Melora Koepke

New York’s master of pork buns visits Montreal to hawk cookbook, Banh mi By the time I get to meet David Chang, the interview has been put off twice because of what a good time he’s having in Montreal. Chang, whose four Manhattan restaurants – Momofuku, Ssäm Bar, Milk Bar and the new-ish, two-Michelin-starred Ko […]

All Sex Workers want for Christmas is a Charter Challenge, etc Why is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Émilie Laliberté’s Christmas wish list? Our cover model is a sex worker and spokeswoman for Stella, Montreal’s community organization by and for sex workers. There is still a long way to go before sex workers […]

Expectations are high for Due Date, screenwriter/director Todd Phillips’ follow-up to last year’s The Hangover, a dirty little flick set on the seedy side of Sin City, starring semi-unknown actors, that became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The Hangover‘s most memorable quality, besides the Phil Collins/Mike Tyson cameo, wasthe wildcard in a movie of wildcards: Zach […]

Delicate Essence: Jean-Pierre Jeunet finds his muse for Micmacs à tire-larigot Bienvenue chez Les Ch’tis was a monster hit in Canada and the United States, bringing French comedy films back into the limelight – though some might say that Ch’tis, though undeniably hilarious, was rather broad, and that indeed, France has a subtler and richer […]

Earth Angel: Vincenzo Natali’s Splice explores potentialities of our genetic future Splice, Toronto director Vincenzo Natali’s (Cube) more-than-a-decade-in-the-making film about the near-future of genetic engineering, is by far the best Canadian film this year, and possibly the best sci-fi monster movie since Aliens. Though, in Natali’s words, it’s more like “a monster movie spliced with […]

“They don’t give you much in terms of nutrition,” shrugs Noland Johnson as he pulls down a tall frond of ocotillo and hands me its small scarlet buds. “But if you’re out walking in the desert and it’s really hot, they’re nice and refreshing.” Sure enough, when I put the bud on my tongue, I […]

Socalled Life: Filmaker Garry Beitel takes a kaleidoscopic approach to Josh Dolgin in The Socalled Movie It sounded like a great idea for a documentary: In 2007, the Montreal rapper and producer Socalled, a.k.a. Josh Dolgin, along with his parents, organized a klezmer/heritage cruise down the Dnieper River from Kiev to Odessa. On the chartered […]

The Real Neil Diamond: Cree documentarian finds his own fame at FIFA The receptionist at the Palm Springs Hilton doesn’t miss a beat when I dial up and ask for Neil Diamond. Apparently, he’s staying at the hotel under his own name. The Montreal-based Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond may not yet be as famous as […]

Francis Ford Coppola’s most famous scenes may be set in New York, but he’s been a Californian since his days at UCLA. In 1972, when he started work on The Godfather, the director set up operations on Kearny Street in San Francisco’s North Beach neighbourhood. An acclaimed vintner and hotelier, Coppola also finds the time […]

Wild and wooly Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are will help you regress I’ve always thought it was significant that Maurice Sendak called his book Where the Wild Things Are, and not What the Wild Things Do. In a world where the emphasis, even for kids, is so often on human striving and achieving, […]