Produced by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Hospital Employees’ Union, The Remaining Light takes the viewer inside the often invisible part of Canada’s health care system — the community-based services that provide care to seniors as they age and prepare for death.
The film, which VanRamblings features above in full, presents a compelling narrative of the lives of seniors and their families, while exploring the themes of dignity, the progressive degeneration of one’s physical health that often accompanies aging, plus the increasing sense of social isolation that is felt by many of our seniors, and the failure of the Canadian health care system to provide adequately for our burgeoning ‘aging’ population.
Set in British Columbia, where the province’s Ombudsperson continues her investigation into “aging in place”, the themes and stories explored in Goh Iromoto and Shannon Daub’s 2011 film resonate as an indictment of an underfunded system of seniors care, where our elder population are not venerated as they should be and not afforded the respect they deserve.
All posts by Raymond Tomlin
Rumer: Nostalgic, Dream-Pop Neo-Soul With a Pleasing Bite
A while back, VanRamblings introduced you to Rumer, the British jazz artist / Anglo-Pakistani soul singer / songwriter who’s been tearing up the charts in the the U.K., and seems ready now to break to acclaim stateside.
With her early 60s Burt Bacharach-influenced sound, Rumer doesn’t trade in the rough neo-soul sounds of an Amy Winehouse, rather she offers a more pleasing soundscape, an almost nostalgic, often pensive and always seductive foray into Karen Carpenter territory, full of graceful melodies and dream-pop lyricism, elegant and piercingly evocative at the same time.
As VanRamblings continues to explore the ‘new’ music of our age — with an emphasis on soulful female vocalists — today we present Rumer’s début album, Seasons of My Soul, available for download through iTunes, or as an import through HMV, or your favourite local record store.
West Side Vancouver: Business Closings Bring Unwanted Change
Change, as we all know, is a constant. That may be so, but we don’t have to like it. Thus, we record today the closure of the Hollywood Theatre, a Kitsilano cinematic institution dating back to the 1930s; the closure of what was a thriving neighbourhood Blockbuster video store; and the ‘passing’ of the West Side Bakery (which will stay open, but under new ownership … and we all know how that usually goes … which is to say, not well).
For anyone who has lived on Vancouver’s west side, the Hollywood Theatre has for generations acted as a mecca for cinema-goers, the theatre’s oddly-structured double-bills providing solace to the troubled soul, an opportunity to kibbitz with friends between the early 7:30 pm screening and the ‘late’ 9:40 pm screening, a bit of fun, and the unexpected.
David Fairleigh reportedly received $2.9 million for the sale of the theatre, the monies coming from an offshore Asian investor looking to redevelop the property (perhaps the entire north side of the block) for condominiums. Festival Cinemas’ Leonard Schein apparently offered a million less than the final sale price — looking to repair and run the theatre long into the future — but clearly his financial offer came in on the low end. The Vancouver International Film Festival also showed some interest in acquiring the old Hollywood Theatre, but the asking price was just too much.
Thus, a cinematic institution passes, as cinema lovers are now left to troll the soulless cineplexes which dot the suburban landscape. An era passes.
Update: There’s a late-breaking, but unconfirmed, report that Festival Cinemas’ Leonard Schein met with Vince Fairleigh this past Thursday evening, and made an offer to Vince to keep the Hollywood Theatre open for a period of five years, a ‘deal’ which would have Mr. Schein’s company assume responsibility for the payment of rent and business expenses associated with the operation of the Hollywood Theatre (the new owners had offered the Fairleighs the opportunity to keep the Hollywood open, at a monthly rental rate of $11,000, that offer refused), the deal on the table also offering a salary to Vince to continue to manage the theatre.
Clearly, the arrangement as outlined above is similar to the offer made to Corinne Lea of East Van’s The Rio. No word as to whether Vince Fairleigh will book the Hollywood’s double-bills, or whether Leonard Schein will step in to offer assistance on that front (unlikely, given the structure of the deal Mr. Schein has with the operators of both the Rio and Dunbar theatres).
Update 2, June 1st: The Hollywood is officially closed, the Fairleighs having turned over the keys late in the day on May 30th. At this point, a re-opening of The Hollywood Theatre appears unlikely.
Continue reading West Side Vancouver: Business Closings Bring Unwanted Change
Serious, Watchable Films: Months and Months and Months Away
 Click on the picture above to watch The Descendants movie trailer |
The new film from Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways) is set to open December 16th. Starring George Clooney, and a largely unknown cast otherwise, The Descendants is the sort of film that cineastes most look forward to — a well-written, well-acted prestige drama, the sort of Oscar bait film that provides end-of-the-year counterpoint to the cinematic fluff that has flooded our cineplexes for the first eleven months of the year.
From time to time, VanRamblings will post trailers of worthy upcoming films we might all look forward to.
In the meantime, this week sees the release of the new film by Kelly Reichardt, Meek’s Cutoff (Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy) — starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Dano, Will Patton, Shirley Henderson and Zoe Kazan — currently sitting at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, about which the Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday writes, “a mesmerizing cinematic journey,” the consensus positive. Opens tomorrow at Tinseltown Cinemas.