By Anne Brodie
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life follows Agathe (Camille Rutherford) a bookseller in Paris’ tony Shakespeare & Co. who wants to write a book, inspired by her lifelong love of the works of Jane Austen. And not just any book. She determines to write one that will connect her with Austen for all time. Sadly, she’s hit a wall and can’t write just as she leaves France for an exclusive Jane Austen writers’ residency in England. Now Agathe’s a spinster (to use an Austen term) and a Luddite, so she’d like to meet a man IRL; she claims she was born “in the wrong century” and perhaps one will appear there. Félix (Pablo Pauly) her bestie, spends time with her but she feels no attraction. Oliver (Charlie Anson) who happens to be Austen’s great-great-great-great-nephew, greets her off the ferry to drive her to his home where the event takes place, run by his mother. It’s a colourful spot – Oliver’s father walks the gardens nude, and she’s encouraged to recapture that literary spark. Somehow Félix shows up and expects to share her room. She’s taken by Oliver but doesn’t object when Félix insinuates himself into her life. An improbable, head spinning parade of events that aren’t quite set due to a lack of cohesion and it’s not funny despite being a romcom. Still, it’s nice to think Jane Austen rides again. Now at TIFF Lightbox and in Vancouver and Montreal.
Daniel Robbins’ comedy Bad Shabbas finds an Upper West Side Jewish family gathered for dinner to meet their son David’s (Jon Bass) Roman Catholic fiancée Meg (Meghan Leathers). She’s studying Judaic traditions in order to convert so it should have been a pleasant evening. Oh no. His mother Ellen (Kyra Sedgwick) is not on board and behaves in a passive aggressive manner while her husband Richard (David Paymer) welcomes Meg and tries to bridge the gap. David’s pill-popping youngest brother Adam (Theo Taplitz) is the family truth teller, while their sister Abby (Milana Vayntrub) will dump her nasty piece of work boyfriend Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman). Lots of undercurrents = big waves. Benjamin’s upset everyone with his barbs and Adam’s apparently off or too much on his meds and creates scenes; he spikes Benjamin’s drink with laxatives; Benjamin runs to the loo and dies. Still a comedy. Edgy, though. Call the police? No! Get their solutions based, understanding doorman Cliff “Method Man” Smith in a standout performance that is the heart and muscle of the film. He says he’ll do anything for the family and concocts a plan, but just as they are about to carry it out, Meg’s no-nonsense, culturally WASP parents Beth (Catherine Curtin) and John (John Bedford Lloyd) arrive for dinner. From here on in Bad Shabbas becomes a sly brew of stealth, bold decisions so bizarre and funny they would be unbelievable except for Cliff the doorman whose sheer brilliance mimics a runaway train. It opens corny and silly, quickly becomes edgy and the third act – wow! In theatres now. Don’t miss it.
Peacock NBC’s Grosse Point Garden Society wraps up its first season with a bang – or a few! This satirical, soapy murder/crime series focusses on a tight group of women bound together with one man to keep a Big Secret. They’re the uber wealthy in suburban Middle America, members of the fiercely competitive gardening coven; they desire more than anything else – the South Eastern Michigan Cup award. The thought of losing – again – is unbearable and they’ll do anything to secure the crystal award. Anything. And thank goodness they have gardens in which things may be hidden. Melissa Fumero, Aja Naomi King, AnnaSophia Robb and Ben Rappaport are our main movers in this fun, bitter romp. The style’s reminiscent of Desperate Housewives, Dallas, Dynasty, The Stepford Wives, where style overrules substance with eye popping, to die for wardrobes, décor, lifestyles, etc. The inner sanctum shares life-altering secrets, dressed in extreme happy, poppy floral prints, feminine shapes with intricately perfect hair and makeup – they’re rich, idle except for gardening, fill their time in some pretty dark ways – jealousies, infidelities, secrets and lies. Beneath the collective pretty lurks dark souls. Guilty souls, breakers of the Ten Commandment, gals and guy. Even the cinematography is sly. A woman prunes her roses as another plucks her eyebrows – makeup, style, gossip, homes, décor, all extremely glossy, superficial things draw us in. So how does the evil fit in? Very easily indeed. Gruesome, unnecessary deaths, with no end to their villainy – even moody and operatic in the TV soap way, with eerie tonal music and sounds. The series and characters aim for sophistication but instead find poseurs (get a load of the contest judge) because in the end its soap, baby, soap. One woman believes another killed her dog so she and the coven plan to destroy the Grand Prize she won at the awards show, one of the less grim paybacks. These are grown ups who must stop whatever is in their way. Loads of plots and subplots whiz around changing things, catty folks and their consciences and actions on parade – not us – is FUN. Stream on Peacock+ if you missed it on broadcast!
One of the most revolutionary, provocative films of the 70s was Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris. Strangers Paul and 19-year-old Jeanne (Marlon Brando and Maria Schnieder) meet and agree to a primal, anonymous sexual relationship in an empty apartment. The film went where no mass market film had gone before in its frank depiction of sex and power, made Bertolucci’s name and had a curious effect on both Schneider and Brando. Being Maria, from Jessica Palude, focuses on Schneider’s response to the shoot. Maria Anamaria Vartolomei plays the 16-year-old who is having a difficult time. She’s kicked out of her home by her monstrous mother, when Maria contacts her absent actor father – verboten. She has nowhere to go except to him, but that doesn’t work out, so she’s on the streets. Somehow she lands the lead role in Tango to co-star with Hollywood heavyweight Marlon Brando (Matt Dillon) and all goes well as they are careful with her on the set of the sexually explicit film. But her protection is taken away in horrific fashion when Paul rapes her; he and Bertolucci (Giuseppe Maggio) had agreed not to tell her in advance to get a better performance. She let them know how she felt however, Bertolucci decides to reshoot the scene the next day and at that point Schneider gives up. She’s devasted. It changes her life. She is mistrustful of men, takes up heroin and is desperately unhappy; her life after was a mess. She died of cancer at 55, following suicide attempts. For all the sturm und drang, betrayal and abuse, the film seems somehow bloodless and slow, however it left a strong impression of diastase for the perps and empathy for those victimised in their naivete. DVD May 27.
Well, this is an unexpected gem of a short film! The Last Role of Charles LeBlanc takes place in the Hollywood Hills where the “old stars who no longer get phone calls” reside. We learn this from Luke Harkins (Jack DeCerchio) as he rides his motorcycle up to LeBlanc’s house; he’s LeBlanc’s groundskeeper after a vicious grilling by the assistant (Shamya Jamerica) but he will unknowingly play another role, very strange role. LeBlanc (Arthur Roberts) is watching a week-long retrospective on himself on TV; included is the film Gangsters Don’t Go To Heaven which he made with his friend, the late Stuart Benedict (also played by Jack DeCerchio) who often was his film adversary. LeBlanc is taken aback. Especially since Luke is wielding a rifle (actually a leaf blower) as in the scene in the film on tv. LeBlanc gets right into character and speaks his lines to Luke, mistaking him for the man who died twenty years ago. Luke’s not sure what’s going on but meets and has a tryst with LeBlanc’s very young daughter (Rebecca Stoughton) who takes him to meet the filmmaker remaking Gangsters Don’t Go To Heaven. Drugs, dreams, danger, dementia …what a package! It’s exciting, surreal, gritty and human and in twenty minutes accomplishes more than many films manage in two hours. Now on Apple TV
Restless from Jed Hart, finds Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal) a single woman living in a planned community somewhere in the UK whose life is dangerously disrupted by new neighbours. Nicky’s a big classical music and opera fan, and blasts her radio, no thought given to anyone living a wall or a few feet away. She gets a taste of her own medicine when Deano (Aston McAuley) moves into the empty bungalow attached to hers. Only one hundredfold. The first night people gather, blasting tech music, dancing, yelling, having sex and robbing Nicky of sleep. She forgives him assuming it’s a celebration of his new home. But it happens every. Single. Night. She’s deeply sleep deprived and when she complains her beloved cat goes missing. Work is impossible as she grows increasingly fragile. She’s one of the few remaining caregivers at a nursing home, crucial to the wellbeing of the residents. But she can no longer function. The local council decides the noise levels are within legal limits. Cruel Deano sometimes turns the music off for a minute or two then blasts it louder; she’s losing her grip. She notices a young person going into Deano’s and its payback time. She uses the key her old neighbour gave her, breaks in in the dead of night and discovers the child and Deano are in bed together. She lets the child’s family know, and they come for Deano. This is a woman who has exhausted all avenues to get a good night’s sleep but is now the perp. The film is extremely interesting and astute; if you’ve had a bad neighbour, you can relate. If you’ve been a bad neighbour, shame on you. Restless on TVOD today.
Sarah Silverman’s blue performances are as profane. Imagine that fused with white hot anger and pain at recently losing her father and stepmother nine days apart. Silverman wrote, directed and stars in the standup special Sarah Silverman: Postmortem. It opens with thunderous applause and a standing ovation; the night will be emotional enough but to have her fans show their support and love roaring for her must have felt wonderful. Her colourful father Donald Schleppy Silverman supported his wife Beth Ann, and their five children, Sarah the youngest, in Concord New Hampshire; he had an outrageous sense of humour mixed with what sounds like overbearing anger. She quotes him – fierce, angry, mildly clever and in yer face. He ran Crazy Sophie’s Outlet, a discount women’s store while her mother a true wordsmith worked in local theatre. Beth Ann “ENUNCIATED” and reminded her of Diane Chambers in Cheers. So, these were the forces that shaped the future comedy star. Silverman runs the gamut of feelings from disgust at some of her father’s remarks, her mother’s completely different vibe, and the grieving; her tears are the music of this piece. We know her style. It’s just poignant to see her distraught yet carrying on as she talks about being with her step mother Janet at the end. Silverman’s offended plenty of people and refused to apologise for a racist remark in 2007. On the other hand, she’s worked for many important liberal causes, but in the end, she struggles with all of us with the loss of her parents. It’s a gritty hour and a few minutes, so the faint of heart need not tune in. On Netflix now.