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Sample: Title; rating (out of 4); principal
setting; year of release; international co-producer (if any); cast; description;
scriptwriter; director; content warning; running time.
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(2012)
* * * Jonathan Patrick Moore ("Connor Lake"), Joe Dinicol ("Nick Wagner"), Chelan Simmons ("Alicia Lowe"), Cassie Steele ("Abby Vargas"), Benjamin Charles Watson ("Tariq Muhammad"), Jewel Staite ("Raquel Westbrook"), with Ennis Esmer, Andra Fuller, others.....Serio-comic drama about a group of lean-and-hungry mainly twentysomethings struggling to make it in the showbiz capital of Los Angeles, most staying at the same apartment complex (or otherwise connected through friendships). Basically "Melrose Place" with a slight Canadian twist in that many (though not all) of the characters are supposed to be ex-pat Canadians pursuing their dreams in tinseltown (not that that's especially relevant to the plots or their characters). Moore (an Aussie and so one of the few non-Canadians) is a young actor, seeming on his way up after landing a lead role on a new series...but struggling with self-destructive insecurities; Dinicol a would be comic who tends to bomb when on stage; Simmons the dancer but who finds more gigs with her clothes off than on; Steele the wanna be actress; Watson the clean-cut would be rap producer...who's also gay; and Staite the former ingenue, over-the-hill (in her 30s!), and largely amoral in her conniving desperation to make a comeback. It boast a likeable, engaging cast -- so much so that it's actually hard to single a stand out performance or favourite character. With also some notable supporting turns, with perhaps American actor Fuller a stand out as a surly, tempestuous rap star hiding his homosexuality -- there are a lot of threads he has to pull together in that performance (including a character who isn't particularly likeable...but is nonetheless sympathetic) and he does it well.
This TV series was made by some of the same people behind the enduring Degrassi franchise (Steele had even played a different character for a few seasons in that series) -- indeed, there was some suggestion they were thinking of making this a spin-off of Degrassi (with carryover characters) but opted against that due to this series' much more adult, and racier, storylines (though still presumably angling for the same teen/young adult demographic). In fact, with its rather nonchalant attitude toward casual sex, Morning After pills, and the "adult" entertainment side of showbiz (including what could be construed as a product placement plug for the real life Hollywood porn company, Vivid) one could question whether they are deliberately trying to send curious messages to their fans -- though, hey, maybe it's just good, clean, lurid titillation. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and an endorsement of acting in porn films is just a plot point. As well, the flip side is a series that can be progressive and even ground breaking (as perhaps you might expect from the Degrassi crowd) -- such as the plot line about the two gay black men in the rap biz (even the idea of a gay black couple is unusual -- gay multiracial couples are not unusual in films, but not where both partners are black). Ultimately, this is an engaging series, well-paced by cutting between its various plot threads, with a personable cast and some decent twists and turns. Although given a lot of the plot threads tend to revolve around our plucky, often guileless, heroes going from one disappointing (and often humiliating) experience to another (after all, they are supposed to be struggling in their careers) that can maybe dampen its appeal -- although, perhaps some of the sting is muted in those scenes because it's as much a comedy as a drama at times. The first episode was given a try-out on CTV, but the regular series itself was aired on MuchMusic. Two seasons of hour long episodes. |
LABOUR OF LOVE
* * * 1/2 setting: N.B.
(1984) Tom Butler, Michele Scarabelli, Booth Savage,
Jim Bearden, Maury Chaykin, Paul Bradley, Linda Goranson, Sheila McCarthy,
Alan Scarfe, Don Francks.....Union negotiator (Butler), having a mid-life
crisis, goes to Miramachi to settle a five-man strike and encounters the
off-beat and not always up-front workers. Engaging, low-key comedy
about love, unions and small towns never quite rises to the heights of
satire but does manage to be gently amusing throughout, with just a hint
of eroticism. Fine performances all around. sc: Richard Nielsen.
dir: Rene Bonniere. - female nudity and brief male nudity.-
EL LADO OSCURO DEL CORAZON*
* setting: other
(1992) (/Argentina) Dario Grandinetti, Sandra Ballesteros,
Nacha Guevara, Andre Melancon, Jean Pierre Reguerraz, Monica Galan, Ines
Vernengo..... Tale of a struggling Argentinian poet (Grandinetti) who
wanders about, spouting poetry, discussing sex, and seeking the perfect
woman. Surrealistic serio-comic flick is over long, repetitive and,
stylistically, very much an ART film...you know, where poker-faced characters
give long, supposedly insightful (but not very) monologues on esoteric
subjects. Unriveting. In Portuguese. English title: The
Dark Side of the Heart. sc./dir: Eliseo Subiela. - partial female
and male nudity, sexual content.- 126 min.
LADY OF THE LAKE *
(1999) Eirik Rutherford, Tennyson Loeh, Emidio Michetti,
Christopher Piggins.....Young man (Rutherford) inherits his uncle's
lake shore cottage and falls for the ghost of a murdered gypsy (Loeh) who
has a rep for murdering men in the area. The fact that this horror flick
was written, directed, edited, and produced by one man -- and according
to one source, he spent 10 years trying to get it made -- suggests it was
a labour of love...which makes it a shame that it ended up like a lot of
very low-budget films: a not altogether coherent mishmash. There's sex,
gore (towards the end), dream sequences, hallucinations, and flashbacks
to a hundred year old carnival troupe where, even in their off hours, everyone
dresses and talks like it's the Middle Ages (suggesting there might've
been some mid-production changes). Michetti (as a neighbour) isn't bad,
and Loeh is O.K., but otherwise...forewarned is forearmed. sc./dir: Maurice
Devereaux. - partial female and male nudity, sexual content, extreme violence.-
80 min.
LADYBEAR
* 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1985) Carol Poirier, Claudette Roach, Tom Nursall,
Sidney Bruyn, Simon Richards.....Librarian (Poirier) discovers she
was a Russian, trained as a spy, and is persuaded to work for the Soviets
in order to meet her real mother. Shoe-string budgeted espionage
flick is a bit implausible but starts out kind of interesting, loses it
about halfway through. Bruyn, as a slick KGB agent, isn't bad.
Filmed on video. An Emmeritus-CHCH production. sc./dir: Peter
McCubbin.
Lady's Choice
* * *
(198 ) Frank Adamson, Sandy Webster.....A stubborn,
embittered widower (Adamson) refuses to admit to being in love. Effective,
likeable hour long serio-comic teleplay. Made for the CBC series
Back
to the Fifties.
LANA IN LOVE
* * 1/2 setting: USA.
(1993) Daphna Kastner, Clark Gregg, Susan Eyton-Jones,
Ivan E. Roth..... Woman (Kastner) mistakes a plummer (Gregg) for her
blind date, and things just go from there. Funny low-budget romantic
comedy with nice performances. Filmed in California. sc: Bashar
Shbib, Daphna Kastner. dir: Bashar Shbib. - partial female nudity and brief
male nudity, sexual content.- 89 min.
LANTERN HILL *
* 1/2 setting: Ont./P.E.I.
(1990) (/U.S.) Marion Bennett, Sam Waterston, Colleen
Dewhurst, Sarah Polley, Patricia Phillips.....In the '30s, a young
girl (Bennett) is sent to spend a couple of months with the father (Waterston)
she'd been told had died when she was born. Yet un autre period
kids story by Kevin Sullivan, once again teamed with L.M. Montgomery.
Good looking, and given a touch of the supernatural, but ultimately a bit
plodding. Won't win any new fans, but should appeal to those who've
liked previous made-for-CBC TV Sullivan/Montgomery films. Polley
received the Best Supporting Actress Gemini. sc: Fiona Hugh, Kevin
Sullivan (from the novel Jane of Lantern Hill by Lucy Maud Montgomery).
dir: Kevin Sullivan. 110 min.
LAPSE OF MEMORY *
* 1/2 setting: Alt.
(1992) (/France) John Hurt, Marthe Keller, Mathew
Mackay, Kathleen Robertson, Marion Peterson, Serge Dupire.....Partially
amnesiac teen (Mackay) recalls his seemingly idyllic life and the parents
(Hurt, Keller) he began to suspect weren't who he thought they were.
Visually sumptuous, very moody suspenser has intriguing ideas, nice performances
and excellent use of prairie locales, but the scenes and characters need
fleshing out and the story some twists. Not terrible, but disappointing.
Previously made in '83 in the U.S. as "I Am the Cheese". sc: Patrick
Dewolf, Philippe Le Guay, dialogue John Frizzell, Patrick Dewolf, Philippe
Le Guay (from the novel I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier). dir:
Patrick Dewolf. 85 min.
LASERHAWK *
1/2 setting: USA.
(1997) Jason James Richter, Melissa Galianos, Gordon
Currie, Mark Hamill, Ivan Rogers.....When their hometown is attacked
by aliens, two American teens (Richter and Galianos) seek out a flakey
comicbook creator (Currie) whose comics seemed to mirror what happened.
SF thriller has enough money for some neat f/x and to smash up cars, but
in other respects seems really low-budget. Some good ideas, but poorly
handled...even the action scenes seem turgid! One of those movies with
an unrelenting undercurrent of hostility, where characters don't so much
talk as they snipe. Of the five actors listed above, only Galianos and
Currie are Canadian! Somehow the opening production credits were left out
of the film, but according to the Internet Movie Database, the writer was
John A. Curtis and the director was Jean Pellerin. 101 min.
THE LAST BREATH seeLe dernier souffle
THE LAST CASINO *
* 1/2 setting: P.Q./Ont.
(2004) Charles Martin Smith, Katharine Isabelle, Kris
Lemche, Albert Chung, Julian Richings, Normand D'Amour, Jacques Godin.....In
debt to a loan shark, a math professor (Smith) recruits three misfit and disparate
university math geniuses to help him beat the gambling casinos using his
own card counting formula. Made-for-cable drama is slick and stylish, with
a good cast, interesting characters, and good scenes that are well written
and well directed (including a healthy dollop of humour). But the story
itself lacks a certain drive, nor is there much suspense in what is a quasi-suspense
film (since there's little danger involved). Nor do the characters evolve much
from beginning to end. Ultimately, the elements (acting, scenes, style) are great, but the parts are greater than the sum. The strengths easily make this a fun, agreeable
watch...even as the shortcomings prevent it from being as great as it could've -- as it should've --
been. Best of all, it's unapologetically set in Canada with an all-Canadian
cast (Smith's an American actor, but I think he lives in Canada). A few years later, the Hollywood movie "21" used a remarkably similar premise. sc: Steve
Westren. dir: Pierre Gill. 92 min.
THE LAST CHAPTER
* * setting: Ont./P.Q.
(2002) Michael Ironside, Roy Dupuis, Michel Forget,
Frank Schorpion, Marina Orsini, Celine Bonnier, Dan Bigras, Maxim Roy,
Michelle Scarabelli, Francis Xavier McCarthy, George Buza, Lorne Brass,
Jean-Pierre Bergeron, Chip Chuipka.....Story of
biker gangs, and the conflicts that ensue when an Ontario gang joins up
with a trans-Canada gang, driving a wedge between erstwhile friends (Ironside
and Dupuis). Made for CBC mini-series is basically just a mob/mafia story,
but benefits from its in-your-face Canadianess (with French-English conflicts
between the gangs) and the relative freshness of setting it in the biker
world -- it's all the usual stuff of tested loyalties and factional infighting,
but avoids the clichés of the characters acting and looking like
something out of a "Godfather" clone. There's some intriguing look into
a little talked about sub-culture (assuming the filmmakers know their subject
matter), and a clever contrast between the bikers' world and their domestic
lives. But it's also whitewashed, seeming to imply that the only ones the
bikers really hurt are themselves. Ultimately it suffers from, on one hand,
too many repetitive scenes and, on the other, a feeling scenes are missing,
and a sense that writer Dionne came up with the initial concept...but had
trouble shaping it into a drama. It's too thin, too oblique, and
with a lot of peripheral characters not really fleshed out -- nor even
some central characters. Forget plays the cliched iconoclastic cop, butting
heads with his desk jockey superiors, insisting that they don't know what
they're doing, but he does -- but he never accomplishes anything himself,
either! Orsini is a particular stand-out as Ironside's wife, and Ironside
delivers a career peak performance in a role that capitalizes on his tough
guy screen persona, but fleshed out with unexpected vulnerability. Ultimately,
a mini-series where you kind of know what sort of film they were trying
to make, but they don't quite succeed. Made as a joint English-French production,
with many of the scenes re-shot in both languages. It was followed by The
Last Chapter II: The War Continues which seemed like more of the same,
only this time, without even the novelty the first mini-series had. 6 hours.
sc: Luc Dionne. dir: Richard Roy. - brief female nudity, violence.-
THE LAST CHASE
* setting: USA.
(1980) Lee Majors, Chris Makepeace, Burgess Meredith,
Alexandra Stewart, Diana D'Aquila, George Touliatos, Ben Gordon, Harvey
Atkin.....20 years after cars have been outlawed in the U.S.A., an
ex-race car driver (Majors) and a preppie (Makepeace) roar across country
in his race car with the authorities in pursuit. Giggle-inducing
sci-fier is poorly written and directed and even confusingly edited in
spots. It tries to pretend it's a metaphor, but ultimately it's just
what it seems: an homage to cars, with the baddies proponents of, gasp!,
public transportation. Either the premise will stir your blood...or
it won't. D'Aquila comes across best. Stewart has just a bit
part. Check out Firebird 2015 A.D. for
a similiar premise around the same time (which also had Touliatos in the
cast). sc: C.R. O'Christopher and Roy Moore & Martyn Burke (story
O'Christopher). dir: Martyn Burke. 101 min.
LAST EXIT *
* 1/2
(2005) Andrea Roth, Kathleen Robertson, Ben Bass,
Linden Ashby, Rachel Crawford, Noah Bernett, France Viens, Cas Anvar, Gianpaolo
Venuta, Kent McQuaid.....Two complete strangers, an up-scale advertising
executive (Roth) and a working class secretary (Robertson), end up in a
bloody Road Rage-motivated road accident while, through flashbacks, we
follow them both through their very difficult day leading up to it. Made-for-CTV
suspense drama is well acted, and suitably intense at times, but can also
slide from suspenseful...to just kind of aggravating (even, almost, silly)
as the two women go through one mini-crisis after another, building to
the, of course, inevitable climax. The stylish, herky-jerky direction (even
jumping back and forth within a scene) is intended to give the movie a
slick, edgy, "not just a TV movie" look...but can also be sometimes annoying.
Ultimately, not uninteresting, but a bit thin and can't quite shake the
impression of being a poor man's "Changing Lanes". sc: Russ Cochrane. dir:
John Fawcett. app. 90 min.
THE LAST HAVEN see Le dernier havre
LAST MAN STANDING a.k.a. The Circle Man
LAST RIGHTS a.k.a. Street Legal (movie)
LAST NIGHT *
* 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1998) Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie,
Sarah Polley, David Cronenberg, Robin Gammell, Roberta Maxwell, Tracy Wright,
Genevieve Bujold.....The world will end at midnight, and various interconnected
characters attempt to fulfill their plans of what to do with their last
moments. Good serio-comic drama is interesting, with surprisingly effective
atmosphere and some quirky humour. But like a lot of Canadian movies, there's
a kind of sameness to the scenes and controlled delivery that prevents
it from truly igniting -- many of the scenes are good, that's not the point,
it's just they're also a little monotonous. No real narrative drive either,
with too few plot twists or turns. With that being said, the movie lingers
with you long after -- ironically, making it more powerful in hindsight
than while you're actually watching it. Received Genies for Best Actress
(Oh) and Supporting Actor (Rennie). sc./dir: Don McKellar (his feature
directorial debut). - partial female and male nudity, sexual content.-
95 min.
THE LAST RITES OF RANSOM PRIDE
* * setting: USA/other
(2010) (/U.S.) Dwight Yokam, Lizzy Caplan, Jon Foster, Cote de Pablo, Jason Priestley, W. Earl Brown, Peter Dinklage, Kris Kristofferson, Scott Speedman, Blu Mankuma, Joe Bird.....In the early 20th Century, a gun totting outlaw gal (Caplan) attempts to retrieve her dead lover's body from Mexico for burial, joined by the dead man's brother (Foster) -- with various people gunning for her along the way, including her lover's ex-outlaw-turned-preacher father (Yokam). Gritty western (albeit set a few decades after the "classic" wild west era) is going for an over-the-top Tarantino-Rodrigues flavour of gratuitous excess (in both style and content) -- except seeming to take itself more seriously than they would, with a kind of Art House pretentiousness. It's slickly stylish and expensive-looking...but feels like its inspiration is music videos rather than movies, with lots of quick cuts/inserts/flashforwards/flashbacks/frame distortions -- most to little narrative effect -- and with the imagery, the mise-en-scene, more important than the scenes themselves. It's episodic with characters that often feel undeveloped (showing up for a few scenes, muttering some quirky/pretentious lines, then getting killed off in a shaggy dog story fashion) -- not so much comprising vignettes, as vignes or just vigs. Presumably it sees itself as being a "fable" as much as a drama -- but isn't enough of either. A good cast, though Caplan -- a sometimes quirkily appealing performer -- is underused in a role that largely requires her to be tight lipped and stone faced. The director had previously made a documentary about Cockfighting...perhaps explaining some of his sensibilities. How "Canadian" this is is unclear -- given the setting, the director and most of the cast aren't; of the cast, only Speedman (as the dead title character), Priestley and Mankuma are Canadian, though Priestley (almost unrecognizable as a demented gun man) and Mankuma (as a nomadic motorcyclist) both steal the scenes they're in. sc: Tiller Russell, Ray Wylie Hubbard. dir: Tiller Russell. - violence, partial female nudity.- 82 min.
THE LAST SEASON
* * * 1/2 setting: Ont./other
(1987) Booth Savage, John Colicos, Johanna Raunio,
Neil Munro, Eric Peterson, Bernard Hopkins, David Ferry, J. Winston Carroll,
Taneli Makela.....Story of the rise and fall of a troubled hockey player
(Savage) when his tough-guy style falls out of favour, and his attempts
at coming to terms with his old-world Polish-Canadian family. Handsome
and, despite its length, consistantly compelling made-for-CBC TV drama
benefits from good dialogue, performances, direction and some old-world
mysticism, held together by Savage's Gemini Award winning performance...all
of which largely compensates for the fact that, when it's over, you aren't
sure what its point is. Arguably the best hockey movie made in Canada...largely
because the story doesn't hinge on the viewer caring one whit about hockey.
sc: Roy MacGregor (from his novel). dir: Allan King. 145 min.
The Last Spike, Pierre Berton's 2nd volumne chronicling the building of the Canadian railroad, served as part of the basis for the CBC mini-series The National Dream
THE LAST STOP *
* 1/2 setting: USA.
(1999) Adam Beach, Jurgen Prochnow, Rose McGowan,
Callum Keith Rennie, Winston Rekert, Amy Adamson, William S. Taylor, Peter
Flemming, P. Lynn Johnson, Damon Johnson, Marco Roy.....Trapped at
a motel during a snowstorm in Colorado, a group of people discover there
may be a murderer among them. Nice, old fashioned premise in this suspense
film, and it benefits from effective atmosphere and respectable performances
(though too many of the characters -- except Beach and Prochnow -- are
kind of abrasive). But the mystery itself is, well, extremely lame. There
are too few viable suspects, and Beach, as a State Trooper, does
precious little real investigating or deducing. It's actually kind of silly
in spots. Best watched while in a forgiving mood. sc: Bart Sumner. dir:
Mark Malone. - brief female nudity, violence.- 92 min.
THE LAST STRAW *
* * 1/2 setting: P.Q.
(1987) Sam Grana, Fernanda Tavares, Stefan Wodoslawsky,
Christine Pak..... Alex (Grana) discovers that he's the most potent
man in the world and that his sperm is sought by women, companies and even
governments. Meanwhile, Blue (Wodoslawsky) and his wife (Pak) are
having trouble conceiving. This hilarious, somewhat low-key comedy
is a surprisingly silly sequel to 90 Days.
Military analyst Gwynne Dyer has a funny cameo. sc: Giles Walker,
Dave Wilson. dir: Giles Walker. 96 min.
"Last Tag", a play by Mitch Giannunzio, became the CTV TV movie Falling for You
THE LAST TRAIN HOME a.k.a. Tom Alone
LAST WEDDING *
* 1/2 setting: B.C.
(2002) Benjamin Ratner, Frida Betrani, Tom Scholte,
Nancy Sivak, Vincent Gale, Molly Parker, Marya Delver, Babz Chula.....Story
of a group of friends -- three dysfunctional, interconnected couples who
slowly implode. Flick starts out an amusing comedy, spurred by the spontaneous
engagement of Ratner and Betrani and the reaction of their sceptical friends
and family, then becomes more sober (if occasionally quirky) for the lion's
share, before veering back toward silly by the end (not entirely successfully).
A film where each scene by itself is sharp, well presented, and meticulously
acted, and even next to each other the scenes are effective. But there's
too much of a sameness to them, so that, after a while, a certain monotony
begins to creep in. The problem is that writer-director Sweeney seems more
interested in displaying his characters than he is in exploring them, let
alone empathizing with them. The result is a movie than can be clever and
reasonably interesting...but also somewhat unrewarding and insubstantial.
sc./dir: Bruce Sweeney. - explicit sexual content, partial female and male
nudity.- 100 min.
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ROSALIND LEIGH
* *
(2012) Aaron Poole, Vanessa Redgrave, Julian Richings, Charlotte Sullivan, Stephen Eric McIntyre.....A man (Poole) goes to inventory the house bequeathed to him by his estranged mother ("name" import Redgrave in voiceover only) -- a mother who belonged to an angel-worshipping cult -- and strange things occur. Admirable attempt to do a spooky horror film that relies on mood rather than blood and gore. But if the artistic question is: can you get an entire movie out of a lone actor, with little dialogue, wandering an old house (the other actors in small parts as voiceovers, voices on phones, or appearing on televisions -- some doing multiple roles), creating tension with bric-a-brac, odd camera angles and creepy sounds, then the answer is probably...not really. Does generate some genuine chills in the second half -- ironically as it gets more overt (and shows that, minimalism aside, it does have money for creepy special f/x). But even then, doesn't really bring anything fresh to the exercise (even relying on the old crutch that the hero has had some -- vague -- past mental health issues, so he conveniently questions his own perceptions). The problem with doing a stripped down version of a cliched idiom is that it's in the added details (characterization, relationships, plot twists) that it can be made fresh. Might have made a nice short film, but feels stretched even as a short feature. sc./dir: Rodrigo Gudiņo. 80 min.
THE LAST WINTER *
* 1/2 setting: Man.
(1990) Joshua Murray, Gerard Parkes, David Ferry,
Wanda Cannon, Marsha Moreau.....In the '50s, a contented farm-boy (Murray)
is faced with the unappealing prospect of moving to the city when his father
gets a job offer. Some truly original vignettes and a feeling of
sincerity help the cliched premise (growing-up-on-the-prairies!) in this
gentle drama, but the dialogue and (strangely) performances are overly
stiff and mannered. sc./dir: Aaron Kim Johnston.
THE LAST WITNESS
* * setting: USA.
(1999) Natasha Henstridge, Johnathon Schaech, Michael
Filipowich, David McIlwraith, Robin Brule, Laura Hutton, Frank Moore, Kate
Greenhouse, Roy Lewis .....American woman (Henstridge) agrees to let
some men claiming to be F.B.I. agents use her apartment for a surveillance
job...which draws her into an assassination attempt. Suspense-thriller
starts out seeming slick and well put together, but is frankly, slow-moving,
where it takes a long time between the proverbial other shoe(s) dropping,
and becomes less interesting -- and overly murky -- as it goes. One of
those flicks where a lot of emphasis is put on the character-stuff (like
Henstridge's relationship with Hutton as her estranged, alcoholic mom,
and metaphorical stuff involving predators and prey) to the detriment of
the thriller aspect...without the character stuff being developed enough
to justify it. There's an effective suspense scene, and Henstridge appears
in a sex scene, but those are both within about the first half hour. After
that... Henstridge is a capable lead, but Hutton and Brule (as her best
friend) steal a few scenes. A few too many shots of Henstridge's pet falcon
munching on rodents will turn off viewers. a.k.a. Caracara. sc:
Craig Smith. dir: Graeme Clifford. - violence; partial female nudity; sexual
content.- 92 min.
LAURA LAUR *
1/2 setting: P.Q.
(1989) Paula De Vasconcelos, Dominique Briand, Andre
Lacoste, Eric Cabana, Andree Lachapelle, Johanne Fontaine.....An attractive,
enigmatic young woman (De Vasconcelos) disturbs and fascinates those she
meets, including the married older man with whom she has an affair.
Vaguely reminiscent of the Almond-Bujold films of the late '60s (ie: emotionally
unstable woman), but is hurt by its ponderous pretentiousness and poor
characterization (not to mention poor lighting in some prints). We
never care about the characters and it's not the actors' fault. An
undercurrent of sexist violence is disturbing in its matter-of-factness.
sc./dir: Brigitte Sauriol (from the novel by Suzanne Jacob). - partial
female nudity, explicit sexual content.- 105 min.
LAURIER (TVMS)
* * setting: P.Q./Ont.
(1987) Albert Millaire.....Chronicle
of Sir Wilfred Laurier (Millaire), Canada's first Francophone prime minister,
and his attempts to drag the country into the 20th century. Handsome
but rather long winded and not really engrossing. Dubbed from the
French. 8 hours.
THE LAW OF ENCLOSURES
* * setting: Ont.
(2001) Sarah Polley, Brendan Fletcher, Sean McCann,
Diane Ladd, Shirley Douglas, Kristen Thompson.....Parallel story of
two couples -- one young and just met (Polley and Fletcher) and one middle-aged
(McCann and American actress Ladd) -- who seem to represent the beginning
and end of the same relationship, though, surrealistically, they exist
at the same time. Drama about dysfunctional relationships is sort of atmospheric
at times, has an intriguing concept in the parallel stories idea, and starts
out kind of interesting in a High Concept way with Fletcher suffering from
a potentially fatal illness -- but once he's cured, there's little singular
about the proceedings. Suffers from the Art House manneredness, in direction
and performances, that has become de rigeur in Canadian movies (where once
realism was the style of choice) and that tends to push the viewer away
and mute involvement. Though sometimes it's meant to seem silly
-- I think. Lot's of symbolism and sub-textt that presumably means something
(like setting things against the backdrop of the Persian Gulf War)...but
it's hard to know what. It's a character drama where you don't really understand
the characters or their motivation, though McCann's performance lingers
with you. At times, Polley's character seems the weirdest of them all...but
I'm not sure she's supposed to seem that way. Fletcher received
the Best Actor Genie. sc./dir: John Greyson (from the novel by Dale Peck).
- sexual content, partial male and female nnudity.- 110 min.
LAW OF THE JUNGLE
* setting: USA.
(1994) Jeff Wincott, Paco Christian Prieto, Christina
Cox, Richard Yearwood, Michael Copeman, Doug O'Keeffe.....Kick-boxing,
idealistic U.S. lawyer (Wincott) has his life ruined by a vindictive mobster
(Prieto), a childhood friend turned bitter enemy, in order to coerce him
into participating in illegal kickboxing games. Badly done, disjointed
action-drama. Wow, though, talk about a tough town: even the hotel
clerks are nasty in this picture! sc./dir: Damian Lee. - violence,
partial female nudity, sexual content, casual male nudity.- 88 min.
"The Lawrenceville Stories" by Owen Johnson were turned into a trilogy of TV movies: The Prodigious William Hickey, The Return of Hickey and Hickey and co
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