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All posts for the month April, 2024

Review by David Baldwin

In 1964, a cocktail waitress named Carol Doda made history as the first topless dancer in America — or more specifically at the Condor Club bar in the North Beach section of San Francisco. She set off an immediate media frenzy, attracting positive and negative attention to the club where she danced atop a white piano that descended from the ceiling. Her fight to entertain the way she wanted influenced many, as did her silicone enhanced breasts that propelled and created an entire industry.

Co-Directors Marlo McKenzie and Jonathan Parker take on Doda’s story and everything that comes with it in the not-so subtly titled Carol Doda Topless at the Condor. The documentary is a loving ode to the 1960s sex positive icon and revolutionary, and features candid footage from her legendary performances, along with talking head interviews discussing not only her legacy, but the legacy of the bar scene in North Beach as well. They get into some pretty salacious, warts and all details about Doda and the people revolving around her, including memories and rumours involving a death involving the white piano that was such an integral part of Doda’s act.

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Review by David Baldwin

Suze (Michaela Watkins) has lost her purpose in life. Her daughter Brooke (Sara Waisglass) has just left home to go to school in Montreal, her ex-husband is having a child with his new wife, and all she has to look forward to is menopause. That is, until she is asked to care for Brooke’s injured ex-boyfriend Gage (Charlie Gillespie) who just attempted suicide and cannot be left alone.

Did I mention Suze cannot stand him?

It is not the most uplifting of pitches and it certainly is not shot in any unique way (though I will never not smile when I watch movies shot in Hamilton), but Suze is actually quite the wonderful little Canadian dramedy that is equally as funny as it is moving. I watched it late at night, assuming I would turn it off after 20-minutes and ended up watching right through until the end. It has a way of sucking you in and staying with you, even in its most cringiest of moments.

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