Everything in the End
1/4
From George Miller’s Mad Max franchise to Andrew Stanton’s WALL-E, I’ve always loved good end-of-the-world movies. Unfortunately, what keeps Mylissa Fitzsimmons’ new film Everything in the End from reaching the same heights is its dismal script, short length, and unclear character motivations.
There are, however, some positives. Hugo de Sousa is really good as Paulo, a man facing his final days on an Earth about to be no more. Even when the character he’s playing is very thinly written, Sousa really does a great job in conveying exactly how the character feels about the world ending. The rest of the cast do decent enough jobs at playing their parts even though their characters receive the exact same care as Paulo.
Todd Hickey’s cinematography supplies some stunning opening and closing shots and Darren Morze’s musical score provides a good dose of much-needed energy.
Unfortunately, everything else about the film, sadly, drags it down.
The script, while touching at parts, leaves a lot to be desired. It’s not clear in the movie how the world is ending. All we get is 75 minutes of actors moaning about how it’s humankind’s fault and how we all have to hold our loved ones when the world comes to a end. That is literally all this screenplay offers. There’s no characterization, just an hour and 15 minutes worth of groaning and moaning.
That brings me to the poorly handled runtime of the film. Most of the movies that I don’t enjoy have the same issue of running too long. This film is the only one that I’ve seen in the five years that I’ve been attending the Victoria Film Festival that feels way too short. This movie needs to be at least another hour longer. In fact, it seems like Fitzsimmons took a once-perfect film length and totally cut out the beginning and the end and told her editor to focus on the boring middle part.
This film has some redeeming qualities but it’s mainly a depressing and boring movie that its own audience won’t remember come festival’s end.
Big Giant Wave
3.5/4
What I love about good documentaries is how they give their audience a great time at the movies while also teaching them something new. This is exactly what director Marie-Julie Dallaire does with Big Giant Wave.
What I liked about this documentary is how it explores its subject matter. The film’s main focus is centred on honouring the power of music and explaining to its audience the connection music has to our environment, our culture and history, and even to ourselves as human beings. How the movie explores this so well is by using interviews and clips of various musicians, from Canada and elsewhere, and others to tell its story about the history and power of music.
Another thing I liked about this film is Josée Deshaies and Tobie Marier-Robitalle’s beautiful cinematography. From the gorgeous wave shots to the beautifully lit landscapes, this is one of the main aspects that make this movie watchable.
The music in the doc was extraordinarily good. I mean, for a film about music you would expect that, but it was really well handled. Every song hit just the right note and the film does a great job in providing its audience with new knowledge about the power of music.
As far as criticisms go, the only thing I can nitpick is that the title doesn’t really fit the movie. It’s called Big Giant Wave but the waves, or anything aquatic in the film, take up only a small fraction of the film’s runtime and really are just some pretty cool shots of waves. They don’t add anything else to the movie besides that. This is a movie about the power of music so I think if they could have gone with a more musical title it would have helped its audience connect to the story more.
With Big Giant Wave, Dallaire crafts a super doc that both resonates with and entertains its audience while educating them about the beauty of music and its connection to our environment, our history, and ourselves.
Seven Days
3/4
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live a different life? Have you ever questioned your right to have your own freedom of choice? These insightful questions and more are expertly explored in Corey Kupfer’s new film, Seven Days.
The standout of the show is clearly Ellyn Jameson’s performances. She has the hardest job in the film because she had to play not one but seven different characters, all with different personalities. The actor’s job is to usually help create and then inhabit one character, but in able to make this movie work, Jameson had to do that same job seven times over, and that’s not easy. Despite this, she puts on a hell of a show, with seven superb powerhouse performances. She does it so well that, frankly, she makes it look effortless.
Another thing that pleasantly surprised me about this film is its gutsiness. This movie talks about everything from sexual education for minors to prostitution. Nothing is taboo for this movie and it really makes it stand out.
The cinematography by Mitch Arens is vibrant and displays lots of glamorous shots of the film’s locations; Skylar Bishil’s thought-provoking musical score is integrated perfectly into the film.
My only criticism is that at first glance, I didn’t really see how these stories documenting seven different women’s lives really connect to one another to make a cohesive movie. I mean, the first character that Jameson plays is a struggling artist trying to break out in the art world. Another is a prostitute who is in trouble with the law, and one is a lesbian going to meet her partner’s family. This film doesn’t take the time to give any of these women a clear connection to each other and, as a result, Seven Days’ message does come off a little bit muddled.
Despite some flawed messaging, Seven Days will give its audience exactly what they’re looking for from a film coming out of this prestigious festival.