Week Ending 8/18/23
Best laid plans and all that
Worked picked up at what is probably the worst time of the year considering Fantasia Fest pushes into TIFF with little wiggle room to catch up on actual theatrical releases. It used to be our company’s slowest stretch. Since COVID, however, it’s become the busiest. So, there’s just one title reviewed below. Thankfully, it was a good one.
Speaking of TIFF: the full schedule released this week. I still don’t know which public tickets I’ll be able to snag from the press office to cement my choices, but I’m hoping to fit in NORTH STAR, DICKS THE MUSICAL, FINESTKIND, WOMAN OF THE HOUR, DEAR JASSI. and RUSTIN, among others.
The festival really looks to be forcing press/industry into as many public screenings as possible by drastically reducing the number of press screenings available each afternoon/night. It’s surely an intentional move that I assume is meant to help fill the public screenings to capacity. Now that the studios pulled all their big hitters due to the strikes that they continue to prolong by refusing to pay talent fair wages, the fear is that regular Torontonians might not be clamoring to see what is showing instead. And TIFF hates empty seats. So much so that they admit any unused public tickets given to press members will count against them earning a badge next year.
What I Watched:
MUTT
(now in limited release)
As if Feña (Lío Mehiel) didn’t already have enough on his mind with the prospect of seeing his Chilean father (Alejandro Goic’s Pablo) for the first time since transitioning, the past seems intent on piling more stress with every turn throughout the twenty-four-hour period between answering his phone call while clubbing and going to bed the next night. First, it’s ex-boyfriend John (Cole Doman). Then half-sister Zoe (MiMi Ryder). Add the daily adventure of absorbing the usual misgendering and bigotry being a trans man in NYC attracts and the emotional roller coaster doesn’t seem capable of stopping.
Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s MUTT is a great kitchen sink type war of attrition for his lead character. After more than a year alone to start building his new life, Feña can no longer continue escaping the past—intentionally or not. That is what appears happened, though, since both John and Zoe accuse him of running away. It’s an obviously reductive and somewhat selfish impression with a lot of hindsight thrown into the mix to gloss over the complexity of their respective situations, but Feña doesn’t really correct them. He even apologizes for his part in severing those ties. Even so, he wasn’t necessarily wrong for doing it.
That these characters can exist in that murky area of confused feelings without having to lose themselves in easy vilification is a testament to the empathy with which Lungulov-Klotz utilizes throughout his story (one he’s intimate with being a trans man himself with a Chilean-Serbian mixed heritage). Because it isn’t a binary thing. You cannot simply erase what came before. To maintain the relationships that matter, both sides need to find common ground. Just as Zoe and Pablo must figure out whether they can accept who Feña is in order to remain a part of his life, he must grant them the room with which to do so.
The same goes for John regardless of the extra romantic complications. Maybe Feña’s transitioning isn’t a non-starter to continuing their relationship. Or, maybe it wouldn’t have been if given the chance then. This is part of that sense of in-betweenness on-screen that Lungulov-Klotz writes about in his director’s statement. Feña caught looking forwards and backwards. Between life as a woman and as a man. As a young Chilean under the wing of a caring father and an American teen under that of an abusive mother. At a certain point a choice must be made, but making it won’t be without regret or guilt or sorrow.
It was therefore crucial for boundaries to be set. Leaving Zoe wasn’t about abandoning her. It was about freeing herself from a domineering mother and home. Leaving John wasn’t necessarily about leaving him either as much as it was leaving “Fernanda” behind since “she” was inexplicably connected to him. Those actions were taken for survival and maybe those two did become collateral damage as a result. Maybe they can understand that fact and move forward. Or maybe they can’t. Unfortunately, the only way to discover the former is true is to become vulnerable enough to endure the pain all over again if it is the latter instead.
Mehiel delivers an unforgettable performance juggling Feña’s emotionally precarious position of returning to the past in his present form. It’s a journey marked by as much cruelty as humor with as many examples of people showing they are who he thought they were as those who might surprise him. One doesn’t arrive without the other, though. And you can’t know for certain what might happen unless you give that person the rope to hang themselves. In the end it all comes down to a scene wherein Feña can no longer hold back the truth that none of this is easy for him. He didn’t choose this life. He found the courage to accept it.
The others’ willingness to do the same upon recognizing how much happier and comfortable he is in his own skin shouldn’t be a choice either. Because he’s still just Feña. Sadly, too many in this world would rather pretend the opposite.
- 8/10
Cinematic F-Bombs:
This week saw 80 FOR BRADY (2023), THE ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND (2008), CENTER STAGE (2000), MADE OF HONOR (2008), and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (2018) added to the archive. Love it when an actor goes overboard to really emphasize the f-bomb like Henry Cavill below. cinematicfbombs.com
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 8/18/23 -
BACK ON THE STRIP at Dipson Capitol; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
BLUE BEETLE at Dipson McKinley, Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
GHOOMER at Regal Elmwood
IT AIN'T OVER at North Park Theatre (select times)
LANDSCAPE WITH INVISIBLE HAND at Regal Transit & Quaker
OLDBOY (4K Restoration) at North Park Theatre (select times)
STRAYS at Dipson McKinley, Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
Streaming from 8/18/23 -
10 DAYS OF A BAD MAN – Netflix on 8/18
BAD THINGS – Shudder on 8/18
CHRIS FLEMING: HELL – Peacock on 8/18
LEGO DISNEY PRINCESS: THE CASTLE QUEST – Disney+ on 8/18
LOVE, SEX & 30 CANDLES – Netflix on 8/18
THE MONKEY KING – Netflix on 8/18
PUPPY LOVE – Freevee on 8/18
BS HIGH – Max on 8/18
TRAP JAZZ – Hulu on 8/18
THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS – Criterion Channel on 8/22
SQUARED LOVE EVERLASTING – Netflix on 8/23
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
ELEMENTAL (8/15)
KOKOMO CITY (8/15)
NO HARD FEELINGS (8/15)
STAY AWAKE (8/15)
“Stay Awake is told from [the boys'] perspective and effectively allows them the complexity to move their frustrations to the forefront. It's natural for them to wonder aloud that something needs to give.” – Full thoughts at The Film Stage.
DARK WINDOWS (8/18)
DEAD SHOT (8/18)
DOWNWIND (8/18)
THE ENGINEER (8/18)
From the press kit archive:
