#ontario music scene

[wayne-benjamin]

Bon Evans Live at Spearhead

www.fabrikatedprojex.com

Always Evolving, Always Creating

[musicsceneon]

Ice Cube & Xzibit @ London, ON, Canada

https://www.youtube.com/@MUSICSCENEON

Ice Cube & Xzibit show tonight was lit! I got some decent video recorded (I hope, haven't had time to check it). It may take some time though to edit it before I upload it on our new YouTube channel.

#icecube #xzibit #livemusic #musicscene

[1000-silverfish-in-a-hoodie]

This one’s my favourite

enough about taylor swift already. reblog and tag the smallest, least known artist you listen to

[allthecanadianpolitics]

When the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver started in late April, the scene resembled a festival. Music played as protesters picnicked and sat in circles discussing Palestinian history, surrounded by about 75 tents that packed the turf field. On Friday, the camp was nearly silent. The number of tents had fallen by about half. Only three people could be seen inside the fenced protest zone, although others could have been out of sight in the tents.  Organizers of the protest at UBC and another at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in Nanaimo have pledged to fight on in the face of a decision by an Ontario judge this week that led to the clearing of a similar camp at the University of Toronto (U of T). They said they remained committed to  pressuring schools to end financial and academic ties with Israeli companies and institutions, calling the Ontario court decision "shameful." "We will continue to act on our campuses and apply pressure to our universities through every possible avenue," the statements on social media platforms Instagram and X said. "The student intifada will continue on, until Palestine is free and all colonized people have achieved freedom and liberation."

Continue Reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

Article date: July 5th, 2024.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Brian Eno - CJOM-FM, Windsor, Ontario, July 21, 1974

What was Brian Eno doing in Windsor, Ontario, in the summer of 1974?! I don't know, exactly (I also don't know exactly if he was in Windsor, Ontario — see the YouTube comments for some discussion as to whether he was across the border in Detroit, instead). But I do know that this is a cool little slice of late-night radio with Eno and DJ Ronnie Legg — some candid discussion, some joking around, some catty gossip.

Eno had obviously had a very busy year already — he'd released his solo debut Here Come The Warm Jets (50 years old last month!); he'd gone on tour with the Winkies, (a tour which was cut short due to Brian's famously collapsed lung); he'd performed with Kevin Ayers, John Cale and Nico at the Rainbow Theatre (later released as June 1, 1974); he'd helped Nico record The End; and, as he tells Legg, he was already well into the making of Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy. Dude was making things happen!

But Brian sounds cool as a cucumber on the air here, explaining his departure from Roxy Music and his dislike of the touring lifestyle, along with some typically ahead-of-the-curve recommendations of Sparks and the burgeoning krautrock scene. "I'm gonna have to write these names down!" Legg (who otherwise seems quite hip) exclaims when Eno tells him about Kraftwerk, Neu!, Can and Harmonia. Good as always to remember that those were different times; you couldn't just dial up obscure German bands on your phone. But I'm sure that Brian knew that — someday — you would.

Speaking of different times, one thing Eno doesn't seem too enamored with is Lou Reed, who was then touring behind the sleaze-tastic Sally Can't Dance. He says that he's seen Lou twice already in '74 and pretty much hated both experiences. Fair enough — I can see how the cartoonish funk-rock that Reed and his band were playing at the time would definitely not be Eno's cup of tea. "He seems to have moved against all the things that I thought were interesting in the original Velvet Underground — which were the qualities of 'bad' musicianship rather than 'good' musicianship that distinguished them. The fact they didn't know when to let up when they weren't tasteful at any point. The new band that he's got now are incredibly tasteful and very into long, funky guitar solos. I mean, who needs it?"

[unreeled]

In a Violent Nature

And the Deep Breaths Between Horrors.

(This article can also be found on my Substack).

It happens a number of times within the film. Facing a choice or a disappointment, Johnny’s shoulders rise and fall in the act of taking a single deep, distinct breath. Then he’ll move, towards the next goal or the sound of muffled voices off in the woods, with a slow gait and little sense of urgency. It’s as if he knows it’s a long walk, but that he’ll get there eventually. Watching the film, you take that walk with him. If there was ever a horror movie to give you time to breathe, In a Violent Nature is it. Set in a remote, woody area of northern Ontario, it’s the story of a group of teens who remove a locket from a rotting fire tower and re-awake the violent entity that it was keeping dormant. And this time, the camera is solely focused on the undead monster that claws itself out of the earth to track them down and slaughter them. 

There’s a certain kind of bravery in making a slasher film that takes its time to move from one stunt to the next, as the classic slasher fan may find themselves bored by the long periods of time spent engrossed in the simple wild. And it’s brave to make a contemplative, slow-burn horror film into a slasher, as the arthouse fan might find the premise too simple. A fan of both, or someone who walks into the theater simply knowing what to expect, will find something clever, thoughtful, and eerie. One standout element of the film is found in its sense of choreography; despite a lack of musical score, there is a rhythm to the entire film. Johnny’s heavy, lumbering steps. The repeated swing of an ax, the perfect way in which the characters move around each other in order to catch or miss a glimpse of one another. Some of its best moments are when you realize that you- and Johnny- can see the next victim up ahead, but they remain oblivious.

In many ways, this film is a spectacle. Shot with a 3:4 aspect ratio and making full use of the Canon EOS C70’s Super 35mm Sensor, In A Violent Nature couldn't be more gorgeous. For a horror film, there is no shying away from daylight or color. Every detail of the landscape found in northern Ontario is laid out for the viewer to take in, from the distant, rolling mountains to the bright greens and yellows of the forest itself. Night time scenes are shot with minimal lighting gear, as the crew attempted to minimize what they would need to move through the location, which creates perfectly stark contrasts between bonfires, porch lights, and the inky darkness of the woods beyond. You are always immersed in this place. Of the look of the film, director Chris Nash says they wanted to create an environment “where you almost feel the threat of being alone in the woods by itself, without a big, old monster man with an axe hunting you down.”

This effect is honed in on in the lack of a musical score. The only thing you hear in the film is what Johnny hears. The crunch and brush of leaves, the flow of water, the whistle of birds. The revving of a truck, the distant argument between the cast of survivors, and muffled music coming from the radio inside their cabin. Or, of course, the crunch of bone. 

Word-of-mouth says that in the screenings of this film, audience members vomited from the gore. It’s an age-old rumor that accompanies any film with a body count, but it might be understandable, if true. With a director like Nash- who has a slightly longer history in special effects than he does directing- the film could only turn out adequately gory. The kills are brutal, disgusting, sometimes absurd, and a fantastic time all the way through. Anyone with an appreciation for the practical side of gory special effects will get a kick out of the moments that Johnny settles on a weapon and gets to work. 

The other joy of In a Violent Nature is in its performances. Caught only through brief glimpses of stories around the campfire or conversations out on a dock, the core cast of survivors (played by Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Liam Leone, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Alexander Oliver, Charlotte Creaghan, and Sam Roulston) share an incredible chemistry that instantly gives a sense of their relationships and their corresponding parts to play in the slasher narrative. The roles filled by Timothy Paul McCarthy, Lauren-Marie Taylor, and Reese Presley are no less fantastic when they step onto the scene, conveniently looking elsewhere until it’s their time to face down Johnny. 

And speaking of Johnny, Ry Barrett never says a word in the role, but never does the character fall flat. There are sparks of personality hidden underneath his mannerisms, from the things that catch his curiosity to the casual way he slings an ax. The way he carries himself is both imposing and perfectly natural-- for him, if not for anyone else. Barrett was recast in the role after the previous star had to step back, and a large chunk of the film had to be reshot. Nash states in an interview for Points of Reviews that there was an initial belief that, because the character is in costume and rarely viewed from an onwards angle, that some of these shots could be worked together, but that wasn’t wholly the case. He says, “There are so many things with the performance that are important, in just how they carry themselves, the gait of their walk, just the weight of their footfalls.” That importance shows through in the final cut of the film, which is a phenomenal piece of performance on the part of Barrett. 

In a Violent Nature is, in many ways, exactly what it calls itself. The concept of a slasher film from the slasher’s point of view might be a simple one, but in its execution, it becomes a standout piece of filmmaking. The care put into every second of its runtime shows through in a viewing experience that will leave you looking a little closer at the woods you drive through on your way home from the theater; partly because they’re beautiful, and partly because you never know what they could hide. 

-

Some articles referenced in this review (that I recommend reading!):

In a Violent Nature Film Review (with Director Chris Nash)

Sundance: DP Pierce Derks on In a Violent Nature

Sundance Slasher In a Violent Nature puts Northern Ontario Front and Center

[ourshadowstallerthanoursoul]

On this day... - August 18th

+ 1969 : The Rock Pile in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

“With the exception of the Toronto Pop Festival, last night’s Led Zeppelin concert at the Rock Pile was the most significant pop event this year. Not only were the two shows completely sold out in advance, but at least 2,000 were turned away, the management reported. They missed out on one of the finest shows ever to pour sweat onto the Rock Pile stage. […] Led Zeppelin was not a band for the chicken-hearted or the people who want subtlety and soft messages in their music. It lays it all out, hard and heavy, and it was the sort of thing that only a dyed-in-the-groove rock ‘n’ roller can take. I don’t want to sound overawed, but I do believe it is the strongest, tightest band to emerge from the current vogue of white blues groups.” – ‘Led Zeppelin soars to the Pop stratosphere’ by R. Yorke (G&M Pop Scene)

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Mask (1994)

If you were born in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, you idolized Jim Carrey at some point. In second grade, my class received an assignment to write a biography on our favorite Canadian sports athlete. I didn’t have one so I asked the teacher if I could do mine on Jim Carrey (he was born in Ontario). Four of my classmates asked the same thing. Carrey’s big break was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective but that film has aged so dreadfully its finale is unwatchable – even if you keep in mind it was made 30 years ago. A much better way to indulge your nostalgia for the comedian is to revisit Dumb and Dumber or today's movie: The Mask.

Insecure bank teller Stanley Ipkiss (Carey) finds a magical mask in the Edge City river. After putting it on, the mask transforms him into a green-faced, zoot suit-wearing extrapolation of his inner self. With his newfound powers and confidence, Ipkiss gets even with those who’ve wronged him and romances Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz), the beautiful singer at the exclusive Coco Bongo club. In the process, he crosses paths with gangster Dorian Tyrell (Peter Greene).   There have been several attempts to make a live-action Looney Tunes film, none as successful at bringing the series’ violent slapstick sense of humor to life as The Mask (and with Coyote vs. Acme being shelved by David Zaslav, that won't change anytime soon). Putting on the mask does more than alter Ipkiss’ appearance and give him the confidence to say and do what he’s always wanted to; it allows him to pull giant mallets out of thin air, survive explosions, re-inflate himself after being flattened, move so fast he looks like a spinning tornado, etc. Jim Carrey excels at playing loud, outlandish catchphrase-spewing characters, making this superhero origin story (the film is based on the Dark Horse comic by Mike Richardson) the perfect vehicle for him. He also fares quite well as lovable loser Stanley Ipkiss. He has great chemistry with the most memorable character in the film: Ipkiss’ dog, Milo. As far as movie pets go, there aren’t many who have as much personality as this adorable, occasionally aggressive, mischievous and deceptively smart (for a dog) Jack Russell Terrier. The pooch may not have a character arc, but its multiple gags build upon each other and Milo plays a critical part in the story.    If you expected me to name Cameron Diaz as the co-star with whom Carrey has the best rapport, I’m getting to her now. The two actors have chemistry but they don't quite sizzle like they should. Or maybe it’s that Diaz (in her film debut) is so stunning that a part of you dismisses any sparks between them – she should be with you. After donning the mask, Stanley howls like the wolf in 1943's “Red Hot Riding Hood” while he watches her perform at the Coco Bongo. You’ll be right there along with him. Seeing her, you remember the first time you saw Marilyn Monroe. All you can say is “Wow!”, which makes you all the more grateful to see that she can keep up with the dance numbers and comedic sequences. As a memorable aspect of the film, she’s got stiff competition between Carrey, the dog and the special effects but she nonetheless stands out.    The Mask is a pretty standard superhero story that’s elevated by its willingness to go all the way with its cartoon motif, the unforgettable one-liners and memorable characters. On top of everyone previously mentioned, there’s Lieutenant Mitch Kellaway (Peter Riegert), the police officer who suspects Ipkiss – even though no ordinary man could pull off the moves he pulls -, his dopey partner Detective Doyle (Jim Doughan) and several big scenes that will stick with you long after the film is gone. Partially because they are funny but also because they showcase the film’s use of music, dance and cartoon logic.    Special effects can often date a picture. Even if those are still (mostly) convincing, jokes that haven’t aged well can make you regret you ever hit "play". The Mask makes extensive use of special effects. They still hold up. When it comes to the jokes, the film does it right. There is a point where a mask-wearing Ipkiss starts turning into a Pepe Le Pew type… but the fact that he’s too much and that his overly aggressive would-be romantic gestures make Tina uncomfortable are both acknowledged and part of the gag.

I must’ve seen The Mask over a dozen times as a kid (mostly in French and on VHS) but that was years ago. I thought I only remembered the broad strokes but nearly everything came flooding back as soon as I started watching. Part of that I can attribute to repetition but also to the fact that this comedy is packed with memorable scenes, lines and characters. It holds up. (October 5, 2024)

[noahreids]

Noah Reid 2023.09.08 | instagram stories

What's up fans and homies and friends and people—Clare, please, I’m trying to do a video. S’up everyone!

Hello, everyone. I'm in the passenger seat of my car driving up to Meaford, Ontario, where I'm going to be playing tonight to kick off the Everything's Fine tour. Oh my god, I'm just so thrilled. Terrified. Titillated. Um, I think there's a couple tickets left. You should probably get them. If you're in the Meaford, Collingwood, Thornbury area—Clare, eyes on the road, please. [GPS interrupts] In 600 meters, turn right on the five—ah for fuck’s sake.

Clare's taking us on some dirt road anyway—Meaford? You're wondering why? Well, I'll tell you. Because for those of you who don't know, the Meaford Hall is the jewel of the Ontario Music Hall scene, and I'm lucky enough to get to play there tonight seemed like the perfect place, you know, close to home, right before heading off on a worldwide gallivant with these incredible musicians that I get to call my band for the next little bit. Miranda Mulholland is opening the show, by the way, speaking of tremendous musicians. And you won't want to miss her. And I hope you can come. And I'm excited for the tour. I'm scared of all of you. Goodbye.

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Relax, I’m From The Future

A conversation with writer-director Luke Higgingson

Relax, I’m From The Future was a surprise fav of mine at last year’s Fantasia Fest, and it’s finally getting a theatrical release! The movie is a punk rock sci-fi comedy with a lot of wit and even more heart starring Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, Our Flag Means Death) and Gabrielle Graham (Possessor, Twenties) as an unlikely duo trying, sort of, not really, to save the world. I got a chance to speak with writer-director Luke Higginson a few weeks ago about all the work that went into his debut feature. Read our (lightly edited for clarity) conversation below!

Tell me, how do you describe this movie to other people?

It’s very much my attempt to work through my anxieties about the future and the state of the world in a way that might bring me some comfort without eliminating the very real cynicism I have about it. [My short film in 2013] started as a simple joke idea — the idea of an unprepared timetraveler — and then when people sort of liked that film more than I expected, I thought about how I would make that meaningful enough to expand it. And as I noodled on that, Trump got elected, and Covid happened, a lot of terrible things happened… It really became a source of therapy for me to write this ridiculous film and pump my anxieties into it. That’s really where I found what the film was about.

There is an incredible dynamic between Rhys and Gabrielle — how did you work your story with them?

Gabriel Graham was the first person that I knew I wanted to cast [as Holly]. I saw Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor, and she had such presence, but I didn’t know if she was funny, so I watched Twenties… it was clear she had comic chops.

For Casper [Rhys Darby’s character], you have to be on board with following him even when he does some questionable things. And also, he’s on screen for so much of the movie that it had to be someone with real energy, especially in a script that’s mostly people talking to each other. There weren’t a lot of people that I felt fit that. Then when his name was floated, it was immediately like omg holy shit that would be amazing! My producers at Wango films are phenomenally gifted at getting scripts in hands. I spent a couple of days building up a dossier of arguments for why he should do the film. And when we got on the call and he was just like “Hey, so I just wanted to meet ya and make sure you were ok with me doing this movie”, I was blown away. He had this tiny little window where we could get him for 15 shooting days and he agreed to come up [to Hamilton, Ontario] and do it. I’m still pinching myself about that, it was amazing.

In terms of working with them, because of that window of time, there was no time for rehearsal. There was barely time for Rhys to learn his lines. I got one hour of Rhys and Gabby in a room together before the first day of shooting… Something clicked, it was like Oh it’s Casper and Holly, they’re hanging out!

The scene in the playground — where the two of them are sharing a bottle of booze and talking — was incredibly cold, absurdly cold. And they were both very underdressed for that weather. They were both improving and bouncing off of each other. That was the scene where I felt like ah there’s something special between these two in particular. It was cool, it was really special, both of them are just amazing.

Wait, the shooting schedule was only 15 days?

We had Rhys for 15 days, and we shot for 18 days, but Rhys is in almost all of the movie.

How did the music in the movie play into writing your story and how did you manage to clear all those songs?

I knew a ton of people in the Toronto indie-rock punk scene and I always knew that if I ever got to make a movie, I knew all these great songs that no one knows. I listened to a lot of that stuff writing the film — Holly being part of the punk scene was very important to the character. I gave [Gabrielle] a playlist of a bunch of 70s CBGB stuff, she watched a documentary on Poly Styrene. That really embodied the vibe of the music. I wanted it to be all Toronto music on the soundtrack, it’s basically a split between songs from bands that I played with or went to see back in the day and bands that are still operating right now. The big coup was getting Pup involved, which was really exciting. They didn’t have to say yes at all, but they really were big fans of Rhys and [because of Covid] I think they were a little itchy to get on stage in front of a bunch of people. We got to use a few of their songs, as well as Metz and Bad Waitress and a couple of other great bands.

In terms of the licensing side what I didn’t expect as a problem was that many of those bands no longer exist and never had any kind of official existence in terms of paper work or legality, so I perhaps foolishly did not see that coming as a problem. Anagram, Sailboats Are White, Lunchmeat — all great bands that I love, but [licensing their songs] was a trickier thing than I thought it was gonna be.

What are some of the challenges or joys that you encountered in the editing room, putting this thing together?

The editing process was long, longer than I expected. My baby was 6 months old when we started shooting, which was a real challenge for me and my wife. I literally edited the film with my baby next to me, so it took a while. But really, it was about matching the film to Rhys’s rhythm. When we [cast] Rhys, who’s one of the best improvisers comedically in the world, I knew that [for the edit] I was gonna want both sides of the conversations he has with Gabby. So any time that Rhys is talking to another person, there’s two cameras going at the same time and that really allowed us to use the little moments of inspiration and improvisation. If Rhys gives you a piece of gold, you know that you have it covered. That was big, I think both in the shooting and in the editing.

Time travel can be a tricky narrative device! How did you build the rules of this universe?

I knew right off the bat that I was neither capable nor interested in doing something scientifically “accurate”, but you also don’t want the audience to feel like you don’t give a shit. It has to feel like there’s an internal consistency. So my guiding principle was that rules of time travel are going to be what serves the humour and the story, and then once I have those things, to make sure it’s internally consistent. It actively subverts what I felt was the most common tropes — like in Terminator, you have to be naked to travel through time, in my movie you have to have no skin showing of any kind. In most time travel movies you can go back and forth, in mine you can only go back. When drafting it out, I went with the ideas that I found funny, then once I had the beats, I worked very hard to make sure it was internally consistent within that.

What was screening your film at Fantasia like?

It was incredible, I can’t say enough good things about Fantasia. I wanna shout out programmer Carolyn Mauricette, who saw a very rough cut of the film without any of the sound mix or special effects. She saw it, she got it, she connected to it. It just meant so much, that phase of the editing process, you’re very emotionally fragile, you have no idea if you’ve made something that works or not, and that was such a vote of confidence.

What are you hoping people take away from this?

I am genuinely very excited for people to see Rhys do this. I feel like he uses some muscles that you don’t get to see him use normally, he’s such a star. And I think Gabriel Graham is incredibly slept on, like she’s a successful actor but I think way more people should know her. I’m gonna sit in on a bunch of screenings — I never need to watch the movie again, but I do love watching the audience watch it, and there are some moments in the back third of the movie that I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing an audience react to.

I didn’t even ask you about Julian Richings!

He’s incredible! I got him [cast as Percy] by recording a video begging him to be in the movie because he’s a legend! I first saw him in Hard Core Logo when I was a teenager, he’s so captivating. So ya, I recorded a shameless message and sent it to him, and luckily he is the sweetest man in the world, just the easiest person in the world to work with — I can’t say enough nice things about him.

I think this movie has a lot for a lot of different crowds of people — you got the gays, you got the nerds, you got the horror fans -

Those are all my people! Those are my favourite type of people!

I’m excited for people to see it!

Me too!

Source: Bad Critic

[wayne-benjamin]

Wallys Perform Live at The Merchant Tap House

www.fabrikatedprojex.com

Always Evolving, Always Creating

[vatemoliver]

"Little Heaven" - Encore Performance

So you all may have noticed my absence from the Internet since late last year. I think since we're coming up close to the show dates, I'd like to share more about the (now award-winning) local stage musical my brother and I are a part of called "LITTLE HEAVEN." Not only are we in it, but also the director asked me if I would be willing to record a number of the songs she wrote for the musical to put up online to drum up hype for our Encore Performance at the end of this coming August.

"LITTLE HEAVEN is set amidst the backdrop of post-World War II Poland and weaves together the stories of those most affected by the horrors of the past as they grapple to rebuild their lives."

01) - Dance Of Life

This song's one of my favourites that I helped record for Piper and Lori Distel. "Dance Of Life" is originally sung by "The Peddler," LITTLE HEAVEN's nameless narrator. He lives around Maél Niebo, an apartment complex that refugees, the lower class, and the disparaged call their home. He is their witness and takes an interest in the ever-changing events in their small Polish town.

"Told through song, scene and monologue, the stories of Maél Niebo's residents are intertwined, exploring themes of grief, hereditary bias and the power of community.

02) - Part Of The Plan

The song "Part Of The Plan" was originally sung by the co-writer and director herself, Lori Distel in the role of Tovah Hoffson, mother of Rachel and wife of Solomon Hoffson. After the horrific tragedy that displaced many of Maél Niebo's residents, Tovah tries to remind the community that there must be a blessing hidden in their tragedy. Sadly, her message is not welcomed by everyone.

Big thanks to my brother JERO (aka John Michael Kelly) for providing the voice for Tovah's opposition in the recording.

03) Justice For All

Justice For All paints the conflicting worldviews of the German father Leo Meier, and the Romani Maestro Marik Covali, who had been hired to teach music to the Meier daughters. JERO in this recording plays the voice of Leo while I provide the voice of the Maestro.

"Leo Meier, a newspaper reporter from Berlin, wrestles with the guilt he harbours for the small part he played in perpetuating the Reich's hateful message. Romani violin virtuoso, Maestro Covali, attempts to start anew following the tragic deaths of his wife and young daughters."

04) - Land Of Broken Dreams

"The Hoffson Family; father, mother, daughter. There were sons, too, in the days before. Twins. Then, there were thousands of sons. Thousands of daughters. Not anymore..."

And at last we come to one of the songs that I actually sing in the live production of the play, "Land Of Broken Dreams." Together, JERO and I play as David and Daniel Hoffson, the only of Solomon's children to die in the Holocaust. Twins were subjected to inhumane science experiments in the camps. In this song, Solomon wrestles with the guilt he feels over doing what he had to to save his children from a fate worse than death.

The play also touches on topics of queerness, love separated by religion and tradition, and hope - even when the world is at its darkest.

Other songs recorded by and mixed by Alexander W. Halma-Reed are also up wherever you listen to music. Click here to hear some more!

LITTLE HEAVEN Music and Lyrics by Lori Robinson Distel and Book by Piper J. Distel. Orchestrations by Alexander W. Halma-Reed. The show goes live August 29-September 2, 2024 at The Guelph Little Theatre in Guelph, Ontario Canada.

[justforbooks]

The director and producer Norman Jewison, who has died aged 97, had a career dedicated for the most part to making films that, while entertaining, included socio-political content. His visual flair, especially in the use of colour, spot-on casting and intelligent use of music, enabled him to raise sometimes thin stories into highly watchable films.

He hit the high spot critically and commercially with In the Heat of the Night (1967), which starred Sidney Poitier as a northern US city police detective temporarily held up in a small southern town and Rod Steiger as the local sheriff confronted with the murder of a wealthy industrialist. The detective mystery plot was perhaps mainly the vehicle for an enactment of racial prejudices and hostilities culminating in a grudging respect on both sides, but it worked well. The final scene, much of it improvised, in which the two men indulge in something approaching a personal conversation, was both moving and revealing.

The film won five Academy awards – for best picture, best adapted screenplay, best editing, best sound and, for Steiger, best actor – and gave Jewison the first of his three best director nominations; the others were for Fiddler on the Roof, his 1971 adaptation of the Broadway musical, and the romantic comedy Moonstruck (1987). In 1999 Jewison was the winner of the Irving G Thalberg memorial award from the academy for “a consistently high quality of motion picture production”.

The son of Dorothy (nee Weaver) and Percy Jewison, he was born and brought up in Toronto, Ontario, where his father ran a shop and post office. Educated at the Malvern Collegiate Institute, a Toronto high school, Jewison studied the piano and music theory at the Royal Conservatory in the city, and served in the Canadian navy during the second world war. On discharge, he went to the University of Toronto, paying his way by working at a variety of jobs, including driving a taxi and occasional acting.

After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree, in 1950 he set off with $140 on a tramp steamer to the UK, where he landed a job with the BBC, acting and writing scripts. On his return to Canada two years later, he joined the rapidly expanding television industry, producing and directing variety shows for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Jewison was spotted by the William Morris talent agency and invited to New York, where he signed with CBS and was given the unenviable task of rescuing the once successful show Your Hit Parade, which was by then displaying signs of terminal decline. He revamped the entire production and took it back to the top of the ratings. He directed episodes of the variety show Big Party and The Andy Williams Show, and specials for Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, Jackie Gleason and Danny Kaye.

On the Belafonte special, Jewison had white chains dangling above the stage, an image that displeased many southern TV stations, which refused to screen the show. This was the first indication of his stance on racism.

Success brought him to the notice of Tony Curtis, who had his own production company at Universal, and Jewison began a three-year contract with 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962), starring Curtis. This was followed by the likable but light Doris Day comedies The Thrill of It All (1963), Send Me No Flowers (1964) and The Art of Love (1965).

In 1965 he got out of his contract to make the first film of his choice, MGM’s The Cincinnati Kid, starring Steve McQueen (the Kid) and Edward G Robinson (the Man) and centring on a professional poker game between the old master and the young challenger. He took over the project from Sam Peckinpah, tore up the original script by Paddy Chayefsky and Ring Lardner, and commissioned Terry Southern, the result getting him noticed as a more than competent studio director.

In 1966 he made the beguiling but commercially unsuccessful comedy The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, about a Russian submarine stranded off the coast of Cape Cod. This was at the height of the cold war and gained him a reputation for being a “Canadian pinko”, although it was nominated for a best picture Oscar.

In the Heat of the Night was followed by The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) in which McQueen and Faye Dunaway played thief and insurance investigator respectively and engaged in a chess game that evolved into one of the longest onscreen kisses, as the camera swirls around and around above their heads. The theme song, The Windmills of Your Mind, was a hit and the film a success.

Fiddler on the Roof, with a silk stocking placed by Jewison across the camera lens to provide an earth-toned quality, won Oscars for cinematography, music and sound, and a nomination for Chaim Topol in his signature role of Tevye.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), his adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera, and Rollerball (1975), starring James Caan, were followed by F.I.S.T. (1978), a tale of union corruption starring Sylvester Stallone as an idealistic young organiser who sells out, and And Justice for All (1979), starring Al Pacino, a deeply ironic portrayal of the legal world.

A Soldier’s Story (1985), based on the Pulitzer prize-winning play and including an early performance from Denzel Washington, dealt with black soldiers who risked their lives “in defence of a republic which didn’t even guarantee them their rights”, and some of whom had internalised the white man’s vision of them.

Moonstruck, a somewhat daft love story but a tremendous box office success and for the most part a critical one, won the Silver Bear and best director for Jewison at the Berlin film festival and was nominated for six Oscars, winning for best screenplay, best actress for Cher and best supporting actress for Olympia Dukakis.

Then came Other People’s Money (1991), a caustic and amusing comedy on the new world of corporate finance and takeovers, in which Danny DeVito played a money hungry vulture, made largely in response to Reagan’s era of deregulation, and The Hurricane (1999) in which Jewison again worked with Washington, who played the real life boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, falsely convicted of a triple murder and imprisoned for years before the conviction was quashed. The latter film aroused controversy over its alleged manipulation of some facts and, despite its undoubted qualities, this fracas probably contributed to it being commercially disappointing.

In the early 1990s, Jewison had begun preparations for a film on the life of Malcolm X, and had secured Washington to play the title role, when Spike Lee gave his strongly expressed opinion that only a black film-maker could make this story. The two met, and Jewison handed over the film to Lee.

Jewison’s last film, The Statement (2003), starred Michael Caine as a Nazi war criminal on the run. He was also producer for films including The Landlord (1970), The Dogs of War (1980), Iceman (1984) and The January Man (1989).

He had returned to Canada in 1978, living on a ranch north of Toronto with his wife Dixie, whom he had married in 1953. There he reared Hereford cattle, grew tulips and produced his own-label maple syrup. In 1988 he founded the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies, now known as the Canadian Film Centre, in Toronto.

He was a confirmed liberal, a man of integrity who turned in his coveted green card in protest at the Vietnam war and saw film not only as entertainment but also as a conduit for raising serious issues.

Dixie (Margaret Dixon) died in 2004. In 2010 he married Lynne St David, who survives him, as do two sons, Kevin and Michael, and a daughter, Jennifer, from his first marriage.

🔔 Norman Frederick Jewison, film director, producer and screenwriter, born 21 July 1926; died 20 January 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[murderballadeer]

3, 7, 9 & 22 for end of year asks!

3 - favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year? i got really properly into emmylou harris this year... i'd heard her stuff before but for whatever reason it didn't fully click for me until i heard boulder to birmingham for the first time last winter and then everything changed

7 - favorite actor of the year? gonna interpret this as the best performance in a 2024 film release and for me honestly that's isabella rossellini in conclave... such a wonderful understated yet captivating performance, she really stole the scene every time she was onscreen

9 - best month for you this year? july was fun! i started my new job, got my nose pierced, went to toronto and explored the city on my own, and had a lot of fun times with my friends

22 - favorite place you visited this year? toronto island... i'm a toronto hater generally but i love lake ontario and one of my favourite days this year was when i was in toronto and wound up with a day with no plans so i took the ferry to the island

[airfieldddrive]

"The Decency Of Caring"

Early morning alarm

The decency of caring

Living out your dreams

Never enough

Taking the lead

Which way is up?

Slowly or swiftly with unmatched speed

Believe in your dreams

You are in my vision

Silver screen

I'd help you if I only could

Decently

No expectations

It's in the rules of engagement book

Saturday morning cartoons

here in Ontario on a vacation trip

You make me feel mighty real

Home movies

Music and art scene

Scott B Sympathy

You have nothing to hide when you speak the truth

One day soon getting back to the sugar shack

Red

Orange

Yellow and green

Perfectly understood

The decency

Perfectly understood

New day rising reality.

-Walter

[geonppangi]

zb1 as ontario universities + programs

yes this is an incredibly niche topic but this has now become my chosen coping mechanism for uni decisions

sung hanbin - queens health science

such a pretty campus

a lot of historic buildings and freshly manicured lawns that i think would fit hanbin perfectly

and like imagine him with soft academia

it’s just a really nice school and its health sci program is one of the best in ontario

like it’s very neutral good

and he feels like he would make a really good doctor, like pov sung hanbin is your family doctor LMFAO

and like i think he’d do a great job, probably has the prettiest notes and always does his part during group projects

zhang hao - queens commerce

ofc i had to keep haobin together

but dw neither is sacrificing their education for the other person (remember kids the only person who can get you your degree is you)

queens commerce is also one of the best business schools in ontario

ik that zhang hao is a music kid but that felt like cheating so this is an alternative!

out of all of zb1 he feels like the most business type person?

like he’s so smart and always plans ahead

so i feel like he could be successful in anything he tried but especially business because it’s so lucrative and opens the door to so many paths

like hanbin i think he suits the clean and historic school vibes

they both have a very curated?? for lack of better word image and i think they’d look like they were in a photoshoot every time they step out on campus

park gunwook - uoft criminology, law and society

university of toronto!!

i’m just saying, debate is literally the gateway to law

and i’d be willing to bet that he has done or considered mock trial so i think this would fit super well

he knows a lot about history and philosophy, so i can see him being interested in studying a humanity

in canada, you need to get a bachelors before going to law school, so a lot of people do something related

this is basically as good as you can get

i also think gunwook would do well in uoft

it can be a kind of isolating experience because the school is so big and a lot of people commute so there isn’t much of a social scene

but as the resident social butterfly, i feel like gunwook would be able to establish a good circle

and also i think he would like the energy of the city

there’s always something to do and both city hall and parliament are literally right next to the campus

alternatively, i considered university of ottawa, which is good for its social science since you know, it’s literally in the capital city of canada so its law program is really good

but honestly there’s not much undergrad wise

i could see him going for graduate school though

i don’t know lawyer gunwook just feels right

he’s good at making decisions, works well under pressure, has the fundamentals down, and is a hard worker so i can definitely see him making it into law school

kim taerae - waterloo computer science

listen

listen

i know that taerae isn’t that genre of nerd

but the glasses

him being losercore

like you can’t tell me he wouldn’t go to the most loser of all loser schools in ontario

(btw waterloo is not bad, it’s actually really good for engineering and comp sci but also everybody there has no life hence the loser allegations)

(also because if you do eng or comp sci you are inherently a loser i’m so sorry pls continue to run tumblr though)

but yeah i can definitely see him doing comp sci maybe like ui ux stuff

actually the more i think about it the more it makes sense for me

he’s also the only thinking (mbti) in zb1 and his fashion sense would fit in perfectly with the rest of the department

seok matthew - mcmaster nursing

like hanbin, i really do see him doing something healthcare related

mcmaster is second for nursing, after uoft, but i don’t think matthew would like toronto as much

from what i’ve heard, vancouver is a lot greener, more laid back, and hiking culture is big there

toronto kind of offers none of that, with the addition of pretty bad air quality comparatively (still pretty good though because canada’s pretty sparsely populated)

mcmaster though is in a smaller town that’s essentially just a university town and also has a trail literally right on campus

it’s a smaller, more tight knit community and nursing is a pretty small program so it’d be even closer

i think he would have a really good time with mcmaster’s social scene

it’s also right by lake ontario and has pretty decent weather

ricky shen - uoft rotman

another business student, are we surprised?

i also considered art but our only really good art school is ocad and as far as i know it doesn’t focus on traditional art as much

so anyways mr young and rich tall and handsome is going to go the business route

uoft is really international student friendly, mostly because they accept a lot of international students and because toronto is also pretty diverse

like you can truly get any type of cuisine here and we have a really big asian population too

so as a person who also immigrated here, i’d say it’s not a terrible transition

definitely the most diverse of any of the ontario schools

once again, the social life at uoft is not great but usually the business schools are better

han yujin - still in high school

han yujin - university of guelph kinesiology

since yujin’s currently studying dance at his school, i thought that kinesiology would be a good fit

for those who don’t know, it’s essentially like sports science?? or studying the way people move and so forth

he also plays soccer and just gives off like sporty vibes?

like the quiet kid who is surprisingly the fastest on the team

once again, uoft is technically the best for this, but it’s kind of a scary place to go into alone so i can see yujin choosing a quieter school

i’d say guelph is even more closely knit than mcmaster by virtue of it being a smaller city and a smaller school

they have a solid health science program though and good student support too, which i think he’d benefit from

kim jiwoong - uoft english literature

so

i know that he is an actor

and i considered having him go the performing arts route

however, i know nothing about those schools and once again i think it’d be too easy

so to make my life harder, instead of having jiwoong perform shakespeare plays, i’m making him read and analyze them instead

he gives off like that one english teacher you had who changed your life and helped you rekindle your love of reading after your gifted burnout yknow

but yeah i see him going into english lit to go be a teacher

and uoft would be perfect for that because it not only has i believe one of the largest libraries in north america, but also a really big teachers college once he’s done getting his bachelors

he also seems like he would be able to fit in in any environment, so i don’t see uoft’s size or atmosphere being a problem for him

kim gyuvin - toronto metropolitan university performance: acting

i saved the best for last

ik i literally just said that i wasn’t going to do performing arts for jiwoong but this is different

something about his performance during the musical segment of boys planet changed the way i viewed him forever

like??????? how is he that good for like the most random challenge ever

i think he’d be really good at acting seriously so anyways!

also tmu (formerly known as ryerson) is just a very fun vibe

it’s in the more downtown area of toronto compared to uoft and right by the entertainment district

the nightlife is so good and gyuvin would probably be the life of the party

tmu’s also like uoft’s funkier younger cousin so i think that fits his vibe well