Montreal’s 2018 World Film Festival Opens with a Superb Film

THE ETRUSCAN SMILE (Directed by Mihai Brezis & Oded Binnun) *****

A great cast and story will bring you to tears. Rory MacNeil (magnificently played by Brian Cox) is from a remote island Hebrides. He’s a feisty, argumentive stubborn man who has a lifelong feud with an old sick geezer, named Frazer. Rory is one tough Scot who decides to visit his son and wife in San Francisco. Things are rotten between the two, but Rory falls in love with his baby grandson, Jamie and a woman he meets at the museum. He has leaned on an Etruscan funerary piece of a man and woman smiling at one another done in Terra cotta. It’s huge. This woman (Rosanna Arquette) tells him off; she works at the museum.  Rory has stage 4 prostate cancer and that is the main reason to travel abroad – to get a diagnosis, and of course other reasons as well. Rory will do anything for baby Jamie and what he does goes against the parenting of son Ian and Emily. Hilarious witty scenes and those full of authentic pathos pull at us. This is a great film with an ending befitting a family that really loves one another despite the major conflicts.
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Preceeded by "Pepper" a South Korean short  directed by Jayil Pako non-nonsensical that the message of unwanted baby girls was lost in  repetative artsy stuff with no impact.

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KU DAMM 59 (Directed by Sven Bohse) 

A mish mash of characters caught in their own dismal lives in Berlin in 1959. Hard to follow and frenetic. It is adopted from a TV series. The director’s focus was not there at all. Get this director an editor!
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Preceeded by "Cooee", a short film of Aussie  girl trash that was incomprehensible and totally distasteful. It was directed by Toby Morris, but who cares?
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THE LORD EAGLE (Directed by Eduard Novikov) *****

 Set in the 1930s in the barren wintery northern land above Mongolia, a very old  Aboriginal couple struggles to survive living by hunting, chopping wood, making fires and more. A big eagle one day, lands on a tree by their modest dwelling. The man of the couple thinks this is an evil omen; in fact he has felt a lifetime of guilt by scaring an eagle making a nest and dropping one of the branches. This happened when he was young. They offer it food every day, and he eats it. Soon the eagle shows he wants to come inside the house. The couple is mortified; yet one day they walk out to find that the eagle has brought them food. The ending shows the bitter Russian authorities encroaching on their way of life, including their love the eagle. The ending is sad. The film is brilliantly mesmerizing.

This film shows vividly shows in a single setting the old way of life and how mankind can ruin it as power changes the lives of two special people and their relationship to the land and animals.

 It took top prize in Moscow, winning the Golden St George.

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The film was preceeded by Pigeonberry, a Hungarian short directed by Pici Papai. A young boy tries desperatly to save his mother who aha cancer by doing a tribal ritual. A touching film

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BROKEN MIRRORS (Directed by Imri Matalon & Aviad Givon) *****

Ariella has a regimented almost cruel father who was a commander in the Israeli army. He and Ariella clash on everything and he punishes her. One day, she convinces her mother to let her drive the car back from an outing she is taking with her and her younger sister. A terrible accident leaves her mother in a coma. Ariella decides to punish herself and runs away to a place her father told her never to go to. There she tires to get raped, even to freeze herself in a nursery container. She finds out why her father is so mean and what his secret is and how it connects to his obsession with being on time and punishment. An excellent film with real suspense coming from raw reality. It is not a political film; rather, it is a story about a family fraught with serious problems that only unravel with self-truths and confessions.
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SPACE ON THE CORNER (Directed by Benjamin Eyaga)***

So a huge pharmacy in Montreal has been turned into a space to be renovated and used by people. People with their own priorities come and go hoping to rent it, but the two owners want it to be used to join the community together. Relationships come to light and individuals with their own agendas wanting to rent show their intentions. This is a talking heads type movie shot in one space. It is funny and real.

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EXPEDITION CONGO (Directed by Amy Greeson) *****

A 77-minute documentary following pharmacist Amy Greeson and her 3-man team with guides into Congo’s jungle.

 Everything goes wrong, including getting arrested – rescued by the president of Congo – being stung alive by bees and ants, getting lost and trekking four days without water. They are healing seekers in search of tree and plant medicine. Only, when they abandon the jungle, and travel on the river does their journey prove fruitful. Stopping in on various tribes, they learn about specific

barks via blind shaman. What a daring courageous woman she is, and so humble! A must-see movie.

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 IN THIS LAND NOBODY KNEW HOW TO CRY

(Directed by Giorgos Panousopoulos) ****

On a boat to Armenaki (Ikaria island in Greece was stunning location for the film). A French member of parliament and an Athenian economist are on assignment – to develop the island for investment potential. They wish to teach the people ways of modern life as well. But little to do they know just incredibly the table of fortune turn. In fact, both find their individual freedom and love. They realize, the people taught them rather than the other way around. The daughter’s director, Margarita starred in the lead. The comic tour de force in the film certainly came from the captain – wonderfully played with great comedic timing by Yannis Hajiyannis. This wise funny  captain lives on the island and knows so much about life. We meet a cast of characters who embody the collective free thinking spirit and way of life on this remarkable island of simplicity, heart and healing. They barter; no money; the bank has been closed for years. Idyllic for adults and a true experience of real learning for the children, Armenaki (a fictitious place in reality) makes us all want to live there.

In fact I did go to Ikaria. Known as Greece’s no-stress island, the cars are not permitted to honk; there are few cars in fact. The thermal baths there keep you healthy as does the food. People in Ikaria never seem to age; a 70-year-old is a fit as a 40-year-old elsewhere.

Giorgos Panousopoulos is Greece’s great film maker and he is being celebrated during a week of his films this month in Athens. His daughter was enchanting in the film – as was the cohesive colourful cast who obviously loved being in the film and working with this great director.

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This film was preceeded by the short, "We'll Always Have Toynbee". A woman and man meet in a bar, get drunk and eventually get it on in his back seat of his truck. he hopes to see her again. And he does. She is first nations and is leading a protest in the forest. Police arrive and throw tear gas and beat them. one of those police men is the very man she hooked up with at the bar. Throughout the film, they both quote lines  at fitting moments from the late great historian and philosopher, Arnold. J. Toynbee.

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PARDON (Directed by Jan Jakob Koldki) ***

Despite the marvellous acting and its riveting tragically true story of the Polish Ministry repeatedly digging up a soldier in 1947 who was considered an enemy of the state, the film is confusing yet the  dark tone and atmosphere captured in this heavy film is palpable. Husband and wife set out on a perilous journey to travel with their dead son (in a coffin) to bury him in a sacred place. Only trouble is, they are met with near death by Polish soldiers, two thugs and nature’s cruelty. 

They have escaped on a train with the horse, the coffin and food and are met with an escaped Pole who ends up saving their lives on many an occasion. Like a horse, he pulls their wagon for them when the horse dies.

It is such an unbelievable testament to a mother’s love of a son and her eventual madness and recovery. The journey full of loss she takes to buy her son is beyond treacherous. The story is told by the grandson as a flashback, but it’s pretty confusing.
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JIM SHOE (Directed by Peter Sutton)*****

The head of a Chicago law firm is going to sail around the world, and he leaves charity assignments for his four associates to undertake, At the end of six months, whoever does the best will become a partner is the film. One has to open a soup kitchen; another must take care of an Alzheimer’s patient; another must get a couple off meth and restore their kid back to them. Finally Jim Shoe has to take a juvenile delinquent under his guidance. We watch as each changes into being a better person as they juggle their charity with their job. This is a movie with a Christian message. The music is fitting to the theme.

THE ACCOUNTANT OF AUSCHWITZ (Directed by Matthew Shoychet)*****

 An excellent detailed retelling of the terrible times and the opposing views about sentencing this horrid man.

I loved the film, but the story is brutally alarming.

My summary  really only touches various themes in the film.  The documents in the film create suspense and proof of prodigious research.

Oskar Gröning, who was the accountant at Auschwitz witnessed many thousand of killings as he busily collected all the possessions of Jews arriving from the horrendous trains to be sent to their doom. Complicit in 300,000 murders there, he is finally put on trial. Survivors attest to his presence, and one woman says she forgive him, even though her family was decimated at the camp. The film brilliantly has interviews and charts with proof all the Jews murdered at different camps and the guards who watched it all happen. Testimonies and excellent archival photos recreate the camps and the murderous Nazis.


Nuremberg Trial that also introduces the prosecutor, now living in Palm Springs, Florida wants all Nazi guards to be responsible too for their participation as obedient murderers. Most of the judges in Germany were former Nazis and so it is a long arduous road to seal convictions. And when they are convicted, most spend only a few years in prison – such as Gröening who was sentenced to 4 years in prison, but after his many appeals, died without serving a day behind bars. The world will continue to commit horrors despite the collective chant of victims and anti-fascist fighters, yelling “Never Again.”

MANCHESTER DOWNTOWN HOTEL

Everything Perfect, Everything Pleasing for that “I don’t Want to Leave Feeling”

What a wonderful experience staying at New Hampshire’s Manchester Downtown Hotel. The hotel embodies class with just the right amount of excitement and peace. 

Unassuming from the outside, its welcoming interior is enriched with cherry-wood panelling, cathedral high walls awash in calming neutral colours. 

These favourable features are heightened by lots of stunning space, ultra-comfort high-end amenities and facilities that appeal to every type of guest: convention goers, athletes, bridal couples and their party (no matter the size) rocks stars, including Ozzy Osborne, moguls, dignitaries, and normal folk (like me). Media people covering the US primaries stayed here, as have presidents. 

The Downtown Manchester Hotel is the accommodation hub for those coming from all corners of North America and beyond.

The amply staffed reception never keeps you waiting. Despite my many queries or favours asked, they delivered every time. It seems nothing is beyond their reach. They're up to the challenge; they make it all happen for you. They did for me. And I had some doozy demands.

Despite all the action, there’s a notable lack of noise no matter where you are in this airy hotel, and  best of all, there are no line-ups at the friendly front desk. That’s part of the subtle magic here, helped along by the best organizers, event planners and managers in the business, such as Kim Roy, General Manager of the hotel since 2004. Formerly the Radisson, the hotel’s name changed to the Downtown Manchester Hotel in February of 2017. But that’s not all that changed.

Kim told me about all the new spaces being made will finish in October of this year – when it will be a Doubletree by Hilton. They’ve already completed the room renos. “We’re making a Hilton Honours Lounge along with a state-of-the-art midsized video space just opposite the Club. I saw these two new ingenious spaces materializing midway before me on the main floor past the elevators. Even a new restaurant is in the works. I ate at the present one; the buffet breakfast was a delicious, totally fresh feast. The fruit variety was outstanding, and the sausages were sensational.

A Welcoming Winner

Despite new beginnings, Manchester Downtown Hotel will always maintain its signature qualities: extraordinary space that doesn’t overwhelm; warmth, friendliness and extraordinary service. To me, its four-star rating seems misguided; this favourite hotel surpasses many of the highest ranking American and European hotels I’ve set my suitcase in.  A hotel can be elegant and dazzling, but Manchester Downtown Hotel avoids pretension. Authentic, it needs no $15,000 vases and kitschy statues standing in the lobby to win you over, yet art is certainly evident here. It begins right at your feet!

A Remarkable Rug that Reflects a City Wonder

You need only walk on the stunning exclusively-made massive blue and golden rug in front of the ballroom which also continues down the corridor whose walls are laden with paintings created by local artists.

 Interesting to know that the rug’s design reflects the colours and flow of the Merrimack River. Its gentle waters amble past Manchester’s historical millyard district. 

Now used for businesses, these red brick buildings once housed textiles factories. The Millyard Museum nearby details this history. 

                                             

             

                                                              Shall We Dance?

I began to grasp the immensity of the hotel upon entering the Four Rivers Ballroom. It's over 3000 square feet. Behind it, another 11,800 square feet announce the centuries-old armoury with its back brick wall.

                                     A stunning nuptial paradise

 Magnificently Multi-functional

Not only used for weddings, the Four Rivers Ballroom was the site for the New Hampshire Antique Show – the largest of its kind in New England.  People began lining up early in the morning. 

 Every Guest Room Gorgeously Creates Your Personal At-Home Haven

Twelve floors accommodate 248 rooms, including six suites: the Presidential, three Executives and two Junior Executives.

My room  was big and unbelievably comfy. It was classified as a standard. WOW! 

Partial view of my room

There was not only a gorgeous comfy love seat, but a huge TV was set into the wall over a long table that stretched at least 12 feet. All executive suites come with either king or queen size beds, but doubles can be had.

Countless pillows offered pampering comfort. Best of all, my bathroom was rich and sleek. Again the Zen feeling continues achieving total tranquility, not only because of the lovely layout and furnishings, but also because of sound-proof walls and ceiling. How nice is that!?

                                  Visit the website at end of article to get more visuals of rooms

Brilliant Bathroom Beauty

A gleaming black marble counter top framed my sink and the shower walls were done in a rich chocolate brown marble.  Finally, this hotel makes a built-in shelf in the shower to put the complimentary toiletries on, and there's a metal grasp handle on the inner wall of the bathroom for safety. The sensible and the sensual combination harmonize in this lovely private space.

Pool and Terrace Perfection.

Step in the indoor cozy Jacuzzi – big enough for three people, max. I like that; no one is hitting your feet. Its clean very warm turquoise water is silky soft and the jets are pressured just right. 

The big pool right in front of this Jacuzzi is heated too. I would come here every day to relax.  I was always alone; it was so peaceful. I have to say this seems to be a key asset to the hotel. Maybe I got lucky, but this has been designed to enhance and respect the need for people to have space and down-time. The peaceful area always beckoned me; it's was relaxing to swim in at any time of day.

Opening the glass doors to rest and read on one of the cushioned lounge chairs, I could admire the  panorama in front of me  of rooftops, steeples – all backed by the rolling White Mountains. The view was so captivating, I stopped brining up my book to read, so I could simply savour the almost 360-degree view. The magic is undeniable. You feel on top of the world, with open unobstructed sky, but reality is, this very expansive terrace and pool is only on the hotel’s third floor – as is the adjacent work-out gym and spa. Another brilliant design at the hotel.

Around Town

The Manchester Downtown Hotel’s location is convenience at its finest.  Step outside and you land on Elm Street – the hip place for restaurants to display not only their menu but their sense of humour as well.

Funky bars and one-of-a-kind cafes line the street. I was only in town for six days, and I hadn’t begun to bite into all the stuff here. Strolling along the side streets I admired the old New England architecture, buildings of character housing a myriad of artsy shops. 

Out of the City and Into Nature

Time for immersing myself in nature. Driving out of the super clean, huge indoor parking lot, I headed for Uncanoonuc Mountains. Twenty minutes later, I arrived at a lush forest with a warren of trails. I chose the 1,325 foot-high "white dot” trail – a difficult hike, but well worth it. 

Summit Silence with a view. 

The next day, I walked to Derryfield Park to follow the two kilometre-ascent up to the historical Observatory, and then beyond to the ski hill.

A Museum, A Loon Photographer and Fun Filling the Belly

There 's so much to enjoy in Manchester, including outdoor concerts during Summer Fest. This happens across the street from the hotel. 

I attended the Wizard of Oz live performance at the Palace Theatre only a ten- minute walk away. With art in mind, I visited the astonishing Currier Museum. 

Further afield, Kayaking on Lake Massabesic with the world-renowned loon photographer, John Rockwood and his wife, Sue was another highlight.

Click to read about restaurants:

Stimulation and outdoor activity builds up an appetite.

MARGARITAS MAKES MEXICAN MEALS MAGNIFICO

MIDTOWN CAFE: A HIDDEN HAPPENING HUB IN MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

CHEDDAR & RYE

The Manchester Downtown Hotel’s website is: manchesterdowntownhotel.com

The address is:700 Elm Street, Manchester, New Hampshire

Call: (+1 603- 625-1000)

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