DIGGER – ★★★★

Wonderful Greek drama about an older father living in a forest, and refusing to sell to a mining company interested in his property to build a road. Not just the story between big business vs someone’s lifestyle, but also the relationship between father and son. Beautiful forest scenery, especially during a time of covid-19 lockdown.

BORN TO BE – ★★★★

Excellent documentary about Dr. Jess Ting, a surgeon at Mt Sinai in New York who performs gender reassignment surgery. So many touching stories. I loved that the film showed the full spectrum of emotions, from joy to frustration, on both sides; the doctor’s and the patients. An important film for those looking to better understand why people go through this process, and the hard work that is done to try and assist.

SHE DIES TOMORROW – ★★

A terrible waste of time. Somewhat loosely, it’s about a contagion where someone believes they are going to die tomorrow, and whoever they spend time with catches it. The two stars are solely for the nice visual work in the film. I’m not against a bit of weird, (yay Lost Highway!), but this just didn’t seem to know what it was. I’d like my time back.

TWO OF US – ★★★★

Touching French film about two older women who are secret lovers. One is without a family, and the other is a widow with two adult children. They share next door apartments, and their love is a secret from the kids. When an unfortunate incident occurs it creates unexpected problems for them. I loved the ending, which didn’t feel the need to stitch together every little detail. Wonderful film and a good book-end with Suk Suk at this year’s MIFF. I enjoyed this one much more.

EMA – ★

Nope. Trying to think of something nice to say but can’t find anything. I guess the visual of a burning traffic light in the first scene was good, and earned the one star. The story as far as I could work out was about two self-centred, self-absorbed people who adopted a son, but then there were some loosely referred to issues, and gave him back, so let’s dance to reggaeton and fuck everyone in sight, including the divorce lawyer and her husband too. I guess like Showgirls, it’s worth trying it. I couldn’t make it to the end, because I just didn’t care about any of it.