THE KERNEL: FRESHLY POPPED FILM REVIEWS
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie — dir. Matt Johnson
As a longtime fan of Nirvanna the Band the Show (2007-2018), I come into this review with rose-tinted glasses, but the film truly lives up to all the lofty expectations it had set for itself as a spiritual successor to the show.
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie follows Matt (Johnson) and Jay (McCarrol), two best friends and the only members of a band called Nirvanna the Band, who would do just about anything to book a show at the Rivoli, a bar on Queen Street in Toronto. When they accidentally discover the secret to time travel after another failed scheme to play at the Rivoli, the boys end up in 2008 and create a ripple effect that has a lasting impact on the band’s future.
Directed by and starring Matt Johnson in his latest outing since 2023’s Blackberry, one can see the compounding nature of his DIY, scrappy filmmaking style in full bloom. Aided by longtime collaborator, cinematographer Jared Raab, Johnson has nailed down his street-style fast-and-loose approach to shooting, which involves collecting hours of footage to find something to piece together in a logical and, most importantly, funny way.
And it was funny. The film premiered at a rowdy Midnight Madness full of Torontonians (including Mayor Olivia Chow) excited to see themselves represented onscreen. Many of the film’s sequences left the crowd in hysterics, as they wondered aloud how this crew managed to capture half of the antics it depicts, which is always part of the fun with this franchise.
While it is still accessible to an audience who has never seen the series prior, it becomes all the more satisfying to the pre-existing fanbase, as the film fully recaptures the magic that made the show so special. More than anything, the film embodies the spirit of friendship in both a tongue-in-cheek and incredibly sincere manner through the relationship between Matt and Jay.
Highly recommend! Quadruple York University bonus points!
Short Cuts programme 1
The first programme of TIFF’s Short Cuts was one of my favourite collections that I saw this year, featuring standouts like Agapito (dir. Arvin Bearmino, Kyla Danelle Romero), Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts (dir. Shervin Kermani), The Girl Who Cried Pearls (dir. Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski), and DISC (Blake Rice).
Agapito follows a group of workers at a bowling alley in the Philippines who close their business early to accommodate a visit from the manager’s disabled brother. The film takes a sudden experimental turn, utilizing dance and vocals to depict its themes, resulting in something unique and beautiful.
Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts made me laugh and moved me to tears with its depiction of a lonely man who wanders the recently volcanic-scorched earth with a microphone, claiming to hear the ghosts of those who previously inhabited these spaces. The film, shot in documentary style, explores trauma and memory in a quirky way without feeling twee or sappy, and lets the viewer get close to Ramón through its filmic approach.
The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a stop-motion animated short with lush and vivid visuals — exquisite attention was paid to set/production design and the incredibly fluid animation. The fantastical story of a poor boy exchanging a girl’s tears for money loses steam by the end, but one can’t help but be enraptured by the experience throughout.
Finally, DISC is a darkly comedic film that follows a man and a woman post-hookup, when the woman realizes her menstrual disc has been lodged inside her body and she needs help extracting it. The performances enhance this short, with both actors delivering excellent physical comedy and facial acting skills, paired with a disruptive intensity from the filmmaking itself. Other shorts featured in this program are Jazz Infernal (dir. Will Niava), Healer (dir. Chelsea McMullan) (York University bonus points!), and A Small Fiction of My Mother in Beijing (dir. Dorothea Sing Zhang). Recommend seeking out all of these films!
