With Canadian Music Week taking over all the clubs in Toronto for the next few days the focus will be on the wave of live music in the city for the next little while, but CMW isn't just about the bands. Three years ago the massive festival and conference introduced a film program to the proceedings, a program put together by yours truly for the past two years. And so I take a break from the multiplex this week to plug my own work...
The proceedings are broken into two days this year with a pair of screenings held on Friday at the National Film Board Mediatheque (150 John St.) while Saturday features a slate of five titles at the Royal Cinema (608 College).
The Friday program at the NFB features a pair of classic rock musicals. Walter Hill's 1984 effort Streets of Fire kicks things off followed by Brian De Palma's 1974 glam rock epic Phantom of the Paradise. Hill's flick features Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis and Michael Pare in a weirdly anachronistic tale - it's kind of near future apocalypse, kind of 1950's street gang - about street bikers who kidnap a rock singer whose ex-boyfriend is her only hope of rescue. Streets of Fire is one of those films that has gotten bigger over time, a film that didn't do much at the box office on release - though the soundtrack spawned a significant hit in I Can Dream About You, thanks in no small part to the soundtrack composed largely by frequent Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman. Members of Springsteen's E-Street Band are all over this thing, as is Ry Cooder, and Willem Dafoe gives one of his most charismatic performances ever. It's a rarely seen gem that comes highly recommended. De Palma's Phantom - a 70's rock spin on Phantom of the Opera - is another with a growing cult. This one actually screened in Toronto a little under a year ago but with Phantom bad guy and composer of all the music, Paul Williams, a guest of the conference this was an obvious pairing for a killer double bill.
And Saturday? On Saturday we get the new stuff.
Things kick off at 1pm with the North American premiere of Separado! a documentary co-directed by and featuring Gruff Rhys, the lead singer of the Super Furry Animals. It's an odd one, this film, partly a concert film with Rhys touring a solo record through South America and partly an exercise in family history with Rhys exploring a branch of his own family which emigrated from Wales to Argentina in the mid 1800s. This is a fascinating, little seen gem and hugely entertaining.
After that, at 3pm, comes Last Heaven 031011 a concert film capturing the final performance of Japanese blues punk act Thee Michelle Gun Elephant. In their day TMGE were one of the greatest bands walking the planet, a band that was absolutely massive in their native Japan with a loyal cult the world over. They broke up in 2003, their final concert a massive affair that was recorded and filmed for posterity but while the recording was released as a double CD the film has been sat on ever since. At least, it was sat on until late 2009 when the tragic death of guitar player Futoshi Abe sparked an excavation of the TMGE vaults and the film was finally released as a final tribute. This is the first ever screening of this film outside of Japan and a portrait of a truly great band in peak form. Though the songs are dominantly in JApanese we will have translated lyric sheets available for those who want to follow along in English.
Next? 5:15 brings Le Donk And Scor-Zay-Zee, the latest effort from UK director Shane Meadows. Meadows is a huge festival favorite around the world thanks to his more serious offerings like This Is England and Dead Man's Shoes but this is a much lighter affair, the film built around an almost entirely improvised performance from friend and frequent collaborator Paddy Considine - you know him from the latest Bourne film and Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz - as the titular Le Donk. A washed out roadie who refuses to release his dreams of grandeur, this is shot as a moc-doc with Donk trying to insert the rapper he is mentoring into a massive, outdoor show he is working for The Arctic Monkeys. North American premiere for this one.
Seven o'clock's film needs little explanation, When You're Strange being a documentary film about The Doors built entirely of archival footage of their performances, private lives and rehearsals. Johnny Depp serves as narrator to set the stage and explain the context of things but it is very much the band who are the stars here. This is the film's first ever appearance here in Canada.
And finally, we hand things over to John Lennon with Nowhere Boy. A bio-pic about the legendary singer's teenage years Nowhere Boy chronicles his life from the days before he first picked up a guitar until The Beatles' first trip to mainland Europe. Though McCartney features in a significant role - and Harrison lurks about, too - this is not a Beatles film per se, but a careful study of the life of a teenager growing into manhood and coming to terms with a genuinely tragic family history. Again, this is a Canadian premiere.
Want to check 'em out? Admission is free with a CMW wristband or $10 at the door.