Windsor a market "we can count on" for Asian films

It took almost a week but Cineplex did respond to my request for an interview about Asian films screening locally (see post Nov. 18). And they set me up with their VP of Film Buying Robert Cousins, no less. Here's the gist of the interview as per my article appearing in companion website, www.WindsorOntarioNews.com.  

You’ve heard of Bollywood. Now there’s Pollywood – the world of Punjabi cinema - and playing at Cineplex’s Silver City cinemas. In fact, Punjabi films have been screening there for several years as part of the theatre chain’s expanding showcase of Asian films. Besides Punjabi there are of course Bollywood, or Hindi language films, as well as Chinese movies. Why has Windsor been selected to screen such a wide variety of films from Asia? “In a lot of Canada it comes down to just regional immigration,” Robert Cousins, Cineplex’s VP of Film Buying, says. “Hindi for years has been the main language of our South Asian business. But Punjabi in Canada is the predominant other language.” Originally, South Asian films booked in Windsor came from US distributors whose advertising in Detroit “was bleeding over into Windsor and who said, ‘why don’t we take a date in Windsor.’ ” Attendance in the succeeding years “has been good,” Cousins adds. “Windsor has been one of those markets that we can count on when we open up a big film.” In terms of general attendance Asian films, like those of Hollywood, vary in appeal “title by title,” he says. “Big titles do extremely well.” The market is “very star-driven” and themes are important. “For the longest time we used to do extremely well with romances, and then there were more action movies,” Cousins says. And titles just don’t last a week. “We treat our South Asian business like we treat out Hollywood business, as long as the public comes to watch it, it plays.” And the films can be watched by the non-Asian community since they all come with English sub-titles. In fact, some non-Asians have discovered this cinema. “They went to one and they realize these are full blown productions,” Cousins says. As well, there are movie styles “that we in North America don’t do anymore.” Melodrama, for instance. “Whether they be Chinese or Indian or other markets heightened emotion – heightened melodrama – is still a big part of the market.” In Windsor Silver City is exclusively the place to watch Asian films. “You want to make sure you can park the films in that theatre” so the audience realizes that’s the place to go to see them.....Recent titles have been romantic comedies Paani Ch Madhaani and Honsla Rakh. And coming this week are Warning and Antim: The Final Truth.

Film clips: Loving to be back in the theatre

It’s one of those things that just bugs you, or me anyway. Watching the trailer to Kenneth Branagh’s new film Belfast, a semi-autobiographical film set during “The Troubles” between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast 1968, the soundtrack blares out the song Everlasting Love. Huh? That song wasn’t on the playlist in 1969. I know, I lived through the year and as a teen was fully aware of the conflict in Northern Ireland. That song was released in 1967. Either Branagh simply loves the song despite the historical inaccuracy or there was a two-year delay in songs from America reaching the British Isles!……I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed a return to bricks and mortar movie theatres. I really didn’t know I’d enjoy the experience as much as I have given the 18 months of lockdown-induced movie streaming at home. Now I’ve seen three films at Cineplex Odeon theatres and among other things love the cinema’s newish deeply comfortable recliner seats. In fact I can’t wait until the next film I want to see, C’mon C’mon (Mike Mills) starring the searing Joaquin Phoenix, opens (maybe this weekend?)…..I have to scratch my head as to why corporate public relations departments do as they do, or don’t. For the past week I have been trying to reach Cineplex’s media team for an interview or at least written comments about the theatre chain’s seeming new screening of ethnic films, in this case two Punjabi features, at its Devonshire cinemas. These are Paani Ch Madhaani and Honsla Rakh. You’d think a PR department would jump at the chance to give more publicity to this new programming for a fast-growing ethnic community. But no. And as I’ve learned from years as a journalist there is often no rhyme or reason why PR departments act as they do…..My most recent Hollywood discovery: watching the 1967 film Up the Down Staircase (Robert Mulligan 1967) on TCM and captivated by lead character Sandy Dennis’s (photo above) performance as novice teacher Sylvia Barrett in a tough NYC high school. A year earlier she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Mike Nichols’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Everyone should watch this extraordinary movie featuring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.) So, I had to look her up and was surprised to learn of her unconventionality.  She never married and disdained the idea of children. “I never, ever wanted children. It would have been like having an elephant." She also lived with jazz musician Gerry Mulligan and had a curious life as a cat lady, rescuing stray ones “from the bowels of Grand Central Terminal,” according to Wikipedia. At the time of her death in 1992 she was living with more than 20 cats…..And tonight, I can’t wait to watch Mel Brooks’s 1977 High Anxiety, which he directs, and stars!

Bond, yes, Soho horror, no

I want to write this review without describing in any way shape or form the plot of the new James Bond movie, No Time to Die (director, Cary Joji Fukunaga). So, let’s see. The film achieves all the glamour, elan and sophistication of past Bond films - no argument there. Exotic locations – check. Sexy glamorous women – of course. And at least one “shaken not stirred” martini in the mix. Thrills and spills – yes. Bond the Houdini of the spy world? There are numerous scenes. Bond’s trusty Aston Martin is also firing – literally – on all cylinders. Is the plot fantastical and coherent? Yes, and yes, unlike some other 007 flicks. Standout performances? Daniel Craig as Bond is again exemplary embodying the iconic character; too bad this is his last film. Ben Whishaw as nerdy computer genius Q was a bit of a hoot. That subtle humor which undermines any of the characters’ seriousness? Jolly good. Is the movie’s theme song perfect in the 007 genre mode? Yes, and sung by Billie Eilish, a virtual tie with Adele’s in Skyfall (Sam Mendes, 2012). Clocking in at almost three hours, does No Time to Die keep your interest? Well, yes. So, yes, I would give this a three and a half out of five stars, possibly closer to four. Any downsides? The villains could have been more brutally evil; Rami Malek as the dastardly in chief had a blunted edge. There could have been just a little more smooching in said exotic locales. I would have loved to have seen Judi Dench as M. (Ralph Fiennes, who’s good, has the demeanor of the classic aged male spy chief of numerous British films). Léa Seydoux as MI6 psychiatrist Madeleine Swann and Bond’s main squeeze struck me as just a little young and inexperienced for such an operative. I can’t say this is the best Bond film I’ve seen (and I think I’ve seen them all). But it scores among the best for suspense, elegance, coherence and thrills and spills. So, what are you waiting for? Go see it.

Wish I could have half the praise for the other film I caught at a double bill at the Devonshire Cineplex Odeon, Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright). Alas, it was disappointing and didn’t work. The best thing about the film was its premise, set in London at the height of Carnaby Street and the Swinging Sixties. But credit where due – the period re-creations were very realistic. The soundtrack of course was great and is the best thing about the film. But I can hear those songs anytime. The problem is the film’s theme itself, psychological horror. Eloise ‘Ellie’ (Thomasin McKenzie) moves to London to study fashion design. She becomes obsessed with the city harking back to all the 1960s music she listened to growing up, exemplified by her grand mum’s (Rita Tushingham) era. There are some great special effects creating the ghosts and vampire-like creatures looking startling like the paintings of British artist Francis Bacon. And there is a feminist sub-theme about men as predators. But the horror falls flat. This would have been a better film, sorry, without the horror. It could have been a whimsical travel back in time to Sixties London – an amazing era - such as Woody Allen created in Midnight in Paris (2011). Nevertheless, it was great to see 1960's film grand dame Rita Tushingham after all these years. As it was the last film of the late great Diana Rigg, forever one of my all-time favorites and a youth heart throb as Emma Peel in the original TV series The Avengers. But, seriously, don’t go waste your money and time.