Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed Canadian city, the horror film “Undertone” features an all-white cast of characters representing the middle-class.
Culture Clash: A podcaster, who’s caring for her gravely ill mother, tries to unravel the mystery of audio files that were sent to her podcaster co-host, and the two podcasters experiencer terror along the way.
Culture Audience: “Undertone” will appeal primarily to people who are people who are interested in low-budget independent horror films inspired by “Paranormal Activity.”
Nina Kiri in “Undertone” (Photo courtesy of A24)
“Undertone” excels with its outstanding sound design in this story about podcasters who experience paranormal horror. The movie’s last 10 minutes can be considered too abrupt and inconclusive, but the rest of “Undertone” is riveting. Fans of 2009’s “Paranormal Activity” will probably enjoy “Undertone,” although the “found video footage” format of “Paranormal Activity” has a more blatant way of showing the chaotic terror in the story, while “Undertone” deliberately leaves the worst scenarios off camera.
Written and directed by Ian Tuason, “Undertone” is his feature-film directorial debut. The movie had its world premiere at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival, where “Undertone” won the Audience Award. “Undertone” had its U.S. premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The movie takes place in an unnamed Canadian city. “Undertone” was actually filmed in Tuason’s home in Toronto.
“Undertone” is told entirely from the point of view of protagonist Evangeline Marie “Evy” Babic (played by Nina Kiri), who is co-host of a paranormal activity podcast called Undertone. Evy’s co-host Justin (Adam DiMarco) lives in an unnamed city that is too far away for him to see Evy in person on a regular basis. Evy (pronounced (“eee-vee”) and Justin co-host the podcast remotely, with Evy working from home. Justin is never seen on camera in this movie.
Evy and Justin have different attitudes about the paranormal. Evy is the skeptic of the duo. Justin is more likely to believe in the paranormal. Their podcast is usually about Evy and Justin examining paranormal reports and deciding which ones are credible or not. Naturally, Evy is more inclined to debunk whatever she and Justin examine.
The beginning of “Undertone” shows that not all is well in the Babic household, which is where Evy grew up. Evy lives an isolated existence, where she is the caregiver for her ailing, bedridden mother (played by Michèle Duquet), who doesn’t have a first name in the movie. Evy’s mother is unconscious or apparently asleep when she is seen on screen. Evy and her mother are the only people who are seen on screen, except for photos of a few other people.
The inside of the Babic house is the only location seen on screen. There are hints throughout the story that Evy grew up in a strict Christian household, but Evy as an adult is now non-religious and probably atheist. “Undertone” has plenty of darkly list scenes to set the mood of this horror film. In other words, Evy and her mother do not know the meaning of a room that has bright lighting. “Undertone” cinematographer Graham Beasley does an admirable job of conveying Evy’s probable agoraphobia in this desolate house.
Later, when Evy’s boyfriend Darren (voiced by Ryan Turner) calls Evy, he coaxes her to go with him to a party because Evy has been “cooped up for weeks.” Evy leaves the house and comes back the next morning. It’s a decision that she soon regrets because of what she sees when she returns home.
Most of “Undertone” (which takes place over the course of a few days) is about Evy and Justin trying to solve the mystery of 10 audio files that they have received from the same unidentified person. Evy and Justin play each file live during episodes of their podcast and take occasional calls from listeners to get audience comments on what they hear in these files. Each file gives more clues about what could possibly be happening in these recordings.
Evy and Justin find out early on that the recordings are of a couple named Mike (voiced by Jeff Yung) and Jessa (voiced by Keana Lyn Bastidas), who are expecting a child together. “Undertone” has several themes about pregnancy, children dying, and how certain nursery rhymes are really songs about children in peril. “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and “London Bridge Is Falling Down” are the two nursery rhymes featured prominently in the movie.
At a certain point in the movie, “Undertone” will keep viewers guessing about what might be real and what might be someone’s hallucinations. Because Evy is the only character who’s seen on screen for the vast majority of “Undertone,” the movie relies heavily on Kiri’s gripping performance, is which convincing throughout the film. The disturbing sounds that are heard in this movie are equally effective. It’s best to see this movie with the most advanced audio system possible. “Undertone” doesn’t have any major surprises, but it’s a notable example of a horror movie that leaves much of the terror up to viewers’ imaginations.
A24 will release “Undertone” in U.S. cinemas on March 13, 2026. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on March 9, 2026.
Some language in American Sign Language with no subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in the Canadian province of Alberta, the dramatic film “In Cold Light” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and criminal underground.
Culture Clash: A recently paroled woman tries to get back into drug dealing, and then her twin brother is murdered, she’s framed for the crime, and she goes on the run while seeking revenge on those responsible for her brother’s death.
Culture Audience: “In Cold Light” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and crime dramas that aren’t very believable.
Troy Kotsur and Maika Monroe in “In Cold Light” (Photo courtesy of Saban Films)
Despite having some gritty scenes, the crime drama “In Cold Light” has credibility issues in an increasingly far-fetched story about a paroled drug dealer who becomes a fugitive and a vigilante after her twin brother is murdered. The acting performances are adequate, but the movie has uneven pacing. The screenplay for “In Cold Light” also strains to be edgy, when most of the cast members who are supposed to portray criminals just aren’t entirely convincing in these roles.
Directed by Maxime Giroux and written by Patrick Whistler, “In Cold Light” had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. “In Cold Light” takes place in the Canadian province of Alberta, where the movie was filmed on location. The most well-known cast members in the movie are actually American and just aren’t believable as Canadians.
“In Cold Light” begins by showing how a drug dealer named Ava (played by Maika Monroe) got arrested. She was smoking crack or meth in a drug house that was raided by police. She escapes and runs away but is eventually caught and sent to prison. The movie never addresses whether or not Ava ever got rehab treatment for her obvious drug addiction.
“In Cold Light” then fast-forwards two years later. Ava (a bachelorette with no children) has been released from prison and is on parole. She goes back to her unnamed hometown and has an uneasy reunion with her family. Her twin brother Tom (played by Jesse Irving) and his girlfriend Donna (played by Jessica Abruzzese) have a baby daughter, whose name is never stated in the movie, even though this baby becomes a major part of the movie’s plot.
Ava, Tom and their friend Sef (played by Patrick Sabongui) operated a drug dealing business that was headed by Ava before she went to prison. Ava was the one who got Tom (whom she calls Tommy) involved in drug dealing. Tom and Sef continued the business while Ava was incarcerated. And now that Ava is out of prison, she wants to go back to leading their drug-dealing operation. Sef doesn’t like the idea. “Now, you’re a risk,” Sef comments to Ava about how her prison record has put her on the radar of law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Ava has a rocky relationship with her pill-popping widower father Will Bly (played by Troy Kotsur), a past-his-prime rodeo rider who’s hoping to make a big comeback in rodeo riding. Will blames Ava for leading Tom into a life of crime. Will’s wife, who was the mother of Ava and Tom, died of a seizure in a swimming pool when the twins were 10 years old. Will (who happens to be deaf, as Kotsur is in real life) doesn’t trust that Ava will stay out of trouble. Will is correct with that assumption.
As already revealed in the movie’s synopsis, Tom is murdered. Ava goes on the run with the baby after Ava finds out that Donna has been murdered too. Ava witnessed Tom’s murder: Tom was killed by a corrupt cop named Bob Whyte (played by Allan Hawkco), who frames Ava for this homicide. Ava is also hiding out from a vicious crime boss named Claire (played by Helen Hunt), who wants revenge on Ava for reasons that are explained in the movie. And even when she’s a fugitive, Ava decides she’ll also be a vigilante avenging her twin brother’s murder.
Ava eventually gives the baby to Will for safekeeping. Ava says to Will: “She’s Tom’s. You have to take care of her. We broke our family. Fix it with her.” Unfortunately, “In Cold Light” is filled with this type of stilted dialogue. It’s not a completely terrible movie, but “In Cold Light” is not thrilling enough to be a good action film, and it’s not plausible enough to be a compelling crime drama.
Saban Films released “In Cold Light” in select U.S. cinemas on January 23, 2026. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on February 24, 2026.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 2023, in an unnamed part of Canada, the horror film “Keeper” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one Asian person and one Latina) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A medical doctor and a painter artist, who have been dating each other for one year, take a getaway trip to the doctor’s family cabin in a remote wooded area, where the woman in the relationship has terrifying experiences.
Culture Audience: “Keeper” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Osgood Perkins, and people who don’t mind watching vague horror movies that rush through a muddled plot reveal.
A scene from “Keeper” (Photo by Asterios Moutsokapas/Neon)
“Keeper” is a series of creepy and grotesque images in search of a coherent plot. Most of this mopey “cabin in the woods” horror flick is a boring waiting game for the biggest scares to happen. Although some of the visual imagery is unique, it’s not enough to make “Keeper” a genuinely interesting film because the story ideas are too underdeveloped.
Directed by Osgood Perkins and written by Nick Lepard, “Keeper” had the potential to be a terrifying mystery with fascinating characters. Instead, the characters are merely vague sketches of personalities with drab dialogue. And although horror movies often rely on having characters who make stupid decisions, the protagonist shows an astounding lack of common sense that’s all in service of the movie’s flimsy reason from why the protagonist is “stuck” in the woods.
“Keeper” is yet another horror movie about deadly things happening to people who are in an isolated wooded area. “Keeper” takes place in an unnamed part of Canada. The movie was actually filmed in Vancouver.
“Keeper” begins by showing a montage of four women in different time periods. Louise (played by Claire Friesen) is in 1788. Julia (played by Erin Boyes) is in 1956. Francis (played by Gina Vultaggio) is in 1978. Leslie (played by Christin Park) is in 1983. It’s the first indication that the horror in the story has been happening for centuries.
Each woman is seen with various expressions on their faces in these scenarios: (1) looking at a love interest for the first time: (2) being in a romantic relationship with this love interest; and (3) feeling disillusioned and disgusted by this love interest. No words are spoken in these montage scenes, and the person they are looking at is not seen on camera.
“Keeper” than fast-forwards to November 2023. Medical doctor Malcolm Westbridge (played by Rossif Sutherland) is taking his painter artist girlfriend Liz (played by Tatiana Maslany) to a remote wooded area where his family has owned a cabin and guest house for years. Liz is a city dweller who’s uncomfortable with being in rural environments. However, she has accompanied Malcolm on this trip because she wants to please him.
This will be the first time that Liz is going to this family property. It’s mentioned early on in the movie that Malcolm and Liz have been dating each other for a year. It’s actually the month of their one-year anniversary. Later, in a conversation between Malcolm and Liz, it’s revealed that the couple met when Malcolm bought one of Liz’s paintings.
Before going to the cabin, Liz is seen talking on the phone with her best friend Maggie (played by Tess Degenstein), who expresses surprise that “subway rat” Liz would want to be in this remote area for any length of time. Liz considers herself open-minded enough to try new things. She also thinks this could be a romantic getaway trip.
Malcolm and Liz are affectionate with each other, but there’s some underlying tension between them. One of the first things that they see when they arrive in the cabin is a cake box on the front porch. Malcolm explains that the cake was left as a gift by the property’s female caretaker, who likes to give this cake as a “tradition.”
The first third of “Keeper” consists of monotonous conversations between Malcolm and Liz, who feels increasingly uncomfortable because she’s been having strange visions and dreams. An eerie scene in the movie shows Liz taking a warm bath and something unseen draws a heart on the steam-misted window behind her. There are also indications that a strange creature with very long arms is lurking in the woods can can sneak into the house.
Malcolm and Liz get an unexpected visit from Malcolm’s younger cousin Darren (played by Birkett Turton), a sleazy and sexist jerk who stays in the guest house when he comes to visit. Malcolm was not expecting Darren to be there, but since it’s family-owned property, Darren feels entitled to show up whenever he feels like it. Malcolm and Darren give the impression that they don’t like each other very much.
Darren is accompanied by an Eastern European model named Minka (played by Eden Weiss), who doesn’t speak much English and is only there to be Darren’s most recent trophy girlfriend. Darren is sure to announce to everyone that Minka is a party girl who likes molly (slang for Ecstasy), and he’s the one in control of the relationship because he pays for everything that she enjoys with him. Minka seems to be aware and consenting of this transactional relationship.
The chocolate cake that was in the cake box is on the kitchen counter. One of the few things that Minka says in English is when she nods toward the cake and tells Liz that the cake “tastes like shit.” It’s at this point that you know Liz is going to eat that cake.
And sure enough, after Darren and Minka have left, Malcolm persuades a reluctant Liz to eat a piece of the cake. Liz doesn’t want to eat the cake at first because she tells Malcolm that she doesn’t like chocolate. However, he convinces her to eat some cake by manipulating her into thinking that if she does it, it will prove that she’s loyal to him. As soon as Liz eats the cake, you know things are going to get worse for her.
A day or two later, Malcolm says he has to temporarily leave the cabin because of a work-related emergency. He tells Liz that an elderly patient named Mrs. Portnoy is coming out of a medically induced coma, and he needs to be there when Mrs. Portnoy regains consciousness. Malcolm leaves in the car that he and Liz took to get to the cabin, so Liz is now stuck with no transportation. You can easily predict that when Liz is alone in the house, there will be more jump scares and unexplained sightings.
One of the things that will alienate viewers from Liz is that when she has conversations, she has a smug and sarcastic attitude where she seems to think she’s the smartest person in the room. However, Liz isn’t as intelligent as she thinks she is because when things get to be too uncomfortable and frightening for Liz at the cabin, she only calls Maggie to give her a ride out of this place, as if Maggie is the only person who could possibly give her a ride. Hasn’t Liz heard of car services? Apparently, the filmmakers of “Keeper” expect viewers to forget car services exist.
“Keeper” then lumbers along until the last third of the movie, which is a parade of memorable but ultimately shallow imagery of certain beings that look like they would fit right in at an amusement park’s haunted house attraction. And just like a haunted house attraction, the jump scares in “Keeper” are fleeting. The movie’s visually striking cinematography (by Jeremy Cox) and effectively spooky music score (by Edo Van Breemen) are two of the few assets for “Keeper.”
The performances in the movie are serviceable, with Maslany as the only cast member who’s required to show a myriad of emotions. Maslany is certainly skilled at being a “scream queen,” but her Liz character just isn’t very believable with all of Liz’s lapses in logic. And it’s too easy to figure out very early in the story who the chief villain is.
In a story already filled with plot holes, the ending of “Keeper” seems cobbled together, like a screenplay that wasn’t completely finished before a deadline. “Keeper” also missed huge opportunities to tell more about Louise, Julia, Francis and Leslie. The movie couldn’t even make the protagonist a well-rounded character. And that’s why it’s not surprising that everyone else in “Keeper” is also just an empty vessel in a very flawed horror movie that has more style than substance.
Neon released “Keeper” in U.S. cinemas on November 14, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on December 9, 2025.
Directed by Jay Drakulic (also known as Justin Hewitt-Drakulic), Mallory Drumm and Alex Lee Williams
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Canada, the horror film “Dream Eater” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with two black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A documentary filmmaker and her unemployed boyfriend go to a remote house in the woods to document his parasomnia for medical purposes, and they experience terror from an evil supernatural presence.
Culture Audience: “Dream Eater” will appeal primarily to people who people who don’t mind watching a sluggish and uncreative horror movie that copies too many ideas from “Paranormal Activity.”
Alex Lee Williams in “Dream Eater” (Photo courtesy of The Horror Section)
“Dream Eater” has a title that refers to this horror movie’s supernatural villain. The title could also apply to how this slow-paced and awful ripoff feeds like a parasite on the original ideas of 2009’s “Paranormal Activity.” “Dream Eater” is nothing but an amateurly made, boring rehash of the “Paranomal Activity” concept of “found footage” that documents someone being possessed by a demon in a house. Considering the numerous other horror movies that have copied the same concept, ever since “Paranormal Activity” became a blockbuster hit and spawned a “Paranormal Activity” franchise, “Dream Eater” is just a substandard and forgettable entry that belongs at the bottom of the heap.
Directed, written and produced byJay Drakulic (also known as Justin Hewitt-Drakulic), Mallory Drumm and Alex Lee Williams, “Dream Eater” doesn’t have any original ideas during the entire movie. “Dream Eater” is the second movie released from The Horror Section, an independent film distribution company co-founded by Eli Roth and aimed at releasing horror movies from non-mainstream horror filmmakers. The Horror Section’s first release was 2025’s “Jimmy and Stiggs,” an unimpressive and obnoxious splatterfest about two friends fighting space aliens in an apartment unit.
Although it can be commended that The Horror Section is giving distribution to low-budget feature films that might not otherwise get distribution, The Horror Section should at least give these opportunities to films that have true creativity and originality. (It can be done. The horror-oriented streaming service Shudder, which releases many of its original movies in theaters, is an example of how to do it right, when it comes to distributing low-budget movies from lesser-known horror filmmakers.) The Horror Section’s movie releases so far come across as short films masquerading as feature films because they’ve stretched their lengths by inflating their flimsy plots with a lot of dull repetition.
“Dream Eater” is a 90-minute film, but the story could’ve been told in a film that was 30 minutes or less. The movie takes place in an unnamed city in Canada. “Dream Eater” was film in the Canadian province of Ontario. In the movie, Mallory (played by Drumm) and Alex (played Williams) are a troubled , unmarried couple who live together. Mallory is an independent documentary filmmaker. Alex is unemployed.
An opening caption says that the movie’s story takes place from January 29 to March 27, in an unnamed year in the 2020s. During the course of the movie, Alex turns 30 years old. Everything except the movie’s last scene happens at a remote two-story house in the woods. The movie begins with an audio recording of the emergency phone call that Mallory makes when all hell breaks loose. “Dream Eater” circles back to this scene toward the end of the film.
Conversations in “Dream Eater” reveal that Alex and Mallory have rented this house to document Alex’s sleep patterns because he’s been having parasomnia episodes. (Parasomnia includes sleepwalking and nightmares.) Alex’s parasomnia began shortly after Alex quit his unnamed job. A doctor treating Alex for his sleep disorder recommended that Alex go on a getaway trip to rest and suggested that Alex’s sleep patterns should be documented.
Mallory is filming everything that happens while they are at this rental house. In the week before going to this rental house, Alex lashed violently, but this poorly written movie doesn’t go into details. It was Mallory’s idea to rent this house because she wanted to go to a place for a few weeks so there wouldn’t be any distractions. This decision to rent this house has caused tension between Mallory and Alex, who is annoyed because he thinks renting this house is something this financially struggling couple doesn’t need right now. From the outside, it looks like the house has four or five bedrooms.
Alex gets even more annoyed when he sees that the house, which looks upscale on the outside is really shabby on the inside. Mallory’s excuse is that it’s the only rental house with indoor plumbing that she could find and that was within their affordability range. A note left by the house’s owner says that the house’s electricity has “rolling blackouts,” but the electricity can be restored with the circuit breaker in the cellar. It’s really just the movie telegraphing that the house will have power outages during some “jump scare” parts of the movie. Alex half-jokingly remarks that the cellar is bigger than the couple’s apartment.
About 80% of “Dream Eater” is a repeat loop of Alex having parasomnia episodes where Mallory wakes up late at night to see Alex in a sleepwalking trance, and when he comes out of his trance, he has no memory of what he did while in the trance. While in a trance, Alex acts terrified and says things such as “They won’t let me sleep” and “He’s here,” but he won’t say who “he” is. Alex also says he hears a male voice talking to him sometimes when he’s alone.
Alex’s sleepwalking episodes become more disturbing as time goes on. And yes, “Dream Eater” is one of these movies where terror attacks happen in a haunted house, and the people in the house still stay for several days, when people with common sense would’ve left a long time ago. Even in the scene where Alex and Mallory decide to leave, they go as far as putting some items in their car, but Mallory and Alex still remain at the house. It’s all so tedious and cliché. “Dream Eater” is filmed in a very drab manner that’s made worse by Drumm’s very wooden acting.
In between the repetitive parasomnia incidents, the movie shows arguments between Alex and Mallory. Alex is paranoid that Mallory is exploiting his parasomnia to make a documentary where she could possibly profit from it. Of course, Mallory denies those are her intentions and says she only wants to help Alex. Mallory and Alex do not have believable chemistry as a couple, even as a quarreling couple.
The movie also shows a few video calls being made from the house. These video calls break up some of the monotony happening during the rest of this movie that revolves around the lackluster relationship of Alex and Mallory. In one scene, Alex and Mallory do a video call with a sleep disorder specialist named Dr. Marsha Snape (played by Dainty Smith), who tells them that Alex should do a clinical sleep study that would cost $5,000. It’s an amount that Alex and Mallory can’t afford, so that’s something else for grumpy Alex to complain about in the long list of things that he’s unhappy about in his life.
It’s mentioned in the movie that because Dr. Snape knows Alex and Mallory don’t have health insurance, so Dr. Snape is giving them a discount for her services. But if this movie is supposed to take place in Canada (Alex and Mallory have obvious Canadian accents), doesn’t Canada have universal health care that would cover these expenses? A plot hole like this is a small detail that doesn’t derail the plot, but it’s an example of how “Dream Eater” isn’t well-written.
When Alex was a baby, he was placed in the foster care system and ended up being raised by a family where he had a sister named Tammy (played by Robin Akimbo), who has some clues to Alex’s murky past. Alex doesn’t like to talk about his past and doesn’t seem interested in finding out who his biological parents are. Mallory discovers from a ridiculously quick Internet search that other people in the world have been having parasomnia incidents that are similar to what Alex is having.
Mallory finds out from further research that an expert on this phenomenon is Dr. Armitage (played by David Richard), who ends up doing a few Zoom calls with Mallory. DR, Armitage tells her about an ancient entity called Fuller that is described as a sleepwalking zombie that eats the souls of sleepwalkers who are in the same bloodline. Mallory’s detective work falls into place way too easily and looks too fake. The obvious truth about what’s haunting Alex is revealed in a lazily conceived exposition dump that often happens when almost the entire movie takes place in one location.
The acting in “Dream Eater” ranges from mediocre to terrible—although Williams makes an effort to be convincing in the terror scenes, even if some of his performance is amateurish. “Dream Eater” is unrated by the Motion Picture Association, probably because there’s full-frontal male nudity in the movie. The ending of “Dream Eater” is abrupt and quite silly. This creatively bankrupt horror flick has nothing that hasn’t already been seen and done in other horror movies. “Dream Eater” is more likely to conjure up disappointment and boredom instead of fear and terror.
The Horror Section released “Dream Eater” in select U.S. cinemas on October 24, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Canada, the dramatic film “40 Acres” features a racially diverse cast of characters (black, white, Latin and Native American) who are survivors of an apocalypse.
Culture Clash: In a famine -plagued world where some humans are cannibals, a former military soldier orders her family not to trust any strangers, but her son defies those orders when he secretly helps a woman who hides in the family’s barn.
Culture Audience: “40 Acres” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of well-acted movies about how people live with a “survival of the fittest” mentality in an apocalyptic world.
Kataem O’Connor and Milcania Diaz-Rojas in “40 Acres” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
The apocalyptic drama “40 Acres” does not have as much thrilling action as some viewers might expect. Instead, the movie impressively shows how isolationism affects a farm-dwelling family and how mistrust can be either a shield or psychological poison. There are some horror elements in “40 Acres” but it’s not completely a horror movie.
Written and directed by R.T. Thorne, “40 Acres” is Thorne’s feature-film directorial debut. “40 Acres” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie takes place in an unnamed area of Canada and was filmed in the Canadian province of Ontario.
At the beginning of “40 Acres,” it’s explained that a pandemic that began 15 years ago has lead to widespread famine. Food has become more valuable than ever before. That’s why the members of the Freeman family, who are at the center of the story, know that they are always at risk because they live on a fertile farm and are not starving for foor. Making matters worse in this apocalypse, some people have become cannibals, who are called “flesh eaters” in the movie.
These are the members of this tight-knit farm clan:
Hailey Freeman (played by Danielle Deadwyler) is a former military soldier who is the family’s leader who expects everyone on the family to be ready and able to use the arsenal of weapons (including several guns) that they have on the farm. She treats the family like a military unit and orders them not to trust strangers. If any trespassers on their property, Hailey’s attitude is like to the be “Shoot first. Ask question later.”
Emmanuel, nicknamed Manny (played by Kataem O’Connor), is Hailey’s eldest child. Manny is in his early-to-mid-20s and is starting to question Hailey’s strict ways. Naturally, this leads to Manny and Hailey clashing over various issues.
Danis (played by Jaeda LeBlanc) is Hailey’s middle child. Danis is in her mid-teens is occasionally torn between following Hailey’s orders and being more of a free-thinking individual like her older brother Manny. Danis and Manny have the same biological father, who is deceased and not seen in the movie.
Cookie (played by Haile Amare) is Hailey’s youngest child. Cookie is about 10 years and is very obedient. She is curious about life outside the farm, but Cookie knows that she’s too young to do anything that could put her family’s safety at risk.
Galen (played by Michael Greyeyes) is Hailey’s romantic partner and the biological father of Cookie. If Hailey is he general of the family, Galen is Hailey’s loyal lieutenant general. Galen is more laid-back than Hailey, but he will not hesitate to scold any of the children if they get out of line.
Raine (played by Leenah Robinson), who is in her late teens, is Galen’s biological daughter from a previous relationship. Raine’s biological mother is deceased. As the second-oldest child in this blended family, Raine is eager to be given the same responsibilities that Manny has, but Hailey thinks Raine will be suitable only after Raine learns how to “follow directions.”
Flashbacks reveal that the tension between Hailey and Manny go back long before the apocalypse. For a period of time, up until Manny was about 6 or 7 years old (played by Jacob Gabriel), Manny was raised by Hailey’s father Felix Freeman (played by Tyrone Benskin), because Hailey was too busy with her military career. One of the flashbacks shows Hailey going to see Manny at Felix’s house, and Manny has to be told who Hailey is because he doesn’t know her.
Early on in the movie, the family members fend of an attack from flesh eaters, who invade the property and are killed off in a corn field by the family using sniper tactics. Hailey communicates by CB radio with a woman named Augusta Taylor (played by Elizabeth Saunders), who is a friend from Hailey’s past. August warns Hailey that roaming flesh eaters have been on the attack and are getting closer to where Hailey and her family live.
Later in the movie, Manny finds a stranger hiding in the family barn. Her name is Dawn (played by Milcania Diaz-Rojas), and she says she is looking for the Freeman family and that she means no harm. Manny doesn’t tell her right away that he’s in the Freeman family, but he doesn’t treat like an enemy either. Manny and Dawn seem to be immediately attracted to each other, which is why Manny does what he’s under orders not to do: He trusts this stranger and decides to keep her hidden in the barn. The movie shows what happens after Manny makes this decision.
Meanwhile, the family is on edge because of the flesh eaters who could show up at any moment. Dialogue in the movie reveals that many of the flesh eaters are white supremacists who specifically target people who aren’t white to be the cannibals’ murder victims. This racial tension (all of the people in the Freeman family are people of color) is an emotionally charged but not overstated aspect of the story, which presents this tension as getting worse because of the famine.
In a director’s statement, Thorne said: “The film’s title, ’40 Acres,’ refers to the historic promise of land ownership made by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on January 16, 1865, to formerly enslaved Black farmers. The promise, backed by the Federal government, was to grant 40 acres of farmland and a mule to freed enslaved people of African descent. However, this promise was tragically reversed during the Reconstruction era, denying the Black community once again. Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of generational African American farmers who settled in Canada after the Civil War. In a world that has imploded, the land they live on represents their legacy, freedom, and heritage.”
Some suspension of disbelief is required in “40 Acres” because it’s hard to believe that the Freeman’s plentiful farm hasn’t been discovered and raided already. Although the movie has no signs of modern communication, such as the Internet or phone service, word of mouth would travel fast about the type of farm where the Freeman family lives. The farm is isolated but it’s still fairly accessible because it has no protective walls or borders.
“40 Acres” sometimes has slow pacing, which is offset by bursts of action scenes involving battles. And although Deadwyler capably handles the role of Hailey, at times scowling and uptight Hailey becomes a little to one-note. O’Connor, as Emmanuel/Manny has the most complex role in the movie, because he’s torn between his family’s custom of trusting no o one outside of the family and a new lifestyle that he wants to try: trusting strangers on a case-by-case, individual basis.
Although the a few of the scenarios in “40 Acres” are a tad unrealistic, the performances from the principal cast members are believable. The movie offers plenty of food for thought about the pros and cons of isolationism in apocalyptic circumstances. Many of the themes in “40 Acres” also apply to the real world and invite viewers to ponder if extreme separatism does more harm than good.
Magnolia Pictures will release “40 Acres” in U.S. cinemas on July 2, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on June 16 and June 19, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place from 2019 to 2024, in Hong Kong and in Canada, the dramatic film “Hello, Love, Again” (a sequel to the 2019 film “Hello, Love, Goodbye”) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with some white) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: An aspiring nurse and a bar owner have an on-again/off-again romance and issues over where they want to live.
Culture Audience: “Hello, Love, Again” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the movie “Hello, Love, Again” and romantic dramas with entertaining characters.
Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards in “Hello, Love, Again” (Photo courtesy of Star Cinema)
“Hello, Love, Again” is an enjoyable but not perfectly made sequel to 2019’s “Hello, Love, Goodbye.” This sequel should please fans who want a certain ending to this romantic drama, which has light touches of comedy. The on-again/off-again couple in this story have the same problems but in a different country. In “Hello, Love, Goodbye,” most of the movie takes place in Hong Kong. In “Hello, Love, Again,” most of the movie takes place in Canada.
Cathy Garcia-Sampana (formerly known as Cathy Garcia-Molina) directed “Hello, Love, Goodbye” and “Hello, Love, Again” and co-wrote both movies. For “Hello, Love, Goodbye,” the other co-writers are Carmi G. Raymundo, Crystal Hazel San Miguel and Rona Co. For “Hello, Love, Again,” the co-writers are the same, except for Co, who is not one of the writers.
In both movies, the couple at the center of the story are headstrong Joy Marie Fabregas (played by Kathryn Bernardo) and romantic Ethan del Rosario (played by Alden Richards), who are of Filipino heritage but are living in countries other than the Philippines. In “Hello, Love, Goodbye,” Joy and Ethan both lived in Hong Kong, but Joy wanted to move to Canada to become a nurse. Ethan is a bartender who becomes a bar owner.
“Hello, Love, Goodbye” took place in 2019. And (mild spoiler alert) even though Joy and Ethan declared their love for each other, they parted ways at the end of the film because Joy moved to Canada, but they promised to visit each other when they could. “Hello, Love, Again” takes place in 2024 but has some flashbacks from 2019 to 2023. A turning point in Joy and Ethan’s relationship happened when Ethan went to visit Joy in Canada in March 2020, not long before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Joy Marie and Ethan have a catch phrase—”I don’t love you”—when what they really mean is “I love you.” They also have stop watches that are of special significance to them.
In the beginning of “Hello, Love, Again,” Joy, who now uses her middle name Marie, works as a health care assistant at a nursing home facility in Calgary, Canada. She now wants to move to the U.S., where she hopes to get a better-paying job. Through a series of circumstances, Ethan ends up working at the same nursing facility. Ethan has some visa problems, so Joy Marie and Ethan pretend to be in a common-law marriage so he can stay in Canada. The movie is somewhat repetitive but still a very watchable journey of whether or not Ethan and Joy Marie will get back together.
If you’ve seen enough of these movies, you probably know what to expect. The two lovebirds have meddling friends, family members and rivals who cause confusion, jealousy or manipulations in their relationship. Ethan’s best friend Jhim Gabriel (played by Joross Gamboa) wants Joy Marie and Ethan to get back together. Joy Marie has a new love interest named Uno (played by Kevin Kreider), who lives in New York and wants her to move to New York. Meanwhile, a woman named Baby (played Jennica Garcia) has a romantic interest in Ethan.
In “Hello, Love, Goodbye,” Joy Marie’s father Celso Fabregas (played by William Lorenzo) had a prominent role in the movie, but in “Hello, Love, Again,” Celso is deceased and seen in flashbacks. Meanwhile, “Hello, Love, Again” has a flashback subplot about Ethan’s father Mario Del Rosario (played by Lito Pimentel) having a life-threatening health issue. The other family members who make appearances in “Hello, Love, Again” are Ethan’s younger brothers Edward del Rosario (played by Jameson Blake) and Eric del Rosario (played by Anthony Jennings); Joy Marie’s younger brother Joey (played by Wilbert Ross); and Joy Marie’s cousin Mary Dale Fabregas (played by Maymay Entrata).
Joy Marie’s friend in Calgary also get involved in and gossip about her love life. These pals include outspoken Amy (played by Ruby Rodriguez), who has a introverted teenage son named Tonton (played by Eric Jhon Balajadia) and gay husbands Marc (played by Mark Labella) and Marvin (played by Marvin Aritrangco). Other characters in “Hello, Love, Again” include Jhim’s goofy uncle Tito Lino (played by Jobert Austria) and a widow named Martha (played by Wendy Froberg), who has a dementia and is a nursing home patient who becomes close to Joy Marie.
Bernardo and Richards carry “Hello, Love, Again” with their charismatic performances, although the movie’s overall acting and the dialogue are sometimes clunky. Some of the supporting characters didn’t need to be in the movie and are just part of the clutter of people who have something to say about what Joy Marie and Ethan should do about their relationship. “Hello, Love, Again” has just the right amount of comedy to offset the melodrama in ways that are sweet and romantic—ultimately delivering what fans of this franchise can expect.
Star Cinema released “Hello, Love, Again” in U.S. cinemas on November 15, 2024. The movie was released in the Philippines on November 13, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed part of Ontario, Canada, the horror film “In a Violent Nature” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one multiracial person) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A sinister murderer rises from the dead and goes on a killing spree in a remote wooded area.
Culture Audience: “In a Violent Nature” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of slasher flicks that stick to a certain formula but offer a few interesting twists.
Ry Barrett and Charlotte Creaghan in “In a Violent Nature” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)
People who watch “In a Violent Nature” should not expect anything groundbreaking in this slow-moving slasher flick. What makes the film unique are a few of the brutal kills and the subtle messaging about trying to deal with childhood trauma. This is not a movie for people who want a lot of information about the people who are the targets of the murder spree, because the movie is shown from the perspective of the supernatural killer.
Writer/director Chris Nash makes his feature-film directorial debut with “In a Violent Nature,” which takes place in an unnamed part of the Canadian province of Ontario, where the movie was filmed on location. “In a Violent Nature” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. This low-budget movie has an over-used horror concept of a killer on the loose in a remote area. However, attentive viewers will notice—especially in the very last image shown in the film—something that further explains the killer’s motivation.
“In a Violent Nature” takes place in an isolated wooded area, where a group of seven young people (in their late teens/early 20s) have arrived to go camping. They are staying at a (horror cliché alert) cabin in the woods. The movie also has a relatively small number (11) of people in the cast, so don’t expect a complicated story.
There is almost no information about these young people (four males and three females), who are camping in the woods. However, it’s revealed that soon after arriving in the woods, they were at an abandoned tower, where they found a gold chain necklace with a small round pendant hanging from the shrubbery outside. One of the guys in the group took the necklace. The campers aren’t fully seen on screen until a little later in the story.
The names of the campers are Ehren (played by Sam Roulston), Aurora (played by Charlotte Creaghan), Brodie (played by Lea Rose Sebastianis), Kris (played by Andrea Pavlovic), Troy (played by Liam Leone), Colt (played by Cameron Love) and Evan (played by Alexander Oliver). Ehren is the one who’s the most likely to get teased by the other people. Aurora is the “alpha female” of the group. It’s later revealed that Aurora and Brodie have a mild flirtation with each other, and they’re not really sure where this flirtation is going to go.
What the campers don’t know, but will soon find out, is that the necklace they took has special significance to the killer who ends up on a deliberate rampage in these woods. The killer, whose name is later revealed as Johnny (played by Ry Barrett), is a hulking corpse that has been awakened from the dead after the necklace was taken. Johnny was buried at the tower, but he is seen clawing his way out from underneath the ground.
In the movie’s opening scene, when the necklace was taken, Ehren mentions that this camping area is known for a massacre of people called the White Pines Slaughter, which happened years ago. Ehren is surprised that other people in the group have never heard about this massacre, and he says that he thought the notoriety of this slaughter was the main reason why the other people in the group wanted to go camping in this area. On their first night in the woods, around a campfire, Ehren tells more details about the White Pines Slaughter.
About 60 years ago, the area used to be the site of a thriving workplace for lumberjacks and loggers employed by a company that is not named in this story. Johnny’s father owned and operated a store in the area. The lumberjacks and loggers used to cruelly tease Johnny as a child because he had learning disabilities.
One day, some of these bullies told Johnny that there were toys in the tower, but it was a lie. When Johnny arrived at the tower and found no toys, he fell from the tower and died. Johnny’s father blamed the bullies and attacked those he believed were guilty of causing Johnny’s death. The bullies killed Johnny’s father but covered up the crime to make it look like an accident.
Shortly afterward, the entire population in this lumberjack/logger site was massacred. The company whose employees were killed, as well as the local police, determined that the deaths were from mass poisoning, even though the deaths looked like they were caused by a human or animal. In the last third of the movie, an unnamed woman (played by Lauren Taylor, also known as Lauren-Marie Taylor) has more to say about the history of this dangerous wooded area.
All of this is supposed to give some explanation for why Johnny might have a deadly vendetta. But there’s a scene when Johnny goes into the home of a man named Chuck (played by Timothy Paul McCarthy) and sees a gold necklace that looks similar to the one that was at the tower. In this scene, viewers find out that the necklace at the tower was a gift from Johnny’s mother.
The necklace is supposed to be a “trigger” for why Johnny has come back from the dead. The ending of “In a Violent Nature” might be too vague or abrupt from some viewers. However, people watching the movie should pay attention to what happens to the necklace in the last third of the film and in the very last image, in order to fully understand. It will give further insight into what Johnny really wants.
“In a Violent Nature” has plenty of bloody gore, including one particular murder that most viewers will remember about this slow-burn film. (Hint: This murder involves someone’s head and stomach.) In other words, this is not a movie for people who easily get squeamish at the sight of blood and vicious dismemberments.
There’s nothing particularly special about any of the acting in the movie. If there are any survivors, it’s a horror movie stereotype. And there’s one particular scene where the victims do something incredibly stupid, knowing that the killer is right in front of them. But even with these flaws, “In a Violent Nature” has enough suspenseful moments in the last third of the film to leave a haunting impression.
IFC Films will release “In a Violent Nature” in U.S. cinemas on May 31, 2024, with a sneak preview in U.S. cinemas on May 29, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Canada, the comedy/drama film “Fitting In” (which is semi-autobiographical story from writer/director Molly McGlynn) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A 16-year-old girl finds out that she has a rare gynecological condition called MRKH syndrome, where she can’t menstruate or conceive children, and she struggles with how to tell people who might be friends or intimate partners.
Culture Audience: “Fitting In” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Maddie Ziegler and movies that take an empathetic look at reproductive issues that are rarely depicted in movies.
Maddie Ziegler and Ki Griffin in “Fitting In” (Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
The narrative of “Fitting In” occasionally wanders, but this comedy/drama has convincing performances in this coming-of-age story of a 16-year-old girl with a rare gynecological condition. It’s a unique movie with familiar views of teenage life. Because the movie’s story is based partially on the real-life experiences of “Fitting In” writer/director Molly McGlynn, “Fitting In” has a tone of authenticity that is complemented by the movie’s talented cast members.
“Fitting In” had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. McGlynn is a Canadian filmmaker. “Fitting In” takes place in an unnamed Canadian city and was actually filmed in Sudbury, Ontario. Although the movie takes place in Canada, it has situations and themes that are relatable to many cultures and the growing pains that teenagers experience.
“Fitting In” begins and ends with a scene of 16-year-old girl named Lindy (played by Maddie Ziegler) masturbating on her bed in her bedroom. By the end of the movie, she’s not quite the same person that she was in the beginning of the movie. That’s because by the end of the movie, she has already gotten the life-changing news that she has MRKH syndrome, a rare gynecological condition. Lindy has ovaries but no uterus, no cervix, and her vaginal canal is very stunted. She was born this way.
In the beginning of the movie, Lindy (who is an only child living with he divorced mother) thinks that she’s a typical teenager with typical teenage issues. She has a crush on a charismatic classmate named Adam (played by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), who is a popular athlete at their high school. Lindy, who is a virgin when the story begins, isn’t quite sure how much Adam likes her or is attracted to her, but he has definitely noticed her. In fact, when Lindy is first seen masturbating in the movie, she’s having a fantasy that she and Adam are having sex.
Lindy has a talkative best friend named Vivian (played by Djouliet Amara), who is gossipy about what other students are doing in their love lives. One day, Lindy and Vivian are talking about Adam and his most recent ex-girlfriend, who is another student named Karina. Lindy wonders out loud if Adam and Karina had sex when they were a couple. Vivian days that Adam and Karnina most likely had sex and Karina “does anal.”
Vivian and Lindy are both rising-star athletes on their school’s track team. Lindy has a harmless crush on their track coach, whose name is Coach Mike (played by Dennis Andres), a tattooed guy in his 30s. Lindy’s identity at school is wrapped up in being on the track team, but her outlook on life and who she is will change after she finds out that she has MRKH syndrome
Lindy hasn’t begun menstruating yet, but she thinks it’s because she’s late bloomer. She’s still embarrassed about not getting her menstrual period when it seems like all of her teenage girl peers have already developed in this way. Lindy pretends to Vivian and anyone else who might notice that Lindy has a menstrual cycle.
Lindy and Vivian happen to be in a drugstore together when they meet a classmate named Jax (played by Ki Griffin), who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them.” Jax is androgynous-looking and happens to be intersex, which means that Jax was born with male and female genital characteristics. Over time, Lindy and Jax get to know each other better. The movies shows whether or not Lindy and Jax confide in each other about their unusual biological conditions.
Meanwhile, a large part of “Fitting In” is about the sometimes-tense relationship between Lindy and her mother Rita (played by Emily Hampshire), a therapist who works from home and often does sessions with her clients through online videoconferencing. When Lindy and Rita argue, it’s usually because Lindy thinks Rita is being too meddling, while Rita thinks Lindy is being too standoffish with Rita. Lindy’s father abandoned Rita and Lindy when Lindy was very young, and he is no longer in their lives. Rita is neurotic and insecure about a lot of things: dating as a single mother, being rejected, and dealing with past trauma from her childhood.
Rita mentions that her own mother was difficult and “crazy,” which is why Rita tries so hard to have a good relationship with Lindy. Rita is in a situation that many mothers of teenage girls experience: As the teenage daughter approaches adulthood, the mother wants to have a balance of being an authoritative parent and being an understanding friend. It’s a balance that is often uneasy and often comes with misunderstandings and conflicts, as the teenage daughter wants more independence from a parent.
When Lindy tells Rita that Lindy still hasn’t developed a menstrual cycle, Rita immediately arranges for Lindy to go to a gynecologist named Dr. Aranda (played by Rhoslynne Bugay), who is professional and informative. Lindy and Rita find out at the same time in the doctor’s office that Lindy has MRKH syndrome. Rita bursts into tears. Lindy is in shock and is initially confused, until the knowledge starts to sink in that Lindy can never get pregnant or give birth.
“Fitting In” shows the fluidity of Lindy’s dating experiences, as three people end up getting sexually close to Lindy in various ways: Adam; a mild-mannered, fast-food worker named Chad (played by Dale Whibley); and Jax. “Fitting In” is mostly about Lindy’s journey in the weeks after she finds out about having MRKH syndrome. She goes through a myriad of emotions that Ziegler expresses realisitically. The supporting cast members, especially Hampshire, Woon-A-Tai and Griffin also handle their roles with aplomb.
Aside from issues about her reproductive health, Lindy’s diagnosis MRKH syndrome also affects her sexual health. She is given medical dildos by a nurse named Lisa (played by Emma Hunter), who tells Lindy that it will take about three to 18 months of using these dildos to create a vaginal opening that looks “normal.” Lisa tactlessly tells Lindy about using these dildos to make Lindy’s vagina bigger: “You’re an athlete, right? Think of it like training or vagina boot camp.” Lindy also has visits with another gynecologist named Dr. Doheny (played by Michael Therriault), who is less compassionate than Lisa.
“Fitting In” has typical scenes of teenage parties, where some of the drama happens in Lindy’s love life. She also has an awkward experience when her gynecologist recommends that she go to a support-group meeting for people who identify as LGBTQIA2S+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, or two-spirit), where Jax is a regular attendee. Lindy grapples with shame, defiance, anger and acceptance about her condition. Ultimately, “Fitting In” tells a sometimes-serious, sometimes-amusing story that allows viewers to think about how much or if reproductive organs should define the essence of who people are.
Blue Fox Entertainment released “Fitting In” in select U.S. cinemas on February 2, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Canada and in the United States, from 1996 to 2013, the comedy/drama film “BlackBerry” features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Canada-based technology company BlackBerry becomes a global success as the maker of the world’s first smartphone, but internal power struggles, bad management and an inability to compete with Apple’s iPhone all lead to BlackBerry’s downfall.
Culture Audience: “BlackBerry” will appeal primarily to viewers who are interested in watching scripted movies that depict behind-the-scenes business dealings of real-life famous companies.
Pictured in center: Jay Baruchel and Matt Johnson in “BlackBerry” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)
“BlackBerry” takes viewers on a roller coaster ride in telling this “based on a true story” about the rise and fall of BlackBerry, the first popular smartphone. Glenn Howerton gives a standout performance as a greedy corporate villain with a nasty temper. The movie is made with a mockumentary-styled combination of a comedy and drama. “BlackBerry” had its world premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival.
Directed by Matt Johnson (who co-wrote the “BlackBerry” screenplay with Matthew Miller), “BlackBerry” is based on the 2015 non-fiction book “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry,” by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. The movie’s story takes place in chronological order, from 1996 to 2013. BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion Ltd., which was founded in 1984, went from being a scrappy start-up company headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, to being the world’s first and leading company for smartphones.
At its peak in 2008, after Research in Motion became a publicly traded company, its stock price was valued at $147 per share, with an overall estimated company value $85 billion. Research in Motion changed its name to BlackBerry Ltd. in 2013. For the past several years, BlackBerry’s stock price as hovered between $8 to $10 per share. How and why did it all go so wrong?
The “BlackBerry” movie shows that this train wreck didn’t go off the rails right away. Like many tech startups, Research in Motion was founded by eager entrepreneurs with big ideas and a fanatical work ethic but not the best business acumen when it came to sales and managing money. And when you bring in a toxic troublemaker to co-lead the company, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Research in Motion was co-founded by two self-admitted computer nerds named Mike Lazaridis (played by Jay Baruchel) and Douglas “Doug” Fregin (played by “BlackBerry” director Johnson), who (for a while) could have been considered the Canadian versions of Apple Inc. co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Just like in the Jobs/Wozniak relationship, one person in the partnership was the master of overall concepts and marketing, while the other person was the technical/engineering whiz.
In the case of Research in Motion, Mike was the concept/marketing guy, while Doug was the technical/engineering guy. In the “BlackBerry” movie, Mike is a constant worrier, and he tends to be too gullible in business. Doug has a jolly personality, but he approaches business with more logic and healthy skepticism. Eventually, the different personalities of these two friends will lead to several clashes between them on decisions for Research in Motion.
An early scene in the movie takes place in 1996, when Research in Motion is still a struggling start-up, but Mike and Doug are still the best of friends. Mike tells his all-male team of computer geeks (there are about seven employees on this team) that he had a shop teacher who once told him that anyone who could put a computer inside a phone would change the world. Doug thinks of a prototype that will be like a combination of a pager, a phone and a device that can send and receive email. Mike’s name for this invention is Pocket Link, but the name would eventually be changed to BlackBerry.
As ambitious as this idea is, Mike struggles to find investors for it. Part of the problem is that introverted Mike isn’t very good at sales and marketing presentations. He’s articulate when it comes to tech jargon, but he often has a hard time explaining technical issues to non-tech people. Mike is also not very fond of public speaking.
An early scene in “BlackBerry” shows Mike coming back from a business meeting where he was rejected by a potential investor. The reaction of Doug and the other staffers is to shrug it off and gather to watch “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which is Mike’s favorite movie. However, Mike is in no mood for this diversion, which he would normally use as a way to cheer himself up.
Meanwhile, at another company, cutthroat sales executive Jim Balsillie (played by Howerton) is feeling very discontented at Sutherland-Schultz Limited, a construction company headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario. Jim wants to run a new division of the company, but his boss Rick Brock (played by Martin Donovan) won’t let it happen. Jim is also upset because he feels that he is being sidelined. It isn’t long before volatile Jim gets fired.
Around the same time, Jim and Mike end up meeting each other. Mike tells Jim about Research in Motion’s new phone invention. Jim doesn’t tell Mike right away that he’s currently unemployed because he’s been fired. Jim thinks this phone will be a massive hit, but Research in Motion needs the money to make and market this phone. Jim offers to be the co-CEO who can bring in these capital funds, but on one condition: Jim wants to own half of Research in Motion.
Doug is vehemently against this business proposal, because Doug and Mike made a deal with each other that they would never sell at least 50% of the company. Eventually, a compromise is reached: Jim will own 33% of the company (which he buys for $125,000) and be co-CEO with Mike. Jim will oversee all the company’s sales and marketing, while Mike will oversee all the day-to-day operations. Jim also takes out personal loans to help keep the business afloat.
Jim’s aggressive style and his sales connections initially benefit Research in Motion. And as many people already know, the BlackBerry phone (which pioneered having a mini-keyboard as part of its interface) was launched in 1999, and was the market leader for nearly 10 years. BlackBerry also had the nickname CrackBerry because of how addictive it was for many people. Apple launched the iPhone in 2007.
In no uncertain terms, the “BlackBerry” movie puts most of the blame on Jim for the downfall of the BlackBerry brand. He’s portrayed as someone who got too greedy and too delusional about his power. Howerton gives a riveting performance that’s a great character study of a tyrant who’s out of control. Anyone who thinks what’s in the movie is exaggerated has no idea that Jim’s heinousness is not only a very accurate portrayal of how many corporate CEOs act but this damaging toxicity can also be a lot worse in real life than what’s shown in the movie.
Mike is portrayed as someone who changes from being an accessible “one of the guys” part of the team to becoming an increasingly cold and distant CEO. Doug repeatedly tries to warn Mike that Jim will run the company into the ground, but Mike is blinded by the spectacular profits that the company is making. Doug eventually makes a decision about how he’s going to handle all of these changes.
The mockumentary style of “BlackBerry” often mimics the sitcom “The Office,” with an occasionally shaky hand-held camera that often zooms in on people’s facial expressions. The characters in the movie sometimes have awkward pauses in their sentences, as if they’re self-conscious about being filmed. However, there is no mockumentary director or other filmmakers who are shown as characters in the movie. It’s a wise choice, because fabricating these types of characters would be an unnecessary distraction.
One of the best things about “BlackBerry” is its sharp and incisive screenplay. The dialogue in the movie is often hilarious to watch, even when the characters are being deadly serious. Perhaps the only noticeable flaw of the movie is that it doesn’t do a very good job of convincing viewers how much Mike ages over the decades portrayed in the film. Putting a fake-looking white wig on Baruchel doesn’t make him look older in the movie. It just makes him look like he’s wearing a white wig.
Despite a few minor flaws, “BlackBerry” maintains an entertaining level throughout the entire film, which shows other corporate sharks swimming in these smartphone business waters. Cary Elwes has an amusing supporting role as Palm CEO Carl Yankowski, who threatens a hostile takeover of BlackBerry, which at the time was the biggest rival to the PalmPilot. (In real life, Yankowski died on May 13, 2023, a day after “BlackBerry” was released in theaters.) Michael Ironside portrays Charles Purdy, a no-nonsense executive who’s brought in as chief operating officer of Research in Motion. Charles immediately starts to “crack the whip,” by forcing employees to have a more formal and corporate culture.
Rich Sommer portrays a fictional character named Paul Stanos, one of the lead design engineers on the BlackBerry team. Sal Rubinek has a pivotal role as John Woodman, a leader of Bell Atlantic. Apple is portrayed as a corporate rival whose principal executives are kept at distance in the story and are not characters in the movie. It’s a reflection of what would eventually be BlackBerry’s undoing: The Research in Motion executives weren’t paying enough attention to what Apple was doing with iPhone upgrades and ended up being crushed by the competition from iPhone products.
There are many movies that serve as cautionary tales of what can happen in business when greed and arrogance take over and lead to bad decisions. “BlackBerry” isn’t interested in doing any preaching. The movie isn’t a complete satire, but it pokes some fun at the Research in Motion executives who thought they were brilliant but ended up ruining a very successful company. Simply put: The comedy in “BlackBerry” is very bittersweet indeed.
IFC Films released “BlackBerry” in select U.S. cinemas on May 12, 2023. The movie was released on digital and VOD on June 2, 2023. “BlackBerry” was released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 15, 2023.
Culture Representation: Taking place in the Canadian province of Québec and various other parts of the world, the drama “Aline” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: In this dramatic film inspired by the life of French Canadian pop singer Céline Dion, fictional singer Aline Dieu overcomes childhood shyness to become a music superstar, but as an adult, she struggles with fame, infertility issues and her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
Culture Audience: “Aline” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Céline Dion and melodramatic movies about famous singers where the movies’ cinematic quality is questionable at best.
Valérie Lemercier and Silvain Marcel in “Aline” (Photo by Jean-Marie Leroy/Roadside Attractions/Samuel Goldwyn Films)
“Aline” is less of a Céline Dion tribute and more of a mishandled vanity project from director/writer/star Valérie Lemercier. In this frequently tacky drama, Lemercier portrays a superstar fictional singer named Aline Dieu (a character based on the real-life Céline Dion), from the ages of 5 to 50. Very few middle-aged people can convincingly depict a pre-teen child on camera. Unfortunately for the movie, Lemercier is not one of them.
It’s not a complete train wreck, but “Aline” is not very convincing as an “inspired by” biopic or as a work of fiction. And it has a lot to do with Lemercier’s often-cringeworthy performance of Aline as a child. Lemercier co-wrote the “Aline” screenplay with Brigitte Buc. And as the movie’s director, Lemercier had the bad judgment to cast herself in the role of Aline as a child. This directorial decision reeks of egotism and wanting to have as much screen time as possible, instead of casting a capable child actress in an age-appropriate role for the underage part of Aline’s life.
People who know Dion’s story already will find no surprises in “Aline.” The movie follows a “Behind the Music” format, by chronicling the rise of Aline from obscurity in Québec,to Canadian fame, to eventual international superstardom. Nearly one-third of the movie (which is told in chronological order) is about Aline under the age of 18. The movie shows Aline (just like the real Dion) growing up as a shy and introverted child in a loving and opinionated family that included her butcher father Anglomard Dieu (played by Roc Lafortune); her homemaker mother Sylvette Dieu (played by Danielle Fichaud); and eight sisters and five brothers.
Aline, the youngest child in her immediate family, first sings in front of an audience at the age of 5, at the wedding of one of her brothers. She instantly wows the crowd, of course. Aline and some of her siblings begin performing in the Dieu Family Band. (When she was a child, Dion also was in a singing group with some of her siblings.) The “Aline” movie also shows how—just like Dion in real life—Aline disliked school because other students bullied and teased her for her physical appearance of being very thin and having crooked teeth.
By the age of 12, Aline is co-writing songs and singing on Canadian television. And she catches the attention of a talent manager named Guy-Claude Kamar (played by Sylvain Marcel), who’s old enough to be Aline’s father. There are some “I can make this kid a star” scenarios, which lead to Guy-Claude signing on as Aline’s manager. But his feelings for her aren’t fatherly at all.
The movie is deliberately murky on some of the details (probably for legal reasons), but Guy-Claude (a very married man with adult children) and Aline eventually fall in love with each other when she’s in her mid-teens. “Aline” depicts it as a chaste romance, where Aline and Guy-Claude would just look at each other lovingly and occasionally hug and hold hands. According to this movie, when Aline and Guy-Claude would travel together, he would just tuck her into bed at various hotels, and there would be no sexual contact between them when she was an underage child.
If you believe this movie, Guy-Claude’s personality was so charming, Aline was the one who wanted the relationship to turn sexual, but Guy-Claude turned down her “advances” until she was at the legal age of consent for a sexual relationship. (In Canada, 16 is the minimum legal age of consent for sexual activities.) Viewers can make up their own minds about how realistic or unrealistic the movie’s scenarios are of this underage and sheltered child pushing to have a sexual relationship with an adult who is not only old enough to be the child’s parent but also has a position of authority and power over the child.
Aline’s protective mother Sylvette is very suspicious of Guy-Claude’s intentions to become more than Aline’s manager, so Sylvette threatens to harm him if he ever touches Aline inappropriately. Despite these threats, the fact is that Sylvette can’t be with Aline all the time. Aline and Guy-Claude spend a lot of time alone together behind closed doors, as he guides her career to more fame and fortune. Because of the creepy nature of Guy-Claude “falling in love” with underage Aline, it’s another reason why the scenes of Aline as a child make the movie look very awkward.
After a number of years, Aline becomes a legal adult. Guy-Claude announces that he’s getting divorced, and he eventually marries Aline. Her parents and siblings give begrudging approval, and they eventually accept Guy-Claude into the Dieu family. This acceptance probably had a lot to do with the fact that Guy-Claude was making Aline rich and famous.
The movie gets a little more interesting during this celebrity part of Aline’s life, but Lemercier’s performance as the adult Aline is still tainted by all the icky earlier scenes of her portraying a child who was seduced (and some would say exploited) by a man old enough to be her father. Marcel’s actor interpretation of Guy-Claude is as someone who was “misunderstood” and protective of Aline, while other people might see Guy-Claude’s attitude toward Aline as obsessive and controlling. The rest of the cast members’ performances are mediocre at best.
Every “inspired by” biopic about a famous entertainer has to include some tragedy and heartbreak, with the entertainer usually finding some way to recover on the road to a comeback. Unlike most famous singers, Dion (who was born in 1968) has not had a public battle with drug addiction or failed romances as the darkest moments in her life. Her most challenging personal experiences have to do with the deaths of her husband/manager and her brother within a short period of time. On January 14, 2016, Dion’s husband/manager Rene Angélil’s died of throat cancer, at the age of 73, just two days before he would have turned 74. On what would have been his birthday in 2016, Dion’s brother Daniel died of cancer.
Less tragic but still emotionally painful was her struggle to conceive children, which she eventually was able to do with the help of in vitro fertilization. In real life, Dion has three children, all sons: René-Charles (born in 2001) and fraternal twins Eddy and Nelson, born in 2010. The movie includes the expected emotional tug of war she felt when she had to leave her children behind during rigorous touring schedules, or when she couldn’t spend enough time with them as she wanted, because of the demands of her Las Vegas residency.
It’s all recreated in “Aline.” And because Dion’s life has been so public, none of this is spoiler information for the “Aline” movie. What makes it so hard to take is that this movie has a lot of cliché and hokey dialogue. And therefore, no further insight can be gained into what Dion’s life might have been really like behind the scenes, when so many of the movie’s conversations sound fake and too contrived. People can read Dion’s 2001 memoir “My Story, My Dream” for better insight into her early life, instead of the very bland version presented in this movie. And with a total running time of 126 minutes, “Aline” is just a little too long (with uneven pacing that sometimes drags) for what amounts to a scripted movie version of Dion’s Wikipedia page.
One of the ways that the movie badly falters is how it skimps on Aline’s performances, which include just snippets of Dion’s real-life songs. It’s an obvious sign that the movie couldn’t afford or were denied the rights to have renditions of Dion’s songs for longer than a minute. Most of the performances are less than a minute each, and they breeze by like a choppy music video. Victoria Sio, who provides the singing voice of Aline in this movie, does a fairly good impression of the real-life Dion, but this vocal talent can barely be appreciated when the songs aren’t played long enough in “Aline.”
And that’s not a good sign, when the performances are supposed to be the best part of this movie. The concert scenes of superstar Aline have faithful recreations of many of Dion’s real-life costumes and stage moves, but they are all superficial when the music is cut off so abruptly in many of these live performance scenes. Dion’s most famous hit—”My Heart Will Go On,” the Oscar-winning theme from 1997’s “Titanic”—is merely a blip in this assembly-line approach to showing Aline doing what she does best: sing. And a life as full of highs and lows as Dion’s deserves better than being treated as a formula that hits a lot of wrong notes.
Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films released “Aline” in select U.S. cinemas on March 18, 2022, with a wider expansion on April 8, 2022. The movie was released in Canada, France and other countries in 2021.
