I sit in with NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “NewsTalk Tonight” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the end-of-the-worlder “Leave the World Behind,” the Japanese animated fantasy film “The Boy and the Heron” and the psychological thriller “Eileen.”
I joined CP24 to have a look at new movies coming to VOD, streaming services and theatres. Today we talk about the end-of-the-worlder “Leave the World Behind,” the pretty cluckin’ good “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” the Japanese animated fantasy film “The Boy and the Heron” and the psychological thriller “Eileen.”
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to talk about the end-of-the-worlder “Leave the World Behind,” the pretty cluckin’ good “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” the Japanese animated fantasy film “The Boy and the Heron” and the psychological thriller “Eileen.”
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to tip your hat! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the end-of-the-worlder “Leave the World Behind,” the Japanese animated fantasy film “The Boy and the Heron” and the psychological thriller “Eileen.”
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres including the end-of-the-worlder “Leave the World Behind,” the pretty cluckin’ good “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” the Japanese animated fantasy film “The Boy and the Heron” and the psychological thriller “Eileen.”
Imaginative and visually beautiful, “The Boy and the Heron,” a new film from Japanese animator, filmmaker and manga artist Hayao Miyazaki, now playing in theatres, is a unique look at life, death and friendship.
The twelfth film by Miyazaki and the 23rd film from Studio Ghibli centers on Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki), a 12-year-old boy whose mother is killed in a 1943 Tokyo hospital bombing. A year later, Mahito’s father Shoichi (Takuya Kimura), owner of an air munitions factory, marries his late wife’s sister Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura) and moves to her country home. Still racked with grief over his mother’s death, Mahito has a tough time in his new home and does not get along with his step-mother/aunt.
Then there is the Grey Heron (Masaki Suda) who bedevils him daily.
Mahito feels lost, cut adrift from everything he once knew until he discovers a mysterious tower, built on the property by his granduncle, a famous architect who went missing.
The chatty Heron tells Mahito that his mother is inside, and if he wants to find her, all he has to do is go have a look. Inside is a mystical, alternate universe inhabited by the living and the dead. With the heron at his side, Mahito enters a world of wonder, with strange creatures, like man-eating parakeets, souls waiting to be born, secrets and just possibly, a path to happiness.
“The Boy and the Heron” is a work of great texture. Miyazaki infuses every frame with warmth and wonder, poignancy and poetry. The story can be convoluted and introspective, but at its heart, it is a simple tale, with an “Alice in Wonderland” vibe, of coming to grips with heartbreak.
The hand drawn animation is beautiful. Miyazaki uses symbolism, metaphor and fantasy to draw out his themes of grief, loneliness and fear. It’s a complex movie, with equal measures of whimsy and pathos, that shows that octogenarian Miyazaki is still working at the top of his game.
Richard and CP24 anchor Jamie Gutfreund have a look at the weekend’s new movies, Matthew McConaughey in “Gold,” the Oscar nominated “The Red Turtle,” “Trespass Against Us” starring Michael Fassbender and Germany’s entry for Best Foreign Film, “Toni Erdmann.”
Richard sits in with CTV NewsChannel anchor Erin Paul to have a look at the big weekend movies, Matthew McConaughey in “Gold,” the Oscar nominated “The Red Turtle,” “Trespass Against Us” starring Michael Fassbender and Germany’s entry for Best Foreign Film, “Toni Erdmann.”
“The Red Turtle” shares the basic plot points of “Castaway” and “Robinson Crusoe” but there’s not a volleyball or man Friday in sight just a giant turtle and allegories galore.
Director Michael Dudok de Wit has made what amounts to a silent film—there’s no dialogue, only hypnotic visuals coupled with the sounds of nature, a beautiful score from Laurent Perez del Mar and the occasional grunt from it’s main character—about a man shipwrecked on a deserted island with only a giant red turtle for company.
“The Red Turtle” is a very simple film, but achieving beautifully pure simplicity like this is harder than it looks. In its humble story are broad, primal issues of man’s relationship to nature are silently explored, adding subtext to this tale of isolation. It’s elegant and poetic; its “The Old Man and the Sea” with a turtle, a movie that embraces it metaphysical leanings as well as raw emotion. It’s not a movie for children or for people looking for easily answers to life’s existential questions. It’s art house animation, a treat for the eyes as well as the brain.