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“Le Chat Dans Le Sac” Romantically Discusses Quebec’s Quiet Revolution
Le Chat Dans Le Sac Written and Directed by Gilles Grouix Canada, 1964 A movie that is difficult to find but well worth the effort, Le Chat Dans Le Sac captivates moviegoers through its hand held camera usage, John Coltrane soundtrack, twenty-something characters struggling with the world around them. You don’t have to be familiar […] More
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RVCQ 2015: ‘Les Loups’ is the first great Quebec film of 2015
The dark unforgiving waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the mouth of the St. Lawrence river provide the backdrop to Les Loups, a beautifully crafted melodrama. Set in a small island Quebec town during the spring thaw, a stranger arrives during the height of the controversial seal hunts. Vibrant and mysterious, many suspect that Elie, the young woman from Montreal, is not who she says and is likely a reporter or an activist bent on portraying the townsfolk in a bad light. More
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Sundance 2015: ‘Chorus’ is a bold and somber study of grief
It’s clear from the opening shot that director François Delisle is confident in this film. The opening shot doesn’t cut for minutes, the black and white cinematography sets the mood immediately as a pedophile confesses in detail a murder of an 8 year old boy he committed a decade ago. The child’s name is Hugo, and his parents are Irene (Fanny Mallette) and Christophe (Sébastian Ricard). They have been separated for about the as long as their son has been missing, and each has found small but significant respite from their grief in certain activities. More
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Andrea Dorfman’s ‘Heartbeat’ hits the right notes
Heartbeat Written and directed by Andrea Dorfman Canada, 2014 The struggle to find oneself is painfully real. Such pilgrimages of discovery are made more difficult by uncertainty, anxiety, imposing friends, and lingering exes. You can find yourself stuck in a habit that isn’t quite unbearable, that teeters so near comfortable complacence that you don’t realize […] More
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5 Must See Films in FNC’s Focus Section
While Festival du Nouveau Cinema is not known for showcasing a large number of world premieres, the Focus section is always the exception. Taking a look at Quebec and Canadian features, films large and small are allowed space to find an audience. The section consistently features a large number of adventurous first time filmmakers, making […] More
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31 Days of Horror: ‘Antiviral’ is a contagiously good movie
When looking at horror films, there’s something about Canadian horror that helps it stand out and apart from its American counterpart. While most of the blockbusters out today depend on cheap thrills and scares alone, Canadian horror aims to make you think while trying to scare the pants off you. Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral (2012) is one such film that doesn’t try to scare you by having monsters jump out at you at every turn, but lets the audience’s imagination do all the work.
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‘Mommy’ is a thrilling, absolutely breathtaking piece of cinema
Montreal actor, writer and director Xavier Dolan’s fifth film Mommy is without a doubt one of the best of the year. Although thematically similar to his 2009 debut J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother), which won three separate awards at Cannes that year, Mommy follows the mother’s perspective of the relationship instead of that of the son’s. It is interesting, despite their many parallels, how very different the two films actually are. With Mommy, Dolan not only seems more assured of himself as a filmmaker but appears to have developed into quite an auteur as well. Creating a film so close in theme to his first can be seen as somewhat of a gamble, for many individuals might fear the film to be repetitious, a carbon copy, yet here is where Dolan demonstrates his disturbingly instinctual talent. Because he revisits the mother-son leitmotif in his works, he is strengthening both his storytelling as well as his understanding of the unique relationship. In the five years since his introductory film, he has grown from adolescent to adult, resulting in a shift from youthful intuition to a certain maturity on the subject. The result is downright brilliant. More
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TIFF 2014: ‘Tusk”s production more interesting than the final product
Kevin Smith’s early work, guerilla-style films about disenfranchised geeks and losers, helped gain him a strong and dedicated audience. While many of his most dedicated fans seem to find the best in even his weakest films, Smith has never found the same success in critical circles. The negative critiques of his films has only been exasperated by Smith himself, who seems to struggle with dissenting takes on his work, leading him to withdraw into podcasting. Though this was not a strategic choice on Smith’s part, it seemed to pay off as his audience only grew and he is now among the most influential people in the ‘Twittersphere’. This allowed Smith to distribute his 2011 film Red State himself. He described the entire process as “Indie Film 2.0.”; it was no longer about just making the film yourself but distributing it as well. More
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FNC 2013: Five Must See Films in the Focus Program
The 42nd Edition of Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cinema is just days away and the weight of an incredibly diverse and exciting program can intimidate even the most weathered cineaste. Combining the very best of big name and upcoming filmmakers, the festival has built its reputation on giving attention to groundbreaking and avant-garde cinema. Though sometimes […] More
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Fantasia Film Festival 2013: Antisocial Tackles our Complex Relationship with Technology (Interview)
Antisocial is the feature length debut for directing and writing team Cody Calahan and Chad Archibald. In spite of their youthful appearances, they are not new to the Canadian film industry or Fantasia, having produced over ten short and feature length films – including Fantasia fan favourite Monster Brawl which screened at the fest in […] More
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The 5 Best Music Videos Of The Week
5) Julian Lynch “Northline” Directed by Richard Law First this week is a video for all you dog lovers out there, think Houses’ “Beginnings” but with dogs. 4) Hodgy Beats “Alone” Directed by Ian Flanagan & Hodgy Beats Another Odd Future rapper releasing another EP means another cool video. Once again, it’s very Odd Future-esque; […] More
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‘War Witch’ an unsparing, direct tale of a harrowing coming of age
War Witch Directed by Kim Nguyen Written by Kim Nguyen Canada, 2012 The new film War Witch, Canada’s submission into the Best Foreign Language Film category in this past year’s Oscars (and one of the eventual nominees, though it lost to Amour), sidesteps a number of the pitfalls that crop up when any filmmaker tackles a […] More
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