BKonthescene

By The BKONTHESCENE crew

We started the day to view K-Pops, Anderson Paak’s feature directorial debut. Paak also played the title role of BJ, a character within a character – BJ really wanted a career in music for years, his adequate drumming skills gains him a spot with a house band on a K-pop competition show in Seoul. At the same time, he unexpectedly reunited with his estranged son, Tae Young (played by .Paak’s real-life son, Soul Rasheed), who is also pursuing fame.

This is when the story brings together culture, family, bonding music and humor, as they build their relationship, and learn the importance of trusting people, as they grow and change.

Paak’s dual role had a lot of funny moments of a musician driven to make it in the tough music industry. We look forward to future films by him.

Then we were off to see Seeds as Kaniehtiio Horn’s directed and starred in this movie playing Ziggy. This film takes us on a journey with an up and coming social media  influencer who gains a new sponsorship and client  who are a fertilizer and seed company called Nature’s Oath, that’s when things go completely sideways. We encounter corrupt corporate entities who have ulterior motives, dream sequences with Graham Greene.There’s blood,gore,suspense,comedy and throw in some thrills in this action pack movie.In the end  Ziggy has to protect the people around her, herself, and preserve her  aunt’s traditional seeds from the clutches of the corporate world who are more concerned about their profit margin.

Our next stop was Roy Thomson Hall

Randy Bachman: Takin’ Care of Business  Director Tyler Measom 

The Red Carpet was filled with anticipation waiting for Canadian music icon Randy Bachman to grace us with his presence. He arrived with son Tal and his wife Koko Bachman. Drummer Koko was a joy to see – the petite Japanese woman wore a beautiful kimono which she happily modeled for us. Also on the Red Carpet was Keifer Sutherland and director Tyler Measom along with other film crew and guests. 

In this documentary, Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman tells the stories of how he rose to be one of the biggest musicians with The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, married a Mormon woman, and launched a determined quest when his beloved Gretsch guitar disappeared. Through the search, Bachman recounts his life starting in Winnipeg, starting his music career, his bands and bandmates, meeting his Morman wife, his children and family life, the purchase of their massive, luxury home… and ending with the orange Gretsch guitar being miraculously found! The reunion with Bachman and his guitar is phenomenal.

Throughout the documentary film is music – classic rock songs “American Woman”  “She’s So High” are highlighted. It’s a brilliant film for music enthusiasts, Guess Who fans, Bachman-Turner Overdrive fans, Canadian music fans, and those who want to see an amazing music documentary.  Enjoy it and be proud of our Canadian musicians! 

After the Premium screening at Roy Thomson Hall, and following the Q & A, the lucky audience was treated to a very special music event. Randy Bachman, his musician son Tal and Tal’s drummer wife (who shared that she was expecting a baby) Koko gave a mini concert!  3 songs including “Takin’ Care of Business” and a new slower song. An amazing and intimate experience. A wonderful experience!  -SW

Daniela Forever was our next viewing.

Daniela forever starring Henry Golding as Nicolas Beatrice Grannò as Daniela. Nicolas is a shattered and heartbroken man who joins a trial drug program that reunites him with his deceased girlfriend, Daniela in his dreams. His life is sad and his friends can’t lift him up. Nicolas is a noted DJ living in Madrid, as he is fascinated with a drug trial treatment meant to counteract his constant depression through lucid dreaming where Daniela is still alive. He hopes to get out of his ”funk” with this medication. An off-track movie with people leaving the movie before it ended, puzzling at times and a little disappointing with the cast consisting of Henry Golding and Beatrice Grannò.

An interesting documentary, we viewed this movie next. A former media mogul empire which originated in Montreal, worth $5.7 billion, premiered their new documentary called Vice Is Broke, being showcased at TIFF.

This was Eddie Huang, an author, chef and former host of the bankrupt media company’s show, “Huang’s World,” depiction of the once mighty media outlet who were edgy, humorous and pushing the boundary. Then it all came to a halt with chapter 11 bankruptcy, back room deals, bad management and everything going horribly wrong.

After a full slate of activities, this was our final stop for the evening.

Much anticipation from the hundreds of fans on King Street in front of the Princess of Wales Theatre (POW) Visa Screening Room (VSR) waiting to get a glimpse of Director Max Minghella, actresses Kate Hudson, Elisabeth Moss, Kaia Gerber (Cindy Crawford’s daughter) and others. Beauty filled the Red Carpet… that was after they’d all gone out to greet the fans, autographing photos and taking selfies. Even Kate Hudson who went directly to the Red Carpet made the right decision to head out to the waiting fans after light heartedly taking the boos from the crowd. Their dresses were beautiful and the fans were extremely happy. 

The film Shell was screened at the Princess of Wales Theatre VSR which is one of the amazing places to see a film during TIFF. 

Shell is a dark comedy with body horror about society’s obsession with youth and appearance. An actress (Elisabeth Moss) challenges a beauty firm CEO (Kate Hudson) over her company’s questionable science, mysterious treatments to restore youthful beauty and ensure longevity. Trusting your life and health to science and technology that might just be hype and not healthy?  Audience keeps thinking this – especially knowing that she doesn’t need it. 

Samantha (Elisabeth Moss) considers it.  She wants jobs to increase her confidence and her bank account. The film deals with actresses getting slightly older than their competition. Samantha makes the commitment to a treatment from Shell. It’s a success and the result is a glowing Samantha with a restart on life.

Next, Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson), the glamorous CEO of Shell, offers to take Samantha on as a protégé and soon the actress’ star appeal increases. Samantha is suspicious about her missing friend Chloe (Kaia Gerber), some upsetting symptoms she has, and what might really be happening in the laboratories of Shell.

Samantha’s suspicions and Zoe’s paranoia escalate into a chase that ends in a huge confrontation with a surprise ending! Weaving together women’s issues and significant social commentary, director Max Minghella (Teen Spirit, TIFF ’18) finds a way to entertain while inviting us to think about the big value we put on physical beauty and youth and the challenges in the efforts to pursue them. The film keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next! It’s a thrilling one!

Q & A followed the film. -SW

That ended our adventurous day and night for Day #8.