Canadian Film Review: Ararat (2002)

* * * 1/2
Director: Atom Egoyan
Starring: Arsinee Khanjian, David Alpay, Christopher Plummer, Marie-Josée Croze

What is truth and is it so delicate that it can be lost in the telling? Many of Atom Egoyan’s films center around this idea, the concept that truth can never quite be absolute, that it shifts according to perspective and is sometimes lost completely. Ararat is no different and is perhaps Egoyan’s most intense attempt to engage with that idea. Centering on the Armenian genocide which, depending on who you ask, did or did not happen, Ararat is an intricate and moving film.

Review: Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

* * * 1/2
Director: Bansky

Is it real or is it a hoax and does it matter when it’s this entertaining? Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksy’s documentary about street art, raises this question, though judging from the reactions from the film’s producers, it does not do so on purpose. Personally, I think that it was perhaps conceived as a mockumentary and then accidentally became true in a The Producers-like twist. Either way, I’m pretty sure Banksy is having the last (and best) laugh.

Review: Easy A (2010)

* * * 1/2
Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Emma Stone

I can pinpoint the exact moment when Will Gluck’s Easy A completely won me over. It’s when our heroine Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) announces to her parents that, for the first time ever, she’d been sent to the principal’s office and her mother responds by saying, “Oh? Did you win a medal or something?” To me, that is the best cinematic parental response since the scene in Almost Famous when Frances McDormand questions why it’s a bad thing to be called a “narc.” Well done, movie.

Ebert's Greats #9: The Firemen's Ball (1967)

* * * *
Director: Milos Forman

Milos Forman won Oscars and international acclaim for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, but 1967’s The Firemen’s Ball is arguably the film that has had the greatest impact on his life and career. Made during a particularly politically fraught time, the film ended up being banned in what was then Czechoslovakia and Forman was forced to emigrate or face 10 years in prison. Nevertheless, the film managed to nab an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and became a seminal film from the Czech New Wave, one of the richest and most interesting artistic movements of the 20th Century.

Friday's Top 5... Elizabeth Taylor Performances

#5: Giant

George Stevens' epic tale of multiple generations of a Texas family enduring social upheaval stars Taylor opposite fellow icons Rock Hudson and James Dean. Taylor plays beautifully off of both of them and expertly guides her character through decades worth of character development.