Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Arts & Entertainment
queensjournal.ca
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a&e spring Picks Whether Hollywood Blockbusters or Canadian indie gems, unconventional coming of age tales are this season’s Vogue THE TROTSKY By Emily Davies Staff Writer
Despite a darker tone in Toy Story 3, Pixar succeeds once again nostalgic final installment of their Hollywood franchise. literally in the story when Andy snaps, “No one’s gonna want these TOY STORY 3 toys…they’re junk.” In his eagerness to head off to By Ally Hall become a man, Andy forges on A&E Editor with only his trusty cowboy Woody It’s hard to believe 15 years have (Tom Hanks) at his side, leaving passed since Pixar broke into the rest of the toys to the demise Hollywood territory with Toy at his Mother’s hands. A packing Story, the first feature film produced snafu brings the toys to the curb entirely by computer-generated leaving Woody to rescue them in imagery. I vividly remember my true cowboy fashion. Once reunited, Woody, Buzz excitement watching my childhood dream realized on screen—toys Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the gang escape to the initially inviting, coming to life. Nine films later, the masterminds utopia-like Sunnyside Daycare behind what has come to be welcomed warmly by the plush Hollywood’s most consistently purple Lots’O’Huggin Bear (Ned dazzling artistic collective have Beatty) and the hospitable Barbiemastered their craft with the action smitten Ken (a closeted take on the familiar character voiced brilliantly packed third chapter, Toy Story 3. If there’s one thing I’ve prepared by Michael Keaton). It doesn’t take long for the myself for over my career as a Pixar enthusiast, it’s to cry in the first few sunny façade of Sunnyside to minutes of their films. Embarrassing fall. Lots’O’Huggin’s disposition as it may be, UP’s romantic intro got quickly turns sinister, revealing the me by the second minute and Toy daycare to be a toy’s version of hell, Story 3 is no different. A brilliant complete with a truly creepy oneshort Day & Night, pre-empts eyed big baby, wire-framed cages, the film and should encourage horrendous toy-mangling and surveillance cameras monitored by a movie-goers to arrive early. The opening sequence rolls cymbal-yielding monkey. Naturally, into six-year-old Andy’s familiar, the environment launches the film’s elaborately constructed world of heroes into break-out mode. You’d be right to peg this film cowboys, astronauts and a giant flying pig. Just as I caught myself as the darkest of the three, but it’s being lulled into a nostalgic fog, just as funny and entertaining as its the shock of the present day predecessors. The jokes and quick interrupted—Andy is 17 and he’s one-liners throughout the film are a welcomed break from the more off to college. The film struck a chord with serious aspects of the story.. The pacing of Toy Story 3 puts it me so strongly perhaps because it’s designed to play directly to on par with some of the most gutthe heartstrings of those imprinted wrenching thrillers, but the suspense by the original Toy Story back is interrupted with clever details and new characters to pepper the in 1995. Written by Michael Arndt (Little toys’ journey. Hilarious additions Miss Sunshine) from a story by like Buzz’s strange behavior after John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and being captured and reset to factory director Lee Unkrich, the script settings, are put to great use. It makes sense 11 years have melds a perfect balance between humor, intelligence and unabashed passed since a new member of the Toy Story franchise has been pure emotion. As with those that have come introduced—mediocrity wasn’t before it, a film for kids takes on an option. The animation stands a slew of adult responsibility. It strong beside its counterparts. I’d be interested to watch the presents issues of abandonment, loneliness and aging surprisingly full trilogy to see and compare the
supplied
in warming hearts with the
visual evolution of the animation of the characters in their surroundings. I’m not one to pass up a chance for 3-D, but it should be noted in this case the glasses didn’t add much to the experience. Pangs of memory and nostalgia hit throughout Toy Story 3, when despite the lively action sequences, a thoughtful story about longing for the past and anticipation for the future is uncovered. It’s a stunning recognition of the way people grow up and naturally part from the people and things they once loved as children.
Who says you can’t come home again? Rising Hollywood star Jay Baruchel did, and made a film sure to be considered a Canadian cinematic classic in the process. Come to think of it, you can’t really consider The Trotsky, written and directed by Baruchel’s childhood friend Jacob Tierney, a complete homecoming. Baruchel, who still lives in Montreal with two high school friends and has a Canadian maple leaf permanently tattooed on his chest, has been fairly open about his loyalty to his home and native land. The actor has a lengthy list of Can-Con to his name, dating all the way back to his early days as the host of the television show Popular Mechanics for Kids with fellow Montreal native and future Girl Next Door Elisha Cuthbert. Last February marked Baruchel’s first turn as a leading man in the underrated She’s Out of My League, playing a lovable loser who unwittingly lands his dream girl. The Trotsky positions Baruchel as Leon Bronstein, a privileged Montreal teenager, who believes he is the reincarnation of Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotksy. As punishment for attempting to organize a hunger strike at his father’s company, protagonist Bronstein is forced to transfer to a
large public school, run by a strict principal played by Canadian stage and screen legend Colm Feore. Feore’s Principal Berkoff (sporting a moustache similar to Lenin’s) is the most power-hungry on-screen administrator since Mr. Rooney in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. After quickly targeting Berkoff as a “fascist”, Leon finds a renewed sense of purpose in a quest to unionize the students at his new school. In order to stage his revolution, Leon joins the student council (ironically named the “student union”) and enlists the aid of an aging activist lawyer and Vietnam War draft-dodger (Michael Murphy), a rag-tag group of students and his adoring younger sister to put an end to Berkoff’s authoritarian rule of Montreal West High School. Another key recruit is Alexandra (Emily Hampshire), a 27- year-old recent PhD graduate. The name is significant, as Trotsky’s first wife was named Alexandra. Leon’s belief in his reincarnation dictates that his life follows Trotsky’s life to a tee— and this includes marrying an older woman named Alexandra. Baruchel portrays the determined dreamer Leon with perfect balance of confidence, zeal and naivety required of the role, as he works to mobilize his fellow students while he awkwardly attempts to woo the woman he has decided is destined to be his future bride. The film also confirms his status Please see Much on page 12
photos by christine blais
Kevin Rodgers’ artistic practice draws upon provisional formalism and conservative subcultures.
Radical rhetoric artist in profile 1. Who are you? Kevin Rodgers. An artist and writer who currently lives in London, ON. 2. What do you do? Aside from writing and making art, I teach sculpture at the University of Western Ontario where I am pursuing my PhD in Art and Visual Culture. 3. Where can people find you? If not in the woodshop or my
studio, at kevinrodgers.ca. 4. What inspires you? Care, craft and commitment. 5. What do you feel your role is as an artist? Certainly not a facilitator, pamphleteer, or educator, even though I engage in all three. 6. How would you describe your art to someone who’s never seen it? Provisional. Often it looks like stacks of boxes, wood or furniture
that are waiting to be shipped elsewhere or unpacked. This upcoming exhibition at Modern Fuel gets away from that a bit as I’m dealing with more self contained works (as opposed to a sprawling installation). 7. What’s the nicest and worst thing someone has said to you about your work? The worst thing is when someone says I’m intentionally trying to pull the wool over the viewer’s eyes, which I’ve had said to me more than once. I have more respect for the viewer than that. I had an older woman come into my studio once to look at my Please see All on page 12