-on-the-run Passenger Side. Matt Bissonnette's flick opens on a grand total of 3 screens Friday - one each in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Gunless, well it opens on a load more screens across the country and benefits from a mega promotional campaign from heavy-weight distributor Alliance Films.
It's the battle of two oh-so-different visions of Canadian cinema. On one side, you have the Paul Gross school - spend a lot of money, go for big commercial projects and chances are it'll work (which it did for both Men With Brooms and Passchendaele).
Then there's the auteur guy. Bissonnette makes little ultra-personal films, like the memorable Looking for Leonard and Who Loves the Sun, and with Passenger Side, he's hit his stride creatively. L.A. Weekly called it "a thinking man's Judd Apatow flick" and they're right. It's a brilliant film - smart, funny, a little disturbing and utterly original. It's about two brothers who spend a day driving around L.A. looking for one brother's ex-girlfriend. That's it for plot. (For more on the movie, I will have a profile of lead actor Joel Bissonnette in The Gazette Monday.)
Like I said, two different visions of Canadian cinema. Now wouldn't it be cool if Passenger Side somehow turned into this year's little-Canadian-film-that-could. You could help make it happen if you live in Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver. Go see the film. And, if you still have any money, then you can go see Gunless too, if you want.
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