BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition April 2019

MOViES|T.V.
THIS MONTH IN FILM
PET SEMATARY
April 5
When a young girl disturbs
a withered burial ground for
long lost fluffy friends, she’s
overjoyed to find the animals
returning to earth from their
cold graves. But joy turns quickly
to terror with the realization
that, beneath frayed collars and
rusted bells, each resurrected
pet carries with them a terrible
darkness. It’s been 30 years
since the original adaptation of
the Stephen King classic made
its debut, and it’s about time to
be terrified all over again.
HIGH LIFE
April 5
A father and his infant daughter
are the last left alive on a lonely
journey to the edge of our solar
system as they hurtle towards
infinity and the bottom of a
black hole. A bleach-blonde
Robert Pattinson is nearly
unrecognizable in this Claire
Denis-directed space thriller.
THE MAN WHO KILLED
DON QUIXOTE
March 15
Terry Gilliam has spent 29 years
chasing his elusive dream of
adapting the epic Spanish novel
Don Quixote, first published in
the 1600s. Finally, that dream is
about to come true. A film stuck
in development hell (see the
documentary Lost in La Mancha,
which chronicles the horrendous
first time he tried to make it),
this loose adaptation of the original
text tells the story of a man
who believes himself to be Don
Quixote, and the mad adventure
that ensues.
STOCKHOLM
April 12
When a bank robbery turns into
a classic case of Stockholm
Syndrome, things get weird and
wild. In this new dark comedy
based on true events, Ethan
Hawke continues his rise upwards,
on an ascent that’s lasted
his entire career.
By Brendan Lee
BiNGEWORTHY
GAME OF THRONES /
SEASON 8
NETWORK:
HBO
AIR DATE: April 14
The fate of an entire realm of
fictional people rests near the
precipice of a soon-to-be-swinging
balance, and in the next few
months the hype and speculation
will blanket the internet, your
work, and even the friggin’ dog
park with a chattering snow so
furious it will mean the end of an
entire television era. Two years
since the enormous yet critically
less-than-adored seventh season,
it’s the Snows vs. Targaryens
vs. Lannisters vs. Greyjoys vs.
White Walkers for one last dragon-infested
shabang. The season’s
six episodes are rumoured
to have cost around 15 million
dollars a pop, and whether you’re
behind by two or eight years,
binge quickly, people – spoilers
(and memes) are coming.
RAMY / SEASON 1
NETWORK: HULU
AIR DATE: April 19
No matter how you look
at it, Hulu took a gamble
on Ramy Youssef. You
probably haven’t heard
of him (yet), but if
the name rings
a bell there’s
a chance you
might recall his
appearance on
the Colbert Show
in 2017, when the Muslim comedian
claimed (in a comedy routine) to
expect “a Hogwarts Letter from
ISIS” when he turns 30. That
appearance was only the beginning
of his tongue-in-cheek look at
Muslim people, which culminates
in April with the release of his new
10-part show based around similar
sorts of funny – yet real – conversations.
The show follows Ramy, a
young Muslim living in the suburbs
of modern-day New Jersey, as he
skirts all sorts of ideological lines
and boundaries. Youssef’s infectious
smile and comedic timing
makes Hulu’s bet on this dramatic
comedy something close to a sure
thing.
BLACK SUMMER / SEASON 1
NETWORK:
NETFLIX
AIR DATE: April 11
At this point in history, it’s abundantly
clear that stories about
viral plagues sending humans into
rage-stricken killing frenzies
can be extremely successful.
We’ve seen it
so often – and enjoyed
it so many times – that
something about that
struggle must evoke
feelings all but written
into our DNA. So, it’s
about time that Netflix
cashes in on the fun.
The prequel (or
companion
piece) to the
Syfy-produced
“Z Nation” tells
the story of the
catastrophic
Game of Thrones
returns April 14.
Trailer Park Boys –
The Animated Series
low point of a zombie apocalypse,
dubbed “the Black Summer.”
Centering around a mother who is
separated from her daughter, the
show is a self-proclaimed throwback
to old-school zombie thrillers,
delving into the tragic lengths to
which people might go to survive
an apocalypse.
TRAILER PARK BOYS –
THE ANIMATED SERIES /
SEASON 1
NETWORK:
NETFLIX
AIR DATE: MARCH 31
Ricky, Julien, Bubbles, and the
whole dope-smokin’ park is back
for a thirteenth season as the boys
continue to find ways of staying
fresh by dropping the cameras
and going animated. If, somehow,
you’ve managed to avoid the show
for the last two decades, “Trailer
Park Boys” is a mockumentary
created in 2001 by Nova Scotian
Mike Clattenburg that centers
around three delinquent buddies
as they try to live out their simple
lives at Sunnyvale Trailer Park –
while doing as little jail time as
possible. Season 12 actually ended
with the boys transforming into
animated characters, and previews
of season 13 make it clear they are
self-aware of their new colourful
forms. Knowing the show, there’s
a good chance this season (and
any subsequent animated ones)
could end up being a convoluted
mushroom trip – the possibilities
know no bounds.
By Brendan Lee
EAST VAN
DIARIES
Director Carolyn
Combs harnesses diversity
of Commercial
Drive in her epic drama
Bella Ciao! By NOÉMIE ATTIA
cial Drive, in the heart of Vancouver’s
Little Italy. “I liked that about the
song: it seemed fitting for the film,”
says Combs. “The Italians and the
Latin Americans and the Indigenous
cultures come together and resist.”
Bella Ciao! is etched with an endearing
realism, portraying a place
that is home for the director: East
Van. Combs envisions her environment
as a research topic that she has
to explore. “For me, that’s what making
a film is: une recherche. I wanted
to find out where I lived and who else
lived there. I really like the neighbourhood,
there seems to be cultural
resistance there.”
People Combs met
and interviewed
inspire all of her
characters. The
most notable
one is Costanza
(Carmen Aguirre),
a Chilean
woman who escaped
the coup
“B
ella Ciao” is a song of
resistance: its melody ignites
hearts, and its lyrics
touch rebellious souls. It
appeared in the 1940s, on Italian rice
fields where women laboured during
long, hot summers. They would sing
about their dreadful work conditions
– the long hours, the heavy-handed
bosses, and the insect bites.
The Partisans made it famous
during the Second World
War and, since then, it
has become an international
rallying cry
of all kinds of resistance
causes..
Carolyn Combs
gave the same title
to her film for a good
reason. Bella Ciao! takes
place on Commerin
1973 and tries to pass on
to her daughter, Soledad,
her culture of resistance
as she confronts her own
mortality.
“Some of the first people
I interviewed to find out
where it is that I live were members
of my co-op,” says Combs, who lives
in the Paloma Housing Co-operative,
just off the Drive. The co-op was
founded by Chilean refugees, recognized
as such by Canada, when the
States didn’t allow their immigration.
“There was a man named Bob Everett,
who was Carmen’s stepfather.
He was in Chile during the coup and
managed to get out. He petitioned
to the Trudeau government to allow
Chileans to come in as refugees.”
Combs even includes some
BELLA CIAO!
Vancouver premiere(19+)
Wednesday April 10,
7:30PM
The Cinematheque
Tix,$20, viff.org
shots from The Battle of
Chile, a film by Patricio
Guzmán documenting
Chilean activism against
the Pinochet government.
Despite these very
tangible elements, Bella
Ciao! has a deeply lyrical, magical
feeling.
“That’s one thing I wanted to capture,
to play with: those seemingly
unreal moments that are actually
quite real,” she says. “The surrealism
or the magic is within our reality. It’s
in our day-to-day experience, when
you look for it.”
This is no surprise coming from
Combs, who cites The Ballad of
Narayama among her inspirations
for shooting the beautiful metaphor
of Carmen’s final “journey up the
mountain.” Moreover, as they filmed
on Cypress Mountain, purple flowers
blossomed in front of them. perfectly
illustrating a lyric in “Bella Ciao” that
says “bury me in the shade of a flower
on the mountain.”
Oneiric and dramatic, fictional
and realistic, Bella Ciao! tells stories
about a community, first and foremost.
It includes marginalized people
and depicts generous acts and
incongruous situations; all exist in
daily life, but are “not part of the stories
we tell,” in Combs’ words.
“I think it’s important that we
share those stories about ourselves,
and that we’re capable of caring for
each other and that communities are
capable of coming together and creating
change,” she concludes. “I want
to keep that possibility alive.” ,
38 BEATROUTE APRIL 2019
APRIL 2019 BEATROUTE 39