By: Trevor Chartrand Director Stacey Lee raises some important questions in Underplayed, a documentary about diversity in the music industry. Specifically, the film focuses on electronica (or dance music) and the women who make it. Often left behind on a concert schedule predominately populated by men, these artists are underappreciated and underrepresented, especially in this particular genre.
By: Trevor Chartrand Director Wendy Morgan has made an interesting and thought-provoking film with her drama Sugar Daddy. The movie features the story of Darren, an aspiring musician who joins a paid dating service to make ends meet until her music career takes off. While acting as arm candy for wealthy older guys at high society functions is by no means prostitution, Darren struggles with her own self-worth and the moral implications of selling herself…
Stardust has a really good idea for a movie: the rise of an insecure musician who strives for fame but, at the same time, is scared of how his lack of identity will ruin him. If the movie was about an ambiguous celebrity, director Gabriel Range (Death of a President) could’ve had a lot of room to explore the anxieties of fame. Unfortunately, he’s desperate to crowbar these dilemmas into an unqualified and unauthorized biopic…
Things I Do For Money could be compared to 2004’s You Got Served, which is a movie I thought I wouldn’t be referencing 16 years later. Yet, here we are.
Director, writer, and star Frederick Keeve demonstrates a strong imagination but a weak sense of dramatic ability in his feature The Accompanist, a story about a gay piano accompanist who becomes infatuated with a male ballerina amidst a series of tragedies that befall both men.
The Incoherents is a charming, if somewhat cheesy and predictable, comedy that follows four forty-something men who attempt to revive their dreams of rock stardom by reuniting their old band.
Filmmaker Nick Broomfield recounts his memories of Marianne Ihlen and singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen in his documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love.
Sam Tweedle, a local theatre critic for KawarthaNow.com, is one of the most well-versed music wiz’s I know. We occasionally run into each other at local productions he’s writing about, but I’m almost more familiar with his online takes on his favourite musicians and underrated albums. During our run-ins, he picks my brain about movies. We agree on Kirk Cameron, we disagree on 1st Summoning, but I digress.
By: Jolie Featherstone “Three chords and the truth” – Harlan Howard’s oft-quoted definition of country music may well describe the soul of Wild Rose. Directed by Tom Harper and written by Nicole Taylor, Wild Rose is a classic underdog tale with an endlessly watchable underdog in the form of the fiery Rose-Lynn Harlan.
By: Trevor Chartrand I’m Going to Break Your Heart is an observational documentary that explores the relationship between Canadian indie-rock legend Raine Maida and his Juno-Award winning wife Chantal Kreviazuk as they collaborate on their first album together. The couple struggles as all couples do, with the added challenges and frustrations of working together to create art as a team.