Results tagged “thelife”

The history of Michael Hollingsworth's "epic play-cycle" The History of the Village of the Small Huts is almost as storied (and confusing) as the events they represent. Many are familiar with the plays only since 2000, when VideoCabaret's residency began in the back room at the Cameron House. Since then, they have produced a new Hollingsworth play every year (with the exception of 2004), making the currently-running Laurier the eighth play in the cycle. However, the original play-cycle began all the way back in 1985 with the play New France, and ended in 1999 with The Life & Times of Brian Mulroney (the only Small Huts show to be co-written with other VideoCabaret playwright-in-residence Deanne Taylor). There was even a Laurier show back in 1991. Since the Cameron House residency began, the shows have been re-imagined and re-written, and some entirely new shows have been inserted to more fully flesh out the nation's history. So, while this Laurier is the eighth in the cycle, the original was only the fifth.

It’s funny that we mentioned in our introduction last week, because it’s showing tonight at 11:30 p.m. at the Bloor. It’s been a while, in our memory, since the last time it showed, which would imply that the fans in Toronto aren't as rabid as elsewhere, but we’d still recommend that you don't head along unless you’re very familiar with the film. Who knows what could happen.

Slightly different beginning to our Film Friday today, because we’d like to highlight the fact that our favourite film in ages, Reprise (pictured above), was released on DVD this week. We really feel it should have been given the same kind of cinematic release it’s getting right now in the UK, rather than an astonishingly bare-bones DVD transfer with burned-in subtitles, but what are you going to do? You really have to see it anyway. It was one of our top picks from TIFF 2006, and is still as vital as ever (and Eye’s Jason Anderson agrees).

Jim Jones was not your typical self-proclaimed messiah. The man preached love for all races and classes, freedom of speech and socialism through Christianity. In 1978, Jones and more than 900 followers, known as Peoples Temple, moved from California to Guyana. They were going to build the ideal society. Dubbed Jonestown, after Jones himself, it was to be a utopia for the disenfranchised; a place where believers of all races and classes could lead self-sufficient lives as equals, far away from the oppression and immorality of the USA.

This week our attention is almost completely owned by Cinematheque Ontario’s offerings, even with the thought of Christina Ricci chained to a radiator in Black Snake Moan grasping at us.

Ah, convergence. It's a word fraught with different meanings, competing motives, and opinions up the proverbial wazoo. To some, convergence is a paradise of synergy, cross-promotion, and massive profits. To others, it's confirmation that more and more information is being disseminated by less and less people. Wherever you stand, however, the world of Toronto media overlords might be on the verge of becoming a whole lot smaller, as Alliance Atlantis confirmed today that one of the companies it is in exclusive talks to sell itself to is none other than Canadian broadcasting and publishing behemoth CanWest Global.

Following the success of Spamalot, another part of the Monty Python canon is about to be "lovingly ripped off". This time it's the British comedy troupe's 1979 film, The Life of Brian.

True Love: The latest film from the superb Adam Brodie and Dave Derewlany, it is, like so many of their works, a little hard to distinguish from a comedy sketch, unless you remember just how bad sketch shows currently are. This goes a little farther than most though by taking its flight of fancy to wonderful extremes, keeping the joke going well into the credits. Completely brilliant. 4.5/5

A quick update to an old story before we get onto all the new releases that are going to make us as depressed as ever – Remember You, Me and Dupree? We hypothesised that movie-execs came up with the title “while explaining what was going to happen during some sick, cocaine fuelled orgy”. Turns out we were right, as long as during the sick, cocaine fuelled orgy was to the tune of Steely Dan’s Cousin Dupree! Steely Dan have written an incredibly amusing letter to Luke Wilson to tell him to sort his little/bigger brother out. It reads like exactly the kind of rambling nonsense old rocker burnouts would write when annoyed/amused about possibly being ripped off, and is almost completely unquotable, so you should just read it all.

It’s an interesting and potentially important time for English language Canadian filmmakers, with several Canadian films managing to reach cult hit status, such as It’s All Gone Pete Tong and The Life And Hard Time of Guy Terrifico. With only five percent of movies seen by Canadians made by Canadians (according to the program guide) and the writer of It’s All Gone Pete Tong Michael Dowse expressing a wish for Canadian content quotas for cinemas as well as TV and radio, the 3rd annual Canadian Filmmaker’s Fest, held with the support of he Toronto Film Festival Group's Film Circuit, is timely.

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This week in film we come to you first of all with news from the last week in film (uh…) Most of which we slightly embarrassingly forgot to mention, as it’s all good stuff.

. It features Ex-Superfriendz front man Matt Murphy as a fictional, possibly departed, Canadian country star.

So… The festival has been on for a full day, and Torontoist has very little to actually report, having stayed in for the night. Well, it did see the star of Short Cuts Canada film ‘Patterns’ (by Jamie Travis) wearing a stylish lime green dress and looking a bit confused, so there is that, if anything. That film is in Programme 5: Genre Redux, if you like the sound of her.

, and TOist likes it when our Bubbe remembers to unwrap her candy before the start of the film. But don't count on it.

Today, the provincial government announces a much needed relief package for the city's flailing film industry. The news drops at the Toronto Film Studios, and you can bet the usual ACTRA activists will be on hand.

Origninal Soundtrack, that assumption proves only half right.