Archive for category: Reviews

I can’t say I rate this highly as a film – there was way too much of one woman’s story, for instance, and too much of that was a side issue – but the overall thrust was compelling, so much so that it has already brought change and will, one hopes, bring more. The regularity of sexual assault on women in the armed forces is staggering, but not totally surprising. What is more gravely shocking is the abuse these women receive from the armed forces when they seek help or justice. Sexual predation is always with us, but the need to accept it need not be.

The title and the opening scene give away all suspense, so what we are left with is a Danish Lincoln, which undoubtedly means more to the Danes than us Yanks. The costumes are nice, but can’t compare to recent dramas from the French court. It’s fun to meet actors we’ve never seen, although Queen Caroline could’ve been prettier or more interesting for my taste. According to Wikipedia, this is a quite accurate recounting of a pivot in Denmark’s history, which is probably all I will take from the experience.

There is a story, but mainly this is a feature-length indictment of Muslim culture and, indirectly, the peril of non-assimilation, in this case into Canadian society. Wives are abused, treated as chattel, and sons are in thrall to hard-line parents. The “spiritual leader” ruins everyone around him and is finally arrested, symbolically, for sending money to the Taliban. I wonder if director Babek Aliassar is complaining, or warning fellow Muslims. In either case, the message seems clear.

The movie’s title and opening suggest a one-joke plot, but it turns out that the film is not really about sex, or kids, but about intimate relationships and the difficulty thereof. Conspicuously covering the waterfront, we are given a straight couple, a gay couple, an interracial couple, an older couple, a single mom, a single dad, a hooker-mom and siblings. The sex is largely played for cheap laughs and there is nothing profound, but writer-director Jeremy LaLonde does a nice, low-budget job of tying the stories together and wrapping things up in a satisfying way that lets you leave the theater in a cheerful mood, if none the wiser.

Perfectly well made movie, and Lea Seydoux was luscious, but I spent the whole film hoping, waiting for the little thief to get caught, and the last half-hour waiting for the film to end. I don’t know if we were supposed to feel sympathy for the poor 12-year-old Simon, “forced” to steal in order to eat, but my sympathies were with the skiers who came out of their lunch breaks to find their skis and goggles missing. With nothing to root for, I just wanted the whole thing to go away.