THE BURIAL: 4 STARS
âThe Burialâ is an old-school fist-in-the-air Hollywood crowd-pleaser, now streaming on Amazon Prime, whose winning performances from Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx and courtroom shenanigans are way more interesting than its downbeat title might suggest.
Based on true events, the movie sees Jones as funeral home owner Jeremiah O'Keefe, proprietor of a legacy Mississippi funeral home and burial insurance business. The once successful enterprise has hit a rough patch, and fearing heâll have nothing left to pass along to his kids and grandchildren, O'Keefe decides to sell off assets.
One handshake deal to sell off three of his funeral homes to the slick-talking Canadian billionaire Ray Loewen (Bill Camp) of the Loewen Group conglomerate, and OâKeefe thinks his financial problems are a thing of the past.
When the deal goes sour, OâKeefe sues, but instead of trusting the case to his longtime attorney (Alan Ruck), he opts for hotshot personal injury lawyer Willie E. Gary (Foxx). Gary is a flamboyant character, with a private jet (named âWings of Justiceâ) and a profile on âLifestyles of the Rich and Famous.â
Heâs wealthy, well-known, and has never lost a case. But thereâs always a first time.
The Loewen team, with their high-powered Ivy League attorney Mame Downes (Jurnee Smollett) at the helm, will require more than Garyâs usual courtroom theatrics.
âThe Burialâ has a definite 90s vibe. It is based on Jonathan Harrâs 1999 New Yorker article, and could sit on the shelf next to âA Time to Kill,â âPrimal Fearâ or âThe Client.â Thereâs even a satisfying âYou canât handle the truthâ style gotcha moment.
Most of all though, it has the Jones and Foxx odd couple.
Jones leaves his crusty old man persona in the bag for this one, instead, busting out a quiet performance, informed by his characterâs deeply held faith, general decentness and his determination to leave a legacy for this family.
It is, however, Foxxâs show. In his best role in recent memory, he is larger-than-life, a kind of Baptist preacher in the courtroom, and while it is a blast to watch Foxx in full flight, it is in the quieter moments that Gary really comes to life. He has bluster to burn, but as the son of a sharecropper and the middle child of 11, it is his backstory that deepens the characterization and prevents him from becoming a sharp-tongued lawyer caricature.
âThe Burialâ takes time to reflect on the details of the 1995 case, like how funeral companies financially took advantage of marginalized communities at a time of grief, but for all its Sydney Lumet-style social commentary, it is the David and Goliath nature of the story that is so appealing.
MR. DRESSUP: THE MAGIC OF MAKE-BELIEVE: 3 ½ STARS
âMr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,â a look at the life and legacy of legendary childrenâs entertainer Ernie Coombs, now streaming on Amazon Prime, has the same brand of low-key kindness and empathy that made his show, âMr. Dressup,â appointment viewing for several generations of Canadians.
The beauty of âMr. Dressup,â which aired 4,000 episodes chock full of songs, skits and crafts between 1967 and 1996, is that it was a simple, heartfelt program. So, itâs appropriate that director Robert McCallum leans into those qualities in this retelling of the life and legacy of the man and the show.
From his start in childrenâs entertainment as an assistant puppeteer to Fred Rogers in Pittsburgh and the move to Canada to the creation of his legendary CBC show and his decades-long partnership with treehouse legends Casey and Finnegan, the film paints a vivid picture of the era through rarely seen archival footage and talking heads.
A generation or two of Canadians who grew up watching âMr. Dressup,â including notable names like Eric McCormack, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Bif Naked, Michael J. Fox, Graham Greene, Peter Mansbridge and Andrew Phung chime in on the impact Coombs had on their lives.
More interesting is Judith Lawrence, Coombsâs puppeteer partner for much of the showâs run, who provides valuable insight to the inner workings of the show.
Along the way we learn about the foundations of the CBC that gave birth to âMr. Dressupâ and, much later, the budget cuts that threatened its existence.
But donât come to âMr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,â looking for dirt. There isnât any. There are no bodies buried in the Tickle Trunk. Itâs Mr. Dressup for goodness sake.
There are, however, heartfelt and tragic moments. The passing of wife Marlene is heartbreaking, not only because of the circumstances surrounding her death, but by the loss felt by a man who had given so many, so much.
âMr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believeâ is a feel-good blast of nostalgia, reminiscent of a kinder and gentler time.
HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON: 3 ½ STARS
Heartwarming is not usually a word that comes to mind when reviewing vampire movies, but somehow it applies to âHumanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,â a new French-Canadian coming-of-age film now playing in theatres.
We are introduced to teenage vampire Sasha (Sarah Montpetit) at her birthday party. At first glance itâs a normal birthday celebration, if maybe a little dour, with presents and a clown. But the clown isnât hired to entertain. Heâs brought in by Sashaâs mother (Sophie Caideux) and father (Steve Laplante) as a special treat, a meal to commemorate the teenagerâs vampiric coming of age.
Trouble is, she is too empathetic to kill people. âIâm in a very delicate position,â she says. âwhere Iâm forced to do bad things. The problem is, if I donât do it, Iâll die.â She can only feed off people she feels a personal connection to. Her fangs wonât even appear unless she is comfortable with her prey.
âI donât need to kill people,â she tells her horrified parents. âto know I wonât like it.â
When a vampire pediatrician diagnoses her with an unusual degree of compassion, she survives off blood-bags supplied by her father.
Her cousin Denise (Noémie OâFarrell) tries, and fails, to teach her how to find victims in bars. âPick your favorite,â she says. âIâll show you how to bleed him.â
Fed up, her parents cut off her blood supply, triggering an existential crisis. Entertaining thoughts of ending it all, she comes across a support group for depressed people, and meets the world-weary Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a downcast teenager with very little hope for the future. Sasha is 68 in chronological, human years, but looks 17, so the two become friends.
When Paul learns Sashaâs secret, he offers to save her life and be her next meal.
âHumanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Personâ breathes some of the same fetid air as "What We Do In The Shadows," âLet the Right One Inâ and âOnly Lovers Left Aliveâ in its creation of a vampire world that intersects with our own. Quebec filmmaker Ariane Louis-Seize builds a world for Sasha to inhabit that feels familiar, like our reality filtered through a Tim Burton lens.
Atmospheric and gothic though it may be, the movie is actually a tender-hearted story that uses the undead to celebrate life.
âHumanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Personâ is brought alive, pun intended, by Montpetit and Bénard. The darkness of the premise is lightened by the palatable chemistry between the leads. Their work gives this off-kilter teen rom-com an undeniable sweetness in its exploration of teen life and search for identity.
STELLAR: 3 ½ STARS
âStellar,â a new film starring Elle-Máija Tailfeathers and Braeden Clarke, now on VOD and streaming on Crave, is about making a connection as a stormâor is it the end of the world?âbrews outside.
Set in a Northern Ontario dive bar, the story revolves around two Indigenous strangers, She (Tailfeathers) and He (Clarke), as a storm rages outside. They meet, make a connection, unperturbed by the weather. They get to know one another, trading stories in Ojibwe and English, of lost loves, community and their deepest held feelings, as the bartender (Rossif Sutherland) grows agitated by the unsettling thunder and lightning.
Others come and go, including two Aunties (Billy Merasty and Tina Keeper) who ask if He and She know their way home, metaphorically. Then thereâs a windbag professor (R.H. Thomson), in love with the sound of his own voice, who proclaims, âKnowledge is out foundation.â
âYour knowledge. Not required,â He replies.
Outside, the erupting storm is portrayed as another passing apocalypse in the timeline of Indigenous life. He and She are the calm in the face of the storm, resilient with an eye to the future. âI feel like the weather outside,â She says, âchanging, challenging.â They are connected to nature, to their heritage, and to one another.
Strong visuals tell âStellarâsâ tale. Anishinaabe director Darlene Naponse blends the lyrical beauty of the love story inside the bar with cut-a-ways of the pollution and waste that mar the world beyond the barâs walls. Her experimental, figurative treatment of the material creates a powerful, poetic allegory of Indigenous strength amid the storm of life, wrapped in a touching love story.
Mystical and metaphorical, âStellarâ is experimental in its storytelling, but hypnotic in its effect.