Monday 23 September 2019




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Photo courtesy of www.tiff.net

A BUMP ALONG THE WAY (DISCOVERY)
Synopsis: With her charismatic smile and formidable wit, Pamela (Bronagh Gallagher) knows how to have a good time — and she's not about to let a little thing like middle age stop her. The night of her 44th birthday, Pamela has it off in a van with a stranger 20 years her junior. Her teenage daughter Allegra (Lola Petticrew) is appalled to find her mum hungover at breakfast the next morning, her outrage indicative of the differences between them. While Pamela's content to pass her days working at a bakery and her nights painting the town red with her pal Sinead (Mary Moulds), Allegra focuses on her schoolwork, her veganism, and keeping up appearances. While Pamela attracts men with ease, Allegra can hardly speak to the cute rugby player she has a crush on... -Michèle Maheux (TIFF)


My Thoughts: What a wonderful treat! This movie was on my Long List of films to see at TIFF because I love Irish comedies and this one about a good-time 40-something, single mother who gets knocked up by a 20-something, seemed like the sort of palate cleanser that everyone needs during a film festival that has an abundance of dramas and horrors. As a Discovery film, though, I wasn’t sure how successful first-timers Shelly Love (director) and Tess McGowan (screenwriter) would be in crafting a feature film. With this introduction, however, show that they are more than capable of handling the longer format. Love’s pacing is bang on for a comedy that at its heart is dealing with a middle-aged, pregnant and divorced mum who had her first child at a young and a teenage girl trying to rise above her broken family status, her flighty mother, and her school mates.

With such a plot, the film could have been as ephemeral as cotton candy, but there are notes of reality in the mother-daughter relationship, and in the women’s individual story lines that bear consideration. Abortion isn’t legal in Ireland, so Pamela must deal with the fact that her baby’s parentage will be made public because the father lives in the same town. This visible symbol of her mother’s sexuality, shames Allegra at school and exacerbates the usual embarrassment teenagers feel about their parent.  McGowan’s screenplay resonates with truth at every level: from the exchanges between Allegra and Pamela and Allegra’s awkwardness with her schoolmates to the intimately honest and funny dialogue between Pamela and her bestie, Sinead.

Love has talented actors to work with, especially lead actress Bronagh Gallagher, who imbues her character Pamela with such joie de vivre that you want to raise a pint with her (and, of course, Sinaed.) I also appreciate how Love’s camera simply and effectively reveals Allegra’s state of mind through shots of her school shoes.

Monday 2 September 2019


I was reviewing past coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and realized that as good as it is to use social media, I missed having a record of the films I saw and my thoughts about them. I took a break from this blog because I prioritized getting you the information as fast as I could. A quick post on Instagram which links to my Facebook page as well as twitter, is expeditious but it leaves no lasting memories.

In looking back, for example, at my Nordic coverage, I can see posts about directors I’ve connected with over the years such as Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Dome Karukoski, and Imran Haq, and remember my time seeing their films and chatting with them. Those who seek out their work also have a connection through the words I have written.

This year, I am hoping to chat with director, Jukka-Pekka Valkeapää (J-P), who I interviewed when his film They Have Escaped screened at TIFF 2014. J-P is back this year with a film that TIFF Senior Programmer, Steve Gravestock writes “In its inseparable fusion of horror, grief, and comedy, Dogs Don't Wear Pants plays like a late Buñuel film…” The title alone, and its accompanying picture (below) are gripping, but the name-dropping of Buñuel pushes my interest in the film off the scale! I’m also curious to see how actor Pekka Strang handles the role of an on-the-edge surgeon dealing with the repercussions of his wife’s death. I last saw Strang in Karukoski’s Tom of Finland, in which he plays the iconic photographer of erotic images of gay bikers and leathermen.

Dogs Don't Wear Pants by J-P Valkeapää
Photo: www.tiff.net
In relaunching my blog at this time, I’m hoping that the boost of energy I get from TIFF 2019 will propel me to record more for you here, not just for this festival but for other areas of film, theatre and the arts-at-large.

1.         Photo courtesy of www.tiff.net A BUMP ALONG THE WAY (DISCOVERY) Synopsi s: With her charismatic smile and formida...