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I Am Not Your Negro 4/5 I Am Not Your Negro (2017), centered around narration by Samuel L. Jackson from James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House, is a powerful piece of filmmaking—it’s a documentary with more nuance than most, especially docs that attempt to tackle the same difficult subject matter: race, class, and human […]

Elliot is suffering from dementia while his three daughters are doing everything in their power to help him through it; sisters Alma, Liz, and Ordelia are trying to ensure their father’s well being, and Elliot is merely trying to hold on to his mind. This is what’s going on in Taking Leave, a new play […]

In 1913, the Victoria Cougars came within close reach of the Stanley Cup; some would say they won it. On Thursday, February 23, local hockey fan Roger McGuire is hosting a presentation in which he’ll talk about what happened, as well as Canada’s rich hockey history and Victoria’s lengthy connection to the creation of professional […]

My Life as a Zucchini 4/5 As far as touching pieces of filmmaking go, My Life as a Zucchini (2016) is rather well done, using its medium (stop-motion animation) and its runtime (66 minutes) to create something moving and out of the ordinary for a sort-of-children’s flick. Really, to call My Life as a Zucchini […]

The Happy Film 2/5 I understand that wealth doesn’t necessarily make a person happy, and I know that being successful, accepted, and respected in a field they love doesn’t guarantee it either, but did we really need a two-hour documentary about a guy who is and has all these things? Were we meant to enjoy […]

Searchers 3/5 Searchers (2016) gets its name from the 1956 John Ford picture The Searchers, one of the most influential films of all time. Attempting a semi-remake of a film with such status is as ambitious as it is intriguing, but Searchers finds itself locked into a plot structure that isn’t necessarily conducive to how […]

The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki 4/5 The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki (2016) is the story of a man caught between opposing forces—on one hand, the opportunity for greatness and to do right by his nation, and on the other, love, inopportune and unavoidable. It’s a film entrenched […]

The provincial crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women continues; here in Victoria, there will be a gathering and a memorial march on Sunday to remember those women. University of Victoria practicum student Jessica Dawn is an event organizer for the march; she says that governments need to be doing more about the situation, and […]

Old Stone 3.5/5 Old Stone (2016), directed by Johnny Ma, is fascinating (Ma has a keen eye for the little intricacies of life), intimately moving (we watch a man beaten down by the bureaucracy of the Chinese medical system, and his own moral fortitude), and beautifully shot (lush Chinese jungles and the busy, hustling cities […]

Going into Gracie at the Belfry Theatre, I didn’t expect a single actress to be capable of holding the attention of an audience for a full 90 minutes. However, Lili Beaudoin’s enthusiastic and believable performance of Gracie—a girl growing up in a polygamist society in Bountiful, BC—did just that, and more. The unique perspective of […]