This year's Canadian Music Week wrapped up yesterday after a successful 5-day run that included an expanded 2-day Film Festival component. Toronto programmer Todd Brown chose a great line-up of films that ran the gamut from cult to classic, from doc to bio-pic. You may be too late to partake this year but be sure to mark your calenders for next year and you too can check out fine music-related films like the ones below:
Nowhere Nowhere Boy - This was the Canadian premiere of the Sundance favourite that chronicles the late-teen years of John Lennon. The film's biggest name is Kristin Scott-Thomas as Lennon's aunt/adoptive parent Mimi who takes him in after his Mother (Ann-Marie Duff) abandons him as a small child. The strength of this movie is that it wisely stays away from the elephant in the room; aka a certain band that is never even mentioned by name in the film. This is a story about the childhood experiences that shaped John Lennon and would later figure greatly into some of The Beatles most poignant material. Newcomer Aaron Johnson channels Lennon without going into parody and photographer turned director Sam Taylor-Wood captures the beauty of post-war Liverpool with a thoughtful eye that winks at Lennon's soon-to-be-celebrated career. Nowhere Boy is nostalgic, joyful, achingly sad and overall a more-than-fitting tribute to the genius that was John Lennon.
You can check it out in theatres when Toronto's Maple Pictures releases it later this year.
Rating: 4 stars
When You're Strange - Another Canadian premiere, another much-loved band with a complicated lead singer. The big draw for this documentary by Tom DeCillo (Living in Oblivion) is the brand new, never-before-seen archival footage that will surely thrill fans of The Doors, but as cool as it is to see an uncensored version of Jim Morrison and his bandmates, the film doesn't offer much in the way of new information. Even a casual fan (like myself) will have heard most of the stories covered in Johnny Depp's strangely flat narrative and since there are no interviews with the surviving band members or even fans who were involved in the hysteria surrounding the group, the film has no emotional centre to make up for it. Still, if you're a Doors fan this film is worth a look when it hits DVD shelves in May.
Rating: 2.5 stars
Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee - Director Shane Meadows is mostly known for his gritty portrayals of the hard-knock-lives of lower-class Brits in films like This is England. This Christopher Guest-style mockumentary about a clueless roadie and an up-and-coming rapper is a departure that works mostly because of lead and co-writer Paddy Considine (The Bourne movies and Hot Fuzz). The film, which is mostly improvised and was shot in only 5 days follows Le Donk (Considine) as he travels into Mancester to do a stage crew gig for the Arctic Monkeys. Tagging along are Meadows and his camera crew and Le Donk's roommate Scor-zay-zee who's hoping for his big break at the show. The humour is of the self-conscious variety that made The Office so popular and even though the film sometimes feels like an extended SNL skit, it hits more than it misses and by the end, the audience can't help but root for our two misguided heroes.
Rating: 3 stars
Nowhere Boy photo courtesy of Maple Pictures, When You're Strange photo courtesy of Wolf Films and Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee photo courtesy of Film Four.
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