I remember interviewing filmmaker Igor Drljaca in 2012 when his feature film debut Krivina was a selection at TIFF. Even though his slow-burning drama Krivina left me lukewarm, I walked away from our one-on-one with a movie goer’s gratification, knowing that Drljaca – with his confident opinions – was going to have an interesting career ahead of him.
How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town is a pleasant surprise on a couple of levels. It’s easy to see why this naughty-but-nice crowd pleaser has gathered acclaim; even taking home the Best Feature award at this year’s Canadian Film Fest.
If The People Garden inspired me in any way, it reminded me that I really should mail filmmakers Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas a thank-you letter for 2013’s The Oxbow Cure. I’m not comparing both Canadian dramas (which also, coincidentally, take place in the woods), but if a filmmaker creates a minimalist movie, they ought to have a resonating voice.
Try this premise on for size: a scared young man – Eugene – attempts to put an end to his bottoming-out fate by hitting the road and finding theoretical gold at the end of a literal rainbow. Being enrolled in special classes has given the handicapped student a slanted view of reality – a contradiction since he witnesses his chain-smoking mother giving up daily. While on his trip, Eugene quickly finds out that the world can…
No Men Beyond This Point is a Canadian comedy that isn’t constantly funny as it is consistently clever.
Much of Prisoner X’s scenery is dark and grey, which describes my experience watching Gaurav Seth’s movie. It’s not very stimulating and I was left feeling cold.
There should be something in Robin and Mark and Richard III for nearly every CanCon-loving Canadian; be it directors Martha Burns and Susan Coyne, Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall fame, or the slew of Canadian theatre royalty – not even including the subject, theatre legend Robin Phillips.
In Geordie Sabbagh’s indie A Sunday Kind of Love, the audience follows an aloof, cynical author Adam (played by Dylan Taylor) as he struggles through his writer’s block and procrastinates. His girlfriend Tracy (played by Meghan Heffern) tries to motivate him, but his moping is unstoppable. He retreats to a nearby coffee shop and meets Emma (played by Melanie Scrofano), who presents herself as an admirer and soon reveals that she’s actually, well, death (sans black cloak and scythe).
