Toronto Film

This Week in Rep Cinema: My Bloody Valentine, Le Corbeau, Qimmit, Moneyball, The 39 Steps

This Week in Rep Cinema features second run and classic film selections from cinemas such as The Fox, The Revue, The Royal, Toronto Underground Cinema, the Projection Booth, TIFF Bell Lightbox and more.

Post-Halloween is always a down-time for the rep cinemas. It seems Drive and Moneyball have just made their debut on the second run screen, dominating the Revue and this Fox this upcoming weekend, while second-run mainstays Midnight in Paris and The Guard move quietly to DVD. A highlight of the upcoming month at the TIFF Bell Lightbox is the beginning of a Hitchcock retrospective to tie into the Grace Kelly exhibit that is opening this month, so make time to see The 39 Steps, The Birds and other films in Icy Fire: The Hitchcock Blonde.

MONDAY OCTOBER 31ST / MY BLOODY VALENTINE / TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX / 6:30PM

The first horror film that really put Canada on the map was a recently remade My Bloody Valentine. The scene? A small Nova Scotian mining town. The history? A mining accident on Valentine's Day left one miner forgotten for six weeks, forced to eat the carcasses of his workmates while he waited for rescue. He swore bloody revenge if the town ever celebrated that holiday again. The outcome? Teenagers decide that the mine is a totally appropriate place to make out en masse and have a Valentine's Day party, which is crashed by our funny Valentine. On the heels of Prom Night, this is the film that cemented Canada as a force to be reckoned with in the slasher film genre. As a special treat, director George Mihalka will be at the screening, showcasing the deleted scenes that were censored and removed from the original release. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the cinema or online.

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 1ST / LE CORBEAU / TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX / 9PM
Clouzet's suspenseful mid-war drama is a story about a small town that is lit afire when an anonymous source, calling himself 'Le Corbeau' (The Raven) reveals unsavoury information about the townsfolk in a series of letters. From accusations of adultery and malpractice, the rumours become progressively more damaging, causing the townsfolk to become mistrustful and violent in their search for the writer. The film was deemed controversial as it was created in France under German occupation and believed to be a slight to the French (when really it has later been considered an attack on German occupation.) The film was initially banned (as was Clouzet himself) only to be lifted a few years after the end of WWII. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the cinema or online.

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 2ND / QIMMIT: A CLASH OF TWO TRUTHS / NFB MEDIATHEQUE / 7PM
The Green Screens program continues this week at the NFB with a documentary about the loss of Inuit sled dogs in the Arctic. Once a common sight, the sled dog population was upwards of 20,000 to a few hundred dogs today. Qimmit explores RCMP involvement in this reduction of numbers and other strategies that have been used to discourage the semi-nomadic lifestyle of which sled dogs were a large part of maintaining. As traditional territories, jobs, cultures and livelihoods are threatened, were sled dogs a natural part in this demise, or did some other force make this decision? Tickets are free to this event, but it's first come first serve for seating.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 5TH / MONEYBALL / FOX THEATRE / 4PM & 9:15PM

What may seem like a hearty sports film plays to a wider audience than you might think. Moneyball is a true story about a shift in baseball strategy in the last 10 years, centered around the Oakland A's and their budgeting process. The film was fraught with development woes and should have been released earlier this year. Script after script was revised until Aaron Sorkin, genius behind The West Wing, finalized the writing and boy, does it work. A biting comedy about a team specifically comprised of losers, Pitt plays slightly against type as a bit of an asshole GM who has just about had it with losing, while Jonah Hill plays the awkward brains behind the whole endeavour. It's a strange pairing that works better than it should, making this a highly entertaining film whether you care about America's greatest past time or not. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the cinema.

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6TH / THE 39 STEPS / TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX / 7PM
Hitchcock's early spy-thriller includes some of the tropes and themes he would repeat throughout his career: the accused-yet-innocent man, an icy blonde and a series of misunderstandings between the two. Our everyman is a Canadian (!) Richard, who stumbles into an espionage ring by accident while watching a performance at a music hall in London. Mistaken for a spy himself, he flees the city for the country, only to encounter those who are chasing him the entire time. Enter the blonde, a gorgeous Madeleine Carroll who finds herself embroiled in this seeming farce, only to realize the seriousness of this situation as the two try to escape the notice of more agents sent to silence them. Funnier than the average Hitchcock, the film employs many sight-gags as the two escape notice, from a political rally to a flock of sheep, which almost makes me want to declare it a screwball espionage thriller in closing. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the cinema or online.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.

Still from Le Corbeau


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