{"id":1802,"date":"2007-04-21T13:01:14","date_gmt":"2007-04-21T17:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1802"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:27:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:27:26","slug":"lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Last night, a few Spacing editors had an opportunity to screen two, I would say, very important new documentaries about Toronto: Let’s All Hate Toronto<\/em>, which had its world premiere at the Hot Docs fest yesterday, and Last Call At The Gladstone Hotel<\/em>, which will have its world premiere tomorrow through the same festival. While not always easy to watch, both of these (quite different yet related) films are essential viewing for people who live in and care about Toronto \u2014 or, as parts of these films make clear, what they think<\/em> might be Toronto.<\/p>\n

We started with the harder stuff first, viewing Last Call At The Gladstone Hotel<\/em>. This heartwrenching doc is sure to generate heated conversation as it depicts a complex yet all too familiar story: poor people being ousted from the places they consider home at the behest of (this is where the conversation gets heated!) either market forces, social\/community change, crumbling infrastructure, upper- or art-class obliviousness or all of the above.<\/p>\n

The strength of the film, in many ways, is that it gives a wide berth for this debate about causes to happen while giving a strong first-person view of the individual impacts of much-vaunted \u00e2\u20ac\u0153heritage revitalization\u00e2\u20ac\u009d schemes.<\/p>\n

We meet Marilyn, an incredibly caring and astute chambermaid at the hotel who uses her own money to provide residents with everything from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nice-smelling\u00e2\u20ac\u009d vanilla scented garbage bags to yard-sale art and bedding. We meet Maryanne, a sweet, elderly longtime resident who pays $1,000 a month for a small room \u2014 which, admittedly, she feels compelled to fill with hoarded mess \u2014 and who values the simultaneous sense of safety and independence the hotel staff and residents afford.<\/p>\n

We also meet young developer couple Michael and Anne, who want to make the hotel into \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ground zero\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of trendy Toronto, full of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all the right people,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Margie and Christina, developer sisters who want to keep the residents in their longtime home during an unprecedented \u00e2\u20ac\u0153slow renovation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but who ultimately choose to turn them out.<\/p>\n

Filmmakers Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham film from a perspective that is likely similar to that of many Spacing readers: having been entranced with the old-timey feel of the Gladstone pre-reno, they still would seem to enjoy its new, upscale, more premium-beer styled incarnation. At the same time, they provide a valuable look behind the scenes as to what the human impacts of even the most well-intentioned, socially conscious or art-styled hotel renovations produce.<\/p>\n

I’m sure (and I’m actually hoping that) others will add in their two cents on the matter, but for me the film really demonstrated the rift between economic and social classes that I skim over every day. Some artists may have just as little money as the people who lived at the Gladstone, but what they lack for that, they usually have access to many more resources of power \u2014 political and social connections, communications, medical resources, education and know-how \u2014 that the former Gladstone staff and residents lacked. I wonder what that community of people could have done had they had more access to or understanding of those kinds of resources. Others might accuse me of romanticizing here, but what those residents and staff had was community, a community that both physically and mentally likely helped them, as communities do, from going over the brink. And the dispersal of that community is, to me, the most tragic story here, both for its unquantifiable loss as a whole and for the individual losses and difficulties which likely followed.<\/p>\n

The next film we watched, Let’s All Hate Toronto<\/em>, was much lighter and absurd in tone. Since there’s been a lot of coverage around this film already, you likely know that rather than examining TO-hate in dry, governmental style, Let’s All Hate Toronto<\/em> works on a theatrical device, personifying the city into one individual (the aptly named Mr. Toronto) and following him on an ersatz quest to help the rest of Canada appreciate his hometown.<\/p>\n

At the same time as it generates a lot of laughs, the film makes some very valid points and offers some thorough research on the myths and truths of Toronto, revealing both evidence for our city’s killjoy history (we apparently have the only monument in the world to the inventor of the Sunday School) and of our own civic delusions (the UN never declared Toronto, or any other city, as the most diverse place in the world).<\/p>\n

More important, for viewers who have never lived anywhere else, it offers a view beyond the city, a view that, the film itself makes pains to clarify, rarely gets a chance in national media, given as all the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153national\u00e2\u20ac\u009d media are HQ’d in one city – Toronto.<\/p>\n

As someone who’s lived mostly in other places in Canada, including some of the places the filmmakers visit, like Calgary and Halifax, I have to say I relished this doc no end. When I moved here a couple of years ago, I was truly taken aback that those myths about Toronto \u2014 self-centered, unaware of the rest of the country – were partly true. I also, like the filmmakers, came to understand that this was not due to any intrinsic egotism or lack of caring on the part of Torontonians, but mostly on other factors like stress, media centralization and a certain niggling insecurity. I also came to understand, of course, that a lot of Torontonians do care about others, a discovery that Mr. Toronto himself makes in a concrete way at the end of the film.<\/p>\n

So although the sun is shining outside, there are some flicks worth lurking into a dark, cold movie theatre for this coming week. I say, pray for rain.<\/p>\n

Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel<\/em> screens Sunday April 22, 6:30pm and Saturday April 28, 4:15pm at the Bloor Cinema. Let’s All Hate Toronto<\/em> screens Saturday April 28 at 6:30pm at the Bloor Cinema. For Hot Docs ticketing information, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night, a few Spacing editors had an opportunity to screen two, I would say, very important new documentaries about Toronto: Let’s All Hate Toronto, which had its world premiere at the Hot Docs fest yesterday, and Last Call At The Gladstone Hotel, which will have its world premiere tomorrow through the same festival. WhileContinue reading “Let’s all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,21758,4,3,24,15,18,20],"tags":[5461,565,661,457,1349,5462,5464,996,109,231,5466,5465,5467,5460,5463,21,26,12,5469,5468,19,1170,391,30],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-community","category-culture","category-events","category-history","category-media","category-neighbourhoods","category-urban-design","tag-anne","tag-bloor-cinema","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-cent","tag-christina","tag-filmmakers-derreck-roemer","tag-gladstone-hotel","tag-halifax","tag-hot-docs","tag-last-call-at-the-gladstone-hotel","tag-margie","tag-media-centralization","tag-michael","tag-neil-graham","tag-other-cities","tag-people","tag-planning","tag-the-hot-docs-fest","tag-theatrical-device","tag-toronto","tag-united-nations","tag-usd","tag-video"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLet's all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let's all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last night, a few Spacing editors had an opportunity to screen two, I would say, very important new documentaries about Toronto: Let’s All Hate Toronto, which had its world premiere at the Hot Docs fest yesterday, and Last Call At The Gladstone Hotel, which will have its world premiere tomorrow through the same festival. WhileContinue reading "Let’s all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-04-21T17:01:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T20:27:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Sandals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Sandals\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/\",\"name\":\"Let's all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-04-21T17:01:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T20:27:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a5a327f0ae7b9efc995f8cf68c97b16a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Let’s all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a5a327f0ae7b9efc995f8cf68c97b16a\",\"name\":\"Leah Sandals\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a79df3780dd72fb7bee2b16477be00b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a79df3780dd72fb7bee2b16477be00b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Leah Sandals\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/leah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Let's all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Let's all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Last night, a few Spacing editors had an opportunity to screen two, I would say, very important new documentaries about Toronto: Let’s All Hate Toronto, which had its world premiere at the Hot Docs fest yesterday, and Last Call At The Gladstone Hotel, which will have its world premiere tomorrow through the same festival. WhileContinue reading \"Let’s all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2007-04-21T17:01:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T20:27:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Leah Sandals","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Sandals","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/","name":"Let's all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg","datePublished":"2007-04-21T17:01:14+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T20:27:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a5a327f0ae7b9efc995f8cf68c97b16a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/media.bside.com\/hotdocs\/images\/films\/lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs\/m\/00_lastcallatthegladstonehotel_hotdocs_m.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/04\/21\/lets-all-love-movies-about-hating-toronto-and-about-what-terrible-gentrifiers-we-are\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Let’s all love movies about hating Toronto and about what terrible gentrifiers we are"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/a5a327f0ae7b9efc995f8cf68c97b16a","name":"Leah Sandals","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a79df3780dd72fb7bee2b16477be00b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a79df3780dd72fb7bee2b16477be00b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Leah Sandals"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/leah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40729,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions\/40729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}