EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

Those who have read Jack London’s 117-year-old short novel The Call of the Wild know the truth of its content. Continuously mushing through a gauntlet of abuse and arduous conditions, the story of Buck is not a cuddly one fit for a bedtime story or fireside chat. Any uplifting spirit present does not swell like your typical dog story. The spectre of a truly violent world is inescapable. Each film adaptation over the many decades, from Clark Gable and Charlton Heston to Snoopy and anime, has made their attempt to soften what cannot entirely be softened. This year’s Disney-acquired 20th Century Studios take from animation veteran Chris Sanders, producer James Mangold, and star Harrison Ford adds to that repetitive history of unremarkable failures.

This is going to sound like a spoiler, but no pining suitor or their smitten match says “I love you” in The Photograph. Canadian filmmaker Stella Meghie weaves two passionate romances connected yet separated across a generation within her film and those magic words don’t come out. Know immediately and imploringly how this is far from a dealbreaker. If anything, the restraint away from such a plain statement becomes more stimulating and resounding than ever thought possible.

Yowzers, that’s one long subtitle. What an interesting choice of terms too. There’s emancipation signaling “the act of being freed.”  And then you have fantabulous as its adjective slinging its slang of “remarkably good.” That extra announcement goes from silly to proper in consecutive words. When it comes to the movie being sold, ahem, excuse me, presented, proper is nowhere to be found when the silly is everywhere.  There is certainly fun to be had, but to shoot to fantabulous is going to count as overselling and the liberation most desired will be to escape this fever dream.