Entertainment
Review: 'North of North' is all sunshine, even if set in an icy Arctic locale
Set in Canada’s northernmost territory among the Indigenous Inuit people, “North by North,” premiering Thursday on Netflix, is a charming small town comedy, with — as is so often the case in small town comedies — a generous portion of rom-com stirred in.
From the first episode, given its bright tone — this is the Arctic of long sunny days rather than endless dark nights — one senses that the long arc will be predictable in just the ways one wants it to be, but unpredictable enough in the short run to keep things interesting. Big feelings, turbulence and life-changing dilemmas abound, but most of all the show wants to make its people, and you, happy.
We are in Ice Cove — “think of the furthest place north you’ve ever been, now keep going, keep going,” says our heroine, Siaja (Anna Lambe), 26, “a modern Inuk woman, whatever that means,” who, as spring breaks on the still snow-packed tundra, has decided to change her life: She married “town golden boy” Ting (Kelly William), right out of high school and had a daughter with him, Bun (Keira Bell Cooper), now a hyperkinetic 7-year-old, and after years of coming third in her life, tells us, “I’m putting myself first.” We’re given just enough reasons not to like Ting, or at least to understand why Siaja has outgrown him, and to understand that, in this narrative arrangement, he is toast. (She: “I’ve been dying inside for a long time and you never noticed.” He: “You really think you can do better than me?” — to which, of course, the implicit answer is yes.) But she admits he’s a good father.
Siaja also labors in the shadow of her mother, Neevee (Maika Harper), a recovered alcoholic and former wild child, whom one citizen calls “slutty,” “shameless” and godless, but Siaja’s friend Colin (Bailey Poching) — Maori, gay — considers a “legend.” Neevee, who runs a general store, is tough but likable, and an excellent, playful grandmother to Bun. (“Want to help me sort bullets?” she asks.)
Like its protagonist(s), Ice Cove struggles; it’s the poorer cousin to a better-heeled community down the road (think Pawnee vis-à-vis Eagleton in “Parks & Recreation”) with which it’s competing to become the site of a new “polar research center.” This brings on to the stage Alistair (Jay Ryan), a white “Southerner” up from Ottawa, on a contract to assess the suitability of the location, and his assistant Kuuk (Braeden Clarke), obviously shaped as a potential new romantic interest for Siaja, who has broken up with Ting. (“Is he single now?” the single ladies of Ice Cove want to know.)
“I just feel like we’re all a bit starved for connection, you know,” she tells Kuuk on their first meeting at a spring festival — she is circulating a petition to extend the festival into year-round “cultural programming” — and we see from his face that, yes, he is a bit starved for connection himself. Less easy to see is that Alistair, ruggedly handsome in a way common to northern-set comedies, will turn out to be the father that Siaja has never met, and beyond knowing she had to have one, knew nothing about. (There is some comic inverse Oedipus in their first encounter — briefly icky, but dealt with maturely.) His return to a place to which he’d promise he’d never return means that he and Neevee have some things to talk about — cue secondary rom-com thread — when not avoiding talking about them.
After a one-day job hauling large objects to the dump, and an underwater vision of the sea goddess Nuliajuk (Tanya Tagaq), Siaja becomes an executive assistant to piece-o-work town manager Helen (a marvelous Mary Lynn Rajskub), unaware that Helen runs through assistants like I run through similes. A cheerful credit grabber, Helen identifies with the community and as a Northerner, in ways that are comically ironic, given that she’s white — though in some ways, she’s closer to it than Siaja, who speaks Inuktitut with difficulty and, apart from oddball friends Colin and purple-haired Millie (Zorga Qaunaq), can seem a stranger in her own home town.
“Thanks, but only white people can get away with drinking on the job,” Siaja demurs when Helen suggests champagne to celebrate her hiring.
“I love that you feel safe enough to make white people jokes around me,” says Helen.
Apart from the evolving love and family stuff, as Siaja, Neevee, Kuuk, Alistair and Ting get along like bumper cars, it’s as episodic a series as, say, “Northern Exposure.” Across the season’s eight episodes, there’s partying, search-partying, dancing, drinking, some random sex (meet the term “Eskihumper”), a sort of baseball, and a fire at the dump that locals attend like a pop concert.
Along with shining star Lambe (previously seen in “True Detective: Night Country”), creators Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, hail from the Nunavut, the territory where “North of North” is set. (That Susan Coyne, from “Slings & Arrows,” is an executive producer and writer, is a bonus, for credit-reading fans of that show.) Produced in conjunction with the CBC and the Aboriginal People’s Television Network, it bears some comparison to “Reservation Dogs” as a multigenerational comedy set among Indigenous people, filmed in the evocative right place and made by people who know the neighborhood.
“I see life and beauty everywhere,” says Siaja, who has never held a job, to express her qualifications for one. Not the least pleasure of “North of North” is seeing the world through her eyes.
Desert Warrior, 2026.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt.
Starring Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley, Ghassan Massoud, Sharlto Copley, Sami Bouajila, Lamis Ammar, Géza Röhrig, Numan Acar, Nabil Elouahabi, Hakeem Jomah, Ramsey Faragallah, Saïd Boumazoughe, and Soheil Bostani.
SYNOPSIS:
An honorable and mysterious rogue, known as Hanzala, makes himself an enemy of the Emperor Kisra after he helps a fugitive king and princess in the desert.
With aspirations of being a historical epic harkening back to the sword and sandal blockbusters of yesteryear, Rupert Wyatt’s seventeenth-century Arabia tale is about as generic and epically dull as one would expect from a film plainly titled Desert Warrior. Yes, there appear to be real locations here, and there are some admittedly sweeping shots of various tribes storming into battle on horseback and camels, but it’s all in service of a mess that is both miscast and questionable as the work of a filmmaking team of mostly white creatives.
The story of Emperor Kisraa (Ben Kingsley, a distracting presence even with only one or two scenes) rounding up women from other tribes to be his concubines, which inevitably became the catalyst for a revolution led by Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart), uniting all the divided clans and strategizing battle plans for flanking and poisoning, is undeniably ripe for cinematic treatment. The problem is that what’s here from Rupert Wyatt (and screenwriters Erica Beeney, Gary Ross, and David Self) is less than nothing in the primary creative process; no one seems to have a connection to Arabic heritage or culture, but they have made a flat-out boring film that is often narratively incoherent.
Following the death of her father and escaping the clutches of oppression, the honorable Princess Hind joins forces with a troubled, nameless bandit played by Anthony Mackie (he totally belongs here…), who seems to be here solely to give the movie some star power boost without running the risk of white savior accusations. Whatever the case may be, it’s jarring, but not quite as disorienting as how little screen time he has despite being billed as the lead and how little characterization he has. It is, however, equally disorienting as some of the other names that show up along the way.
As for the other factions, Princess Hind talks to them one by one, giving the film an adventure feel that fails to capitalize on using beautiful scenery in striking or visually poignant ways at almost every turn; the leaders of these tribes also often have no character. There also isn’t much of an understanding of why these tribes are at odds with one another. This movie is filled with dialogue that consistently and shockingly amounts to vague nothingness. Nevertheless, each tribe doesn’t take much convincing to begin with, meaning that not only is the film repetitive, but it’s also lifeless when characters are in conversation.
That Desert Warrior does occasionally spring to life, and a bloated 2+ running time is a small miracle. This is typically accomplished through the occasional fight scene between factions that also serves to demonstrate Princess Hind coming into her own as a warrior. When the tribes are united in a massive-scale battle, and that plan is unfolding step by step, one certainly sees why someone would want to tell this story and pull it off with such spectacle. However, this film is as dry as the desert itself.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist
Entertainment
Eddie Murphy’s son and Martin Lawrence’s daughter welcome first child: ‘That baby gonna be funny!’
Eddie Murphy is celebrating not just his lifetime achievement award, but also the arrival of his third granddaughter, perhaps the funniest baby alive.
Murphy’s son Eric and Martin Lawrence’s daughter Jasmin have welcomed their first child together, baby Ari Skye.
On Saturday, Murphy was honored with the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award at a gala in Hollywood and told reporters that he had recently celebrated back-to-back milestones.
“I just had my first grandson two months ago, and I had my third granddaughter two weeks ago. And I turned 65 a month ago,” he told “Entertainment Tonight” ahead of the gala. “It’s raining blessings on me.”
The ceremony celebrated his storied career across comedy and film, and featured tributes from fellow funnyman Dave Chappelle and “Shrek” co-star Mike Myers. The special will premiere May 31 on Netflix.
The “Dr. Dolittle” star also gushed about his new grandbaby to E! News, and told the outlet that being honored for his work was “a wonderful thing” but that his legacy wasn’t his work.
“My legacy to me is my children,” he said.
Asked whether he or Lawrence offered their kids any parenting advice as they prepared to welcome Ari Skye, Murphy said he’s more of a lead-by-example kind of dad.
“You don’t give advice like that,” he told the outlet. “Your kids don’t go by your advice. Your kids go by the example you set. They watch you. Stuff you be saying, they don’t even pay that no mind. They watch and see what you do.”
In March, Jasmin and Eric posted photos from their lavish baby shower on social media. The shindig included a three-tiered pink cake, pink cocktails garnished with meringue that looked like clouds and balloons galore. “The most beautiful and special celebration for our baby girl,” the couple captioned the post. “Thank you to our parents and everyone that made this day so magical! Ari Skye Murphy, you are SO loved already!!”
Excitement around Ari Skye’s arrival had been brewing in the media long before the couple even announced they were expecting. Murphy joked about a potential grandbaby when Jasmin and Eric were dating back in 2024, during an interview with Gayle King.
“They’re both beautiful,” he said. “They look amazing together. And it’s funny — everybody’s like, ‘That baby gonna be funny!’ Like our gene pool is just going to make this funny baby.”
Murphy agreed, saying: “If they ever get married and have a child, I’m expecting the child to be funny.”
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