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blair-duckworth
Reviews
Club Utopia (2013)
A laugh out loud comedy
Careful, control freak husbands!!! Those of you who believe their wives should be locked up at home washing dishes,cleaning house and away from the prying eyes of other men:there is a terrible lesson for you in Frank Caruso's new,laugh out loud comedy " CLUB UTOPIA" which highlights the pitfalls of century old chauvinistic thought and gives the heroine more than a foot forward on the road to ultimate female emancipation. And you thought women getting the vote was a problem !!
Sally Enitlov ( Elise Miller ) is married to Alex ( Srdjan Nikolic),a successful multi-millionaire securities expert who is utterly self-absorbed,indulgent,insensitive and philandering. The problem for Alex is he talks about his sexual conquests in his sleep......right down to naming names ( his secretary for example ). He believes Sally has "everything any woman could want" and ignores her sexual advances and attempts to heal the marriage ( frankly, he's too tired when he gets home from his " business " meetings at midnight ). A prisoner in the house,Sally watches hypnotic talk shows which show real women asserting themselves and wanting a life of their own.Sally mentions wanting a job but Alex is scornful and demeaning. When Alex has yet another one of his sexually charged dreams,the neglected Sally makes the wise decision to get a job and the fun begins.
She investigates a sex shop advertising for help and along the way ,buys some racy clothing to attract Alex;when she gets home ,she puts on what she thinks is a racy show and Alex is bored.She then applies for a waitressing job in what she discovers is a strip club.Alex notices what he calls "odd behaviour" and decides to hire a private investigator,Richard Sabatini(Frank Caruso himself),to watch his wife's patterns.Constantly rebuffed and humiliated,sally decides to take a job as a dancer in the club after all.What ensues is one hilarious adventure after another.
Gaining confidence on the job,and unbeknownst to her husband,Sally actually strikes up a friendship with Sabatini and his group of hopeless,hapless,misfit friends.Alex eventually arrives at Club Utopia to discover his wife IS a dancer,and that she is not,in fact,the club book keeper his private investigator told him she was.Sally ultimately goes from fantasizing various hilarious scenarios of killing her husband to actually hiring Sabatini,her new found double-dipping accomplice,to do it:"I'll never be a whole woman while he's alive.I'll pay $25,000.00 and 20% of the life insurance when he's dead ".What follows are several scenes which border on the funniest ever seen in any movie anywhere.The three Stooges could learn something from Sally and her crazy team's efforts!
Veteran writer,director and producer Frank Caruso is a tour de force in terms of creating high comedy,but in the stylized vein of bumbling idiot characters who fall over themselves one minute and reinvent themselves in the next,reminiscent of the dottering,annoying detective genre of "Colombo" ,faltering and apparently stumbling ,but crazy like a fox inside.His casting is superb including the veteran and enormously talented Brett Halsey ( Cisco),the comic Shiraz Tayyeb(" Mr. Cologne")and newcomer Heather O'Donnel( Tamara) who brings a sensitive turn to a lonely club dancer who befriends Sally.This is an original script by Mr. Caruso who brings together a worthy cast and an experienced crew,in yet another example of fine Canadian cinema. Caruso is a determined,talented artist who, with several first rate films,has beaten a persistent drum to illuminate the risky world of film making in what is still a fledgling Canadian Film landscape,where other directors/producers,less visionary,have withered on the vine long ago. He is the little engine that absolutely could.
I greatly anticipate what he has next up his sleeve.
Blair Duckworth
Final Dance (2015)
Review of FINAL DANCE
Veteran screenwriter,producer and director FRANK CARUSO explores the complexities of the human spirit in his soulful adaptation of the Canadian stage play FINAL DANCE by Vladimir Milman . A successful collaboration between the two talents has brought to the screen one of the most unique and heart-wrenching tales of unrequited love this side of anywhere.
It brings together Julia (Evgenia Milman),a 19 year old dance student,and Vikka (Srdjan Nikolic), a 40 year old Russian dancer/actor , now a homeless immigrant struggling to find his way.They meet in a cafe and are connected by the truths that they are both " lonely and in love with dance" and are , at the same time,so unique that they are alienated and friendless.They both value the peace of silence, and Julia likens their world switching on a lamp in the darkness : " You get this world within the world of the night." Nikko confesses " I get warmth from your light " and in their separate world they form a deep bond.
An unlikely relationship develops and Julia brings Vikka home to meet her parents. Ultimately ,her parents are won over by this older man's goodness and honesty.Vikka recognizes the talents of Julia as an actress who dances from the energy within her soul. He encourages her to improve her technique and helps her win a dance competition . In the aftermath of that success , Julia confesses her love as does Vikka himself. But he gently takes her hands from the side of his face , too aware of the distance between them which age brings. Offended, Julia rebukes her friend and in doing so,rekindles a long simmering self doubt within him.
Caruso is extremely deft at keeping things moving through what is an intense examination of loneliness and unfulfilled passions. His direction is masterful and the actors , notably Milman and Nikolic are superb throughout. The Look of the film ( Jason Guerriere on camera and editing )is delicate and inspired , as bittersweet as the realization that in life , beauty moves and changes, waxes and wanes , as do we all. We know this, but the film opens up that truth for us again and leaves us deeply moved.