MOVIES: Canadians figure large this week including drag queens and visitors from the future and France

Paw Patrol was the number one film all across North America this past week. And it's Canadian. So how fitting is it that we've got a few more of our own films to talk about this week? They're smaller but deserve to be noticed. Along with some international films and a few still showing at VIFF, they make up a very interesting line up today.

Relax, I'm From the Future: 3 ½ stars
The Royal Hotel: 4
She Came to Me: 3
Solo: 3 ½
VIFF: Les Filles du Roi: 3
VIFF: Union Street: 2 ½
VIFF: Someone Lives Here: 3

RELAX, I'M FROM THE FUTURE: Of all this week's films, this is the one I enjoyed the most. It's clever, funny and a pleasure to watch with a new twist on the time travel theme. And, no spoiler really, it says that everything will work out fine. That's according to a character named Caspar who comes from the future and should know. Well, he is surprised that libraries exist in our time, but most everything else will be OK.

He has come here to make sure, to save the world by making one small change that ultimately will prevent catastrophe. Something to do with a “convergence.” The film doesn't explain much about that opting instead to have fun with his character disovering the world he has come to. Rhys Darby plays him with an easygoing comic touch. There's a rock band you have to catch now because they're going to go downhill. You can make money in sports betting and lotteries because Caspar knows the numbers. A Black woman (Gabrielle Graham) takes up his betting advice and Caspar stops a failed artist (Julian Richings) from commiting suicide because it's not yet his time to die. Meanwhile another agent comes from the future to stop all this. The film is smart, inventive and funny, filmed in Hamilton and directed by Luke Higginson, who originally made it as a short. It's a delight.(Theaters) 3 ½ out of 5

THE ROYAL HOTEL: You'll be constantly on edge in this one. There's the threat of violence ever present and a feeling of dread building up about what could happen. Be assured though the film is not an ordeal; it's fairly restrained opting instead to explore its issues about the fear that women often have that they are not safe. What better locale to demonstrate it than a run-down bar in a tiny mining town in the Australian back country. The male patrons get drunk, casually sling abusive language and suggestive invitations at two young women who've come to work there. A sign outside offers “fresh meat”.

The two (Liv and Hannah, played by Jessica Henwick and Julia Garner) are backpackers from Canada. They take a job tending bar but get no support from the owner (Hugo Weaving) when the patrons get unruly. He's just as likely to be drunk. Various guys make advances, very rude jokes and even threats. Hannah grows more and more alarmed but Liz is willing to explain it away as “cultural differences.” She's flattered by the much more friendly attention she gets from one young man but we're closely watching if he turns out to be genuine or not. Kitty Green, who directed and co-wrote the film based on a recent documentary, keeps us in suspense. And, at the same time, as she did in her last film The Assistant, studies workplace matters many will be familiar with. (In theaters) 4 out of 5

SHE CAME TO ME: Rebecca Miller, yes Arthur's daughter, gives us a film with so many story elements it's hard to keep them straight. They're so unusual though that you'll be entranced anyway. You've got Peter Dinklage as an opera composer suffering a creative block as a deadline looms.

His wife (Anne Hathaway), a therapist, doesn't have any answers for him. A woman who chats him up in a bar does, but let's look at the others first. There's a son who's dating the daughter of the woman who cleans their house. And an adoptive father who works as a court reporter and deems that youthful romance “a class A misdemeanor”, i.e. statutory rape. He knows because as he says “some dark facts have passed through these ears.” When he's not pondering legal matters, he enjoys Civil War re-enactments where he dresses up as a Confederate general.

And there's that woman I mentioned, played by Marisa Tomei. She's a tugboat captain, usually down in Baton Rouge, currently in Brooklyn. She describes herself as “addicted to romance” which seems like a perfect plot device for an opera. The composer is inspired, writes his opus and she self-identifies as his muse. Believe it or not there's more, including a speedy tugboat ride to Delaware and a possible marriage for legal reasons. Can Miller as both writer and director balance all these story lines? Not really, but it's fun to watch her try. (In theaters) 3 out of 5

SOLO: It's not a world I know much about, gays and drag performers, but the script and direction by Sophie Dupuis and her actors make this film work for me. The story they tell becomes universal; love and rejection are in competition, jealousy can bubble up easily, the perfect mate may not be that after all. That's all played out for a drag artist in Montreal winningly performed by Théodore Pellerin, both in his daily life, as Simon, and in his glittery dresses on stage under the name Glory Gore.

He falls for Olivier (Félix Maritaud), newly arrived from France and has sex with him. They design a duet show to perform on stage and their love seems idyllic. Cracks develop, though. They argue about details of their show and Olivier goes off on one-night stands with someone else. Simon is alone, a feeling added to by his mother (Anne-Marie Cadieux). She's an opera singer, spends her time in Europe and is back for a visit. But she's not ready to see him or go see him perform. Pellerin perfectly conveys the hurt. The film perfectly conveys the high emotions that flare up in the gay scene. Quite an achievement from Dupuis, who when I saw her last work, was showing us the tough lives of subterranean miners. (In theaters) 3 out of 5

LES FILLES DU ROI: This is ultra-Canadian. It's history, set in Quebec and produced by a company in Vancouver, where it originated as a stage show and won awards. It's a musical with songs written by Corey Payette, who also wrote the script and directed the film and it's an unconventional lesson. Les Filles were women that the King of France sent to his North American colony to marry settlers and soldiers, produce children and thereby expand the colony.

He sent a dowry with each one and that may have helped make the program successful. The population of New France grew substantially.

We get a largely Indigenous view of the story. Kaitlyn Yott plays a young Mohawk girl, Raes Calvert, her brother Jean-Baptiste, and we see how their lives were disrupted. Missionaries want to baptize them but the brother warns their God only brought “devastation and sickness.” Kateri is destined to be a clan mother but can her culture survive? Contact with one of the young women, Marie-Jeanne Lespérance played by Julie McIsaac who helped write the show, is more fruitful. They teach each other words from their language and develop a friendship. How long can that last? We get the story sprinkled with songs. “Our glory, New France” sings one side. “This hell” comes up in a song when things turn bad. The songs aren't memorable, too Broadway-way like, but the story they're in is worth learning. (One more showing at VIFF, Sunday afternoon) 3 out of 5

UNION STREET: The VIFF notes promise a history of Hogan's Alley, Vancouver's Black neighborhood that was wiped out by a highway project. The film compares it to similar communities wiped out in other cities by urban renewal and highlights it as an example of racism. We get some of that history, mentions mostly, some wildy exaggerated, and not enough about the community itself. How big was it? Was it predominantly black? The giant London Drugs chain of stores originated down there and it wasn't Black owned. A fried chicken place (where Jimi Hendrix's grandmother cooked) was, but what else?
The film shortchanges us on those facts and instead gives us talk from new entrepreneurs who have moved in. They run businesses and say they're creating a new black community because, "it's crucial to have a cultural space of our own." Valid aspiration, just not exactly as advertised. (One more screening at VIFF, tomorrow afternoon.) 2½ out of 5

SOMEONE LIVES HERE: It looks like every big city has a problem with homelessness and Toronto's offers up a particularly interesting story. It involves a young carpenter named Khaleel Seivwright who in 2021 started building tiny shelters for people who needed them. These are large enough for just one person, aren't heated (except by the body heat of the occupant) and yet are able to get people through the coldest nights. Also, it beats a sleeping bag or cardboard on the sidewalk.
He explains how they work and why they're needed and a woman named Taka tells off camera how much she likes them. The city isn't impressed though. Bureaucrats on the phone and Mayor John Tory state their objections. They don't want them in the public parks and the chief at the fire department warns they're dangerous. There is one tragedy and then a huge police effort to shut them down and get them out of the parks. It's like a military operation and will likely stir up your anger at them and to a woman who supports getting them out of the neighborhood. The documentary by Zack Russell (his first) has a potent message that's won awards at both Toronto's and Vancouver's festivals and was the audience favorite at Hot Docs. (There's one more VIFF screening Saturday afternoon) 3 out of 5