Theo Fleury: Playing with Fire
Empire Capitol 6
Tonight, 9:15
Rating: Four stars
Say what you like about Theoren Fleury, but there's no denying the controversial, deeply troubled former NHL star and sexual abuse survivor's story makes for great cinema. Matt Embry's must-see documentary by turns raw, infuriating and coarsely comedic sheds some new light on familiar material. Crisply paced and shot, the film captures its mercurial and oddly endearing subject's rage, jaw-dropping egomania and charisma as he reflects on his dysfunctional family life and career challenges on road trips to Moose Jaw, Sask., Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago and New York. Love Fleury or hate him, Embry dares you not to be riveted whether his foul-mouthed, often shockingly candid subject is graphically describing his abuse by his former junior hockey coach and convicted sex offender Graham James; bragging about being chosen over Dan Hill to sing in Score: The Musical; visiting both Manhattan's Chelsea Piers, where he hung out with the homeless during his darkest days of addiction, and Madison Square Garden, where he's now denied entry; or recounting how he'd spend $10,000 a night on booze, gambling, drugs and strippers. Former coaches and referees also check in to put his career highs and lows in perspective, and scathing criticism from Shannon Griffin-White, his embittered former common-law wife, add balance, if not quite enough to tip the scales from the film's predominantly favourable viewpoint.
Belcanto
Parkside Victoria
Tonight, 7:15 p.m.
Canadian première
Rating: 2.5 stars
The best that can be said about Ryszard Nyczka's dark, peculiar and mildly surreal Polish tragicomedy is that it's an offbeat feast for the eyes and ears. Nyczka suffuses his film, set in a Polish town near a Soviet military air base in 1966, with glorious operatic music, some playful erotic imagery and amusingly excessive combat visuals, as if to distract from the banality of its slender narrative. The plot, such as it is, focuses on a beloved provincial operatic tenor whose friendship with his new neighbour, a sexy and unexpectedly influential courtesan, suddenly sours, derailing his hitherto cushy existence. Before long, the singer who has endeared himself to the locals by singing at Communist celebrations becomes a social outcast until an alcoholic, music-loving Soviet general who regards women as evil creatures comes to his rescue. As off-putting as the film's misogynistic undertones might be, they're not nearly as bizarre as some of the plot developments, like the twice-divorced Soviet commander's decision to drop two atomic bombs on West Berlin, in part to avenge his wife's wicked ways.
The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Odeon, Empire Capitol 6
Sat., Feb. 4, 9:30 p.m.;
Sun., Feb. 12, 4:30 p.m.
Rating: 3.5 stars
And you thought Theo Fleury was trouble. You'd be hard-pressed to find a festival film more disturbing, yet as perversely mesmerizing as this powerful documentary from filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion about the much-feared Liberian warlord of the title who reinvents himself as a charismatic Christian evangelist. Their fascinating and provocative film forces you to draw your own conclusions as to whether this sadistic war criminal, who raped and tortured and by his own estimation killed 20,000 civilians, is genuinely repentant or a madman desperate to be back in the spotlight. The devil made him do it. That's his story, as he seeks forgiveness from the families of his victims, insisting he hasn't been the same person since he found Jesus. Despite its outrageous title referring to his belief that fighting naked activated his spiritual powers, this is no comedy or exploitation flick, but a haunting and horrific portrait of evil and forgiveness that demands active viewing. Michael D. Reid
