Punk Rock Warlord

My review of Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten appears in the newest edition of Fast Forward Weekly.

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten
By Andrea Warner

He became the poster boy for the punk movement, as famous for his politics as he was for his snarling stage presence. Now the lead singer of The Clash is the subject of Julien Temple’s fascinating but spotty Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. While Unwritten effectively illustrates how a collection of moments can affect the zeitgeist of a generation, it never quite gets inside the mystery of the man himself.

Born to a diplomat father who was known for challenging authority, Strummer and his older brother David lived in five different countries by the time they were in grade school. Temple gets the details right and lingers for the perfect amount of time on some of the tough revelations, such as David’s suicide and Strummer identifying his brother’s body, all by the age of 18.

The large midsection of Unwritten is devoted to The Clash, and there’s plenty of volatile material here that should have been covered in an entirely separate film. Strummer’s politics provided the thrust of The Clash’s power-to-the-people message, but it wasn’t all he was. Yet Unwritten devotes more than half of its running time to The Clash’s hirings, firings and ego explosions, while the 10 years Strummer spent trying to exorcise that band from his system is wrapped up in about six minutes.

Referred to briefly as the “wilderness years,” Temple treads very lightly on Strummer’s own dark period following the breakup of The Clash, when he retreated from the public. The film hints that he may have become a preacher for a short time. Say what? This is the consistent frustration with Unwritten: the dots aren’t connected enough to fully realize Strummer as an icon and as a person. Friends, musicians and a variety of celebrities appear throughout the film, but Temple makes no attempt to identify individuals beyond their names, and offers no explanation about their connection to Strummer. It's distracting when Johnny Depp suddenly shows up, but it’s downright disconcerting when Matt Dillon comes aboard.

That said, Unwritten has plenty of momentum, and there are many reasons to recommend it. The imagery is wonderful and intersperses archival footage, fictionalized scenes, animations of Strummer’s art, scenes from Orwell’s Animal Farm and present-day interviews with a truly varied assortment of people gathered around campfires. Throughout, Strummer often acts as a narrator to his own life, with sound clips culled from interviews and his popular radio show, London Calling. Like The Clash’s music and the do-it-yourself punk ethos, Unwritten feels like it colours outside the lines of the traditional documentary form, and this is where it succeeds as a fitting tribute to the original “punk rock warlord.”

8 x 10 Glossy

My story on the Leaping Thespians' newest production, 8 x 10 Glossy is in the latest edition of Xtra West!

8 x 10 Glossy preview
By Andrea Warner

Leaping Thespians director Karen White read over 50 scripts before 8 x 10 Glossy caught her eye.

To her, the play's myriad themes — sexuality, political activism, and family dysfunction — felt particularly relevant for a 2008 audience, even one steeped in modern liberations.

Written by Sarah Dreher, 8 x 10 Glossy is set in 1984. At its centre is Carter, a lesbian activist and photojournalist, who returns home on the one-year anniversary of her father's death to face her sister, Julie, a repressed and unhappy housewife, and her mother, Kettie, finally free after years of abuse. Julie's attractive new friend, Lisa, and the unseen nosy neighbour round out the cast.

Having come out herself in 1978, White strongly identifies with the sexual themes the play explores, and recalls the struggles facing the lesbian community during that pivotal time.

"The majority of people were against gays at the time," White explains. "I knew many women on the fringe of the lesbian-feminist community who didn't call themselves lesbian; they 'just happened to be in love with a women.' It was still very much the love that dare not speak its name, except in the safe enclaves of lesbian culture: the bars, softball teams, and many feminist organizations."

Times have changed but modern audiences will likely be able to draw many comparisons between then and now, White suggests.

"Every young woman coming out now, even though she's coming out in a different world, wants the approval of her family. Lots of women now, even though they know it's okay to be a lesbian, still don't think they are. They're surprised by feelings for a woman."

In 8 x 10 Glossy, Carter may be out and proud, but she's still desperate for Julie's approval. Julie, afraid of her own feelings for Lisa, can't help but lash out at Carter.

The sisters' relationship is complicated, fraught with expectation and disappointment, but the underlying love between the siblings fuels every scene.

Taylor Stutchbury plays Julie and is empathetic to the struggles her character faces in confronting her sexuality.

"I was closer to Carter in realizing my orientation, yet sexuality is something which has evolved for me over time and it is there where I can understand Julie's struggle," Stutchbury says. "Sexuality for me has to do with acceptance of yourself. Julie's internalized homophobia is something I struggled with when I was younger and it still pokes out its head as I age."

"Women who proclaimed their lesbianism often lost custody of their children, a theme only alluded to in this story but a strong undercurrent," White points out, noting the potential costs of coming out for Julie are not the same as for her sister.

"For Julie, being a favoured young mom in the town, getting her identity from others, doing what is expected of her is second nature," White explains. "So many women lost close connections with family after coming out, there was a lot to lose. A lot to lose especially if you are not sure, and how can you be sure until you try?"

Eroca Zales, who plays Kettie, sees an ugly similarity between 8 x 10's 1984 politics and the current political condition. She recounts a pivotal scene where Carter likens the persecution of gays to the holocaust, and asks, "It's happening again, isn't it?"

"Of course that is happening now in the States with the Christian right," Zales says. "It's a very dangerous political movement. Very repressive to many people — women's right to choose, gays, Muslims, on and on."

Like many plays that prove timeless, 8 x 10's gift is Dreher's dialogue: honest and unpretentious, with plenty of moments of dark wit, tense confrontation, and cute flirting.

We're introduced to Carter and Lisa within minutes of the curtain rising. Lisa is obviously at home in Kettie's backyard, and Carter is intrigued by the stranger who seems so close to her sister. The two women who are competing for Julie's affections circle each other with caution, friendship, and a spark of attraction.

Great dialogue also propels the rise and fall of the heated exchanges between Carter and Julie as they butt heads and then back down, only to keep the pattern on repeat.

Leigh Burrows plays Carter, and while she acknowledges the play touches on important issues about sexuality, she feels the main focus is family.

"What makes the story universal is the way the family interacts, the way we keep up appearances," Burrows says. "Even though there is all this stuff that goes on behind the scenes and behind all the closed doors."

"When I first told one of my sisters that I was a lesbian, it was in a public place in Fredericton, New Brunswick. At the time she worried about [what] people would think when she gave me a hug," Stutchbury recalls. "Years later she came out as a lesbian and it gave me better understanding about what had been going on for her."

Into the Woods

Into the Woods is on now until March 29th. You should go!

My review appeared on Beyond Robson last week, and I've posted it below as well.

Into the Woods
By Andrea Warner

Long before Shrek, there was another twisted, more sophisticated take on fairy tales to answer the question of "What happens after happily ever after?"

Into the Woods, on now at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, is the hit Broadway musical from Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street). More than any of his other productions, Into the Woods is stuffed to the brim with memorable characters and witty, wonderful songs.

Many of our nostalgic favourites get the revamped treatment, their intentions and their morals as compromised as any real person: Jack, with the bean stalk, is lovable but dim-witted; Little Red Riding Hood wields a knife with delectable pleasure; Rapunzel is a traumatized Virgin Mary, held captive by a wicked witch who just wants to be a mother.

The cast is fantastic, and the energy is high. A few performances to note: Jonathan Winsby and Ryan Reid as the two vapid but charming Princes are fun lotharios, and their voices blend beautifully on their two duets. Linda Quibell as the Witch alternates between heartbreak and evil, her powerful voice propelling many of the more emotional songs in the second half. Ultimately, it's Ingrid Nilson, as Little Red Riding Hood, who steals the show with excellent comedic timing, a unique voice, and a striking resemblance to a shrunken Reese Witherspoon.

It's a family friendly production to some extent, but some of the themes are mature (infidelity, revenge), and the body count is high throughout the more somber second half. The venue is small and intimate, and it's rare to attend a musical that isn't distorted by microphones. This is Patrick Street Productions' first show, and it's gratifying to see them tackle such a large-scale production so successfully.

Into the Woods continues until March 29th at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.

Never Back Down

My review of Never Back Down appeared in Thursday's Westender.

Never Back Down
1 star
By Andrea Warner

Borrowing heavily from every movie involving a wise mentor and an angry young man with issues, Never Back Down attempts to disguise violent brawls as life lessons about responsibility, growing up, and forgiveness. A vicious roundhouse kick to the jaw? That’s the sound of men beginning to heal.

Sean Faris (who looks like a young Tom Cruise) plays Jake, the new kid in school whose reputation as a fighter precedes him through the magic of YouTube-like videos showcasing his “mad skills”. When he immediately falls for the hot blonde, laughably named Baja, it’s no secret that she’ll be the girlfriend of his future nemesis, Ryan, the sociopath leader of the underground fight club that’s permeated this Orlando community.

Jake finds a mentor and a father figure in two-time Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou’s Jean Roqua, a mixed martial artist with his own skeletons in the closet, demanding that his clients only fight inside his gym, not on the street. Hounsou’s acting talents are wasted here, but his bulging biceps bring believability to his character’s reputation as The Best Fighter Ever.

The conclusion is anti-climactic and formulaic, and the quick-cut editing tries to hold the attention of the ADD crowd. The script feels stale, even with the modern, digital tweaks—every kid has a cellphone to record the action and make a celebrity out of winners and losers via the miracle of the Internet. It’s Gossip Girl meets Fight Club, without the cleverness of either.

Funny Games

Here's my review of Funny Games from this week's Westender.

Funny Games
3 stars
By Andrea Warner

Horrifying, disturbing, and unsettling. Funny Games, Michael Haneke’s remake of his own film of the same name, is a chance to watch your own worst nightmare come true: two angelic looking psychopaths torture and terrorize a family for no other reason, it seems, than “entertainment”.

Naomi Watts and Tim Roth are Ann and George, a wealthy couple arriving at their summer home with their young son, Georgie. The family’s quaint and quiet perfection is in the details: a large vacation home, hidden behind a huge gate, nestled on the water; car trip games of guess the opera; state of the art golf clubs. They appear to be a family entirely untouched by violence; lives lived in a fragile bubble.

Until they meet Peter and Paul who are “visiting” neighbours. The tension is almost unbearable from the first ten minutes onward. Michael Pitt’s Paul is coolly persistent, his exaggerated politeness both mocking and terrifying. Brady Corbet’s Peter has a penetrating gaze, creepy in its vacancy, and a genuinely intimidating unibrow. The games alternate between psychological and physical torture, and the vicious outbursts keep the family, and the audience, on edge.

Haneke makes interesting and unusual choices with the action, periodically breaking through the fourth wall as Paul stares deeply into the camera, addressing the audience directly, or “rewinds” an entire portion of the film in a bizarre twist on create-your-own-ending. Funny Games is the darkest of thrillers, relentlessly violating its characters, but it’s the audience that bears the blunt force of the trauma.

Queer + Asian = ?

My story appears in today's Xtra West!

Caught Between Two Sets of Expectations
By Andrea Warner

A panel discussion at the University of British Columbia (UBC) raised more questions than it answered when it brought together an assortment of participants to talk about what it means to be queer and Asian.

Hosted by UBC's Asian Canadian Cultural Organization, the Mar 7 discussion capped off two days of workshops regarding Asian experiences.

Titled Queer + Asian = ? it was touted as a safe haven for people to share their own stories about being queer, racism in the gay community, struggles with coming out, and the cultural give and take between Asian family values and more Western norms.

The most wide-ranging discussion stemmed from the concept of coming out.

"Western culture advocates the individual, whereas Asian culture is more about the collective," says Allen Chen, a 21-year-old UBC student, who says being Asian-Canadian and queer means being caught between two sets of expectations.

For many of the panelists, being gay is only one facet of their identity — and not the dominant facet at that. In contrast, many felt the norm in Vancouver's gay community is to identify first by sexual orientation, then by ethnicity, cultural association, or career.

Being gay isn't a topic generally discussed with family members, panelists noted.

"In Chinese culture, straight or gay, we all hide our relationships," says Lydia Luk, who works at The Centre on Bute St.

Luk has been in a relationship with a woman for over four years but has never told her family. But, she points out, several of her straight friends are also in long-term relationships and haven't told their families either. It's not so much a secret, she says, as a culture founded on respect and privacy.

"There's the idea of a Confucian duty to carry on the family line," Chen says. "As long as you fulfill the public duty, you can live your private life." It's not uncommon for men to marry, have children, and continue to have sex with men on the side.

Asian communities can be incredibly small and close knit, notes Luk, so word gets around very quickly if someone comes out. That's why, she explains, "sometimes we're out in certain communities and sometimes we're not."

Coming out to family also means finding the right words, something that can be difficult in some languages.

"I haven't been able to say I'm gay in Chinese," Chen says. "It's a bad word. It's immediately connoted as negative."

Several people echoed having similar difficulties. For instance, there is no equivalent to "coming out" in Cantonese, as the terms are all very technical. Even if some people wanted to have the conversation, it could prove almost impossible.

For Asian Canadians who do decide to come out, many have difficulty finding resources that reflect their own cultural realities. The majority of resources target English speakers, and while translations are available, language barriers may muddle the meaning and intention of the words.

Additionally, many Asian cultures don't seek support networks outside the family. There are currently no Asian members of PFLAG, a statistic the organization is desperately hoping will change in coming years.

Asian Canadians may also face discrimination within the gay community, an idea that's referred to as a "pecking order" of idealized looks, cultures, and experiences. One of the questions raised by the panel was: is racial preference simply preference or is it racism? And, just because you're attracted to people of the same sex, does that mean you're automatically accepted into the gay community?

Several people in the room pointed to gay personal ads that tell Asians not to bother responding.

"We're supposed to be a community that is oppressed, so we should be aware but I just as quickly realized, no, it doesn't necessarily work that way," says Luk. "And that's too bad."

Anne Murray interview

My Anne Murray profile appears in the Charleston City Paper today!

Cool Is Her Middle Name: Anne Murray rides the 'chick bus' into Charleston

By Andrea Warner

Anne Murray is as Canadian as hockey, maple syrup, and beaver tails. She's rocked the same hairstyle since 1986. Her name may not be synonymous with cool, but evidence keeps mounting to the contrary: she was best friends with the late Dusty Springfield, she hung out with the Beatles, and her latest album, Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends, took Billboard's country and internet sales charts by storm.

Murray's voice, a powerful contralto, is as rich as her career is long. Her current cross-country tour boasts stops in over 50 cities, where she proudly rides on a "chick bus" with her daughter and the three other women in the band. (The guys get their own buses.) Though the pace can be exhausting, she's feeling well rested when we connect over the phone.

Speaking from her hotel in Florida, where the weather has turned unseasonably cold, Murray is ill equipped for the dip in temperature, but her laugh is like her reputation: warm and generous. The fans that crowd her shows know what to expect, but the uninitiated audience will likely be humbled by the family-like camaraderie. That, and the 40-plus years of performing experience she brings to the stage.

"A lot of people are surprised by the sense of humor and the fun that we have," she says. "This group has been together a long time. We're like a family, and we have fun on stage. And, I have nothing left to prove anymore. I go out and sing and have a good time, and I think people enjoy that."

Murray grew up inspired by musicians who also enjoyed having a good time with their craft. Her musical tastes are all over the map — a fact she attributes to her parents and the eras in which she grew up.

"I listened to every kind of music, Murray says. "My parents listened to Bing Crosby, Perry Como, the Mills Brothers. I loved Doris Day, Patty Page, and Rosemary Clooney. I went through the rock 'n' roll era, then the folk era. All of those things had an influence on me. And then The Beatles came. The Beatles were like the second coming to me. Then Dusty Springfield was in there. She was my favorite. She's always been one of my favorite female vocalists."

Duets is entirely devoted to women vocalists, and the contributors couldn't be more diverse: Shania Twain, Olivia Newton John, Carole King, and Celine Dion, to name a few. Murray's own sound has influenced artists like Nelly Furtado, Jann Arden, and Sarah MacLachlan, and she readily admits that some of the contributors to Duets were more than a little apprehensive to meet her.

"Some of these girls, like k.d. lang, Shania, Nelly Furtado, were weaned on my music," Murray says. "They were a little intimidated and nervous, but not for long."

Some might imagine that an album boasting hugely successful singers would mean massaging a lot of egos, but Murray speaks of the process with nothing but fondness.

"There wasn't a diva in the lot. Everyone came really well prepared. Everyone had a lot of fun doing it. It was just a great experience," Murray says. And there were some pleasant revelations along the way.

Murray initially had zero interest in making the album. Her record company spent a lot of time convincing her to give it a try. Lured by the idea of creating a collaborative album, she finally agreed.

"I wasn't interested at all," she remembers. "But, they kept pushing and they had a big meeting with my management people and their people and they twisted my arm. And, here we are: two Juno nominations [the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys] and double platinum. It's been a shocker. Goes to show you I don't always know what's best for me."

British Sea Power at the Plaza

You can read my review of British Sea Power at the Plaza on Beyond Robson.

Here's a preview:

A combination of crappy crowd and uninspired performances came close to making British Sea Power at the Plaza on Wednesday night a complete wash.

The lackluster Elizabeth opened the show, and they tried to get the audience engaged, but it wasn't happening. A three-foot circumference remained empty around the stage for the majority of Elizabeth's set, until the lead singer finally implored the audience to come closer. With just one song left, it felt a bit too little too late for such antics. And, nothing's sadder than a failed clap-along.

Well, except two failed clap-alongs. colourmusic followed Elizabeth, and also failed to make any kind of connection with the crowd. Major problems with the sound prompted an uncomfortably long break between sets, and colourmusic never seemed to recover from the off-putting start. The band's white track suits make a great visual statement, but they, too, failed to get the audience moving. The sound was muddled, which may or may not be more of an issue with the venue. colourmusic have a lot of huge ideas, but the concept felt lost that night. It'll be interesting to see them the next time they come to town. It felt like there was promise there.

Elias interview

I sat down with Elias for a profile in March's Discorder. Pick up a copy if you can--the pictures are worth it.

They Work Hard for the Money
Elias Interview
By Andrea Warner


Elias, the alternative indie band from Vancouver, is perched on the brink of success—they have a major talent agent behind them, the brand new album All We Want, and camera-ready faces to get the girls’ hearts racing. So how does a fledgling local rock band make the jump from local following to national (or international) fan favourite?

Hard work.

The Elias boys continue to work hard to pay their dues. Cross-Canada bus tour horror stories? Check. Labour-intensive day jobs to pay for their demo? Check. Long, long hours rehearsing to perfect their sound and stage presence? Check.

There is even photographic evidence of lead guitarist Rob Tornroos as a five-year-old strumming a tennis racket while rocking out to Jon Bon Jovi. So, check off embarrassing/endearing childhood dreamer off the list, too. Elias is ready to kick it up a notch and take Canada by storm with their sweet sound and urgent rhythms. Oh, and to find Rob a girlfriend. That’s also on the agenda.

Elias was still pretty far in the future when the band started to take shape in 2000. Lead singer Brian Healy and his brother, bass player Jonny, joined forces with Rob and drummer Dominic Coletta, and by 2005 they’d released a self-titled EP that garnered media attention and had built a loyal fan base through dynamic live shows throughout Western Canada. This is also where Elias attracted the attention of the venerable booking agency, and Canada’s largest, Sam L. Feldman & Associates.

With careers and futures entirely intertwined, the teasing and self-deprecating humour Brian and Rob share over coffee make it easy to assume the entire band is like a family.

“You get to know how to push each other’s buttons pretty well, piss each other off. Rob and I actually live next door to each other now, and work together and are in a band together. He’s sick of me,” Brian jokes.

And, that’s not even the familial bond at Elias’s core. Brothers Brian and Jonny contend with personal and professional dynamics, and minimize the impact on the band.

“We fight all the time,” Brian says, while Rob laughs knowingly. “Had a fight earlier today. Not physical, but I might have punched him once. Usually it’s just verbal abuse and as fast as it happens, it’s resolved.”

“Well, it’s over,” Rob interjects. “I don’t know if it’s resolved.”

Right now Elias isn’t living the glamorous rock star lifestyle. They spend at least three or four nights a week rehearsing in a Gastown space, and have played almost every venue in Vancouver. They’ve also spent long road trips in a cramped van driving from Vancouver to Toronto, meeting new fans, getting on each other’s nerves, and discovering their own personal Bermuda Triangle: Regina.

“We broke down three times going across the country, and every time it was in Regina,” Brian says. “Every time!”

All We Want has also been a labour of love, and it pretty well sums up Elias’s dream to play music and bring their music to a wider audience.

“We’ve been recording All We Want for about two years,” Rob says. “Some of the songs we wrote before, but we kept writing while we were recording.”

“I think the newer songs, inevitably for a band, will ring more true because they’re more current,” Brian says. “The meaning behind them is more recent and the music’s fresher for them.”

Musically, All We Want has received comparisons to Radiohead and Mars Volta, to name just a few. And while Brian and Rob can list off a long list of bigger bands who have influenced their sound, they are also mindful of the smaller bands who have found big success through smart choices.

“Arcade Fire’s celebrity is incredible, because they sort of did it themselves,” Brian says. “In the past it was about getting that label to sign you, but that’s not ideal anymore. It’s better to get out on the Internet or over the radio that way and enable yourselves. Like Rob says, go overseas and tour more. That’d be ideal. We had MySpace feature us in the spring and that brought tons of people and crazy plays.”

By day, Rob and Brian toil as landscapers, facing off against dirt, heavy lifting, manufactured greenery, and buckets of Vancouver rain. Their outlook is refreshing in its determination: these day jobs paid to produce Elias’s debut album, and the band is doing it their own way. The hard work is starting to pay off, and the perks, though not plentiful, have a neat shine.

“We played North by Northeast last May and we went to the Feldman barbecue held at their Toronto office and there’s lots of signed acts there. You’re partying and drinking with a bunch of people you recognize,” Rob says, of one memorable experience.

“We opened up for the Subways once at the Commodore and that was an incredible experience,” Brian says. “We’ve seen umpteen shows of our favourite bands and here we are walking out on stage. I remember, almost in that pause-time moment, walking out on stage and being like ‘here we are’. This is so bizarre to me. Looking out where you were looking in before.”

“And we opened up for Fiction Plane at the Plaza Club, Sting’s son’s band, a couple nights before the Police tour kicked off here in town, and that was pretty surreal because Sting showed up,” Rob says. “After we had played, but regardless. We looked up and everyone’s staring at Sting. We are huge Police fans so it was just crazy.”

The mixture of the heady fun stuff and daily real-life grind does take it’s toll, though.

“It’s tiring and stressful. You just pick yourself up and keep going,” Brian says. “Come home from work and motivate yourself to head back out.”

“You get a half hour off [between work and rehearsal], and then head back down to Gastown,” Rob says.

And the coming year won’t be much of a reprieve, as Elias burst headstrong into 2008 with a list of goals to achieve.

“We want to do a lot of that background stuff,” Rob says. “More videos, touring to support the album, and getting the word out there across Canada. Maybe branching out to the UK or the US.”

And, finding Rob his life mate, of course, by turning this article into a personal ad.

“I’m a single, 25-year-old male, searching for a suitable life partner,” Rob says. “Must like watching movies,…”

“Long walks on the beach,” Brian adds.

“Long walks anywhere. Driving and holding hands. And cats. Can you put that in there?”

“And a picture. No shirt,” Brian says.

Elias may be the hardest working local band, but boys will be boys.

Threat From Outer Space

This is my Discorder review of Threat From Outer Space's latest album.

Threat From Outer Space
Bleeding the Dying Elephant
By Andrea Warner

Threat From Outer Space label their live show as a ‘barn burning dance floor graveyard”, and damned if they don’t make the energy transcend the boundaries of stereo speakers, bursting through with the shoulder-bobbing, booty-shaking new album, Bleeding the Dying Elephant.

The five-piece from East Vancouver take elements of rap, hip-hop, and indie pop, and sets them against a grand backdrop of humming, synthesized beats and grand flourishes of trumpet. The sound is familiar to more mainstream fare, but the unique rhythms keep things fresh.

One of the album’s best tracks, “I’ll Get Over”, brings on the funk with searing trumpets while another stand out, “Beginning of the End”, the album’s last track, brings the volume down with a voice that’s almost a dark whisper before flaring into a full-bodied chorus layered with electronics.

“5:40 AM” is exactly the kind of song you want to end the party on with its slow groove and subtly suggestive beat. “Stay Awake” offers up sinfully slow bass and an awesome Q & A chorus to counteract the track’s sing-speak resonance.

Even the lyrically tired “Guesswork”, which offers a recycled groaner like “9/11 was an inside job”, can’t mute the pulsing beats and charming brass that pushes the song from mediocre to good. “Worldwide” attempts to highlight the global intricacies of war, environment, and poverty—it’s pretty far-reaching, and at times feels more like a sermon than a solution or exploration, but at least it’s thought provoking.

TFOS’s socialist approach to making music lists the “key players” in the band, but doesn’t isolate the contributions. It’s just one more oddly confounding detail about this East Side gem.

Jon and Roy's Another Noon

This album review appears in March's Discorder!

Jon and Roy
Another Noon
By Andrea Warner

Jon and Roy new album, Another Noon, is reminiscent of great folk music like Simon and Garfunkel or Cat Stevens. Another Noon is a quiet and engaging companion to a day spent inside watching the rain fall, or drinking coffee while holding hands with someone adorable.

The album’s opening track, also doubles as the album’s title, and is an engaging little ditty, while “DT Stylee” offers up handclaps, a winner every time. The countrified “Little Bit of Love” is a foot-stomping charmer.

The entire percussion section comes out in “Moonlight”, and the guitar sounds like a literal interpretation of someone moseying down a backcountry road. On “Long Road”, moseying gives way to galloping horses. “Thanks For That” offers up a lovely and bittersweet lilting shrug.

The interesting give and take between Jon’s voice and his guitar contrasts nicely with Roy’s restrained percussion. If anything, the guitar is sometimes too omnipresent, almost obliterating Jon’s voice on several tracks. However, the biggest criticism Another Noon might face is the “sameness” of the songs—they’re not terribly distinguishable from each other on first or third listen.

That said, Another Noon is consistent and cohesive—there’s not a single song that feels out of place. Throughout, the guitar and drum offer something quick, like feet skipping, and it’s easy to imagine Another Noon scored across a cheeky and poignant independent film. Almost every song gives the illusion of moving forward while looking fondly behind you. The implied motion somehow provokes happy feelings, the album’s very quaintness catching on like a smile.

Once

The March issue of Discorder hits the streets today. I have four pieces in it, so I thought I'd post one a day, saving the biggest one for last: my profile with Elias.

Once Film Review
By Andrea Warner

Once is the rarest of musicals, simultaneously rooted in possibility, reality and fantasy: the busker-by-day/vacuum-repair-by-night guy meets “cute” with the girl who rolls her Hoover behind her and happens to be a brilliant piano player. Thus begins their shyly innocent courtship making music together.

The “guy” is Glen Hansard, lead singer of the Frames, and the “girl” is Markéta Irglová, our leads who must navigate new terrain as their friendship blossoms, fueled by creativity and the possible spark of something more. Irglová’s face is young but wise, and the depth of her smile endears her to the camera. Hansard is older, not necessarily wiser, but he conveys his world-weariness without a bitter tinge. He’s lost, but he’s still hopeful, and this is what draws the two together.

Our heroine tries to take care of her daughter and her mother, with no sign of the husband to whom she’s bound. Our hero deals with his failings: his girlfriend has left him, his music career is stalled, and he’s living over his father’s repair shop. Hansard and Irglová’s chemistry is sweet and powerful, and watching the push-pull between them is breathtakingly sad. It may have helped that the professional musicians, but untrained actors, happened to actually fall in love during the three-week filming.

Set in Dublin, and directed by John Carney (once a member of the Frames, himself), Once is a testament to the power of a cheaply made great film trumping a bloated, big budget flick any day. Tight close ups, hand held cameras, and natural lighting helps create a feeling of intimacy and emotional investment.

Once’s real charm is the music. With the majority written by Hansard and Irglová, the songs are perfect fodder to relay the hidden feelings and deeper desires of these emotional and impassioned characters. The pair even scored an Oscar nomination for “Falling Slowly”, the beautiful song of yearning that sets the entire film in motion. Hansard and Irgová’s voices are powerfully contrasted: his desperate growl buoyed by her gentle urging as they crescendo like waves breaking on the beach.

As the audience is invited inside the process of writing songs, crafted through give and take, it feels like the moments reach well beyond the celluloid. We’re privy to the most secret of rituals—watching a relationship being built from the ground up note by note.

Persepolis

Persepolis hit Charleston, South Carolina, this week, and my review is supposed to appear in the Charleston City Paper today.

Persepolis
By Andrea Warner

Scholars, politicians, and religious leaders have spent decades disassembling and examining Iran’s metamorphosis from royal tyranny in the 1970s to the current fundamentalist rule. But in order to understand the years of fighting that have displaced and killed hundreds of thousands of Iranians, what the rest of us needed was a face to connect with, inviting us inside her family’s experiences as their lives were turned inside out. And apparently we needed her in the form of a comic-book heroine.

Based on the autobiographical graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis is a uniquely wonderful animated film that tackles the tumultuous time of the Islamic Revolution in Iran through the eyes and memories of Marjane’s precocious six-year-old self, then follows her from war-torn Iran, to her teenage years in a Viennese boarding school and to her return home after a devastating deviation from her true path as she faces adulthood.

The film is at its most compelling during the time leading up to and just after the Islamic Revolution. The Satrapi family is full of dynamic and rebellious characters that connect immediately with the audience: they are the people we wish were related to. At the age of six, Marjane believes she is a prophet, taking a private audience with God when she needs counsel. She is wide-eyed with fascination at the stories her Uncle Anouche shares about his years in the Shah’s prison, and it’s easy to see her head and heart latching on to the concept of justice and democracy. It’s an exciting thing to witness when you reside in North America where voting and basic freedoms are easily taken for granted.

Marjane’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Satrapi are intelligent free thinkers and political activists who protest the Shah’s rule, and have lost many friends and family members to the fight against him. Marjane’s grandmother (Danielle Darrieux), is a ballsy and brazen woman who encourages her granddaughter’s outspoken criticism of the ruling regime. This character offers a striking and welcome contrast to the typical Western view of Middle Eastern women. She is a first-wave feminist, and an amazing and inspiring role model for any young woman. Marjane’s mother, voiced by Catherine Deneuve, is progressive and liberal, desperate for her daughter to make more of her life outside of Iran. Chiara Mastroianni, Deveuve’s daughter, voices teen/adult Marjane, which may account for the intense emotion in scenes between the pair.

When the Shah is overthrown, the Satrapi family celebrates along with the rest of Iran, but the exultation is short-lived. Islamic fundamentalists surge into power and quickly swing the pendulum back from the Western and more modern influences introduced by the Shah. Suddenly, basic freedoms (and indulgences) Iranians had taken for granted are gone: punk music and lipstick reside alongside alcohol as contraband. Then Iraq attacks Iran, bringing years of air raids, bombing and increasing fundamentalism, forcing the Satrapi family to send Marjane to Vienna.

The story loses a bit of its intimacy during its time in Vienna. Marjane is isolated from her family and takes up with a group of anarchists and is bumped from home to home as she tries to figure out who she is outside of her Iranian heritage. Her experiences with racism, drugs, love, and the accompanying broken hearts feel as rushed this sentence. Her subsequent depression and homelessness are particular elements that raise more questions than they answer. The animation throughout this portion of the story is what keeps the audience so entrenched in the film. That and seeing Marjane tell off a variety of idiotic people who push her to explode.

When she returns to Iran, Marjane is a stranger in her homeland, avoiding friends and family when she can, and finally sees a shrink who prescribes her anti-depressants for her condition. The pills aggravate her depression and the film glosses over her suicide attempt with no more than a euphemistic dream sequence where she floats over a beautiful sea and reconciles with God, who reminds her of her purpose. But, at least this leads to an awesome and tuneless sing-along/dance number set to Eye of the Tiger as Marjane reclaims her drive. It also pushes her into a series of circumstances where she must finally decide if the Iran of today is really her home.

The artwork and animation are things of beauty. The majority is in black and white, with wonderfully textured and vibrant grays that create a cornucopia of haunting and mesmerizing visuals. The backgrounds seem to shimmer with breath, their vitality bursting from the screen during the films louder moments. When the story calls for quietly devastating contemplation, the animation complies, and the winsome and twisted trees are enough to stir tears from even the hardest heart. The animation is incredible, and infuses the artwork with a surreal and magical quality that lightens some of the difficult subject matter without lessening the impact.

Equal parts history lesson, rebel rousing, coming-of-age story, and artistic endeavor, Persepolis is a powerful, stimulating and contemplative film. Long live the comic book.

George R. R. Martin

I interviewed George R. R. Martin, the best-selling author of the Fire & Ice series, about a year ago for AbeBooks.com.

You can read the interview on the AbeBooks site.

Mountain Goats!

Carlos and I reviewed the Mountain Goats Friday night for Beyond Robson.

The Mountain Goats kicked off their tour in support of their new album, Heretic Pride, at Richards on Richards Friday night, and the pent up energy from their winter hibernation was contagious.

Opening act Jeffrey Lewis and the Jitters set the night off to a great start with an a capella ode to ramen noodles. The band's art-punk sing-song bittersweetness was a great compliment to the Mountain Goat's humourously dark, pulsing indie rock. My favourite moments consisted of Lewis's man-child "films" (large picture books, see the slide show) that illustrated songs about a monster's dismembered hand, and growing up.

Read the full review!

Léo at the Firehall Arts Centre

You can check out my full review on Beyond Robson!

Léo at the Firehall Arts Centre
By Andrea Warner

At the centre of the story is Léo (Salvatore Antonio), a poet who fluctuates between impassioned declarations, beautiful imagery, and an almost nihilistic selfishness. Rodrigo (Sergio Di Zio) and Isolde (Lesley Faulkner) are the best friends who form the other sides of this complicated triangle, as love, betrayal, and growing up steer the trajectory of the trio's intertwined fate.

Vantage Point

My Vantage Point review is in today's Westender.

Vantage Point
By Andrea Warner
3/5 stars

The premise of Vantage Point, a post 9/11 film that toes the line between suspense and action, is compellingly reminiscent of the great Rashomon, wherein the characters are part of a violent event — in this case, the American president is shot at a huge political summit where peace is about to be declared between the US and the Arab world — and the story unfolds in fragments from multiple points of view.

Vantage Point is entirely likable so long as you don’t dwell on it for too long. The gut reaction is to get caught up in the small details, stepping inside each character as he or she negotiates the circumstances of the assassination attempt, the bombings, the double-crosses, and the long car chase that brings the film to its conclusion.

However, if ruminated on even a little, Vantage Point’s surface starts to crack like a dinged windshield. There are far too many characters and interweaving fates, yet not enough new information to sustain each narrative. Dennis Quaid is dependable as the traumatized Secret Service Agent, and William Hurt gets a few fun moments as the commander-in-chief who refuses to compromise his liberal beliefs. His storyline could have made a much larger impact if the film’s trailer didn’t reveal one of the film’s key twists months ago.

Forrest Whitaker, charming as usual, plays the American civilian hero, an entirely unnecessary character that gives the movie unnecessary heart and dilutes the intensity of the action. The Spanish actors who fill out the terrorist quotient are treated more like cartoons than real people. And, we’re offered no motive for the “surprise” double-cross most viewers will see coming a mile away.

The film works as a popcorn flick, and its better than average February fare; but, for all its dramatic stops, starts, and rewinds, Vantage Point never quite lives up to its true potential.

Deadline Mania

This week has been full of really interesting opportunities and sudden, crushing deadlines.

Today I submitted a profile of the band Elias to Discorder for March's issue. Then I went well beyond my comfort level when I pitched a story synopsis for a feature film production company! It was so much fun, after I got over the stress of knowing nothing about the structure of course. And, this morning, I interviewed Yung Chang, the amazing director and writer of the documentary about the 3 Gorges Dam, Up the Yangtze.

I'll be posting more actual stories, articles, and reviews next week!

OUTloud review on Beyond Robson

I've posted my review of last night's OUTloud reading on Beyond Robson, so make sure you check it out when you get a chance!

The Savages Review

My review has been posted online for the Charleston City Paper, and appears in print tomorrow when the paper comes out.

The Savages
By Andrea Warner

The Savages has moments great and good, but ends up being just okay. It sincerely wants to be more. With its wonderful cast, compelling subject, and some clever dialogue, it should be.

Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman are Wendy and John Savage, estranged siblings struggling to extract themselves from the damage of their fractious childhood. The pair is reunited when they must care for an abusive father who abandoned them, and cope with his recently diagnosed dementia.

The film plunks us down into the middle of the siblings’ individual lives and through a series of scenes that feel more like vignettes, the audience is invited inside a series of uncomfortable, painful, and cathartic family moments.

Wendy Savage is a woman clinging to what’s left of her dignity as she grapples with her failures as a playwright, an affair with a married man, and the petty lies that fill out her existence.

In particular, the bond Wendy forms with one of her father’s nurses allows us to understand just how lonely her life has been. Linney does a fantastic job providing glimpses beneath Wendy’s fragile exterior, conveying Wendy’s depression and intelligence with warmth and humanity.

The delighted and amazed glow on Linney’s face as Wendy uncovers her father’s secret suitcase filled with photos and paintings from her childhood reminds us yet again of what a commanding and authentic actress Linney is.

Hoffman is a powerful counterpart, making as much as he can out of a leaner role than Linney as the older, more “successful” brother. John Savage is a doctor of philosophy who teaches theater in Buffalo, unable to commit to marrying the woman he loves and thus saving her from deportation.

Almost all this emotional undoing happens in the background of the film, with the audience meeting the Krakow-bound Kasia only once, but it’s the meat of John’s dysfunction. Hoffman is emotional and subtle, and adds layers to a role that, in less experienced hands, may have been a bit one-note.

The sibling relationship between Hoffman and Linney feels real. A lovely scene between them (one of many) shows Wendy waking up in the middle of the night to hear John on the phone with Kasia. Hoffman’s framed in the light of the open door to the bathroom, sitting on top of the closed toilet seat, weeping, as Wendy watches pretending to be asleep. The moment is quiet, rich, and poignant with the familial bond of siblings.

Philip Bosco is Lenny Savage, the backbone of his children’s neuroses. Gruff and quick-tempered, it’s easy to imagine the childhood horrors he inflicted upon his kids before bolting. An independent and stubborn man, Lenny inspires mixed emotions as we witness him cope with the humiliations of old age.

Bosco does wonders with this unpleasant role — Lenny’s kind of a prick, as the character himself would say — and as we watch him interact with his children as they do their best to care for him, we’re touched by his rare moments of softness.

The script from writer/director Tamara Jenkins (The Slums of Beverly Hills) offers glimpses into this dysfunctional family, and brings up interesting questions about love, obligation, regret, and guilt, but always from a frustrating distance.

The performances are top-notch and the cast deserves better than a series of scenes that fail to create a cohesive film. The audience is never allowed enough successive moments to build deeper relationships with the characters — we’re permitted to watch them go through the ups and downs of the quiet re-building of their lives, but we’re never really permitted to care too deeply about them.

Partly, this is dialogue-related. This is a talky movie, full of black humor and wit, and some incredible misfires. One example has Lenny reacting to a movie from his youth, standing up and railing against his own abusive father. This feels unnecessary and trite — Wendy and John don’t react in any way to this revelation, and without it serving some momentum to the story, the moment falls flat. Why throw in 30 seconds of exposition just to create some sympathy for Lenny?

Additionally, some lines — in some cases entire scenes — remind one of dialogue that student filmmakers cling to because they can’t bear to edit their own work. The Savages running time is almost two hours, but 100 minutes would have been sufficient. A leaner film would have intensified the impact, and created a stronger more cohesive picture.

Perhaps this should-have-been-good film reveals everything in its title. The Savages wears its ironic and winking heart on its sleeve, letting the strongest aspects linger right alongside its weakest without bothering to distinguish one from the other.

Grade 10 Drop Out

I'm dusting off the beginnings to a few short stories that will hopefully supply the majority of the material for a collection I'm going to pitch in a few months.

Grade 10 Drop Out
By Andrea Warner

Her hair is dark and wild, impatient even, she realizes when she looks into the small mirror glued to the inside of her locker and notices that only half of the unruly mop can be contained within the reflection. It is the first day of school and already her body has begun the first of its’ expected many betrayals. Over the summer she’d tried bargaining with her hormones, her flesh, her follicles: Alright, arms, if you just begin to adopt the shape of muscles, even if it’s just pretend muscles like the skinny, wimpy girls who flex their bare arms while sticking their fingers down their throats, I’ll never take up cutting. Her shoulders listened and became broader, but now she just looked like a linebacker on the football team. Fuck the pep squad.

The Chatline

This morning I sat down and started writing a piece that's been in my head for months. Since I've submitted it for consideration to a magazine, I'll only post the opening paragraph for now, but I'm pretty excited that it poured out in just 90 minutes.

The Chatline
By Andrea Warner

A headset is the modern equivalent to the albatross—a tether to a miserable existence comprised of a coffin-like cubicle, a square desk scribbled with markings, and a chair that squeaks with every passing pound one accumulates while taking the never-ending stream of calls from people with varying degrees of comprehension and ignorance. I am an inbound call centre employee for a chatline company. I am a desk job sex trade worker.

Learning To Love You More

This is the only assignment I've done so far for Learning To Love You More, but I revisit it once in a while to remind myself I should do more.

Art Garfunkel

My Art Garfunkel piece came out in the Charleston City Paper this morning!

Everything Old is New Again:
A folk/pop music legend takes Charleston by gentle storm

By Andrea Warner

Art Garfunkel holds several honorary titles: most enduring hairstyle in rock 'n' roll, most famous second banana of all time (complete with a loving send-up from the Simpson's themselves), and most miles walked by a mathematics master. This week, the man behind one half of rock's most famously fractious duo takes center stage at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center in support of his newest album Some Enchanted Evening.

"I'm the second son of three boys, so I'm a little complex," he laughs, explaining what motivates him. "I have a nervous energy, and [being the middle child] demands that I be interesting all the time. It's like stage performance, too. It leads to nail biting, calculating. You just want to be interesting."

"Interesting" is almost an understatement. Garfunkel has fascinated generations who have watched his career ebb and flow since the heady days of his part in Simon & Garfunkel. Paul Simon and Garfunkel met in the sixth grade, and began performing under the moniker Tom & Jerry when they were just 15 years old.

They released five albums together, as well as creating the soundtrack phenomenon for the film The Graduate — and, most memorably, the hit "Mrs. Robinson." Their last album, 1970's acclaimed Bridge over Troubled Water, was an unknowingly prophetic title as the duo parted ways soon after, at the height of their success.

Since then, Garfunkel has released 12 solo albums, written several volumes of poetry, and starred in the films Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge. His signature countertenor and intellectualism set hot, geeky girls' hearts aflutter. His rolled-up sleeves and timeless explosion of frizzy curls has served as the inspiration for the looks of countless counterculture cool kids on TV and in the movies.

However, it's his personal life that proves most fascinating. An avid reader, Garfunkel's web site lists every book he's read since 1968, and the number has passed the 1,000 mark in the last couple years. He has also embarked on several cross-continental walks, trekking across both the USA and Japan between 1983 and 1997.

He began his European walk in 1998, and knowingly acknowledges the envious looks he gets from other people when he talks about his adventures.

"They exhale with a kind of 'I'd do it, too' drop to the shoulders," he says. "It's a way to leave the modern life."

These long walks take Garfunkel to many beautiful places, and it's on these journeys that he connects with his inner writer.

"I looked up and I'm under a canopy of trees," Garfunkel remembers. "Maybe the trees sense each other and leave a bit of space so you can still see the sky from underneath. I'm communing with nature like in the old LSD days." He laughs again.

Garfunkel feels like he's finally hitting his stride and credits this to the strong partnerships with his band.

"Playing with someone is what I did with Simon & Garfunkel, and I feel like I'm doing that again," he enthuses.

Some Enchanted Evening finds Garfunkel covering pop standards, somewhat of a departure from his other work. He describes making a list of 160 songs he liked, and the process of yielding to Richard Perry as the producer, who narrowed it down to love songs spanning the 20th century.

"It's about trust," Garfunkel explains. "I'm trying to show up to the mic and be flexible. We'd record 35-40 demos and I would gauge where I got goose bumps." The standards album includes classics like "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face."

"I'm ready to take over the night for people," he says of performing. "Give me the spotlight. I'm not reticent anymore."

Jeremy Fisher Interview

My interview with Jeremy Fisher appears in this month's Discorder. Pick up a copy if you have the chance!

Endless Possibilities
By Andrea Warner

Anything is possible in Jeremy Fisher’s world, and it’s this belief that’s catapulted the local Vancouver singer/songwriter into an international phenomenon. It’s the eve of Fisher’s next American tour in support of his latest album Goodbye Blue Monday, his third in six years, and he’s remarkably laid back for a man who is about to play some of the greatest independent venues the US has to offer.

Fisher’s come a long way from his humble beginnings, but he’s always been a musician: studying piano at six years old, picking up the bass and guitar in his teens, and ultimately composing and arranging in college. In fact, Fisher has made the majority of his living in music since he was a teenager.

“I’ve had three jobs that weren’t related to music,” Fisher says. “Leading canoe trips, washing dishes, and being a bike mechanic. I identify as much as a bike mechanic as I do as a musician, but I have a lot of opportunities as a musician right now, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Much of Fisher’s success has been in creating his own opportunities. Back Porch Spirituals was made in his friend’s basement and once it was complete Fisher had to figure out how to get the CD into peoples’ hands. When he thought of his two previoius cross-country bike trips and all of the people he’d met, and his years busking, he came up with an innovative and environmentally friendly plan: bike across North America playing shows in every city he could.

Fisher’s unique approach to marketing Spirituals—30 booked shows and countless impromptu ones as fast as his legs could cycle him there—garnered him plenty of attention and fans, and caught the eye of a major record label. It also helped him forge a deep connection with a hugely loyal fan base throughout Canada and the US. But it was his years playing on the street that taught him how to captivate audiences in the most unlikely places.

“Busking, believe it or not,” Fisher laughs, “is more nerve wracking than playing at an open mic or something. You feel that much more vulnerable because you’re playing a space that wasn’t designed to be a venue. You have to be sensitive and convince people that that’s what that space is for.”

Busking’s bad reputation in Vancouver is something musicians have to contend with, but it’s also an opportunity to hone your skills.

“A lot of people may see buskers as beggars or judge them harshly, you have to draw them in somehow if you want to make a living at it,” Fisher explains. “It’s good for getting over yourself.”

Fisher’s self-made video for “Cigarette”, one of the songs from Monday, cost just $60 to make, and saw him learn animation to create a sweet, funny and slightly sad ode to addiction. Is it possible to know what to expect when you’re at home molding a clay cigarette into various shapes and painstakingly editing thousands of consecutive shots together? So far, “Cigarette” has become a viral hit on YouTube, reaching over two million views and counting.

“I wanted three million hits,” Fisher jokes. “I’d just moved from Sony to Aquarius, and I wanted to try to make something fun, more of a concept. Animation’s something I’d always wanted to do. When I have time on my hands, I like to make stuff. ‘Cigarette’ has done more for me than the two $40,000 videos I made with Sony.”

And this do-it-yourself aesthetic has connected Fisher to his fans in a deep way. Fisher understands the importance of bringing art back into the music industry, and even with major-label support, he still manages to put his own quirky spin on everything he does.

“It’s hard to impress someone with just a budget anymore,” Fisher says. “I just wanted to make a little craft project and broadcast it out to the world. It’s a great way to communicate.”

Fisher’s tenacity and determination have paid off. After signing last year with Wind-Up Records in the US, Fisher was booked for two nights in a row as the musical guest on the Craig Ferguson Show. He’s also appeared on CNN, and Goodbye Blue Monday’s received enthusiastic reviews in numerous publications throughout North America. He toured throughout 2007, and is kicking off 2008 much the same way. Fisher now finds himself in the unfamiliar position of being a role model or inspiration for other struggling artists hoping to emulate his success. His advice?

“Get on your bike and tour across North America. It worked for me,” Fisher laughs. “Just go to any lengths necessary.” After all, anything is possible.

xx
774 words

Sidebar:
The overwhelming popularity of Jeremy Fisher’s Goodbye Blue Monday is in part a response to his remarkable songwriting skills. Sensitivity is key to the bittersweet landscape of the album. Fisher’s wry lyrics are worldly observations and knowing winks, reminding the listener he’s a storyteller who’s been collecting tales from the road for many years now.

All types of characters seem to fill up his songs, and it’s Fisher’s unique perspective that helps connect his fans so strongly to his music. From being thrown off the grounds of a Catholic Church in Marysville, Ontario to being sprayed by underground sprinklers in the middle of the night in Saskatchewan, one story sticks out in his mind about the kindness of strangers.

“I was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan [on the bike tour], and I was in this grocery story with all of my gear and my bike,” Fisher says. “And there was this older guy ahead of me in line wearing a cowboy hat and he saw all my cycling stuff and my gear and he just paid for my groceries and walked out! He didn’t even say anything to me. I had to chase after him to thank him and introduce myself.”

xx
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Cool interviews

This morning I got to call Art Garfunkel and chat with him about everything. It was pretty much the coolest interview of my life. I'll be posting the article next week, once the Charleston City Paper is published. If you happen to reside in a city where Garfunkel's coming to play, take the opportunity to check it out. I think he'll be putting on the best show of his career. He seems like he is in a very good, engaging place.

Scott Normandy Review

This review appears in February's Discorder.

Scott Normandy
My Future. My Past. CD review

By Andrea Warner

My Future. My Past. is a groaner of a title—heavy handed and loaded. It’s meant perhaps to signify rumination, learning from one’s mistakes, growing up. If you can wade through the symbolism, Scott Normandy has crafted a decent solo debut of gentle and inoffensive folk rock that should please both fans of “sensitive” rockers like John Mayer and, on its best tracks, Blue Rodeo.

MFMP works best when it lightens the mood and picks up the pace with a country-twang infusion of energy on tracks like “My Life” and “No Disguises”. Unfortunately, the majority of the disc depends on quieter songs that sink the listener in profundity. “The Plea” repeatedly begs for answers about the meaning of life, and it’s just one of several songs relying on this indulgent self-reflection. (Pet peeve: The lyrics in the liner notes are riddled with faulty grammar, like ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’.)

There’s no denying Normandy has a lovely voice and is a talented musician, but it’s his next record that will determine more accurately if he goes the route of Jim Cuddy or James Blunt. Let’s hope it’s the former.

Quick Interview

I also posted my quick interview with Becky from You Say Party! We Say Die! to Beyond Robson last night. Make sure to take a look!

You Say Party! We Say Die! and Beyond Robson

I've begun writing for Beyond Robson and my first post is a review of the You Say Party! We Say Die! show last Thursday night.

You Say Party? We Say Yes!
By Andrea Warner

You Say Party! We Say Die! are winding down after two years of tireless world touring, but this awesome Vancouver dance-punk band showed no signs of exhaustion as they stormed the stage last night at the Plaza, leading the crowd through song after song of hand claps, furious head bobbing, sing-alongs, and shriek-alongs...read the rest on Beyond Robson.

How She Move

How She Move—2 1/2 stars
By Andrea Warner

Set in the world of “step”, an African dance style that combines stomping, contortions, and vigorous thrusting, How She Move is a much better movie than its grammar-challenged title would indicate.

Move tells the story of Raya Green, an aspiring medical student whose sister’s death from a drug overdose forces her to leave boarding school and move back home to the Toronto projects she desperately wants to escape. To get the money she needs for boarding school, Raya must re-enter the fiercely competitive world of “step”, win the Step Monster dance-off, and claim the $50,000 prize.

The requisite demons for Raya to overcome are mostly standard: the ex-best friend, the boy next door, and her parents’ crumbling marriage. What sets Move apart is how it highlights the close-knit world that communities like these crime-addled projects really are: the ghost of Raya’s sister hovers over almost every scene, and every character in the film is tainted by the tragedy in some way. You feel lingering traces of pain, fear, anger, and grief at every turn.

Move also boasts some fine performances from relatively unproven young actors, particularly newcomer Rutina Wesley as Raya. In Wesley’s hands, Raya is smart but selfish, infused with subtle layers of intelligence, determination, and sad guilt. Vancouver’s Brennan Gademan is a treat as the young genius, Quake, who uses his brains to choreograph a show-stopping finale. The majority of the actors are fierce athletes, and the dance moves throughout the film, choreographed by HiHat, are impressive physical feats that get the adrenaline flowing. When a showdown between Raya and her rival, Michelle, becomes a “step-off”, the impulse is to laugh, but if you don’t ask too many questions, How She Move might be the film for you.

U2 3D Review

Two new reviews appear in today's Westender. I'm posting U2 3D today and How She Move tomorrow.

U2 3D Review—3 stars
By Andrea Warner

U2 3D documents the South American leg of the band’s “Vertigo” tour, and boasts the first 3-D, multi-camera, real-time production. The energy pulses as arms seem to wave right under the audience’s noses and the surround sound of the theatre kicks in with the roar of the crowd when Bono takes the stage.

Most of the 3-D effects are fantastic and focus on magnifying the band, allowing a close-up view of the various guitar, bass and drumming techniques. Among U2 3D’s strongest offerings are nostalgic political anthems “Bullet the Blue Sky”, “New Year’s Day”, and “Sunday, Bloody Sunday”. The Edge’s searing guitar on “Where the Streets Have No Name” and Adam Clayton’s bass on “With or Without You” are reminders of what a genuinely talented group of musicians U2 is.

Bono’s voice is showcased beautifully on “Pride (In the Name of Love)” but his theatrics take on a cheesy note during his father ballad “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”. U2 3D’s biggest misstep comes during the encore where the producers blow the majority of their effects budget during “The Fly”; it’s a visual onslaught that attacks the eyeballs and is out of place in a film that gracefully toes the line between excess and subtlety.

U2 are consummate professionals, and the band almost never falters once from their carefully constructed mandate. Even U2’s more freestyle moments feel calculated, particularly with the giant projector screens behind them, choreographed to coincide with each well-timed high note. This is one of the drawbacks of the 3-D experience: the flaws of the live show are much more obvious when viewed from a front-row seat inside a movie theatre.

Oscar Predictions Part II

Who I want to win!

Picture: Juno
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Actress: Julie Christie
Supporting Actor: Tom Wilkinson
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett
Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody
Adapted Screenplay: Sarah Polley
Animated Film: Persepolis

Oscar Predictions

The Academy and I don't really see eye to eye every year. But, there were some tremendous films in 2007 and while I'm still lamenting the fact that everyone forgot Zodiac, I'm very curious to see what happens on Oscar night.

Today I'm posting who I think will win. Tomorrow I'm going to post who I want to win. And then the countdown begins!

Picture: There Will Be Blood
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Actress: Julie Christie
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett
Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody
Adapted Screenplay: Joel Cohen and Ethan Cohen
Animated Film: Ratatouille

Drugs & Celebrity

Heath Ledger's been found dead in his New York apartment in a possible drug-related death. His wonderful performances in I'm Not There and as the brilliantly terrifying Joker in the upcoming Dark Knight were only glimpses of an incredible future in film.

Ledger's death comes just a week after Brad Renfro was also found dead from a drug-overdose.

What a sad and lonely way to die.

I'm Not There Review

This review is scheduled to appear in Discorder's February issue, out in a couple weeks.

I’m Not There Review
By Andrea Warner

I’m Not There is a brilliant head-trip of a circus and the ringleader in the spotlight of this chaotic and sumptuous visual extravaganza is the man behind the many myths: Bob Dylan.

It takes a lot of parts to make up the whole of any human being, but few figures have so blatantly confounded, entranced and ultimately served to exemplify an entire generation so completely as that of Bob Dylan. Six wonderful actors dig in to the bones of his enigmatic persona, the flesh made real by a superb supporting cast, but still at the film’s end we’re wondering what it all means?

This is the beauty of a director like Todd Haynes tackling the mystery of Dylan: they share a desire to stimulate the imagination and challenge preconceived notions, creating startlingly relatable characters out of the most indulgent and unappealing human traits.

Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn is a standout amongst some truly wonderful performers, inhabiting Dylan’s most destructive and arrogant side. She finds a brilliant sparring partner in Bruce Greenwood, the BBC arts reporter eager to demystify Quinn as a self-invented narcissist from New Jersey. Each scene between them is a tense and satisfying game of cat and mouse. In Blanchett’s capable hands, every Quinn’s every sentiment is a fragile riddle that dissolves under too much scrutiny.

Marcus Carl Franklin as the 11-year-old, train-hopping child who calls himself Woody Guthrie, is an actor with great instincts and a remarkably mature voice. Heath Ledger and Charlotte Gainsbourg also shine as a couple unraveling under ego and success.

Throughout the film we’re always clawing at a never-ending glass surface that refracts images surreal and beautiful, raw and ugly, but all hauntingly honest. We’re forced to leave the theatre thinking about who we are in the grand scheme of things. Haynes, like Dylan, is a master at manipulating his audience, but we are all the richer for it.

Three very different movies, all with startling degrees of awesomeness

Hopefully I'll get to post these full reviews next week, but over the last couple weeks I've seen Starting Out in the Evening, Cloverfield and I'm Not There.

How I missed I'm Not There when it first came out is something I'm still trying to reconcile, but alas. I've seen it now and I'm actually a better, more inspired person for it. Honest. I think it just might be Cate Blanchett's best performance.

Starting Out in the Evening stars Frank Langella in, what I believe, is the most phenomenal performance by a male lead in any film from the last year. Lili Taylor is lovely and vibrant as a woman facing 40 trying to figure out her life. A great, intellectual film that makes you want to go home and dig out that book you've been working on sporadically since college.

And, Cloverfield. I know that perhaps it seems like one of these things is not like the other, but just because it's in a different category than the other two movies, doesn't diminish it's appeal. Intimate, explosive and satisfying, it's brutal devastation of Manhattan is a feast for the senses. And, it's a fun popcorn flick that connects.

27 Dresses

My review of 27 Dresses is in this week's Westender.

27 Dresses Review
by Andrea Warner

27 Dresses is the perfect film to help you fight holiday weight gain: light and bubbly, it goes down easy like a Diet Coke, but packs just enough bite to satisfy.

Starring Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up, Grey’s Anatomy), 27 Dresses is pretty standard romantic comedy fare. Formulaic and familiar, we know our heroine will be beautiful but put-upon, klutzy but “relatable”, and destined to fall for the man she argues with the most.

Heigl is Jane, an eager-to-please romantic in love with weddings. When her spoiled younger sister breezes back in to town and ends up engaged to the boss Jane’s loved passively for eight years, Jane’s life goes into a tailspin. Enter James Marsden (X-Men, Hairspray, Enchanted) as the handsome but jaded reporter looking for a juicy story.

Though we’ve seen all of this before, 27 Dresses manages to keep things surprisingly fresh. The dialogue has moments of genuine comedic wit, the costuming is alternately hideous or beautiful as appropriate, and the casting is spot on.

Heigl and Marsden share a nice, playful chemistry, and Judy Greer as Jane’s boozy best friend is a treat as always, even if criminally under-used. Ed Burns is perfect as the blandly handsome and oblivious do-gooder boss Jane has spent years idolizing.

But really, there’s just one girl on the poster, and that’s Heigl. Charming and stunning, it would be easy to be distracted by Heigl’s beauty, but her line delivery is so great and natural throughout the film that she effortlessly becomes the funny girl you cheer for when she gets the happy ending you saw coming a mile away.

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Stars

This is a review I've written as a sample piece for Beyond Robson (www.beyondrobson.com), as I might see some shows for them and then tell everyone about them.

And, here's a link to Carlos Hernandez Fisher's awesome photography that will accompany this piece and future concert reviews: http://flickr.com/photos/hernandezfisher/sets/72157603732218532/

Stars Shine Bright in Vancouver
By Andrea Warner

Stars brought down the Commodore last night, and it wasn't because of some cataclysmic astronomical event. It was simply awesome indie pop and an audience that kept the show going well past the band's requisite first encore.

Stars are back on tour supporting their newest CD, In Our Bedroom After The War, and they sound better than ever. Lead singer Torquil Campbell, who now resides in Vancouver, made the Commodore shake with newer numbers like the Michael-Jackson-by-way-of

-Justin-Timberlake-infused "Genova Heights".

Stars co-lead singer Amy Millan seduced the audience with her little girl voice and her boozy, seductive take on "Calendar Girl". About three quarters of the way into the show, feeling the rapturous love all around her, she actually fell backwards onto the raised arms of the adoring public and crowd-surfed.

After a lengthy four-song encore, Stars attempted to head home for the night but the audience pulled them back out on stage for a second encore. Campbell laughingly asked "What more do you want from us?" It was pretty obvious: they didn't want the Stars to go out.

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Adrian Glynn Review

This is my CD review in Discorder's December/January issue.

Adrian Glynn Review
by Andrea Warner

Adrian Glynn’s eponymous debut EP packs plenty of love, heartache, and promise into seven songs. The songs are reminiscent of Jakob Dylan, with a hint of Bob Dylan, updated to reflect the current trend towards alt-country sensibilities shared by hipsters and folkies alike.

Glynn’s voice is lovely and intimate. The strongest songs corroborate the story of a man who can’t quite catch a break when it comes to women. “Paper Crown” offers a bluesy growl about missing a woman. The next track, “Mother’s Song” opens ‘we all love a little bit too hard’ and asks ‘when are you coming home, my darlin’?’

The entire EP is an exploration of earnest feelings, but periodically the efforts feel manipulative rather than deep. The last song is a woeful lament from our hero comparing his relationship with a woman to that of Jesus’ plight: ‘she was my cross to bare/and I, I laid her down.’ While this song’s a wonderful showcase for Glynn’s voice, the weighty metaphor as well as literally signifying the end of the song and the album with the sound of footsteps and a door closing, seem trite when one gets the feeling the artist was really shooting for meaningful.

Make Music, BC!

This piece appeared in Discorder's December/January issue, out now!

Make Music, BC!
By Andrea Warner

Are you more Nelly, Nickleback or New Pornographers? Whatever melodic fantasy’s playing in your mind, Music BC will help you chart the course from garage band to Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack staple.

Helmed by artists and business people in the industry, Music BC strives to help artists in BC have sustainable careers through funding, education, mentorship, networking and business opportunities.

The Executive Director of Music BC, Bob D’Eith, knows both sides: he’s a keyboardist who used to play in Rhymes With Orange, and is currently a part of Mythos, signed to Virgin Records, with five records to their credit thus far. He’s also a music lawyer, which helps contribute to one of the major mandates of Music BC.

“There’s a big disconnect between the study of music and the business of music,” Bob says. “These kids come out of school as incredible musicians, but have no idea how to make money at it. We’re trying to work with educators so the gap is filled before they leave school.”

According to Chris Brandt, former Vice-President and newly promoted President of Music BC, making money in the music industry is no longer possible by conventional means. And, he should know: Chris worked for Universal Music in sales and marketing for the last 10 years, and has owned his own label since 2004. It’s a complex balance between art and business, particularly right now when the music industry is integrating un-chartered and unproven territory, re: the Internet. It’s not “new” news per se, but it’s the catalyst for a changing industry.

“An ongoing problem is downloading. Anyone who says it isn’t is an idiot,” Chris says. “Downloading kicked the crap out of the music industry. Not to say the industry wasn’t at fault. They did a lot of really dumb things, were susceptible to it and greedy. But they did get the legs taken out from under them. It’s trying to find new ways for an artist to make money.”

And, this is where Music BC shines most brightly. With a diverse Board of Directors heavily involved in the music industry, and able to commiserate with the state of affairs of their member artists, alternatives are first and foremost on everyone’s minds.

“There’s no money in records anymore,” Chris says. “You have to tour, sell merchandise, and get into TV and film.”

As part of Music BC’s career development series, Music BC flew up a music supervisor from LA, in charge of placing music on soundtrack heavy TV shows like Scrubs and Grey’s Anatomy. These kinds of lectures are lucrative for everyone involved, particularly to an up-and-coming young band with no other way of getting their music in front of 20 million people in one shot.

“You can’t just put out a song and then have a video for MuchMusic, because MuchMusic doesn’t play videos and radio doesn’t play new music,” Bob explains, chuckling a little. “I’m not saying they don’t at all, but it’s different now. [As an artist] you have to connect.”

The hardest part of touring and live shows, especially for young bands, can be finding a meaningful relationship with the audience. As a further part of the career development program, Music BC is hoping to finalize arrangements with Tom Jackson, a famed producer of live shows who hails from Nashville, to impart his wisdom about kicking up the love between artist and fan.

In addition to education and career development, Music BC funds a variety of initiatives to help artist’s transition from fledgling to major player. They act as administrators for FACTOR (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Records), the $15 million federal grant program. They also offer a travel assistance fund, and a music appreciation program with a song-writing contest that is currently accepting submissions. Their newly developed charity wing provides scholarships for post-secondary and private music schools. In addition, Music BC recently raised $28,000 for instruments in under-privileged schools. And, they have big plans for the future.

“We would love to create a funding program where we could fund indie labels,” Chris says. “Giving them grants to hire publicists. Do radio tracking. Help them with production costs here and there.”

In addition, 2009 will already be a major triumph for the organization: They have successfully negotiated the Juno Awards return to Vancouver.

“This is a great opportunity to bring the focus back to Vancouver, and put a bit of a spotlight on our board,” Bob enthuses. And, an even brighter light on the next local artist to rule Billboard.

My first review for the Westender--The Kite Runner

My review ran in last week's Westender, and I'm really excited about working with such an awesome paper.

The Kite Runner Review
By Andrea Warner

The complexities of our childhood actions often misshape and indulge our understanding of the world we grow up in. The Kite Runner, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Khaled Hosseini, and directed by Marc Forster, is a thought-provoking film that asks us to reconcile who we are with who we become.

The story sprawls from 1978 to 2000, focusing on childhood best friends Amir and Hassan. By 1979, Amir's betrayal and subsequent guilt tears the friends apart, and when war comes, the boys are further separated as Amir flees Afghanistan with his father. Entire lives have passed by the time Amir must make a dangerous return to Kabul to rescue Hassan's son from the Taliban.

The first-time actors who play young Amir and Hassan are gifted performers. Homayoun Ershadi, in particular, is remarkable as Amir's father, filling the character with conviction, grace and dignity.

Equally impressive is the choreography of the kite-flying competition that is as intense an air battle as any between fighter pilots. The film does stretch on for 15 minutes too long, and occasionally second-guesses itself with needless exposition.

Unfortunately, Afghanistan is a mystery to most North Americans, who see it alternately as the war-torn playground of the Taliban, a black hole for Canadian troops, or a devastation of women's rights. Thankfully, this film compels us to know Afghanistan better. This is The Kite Runner's real triumph: deftly using Afghanistan as a silent main character. Catalyst and background have never melded so effortlessly.

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Circus Stories

I've been in Europe for the last few weeks so I haven't been able to post anything, which totally defeats my goal of posting something new everyday. Alas, I was in Europe. That's pretty much the best excuse I can think of.

A quick first part in a series of shorts called...

Circus Stories
by Andrea Warner

He left home when he was 14. It was a romantic day, in the sense that the moon was plump and low, the colour of fake butter on popcorn, oozing autumn as it rested heavily on the thinning oak branches. Fall renewed his sense of hope; there was something concrete about the death, the regeneration, all the Buddhist ideals he’d grasped onto in the last year to help him cope with what he felt was a grave, travesty-filled existence.

His name is Ernie, a final and cruel gift from his parents in his opinion. He knows nothing of them but their wretched taste in first names. He doesn’t even know his real surname. Ernie’s obsession with the romantic is understandable, excusable even, given his origins. At least this is what he says when he tries to woo the girls in his class. Imagine, he says: young girl and young boy meet, have whirlwind and forbidden affair (she born on the wrong side of the tracks, with a lazy eye; he on a wholly different wrong side, raised in a commune by vaguely disreputable cult members), they meet, find solace, shielded from society’s wagging finger in the tent of Young Invincible Love that everyone hides in our weakest hearts, have spongy and spasmatic unprotected sex and leave their tiny offspring on the door step of a convent under a clear and starless August night sky. It was a classic and seemingly impossible story, but one Ernie enjoyed spinning like a yoyo to dazzle the young ladies.

Ernie is self-aware to the point he may be convinced he has a whole second self watching from about ten feet behind at all times. He knows things, understands the way the world works, has lived inside his head since birth, but is completely detached from any social obligation. He has never had a pet or a best friend. It is remote and The City has lived, glorified, decimated, then glorified again in his youthful, slinky-like mind. [You might ask how he has survived, how this is possible. Think only of all the impossible things that have ever happened to you. Now, do you understand?] Impossible things happen every day. Ernie has embarked on this mission, to bring this information to everyone he meets, to prepare the world for passive acceptance, to eliminate the word “surprise” from the vernacular of the English speakers first, the Japanese next.

The decision to leave the convent on this night was spontaneous yet carefully orchestrated. He is in love. Love provokes, ignites, savages the soul in unbelievable ways. It is different for each person. He never thought it possible until he came across a small, weathered book, with a benign and non-descript brown leather cover, published twenty years previously, that had somehow slipped past the watchful eye of the convent keeper who screened donations for suitable materials. (Anything disreputable, too new age-y, atheist or pornographic was quickly sold to the local junkshop on the outskirts of The City.)

Ernie found the book in the convent library one day. There was nothing special about it, really, nothing that should have drawn his then-12-year-old eye, but its austere, un-flashy packaging persuaded him closer. He tucked his index finger in the hook of its spine and tugged it from between the thick volumes of Agatha Christie mysteries and encyclopedias. He opened it and gasped at the crudely etched picture on the tenth page. What was that? He glanced over his shoulder, careful that God was watching, but reconciling quickly that God had also allowed this gift to fall into his lap. Ernie buried the book under his wool sweater and tried not to look like he was running to the small lavatory on the 2nd floor. Usually only the oldest nuns used this washroom. The smell of Bengay and mildew filled his nostrils. It was the best place to get 15 minutes of privacy. On that day he hoped for 20.

Those 20 minutes changed his life. Every day for the last two years, Ernie had happily volunteered to clean that particular bathroom. Every day, for one hour, the room was closed and the nuns marveled at what dedication Ernie’s showing! But, it had gone on long enough. This book had opened his mind in ways no intoxicant ever could. His whole being was dedicated to the teachings in those thin pages. It improved his focus in school; he looked to the other kids in his class with an expert’s incisive judgment; he watched the nuns in wonder and amazement, imagining them doing the things the book had shown him.

Ernie was changed. The world began to make sense to him. It was easy to figure people out once you inspected their psyche for a few minutes, once you listened to what they were trying, ineffectively, to say. He felt God, and though he enjoyed his Buddhist teachings he knew there was still a God, had allowed him this insight, had given him this knowledge for a reason. He observed and kept careful track, putting pieced of peoples’ behaviours together in a massive jigsaw puzzle of emotion.

He was going to find the woman in the book, the woman in the pictures who had offered so much of herself for his education. She had obviously written the text. She was a goddess of information, had unlocked things inside him foreign to his 12-year-old self. At 14 now, he felt prepared to embark on his journey. He would find her, tell her how much she meant to him, explain how he loved her. She inspired him to be wise, manly, and he wanted to devote his life to her teachings.

Ernie lights a cigarette, waves at the large convent where he has lived in relative obscurity his whole 14 years, and sets off towards The City, a vaguely mythical and forbidden denizen of drug dealers, pimps, Hare Krishnas and performance artists with pierced body parts. He is, he feels, ready for anything.

Fredrich Vron Rockengrock

Freddy is a character from a book I'm collaborating on with my friend, Dennis Adams. I've got three chapters written thus far. Here is the very opening page.

Fredrich Vron Rockengrock
Written by Andrea Warner from a concept by Dennis Adams

Chapter 1: Boy #7 and the Fire at Pod Auger Orphanage

Boy #7 had lived in Pod Auger Orphanage since he was around two months old. His exact birthday was never known. He’d suddenly appeared one day, wrapped securely in a plaid blanket, nestled amongst the linen of the laundry cart. Bit by bit, the police were able to piece together parts of the story, but they were never able to find the home that was missing this baby boy.

He looked like a lot of kids at Pod Auger, and yet sort of like no one. He knew he felt different. The other kids loved him, but something about him must not have appealed to the potential parents. He supposed that was why he had never been picked when they trucked in for the Sunday viewings. The nuns told the story of how he came to live there, and the Mothers and Fathers would shake their heads, and look at him with sympathy, but he was already tainted. He was too tragic. Too different.

But, deep inside, Boy #7 knew he was different in an important way. He was meant for something fantastical. Something he couldn’t even imagine. There must have been a reason that nobody ever picked him as their son. Maybe he was destined for greatness.

69 words

This is something I wrote on an assignment a few years ago. It could only be 69 words. Fun!

The Starlings
By Andrea Warner

Three hours had gone by and he'd not thought of Trudy or the other Baptists. The starlings needed to stay. Needed some kind of structure, a home, some stability. Unfortunately George had little to offer in the way of proper bird lodging. Then he looked across the field to the small oak tree Trudy had dug up in the middle of the night during their last two months together.

Juno Review

The compact review:

Juno

Juno, the remarkable movie from director Jason Reitman and first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody, tells a thoughtful and brutally funny story about what it means to be loved via the catalyst of unplanned teen pregnancy.

The film stars an excellent Ellen Page as Juno, a witty and wickedly astute 16-year-old who decides to have sex with her best friend Paulie Bleeker, played by Michael Cera with more of his lovely brand of the awkward, gentle flower. When Juno opts to keep the child and give it to a stylish suburban couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman), she’s drawn into an entirely different world where she’s forced to grow up in a way that has nothing, and yet everything, to do with having a baby.

Juno isn’t entirely without flaws. The first ten minutes of exceedingly hip dialogue is supposed to feel authentic from a modern teen mouth, but feels more like what someone thinks teens sound like. But this is a small complaint, because what Juno accomplishes in is nothing short of fantastic: the audience isn’t given a sermon on teen pregnancy, but rather a uniquely feel-good look at growing up, regardless of how old you are.

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