Last weekend we held a free online screening of Patricia Rozema’s Mouthpiece, and the feedback was rapturous. Here are some of our favourite reactions to our Mouthpiece screening. Book Club members can still watch the film until October 31st.
Last weekend we hosted a free, online, international screening of our #3 film of the last decade, Patricia Rozema’s Mouthpiece, and it went better than we could have dreamed. We’ve been fielding tweets and emails over the past few days from viewers thanking us for bringing them this wonderful film. It’s such a pleasure to see how Mouthpiece has moved others just as it moved us when we first saw it back at TIFF 2018.
To recap: Mouthpiece is a film adaptation of the play by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava. The also stars and was co-written by Nostbakken and Sadava. The film is innovative for its central conceit: both actresses play the same character, thirtysomething writer Cassandra, so when they talk to each other it’s like watching Cassandra’s thought process externalised. Other than that, the film is pretty small scale, intimate, and naturalistic. It tracks Cassandra’s feminist awakening over 24 hours, as she wanders Toronto preparing for her beloved mother’s funeral and trying to write a eulogy that accurately summarizes the complicated woman her mother was.
Mouthpiece is available in Canada on CBC Gem and it’s available to rent in the US, but it was never distributed internationally. This screening was, for some audiences, the first and only chance they got to see the film.
While our screening is over, it’s not too late to catch Mouthpiece. Our Book Club members have access to the film until the end of October, and you will too, if you join now. Access to Mouthpiece (and future screening like this that we plan to hold) is just the icing on the cake of Book Club membership. The main attraction is access to our entire catalogue of 12 ebooks on topics ranging from Kelly Reichardt to feminist horror. You’ll also get merch discounts and a weekly members newsletter of streaming recommendations.
Here are some of our favourite Mouthpiece screening reactions:
Just finished watching #Mouthpiece from @SeventhRow and what a delicate masterpiece it proved to be!! Gona go hug my mom now…
— Kalle (@kalleEsko) October 5, 2020
Underneath the pain, MOUTHPIECE felt comforting. The feeling of being pulled in various directions and experiencing conflicting emotions – sometimes all at once – is undeniably human and this is one of the most poignant portrayals of these inner struggles. #MouthpieceFilm
— Rebecca Rosén (@rebeccaroseen) October 5, 2020
Thank you @SeventhRow for making #MouthpieceFilm, Patricia Rozema’s incredible meditation on grief, available to stream free this weekend. I cried my eyes out and hugged my mom a little tighter than usual. 💔 #52filmsbywomen pic.twitter.com/ksUrCPJXad
— Popculty (@popculty) October 4, 2020
Thanks to @SeventhRow I watched MOUTHPIECE (which is amazing btw) and discovered that there is a bar in Toronto called The Communist's Daughter, which I now desperately need to visit, but can't because of *gestures*, so what I'm saying is the invention of film was a mistake.
— Dame Bingo Lingfucker (@CaitlinSnark) October 4, 2020
You have a few more hours to watch this. Do it. I've just finished my rewatch. Such an intelligent perspective on grief, becoming an adult and the complicated daughter-mother relationship. https://t.co/d8z4jsravb
— Rebecca del Tufo (@BeccadT) October 4, 2020
If you've never seen Mouthpiece, grab a box of tissues and prepare to have your heart ripped out in the most beautiful way. And you will want to. https://t.co/NCGPSyuvUZ
— 🌈🎶Amber Waves🎶🌈 (@emptysthemepark) October 4, 2020
Wow! Thanks so much @SeventhRow for giving us the chance to see this beautiful, moving film. I cried a lot, but my Mam died 25 years ago, so there was a lot of joy to be had here as well (if you get what I mean – it cheered me up!). https://t.co/IWmuQluzr9
— Mick Broowhooooks!👻👹☠️🕸 (@MickBrooks666) October 3, 2020
Loved Mouthpiece @SeventhRow immediate thoughts attached but also with tears came two of the funniest jokes
— Mark Culham (@culham_mark) October 3, 2020
1. On being condoled for their loss they check their pockets.
2. Your sex face may be confused for your where's my other sock face – just an observation! https://t.co/X2v5sHaJWE
Very cool that a film site like @SeventhRow is able to provide this streaming window for a film that deserves to be seen. This is the internet I want to believe in. More of this, please. https://t.co/X0b0v04U7n
— Adam Palmer (@ThatAdamPalmer) October 3, 2020
Thanks so much for airing #MouthpieceFilm outside of Canada for the first time.
— Kelly (@life_horizontal) October 2, 2020
Such a great film.
A completely captivating concept. So many layers to it, depicting the complexity of ourselves and our loved ones, and how we try to navigate our way through the emotions of grief. https://t.co/xr4LFqe36S
It'll likely draw comparisons to Fleabag. And I'd add that it's got a bit of Kaufman/Eternal Sunshine feels to it. And I always appreciate when Toronto is shown for who it is, bringing us to local haunts and showing familiar places to us.
— Angelo Gio Mateo (@angelogiomateo) October 2, 2020
Enjoying #mouthpiece* – such a strong portrait of grief and duality. Reminds me of the “two Alan Bennetts” in #LadyintheVan 🚚 – although in that film both were played by the same actor, Alex Jennings.
— helenjerome (@helenjerome) October 1, 2020
*streaming free 🍿 on @SeventhRow platform now
Thank you @SeventhRow for making this wonderful film available to see for free. It's just what I look for–personal storytelling, brave filmmaking, excellent performances, and it's sitting with me. I need to see it again. https://t.co/OOv4v2rR70
— Peter Rinaldi (@Peter_Rinaldi) October 2, 2020
Here are some tweets from our Mouthpiece Watch Party on Friday
To watch #MouthpieceFilm is to be in constant awe of @catherinelutes's lighting #MouthpieceWatchParty pic.twitter.com/7kbbJJKYyZ
— Alex Heeney (@bwestcineaste) October 2, 2020
"That sex face might be confused with your 'where's my other sock' face."
— Alex Heeney (@bwestcineaste) October 2, 2020
A sex scene that is hilarious, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking is….really hard to do. #MouthpieceWatchParty
(oh dear #NoPunIntended)
Let’s analyse Elaine’s movie collection 🧐 #MouthpieceWatchParty
— Oooooooo-rla Smith 🧟♀️ (@orlamango) October 2, 2020
Points for Muriel’s Wedding, points deducted for Bride Wars. pic.twitter.com/xikRvYClQJ
The script is so observant about how communication is in every little action and item #MouthpieceWatchParty
— 🦇 Brett Pardy 🦇 (@AntiqueiPod) October 2, 2020
We also hosted a live masterclass with Patricia Rozema which you can watch now on YouTube!
So excited I got to ask @patriciarozema a question tonight @SeventhRow about #MouthpieceFilm. My favorite thing she said was: "#Filmmaking is a marathon of caring. You can wreck it with one bad decision!" @DirectedbyWomen #directedbywomen
— surely not me (@fishcalled) October 4, 2020
Top job 👍🏼 from @SeventhRow’s @bwestcineaste and @orlamango in interviewing 🎤 @patriciarozema on #MouthpieceFilm and getting her to open up and wax lyrical about her 🎞 process, editing, sound design, language of cinema 🎥 and even Toronto 🇨🇦 itself. pic.twitter.com/Txb5jaBpWF
— helenjerome (@helenjerome) October 4, 2020
Q: Why did Patricia feel MOUTHPIECE the play could be a film?
— Seventh Row (@SeventhRow) October 4, 2020
A: "It was explosive. I'd seen nothing like it. It was a whole different language. It didn't cross my mind to make it into a film because it was entirely itself. I just wanted to work with these people." pic.twitter.com/izX33urPCV
"This divided sense of self is there for all people but it's particularly a female phenomenon I think because for a lot of history women have been considered property. Consequently we have had to view ourselves from the outside because other people decided what our value was."
— Seventh Row (@SeventhRow) October 4, 2020
"I saw Sciamma's PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE. I was blown away by it. I wrote her on Instagram. It made me refocus my dedication on telling personal stories." Sciamma wrote back to say Rozema's WHEN NIGHT IS FALLING was the first lesbian film she saw at 16. pic.twitter.com/FnThRZk4Dq
— Seventh Row (@SeventhRow) October 4, 2020
Stream Mouthpiece, one of the best films of the decade with Book Club
Until October 31, our Book Club members can stream Mouthpiece, which is otherwise completely unavailable outside of Canada and the US.
