Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 29, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba FRIDAY AUGUST 29, 2025 ● ARTS & LIFE EDITOR: JILL WILSON 204-697-7018 ● ARTS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ARTS ● LIFE SECTION C CONNECT WITH THE BEST ARTS AND LIFE COVERAGE IN MANITOBA ▼ I N the 1980s, Warren Adler’s ter- rifically cold and bitter book, The War of the Roses, billed as “the classic novel of divorce,” was made into a marginally less cold and bitter film. (At least the dog doesn’t die!) The 1989 Kathleen Turner-Michael Douglas movie now seems like an emblematic Reagan-era artifact, a tale of marriage gone bad and materialism gone mad, with a Washington, D.C., power couple fighting to the death over Staffordshire china and Baccarat crystal. This new version freely adapts and updates the source material. Screen- writer Tony McNamara (known for Disney’s Cruella, as well as edgy Yor- gos Lanthimos projects Poor Things and The Favourite) and director Jay Roach (who’s gone from Austin Powers flicks to more serious political films such as Game Change and Trumbo) have changed the stakes, shifted the gender politics and — perhaps responding to our era of “conscious uncoupling” — made the marital breakdown a lot more subtle but a little less dark. There are gains and losses to their approach, but the gains are multiplied by the inspired casting of the leads. As Ivy and Theo Rose, Olivia Colman (The Crown) and Benedict Cumber- batch (Sherlock) are good individually and brilliant together, clearly having a ball as their characters play off each other’s worst impulses. In a recklessly quick courtship, Theo and Ivy meet, spark and decide to relocate from England to northern California. Theo is an architect tired of designing soulless tower blocks for a big London firm. Ivy wants a fresh start as a chef. In Mendocino, Theo’s work initially takes precedence. He’s been commis- sioned to design a museum of maritime history, a showy statement structure topped with a large metal sail. “It’s a metaphor,” Theo explains to a design doubter. Ivy is holding down the home front — the couple now have two kids — while running a casual seafood shack three days a week. Then a freak storm blows in, closing highways and funnelling stranded travellers — including the food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle — into Ivy’s restaurant. Meanwhile, Theo’s metaphorical sail catches those stormy winds a little too well, and the building — and Theo’s career — crash to the ground. Their professional situations now flipped, Theo takes on the family’s domestic duties, while Ivy builds a moneymaking restaurant empire. The 1989 film involved a sudden loss of love and then a long, drawn-out divorce deathmatch. The 2025 version — the title has dropped the reference to war — gives us a lot more of the marriage and its gradual, tortuous un- winding. There are unspoken tensions, seething resentments and circular arguments, an emotional panorama that might sound bleak but is actually highly watchable, mostly because of the fizzing comic chemistry of the performances. Given Cumberbatch and Colman’s Britishness, it’s intriguingly hard to tell exactly when the cutting banter and English understatement tip over into outright contempt and withdrawal. Even the couple’s nastiest moments are shot through with shared, self- aware humour, as when they go to an earnest, touchy-feely North American couples therapist, who is appalled by their verbal cruelty. Ivy and Theo are able to bond, at least temporarily, by laughing at her. All the simmering anger final- ly erupts, though, during a classic cinematic “dinner party from hell,” which takes place in the couple’s new cliffside dream house, which Theo has designed and Ivy has financed. ALISON GILLMOUR MOVIE REVIEW THE ROSES Starring: Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch ● Grant, McGillivray, Polo, St. Vital ● 105 minutes, 14A ★★★½ stars out of five JAAP BUITENDIJK / SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman start out as a happy couple before things go south. JAAP BUITENDIJK / SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES It’s enough to make you pull your hair out: Benedict Cumberbatch loses it in The Roses. WORD WAR TWO Reimagining of 1980s book, film about squabbling spouses delivers fresh jolt of black humour OTHER VOICES Any argument that one doesn’t need a new spin on the Douglas-Turner black comedy is rendered more or less moot by the way screenwriter Tony McNamara sets up Cumberbatch and Colman with such gleefully profane, razor-sharp barbs. — David Fear, Rolling Stone There are dark marriage comedies and then there’s The Roses, an escalating hatef- est that, by the time a loaded gun comes out, all the fun has been sucked out. — Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press Without the inspired pairing of Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, you’d be begging for a quick divorce from The Roses. — Brian Truitt, USA Today The lead actors’ combative chemistry is what keeps Jay Roach’s overcrowded remake zingy even when it threatens to turn from savage to sour. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter From left: Cumber- batch, Ncuti Gatwa, Colman, Kate McKinnon and Andy Samberg round out the cast of The Roses. JAAP BUITENDIJK / SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES ● CONTINUED ON C2 Indigenous business owners striving to be pitch perfect LEANNE Jones has her business pitch down pat. The Niverville-based designer has been getting a lot of practice over the last two months as a participant of Pow Wow Pitch, an annual competition for Indigenous entrepreneurs with a grand prize of $25,000. Jones is one of 18 Manitobans to make it into this year’s pool of 140 semifinalists from across North America. “It’s helped build my confidence by putting myself out there. I won’t get anywhere if I don’t show my business off to the world,” says Jones, who is Cree from Peguis First Nation. After a decade of agency work, she launched her own branding and web design studio, Leanne Digital Design, in 2023. The mother of two was looking for more flexibility and to satisfy a long- time goal of starting her own business. Things started slowly, but over the last two years Jones has worked with more than 40 clients, built 14 websites and hired a developer to join the team. She decided to apply for Pow Wow Pitch after seeing other Indigenous business owners go through the pro- cess. Earlier this year, she submitted a one-minute pitch about her studio and, since making it into the second round, has been working with a mentor to perfect the presentation. “My mentor has been a great match for me. He was in the IT field so he understands my language and it just feels good to talk to someone else who has a bit more experience,” says Jones, who is passionate about improving Indigenous representation in the tech industry. Next week, she’ll deliver another pitch with hopes of moving on to the finals. Even if she doesn’t make it, the experience has been invaluable. “It’s been great to connect with the other semifinalists and get to know other Indigenous businesses,” Jones says. Sunshine Tenasco founded Pow Wow Pitch in 2015 after appearing on Dragons’ Den, where she successfully secured investments for her mocca- sin business. The entrepreneur from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg in Quebec wanted to share that confidence-boost- ing experience with other Indigenous creators. Beyond the cash prizes, which range from $500 to $25,000, semifinalists are assigned an industry mentor, receive a free website domain and have the opportunity to sell products through the organization’s network. Cassandra Carreiro, owner of Share- cuterie, is another local semifinalist. This is her second time applying for Pow Wow Pitch, an organization she credits with helping get her char- cuterie business off the ground. “The first time I pitched was pretty valuable and a big turning point in my business that really provided me with the tools, support and community I needed to keep going and make it an actual business,” she says of the opportunity to get her idea in front of helpful mentors and judges from major companies. EVA WASNEY SUPPLIED Leanne Jones launched Leanne Digital Design in 2023. ● CONTINUED ON C2 ;