(1 Jan) Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman)84
[ Part of the AFI list (#53) ]

(2 Jan) MASH (1970, Robert Altman)27
[ Part of the AFI list (#56) ]

(3 Jan) Hostel (2006, Eli Roth)[ review ]52

(4 Jan) François Girard en trois actes (2006, Mathieu Roy)80
[ Reviewed for Voir ]

(9 Jan) Ballets Russes (2006, Dan Geller & Dayna Goldfine)71
[ Reviewed for Voir ]

(10 Jan) Hoodwinked (2006, Cory Edwards)17
[ Little Red Riding Hood by the way of “Shrek” and “Rashomon” (no shit), with cheap-o computer animation, lame songs and not particularly funny gags. There’s a lot of bright moving colors so little kids should like it – I myself was mildly bored. ]

(11 Jan) Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2006, Albert Brooks)14
[ Reviewed for Voir ]

(13 Jan) Caché (2006, Michael Haneke)[ review ]78

(15 Jan) Le chemin d’eau (2006, Jean-Claude Labrecque)60
[ Good little docu about life on the Basse-Côte-Nord amongst the snowmobiles in communities coping with isolation, unemployment and potential extinction. ]

(16 Jan) Guy X (2006, Saul Metzstein)26
[ Reviewed for Voir ]

(17 Jan) Le Révolutionnaire (1965, Jean Pierre Lefebvre)68
[ “N’essaie pas de comprendre, c’est inutile.” B&W, almost silent slice of “abstract poetry” about a bunch of pre-FLQ revolutionaries. Akin to the Nouvelle Vague or more accurately the cinéma direct of Jutra and Groulx, this oddity is most memorable for a scratched celluloid sequence that retells the history of the Nouvelle France in five goofy minutes. “Au Canada, il y a deux cultures: la culture française et celle des pommes de terres.” ]

(17 Jan) Les Maudits Sauvages (1971, Jean Pierre Lefebvre)66
[ Again, Lefebvre walks the thin line between absurd nonsense and thought-provoking symbolism. On the one hand, this is a stunning allegory for how the Indians got a raw deal from the white man, with magnificent cinematography from Jean-Claude Labrecque and effective use of Vivaldi’s music. On the other hand, this presqu’historique film that simultaneously unfolds in 1670 and 1970 is spectacularly goofy, with long scenes of Pierre “Fardoche” Dufresne drunkenly wandering around and rambling incoherently while his Indian concubine frenetically dances topless. ]

(18 Jan) The New World (2006, Terrence Malick)[ review ]72

(18 Jan) Le Jour “S” (1984, Jean Pierre Lefebvre)zzz
[ As is often the case, the Me Decade wasn’t kind to even a filmmaker as unconcerned with current trends as Lefebvre. This is like Quebec’s answer to “Le Rayon Vert”, all about a most uninteresting character going through his most uninteresting daily routine. Riding the bus. Eating a hotdog. Running into a bunch of women, all played by Marie Tifo. Was Pierre Curzi a sex symbol in the 80s? ]

(23 Jan) Histoire de famille (2006, Michel Poulette)51
[ Reviewed for Voir ]

(25 Jan) Le Golem de Montréal (2004, Isabelle Hayeur)
[ Children movies often get a bad rep because of all the silly crap targeted to kids. But when a filmmaker respects his audience, whatever their age, we’re blessed with films that the young and old alike can enjoy. This is such a film, somewhere between the unglamorized look at Québécois brats of “La Guerre des Tuques” and the sentimental fantasy of “E.T.”, with a nicely dark touch of Jewish mythology. ]
Full disclosure: Isabelle Hayeur is an acquaintance, so it wouldn’t be really appropriate to rate the movie.

(26 Jan) Propp & Berta (2001, Per Fly)65
[ Reviewed for Voir ]

(27 Jan) Threat (2006, Matt Pizzolo)???
[ To love or to hate “Threat”? I loved: the stylish DIY filmmaking (mixing color, black&white, animated sequences and other visual effects), the natural and compelling cast, the biting dialogue. For most of its running time, this is kind of like a cross between Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” and Richard Linklater’s “Slacker”, with various characters having conversations in a comic book store, a bar, etc. So far so good. I hated: violence as an all-purpose solution. Drunk drivers? Stomp their ass before they get to their car. Perverts grab your ass? Slash them to death with a hook. Some asshole pours beer on your head? Kick his ass. Someone’s kicking your homie’s ass? Pull out a piece and shoot him. Shoot back. Cut their throat. Bash their head with a pipe. Kill, kill, kill. Not so good. I can’t dismiss all of “Threat” because of the 20 minutes of carnage that closes it, but I can question its validity. Films like “La Haine”, “Menace II Society” or “Fight Club” also portray people raging against the machine, but they ultimately show that violence doesn’t solve anything. Whereas Matt Pizzolo’s flick openly glorifies murderous revolt, literally telling the audience to go out and beat up random people, just because. In the press kit, co-writer Katie Nisa says that “It was to show that we shouldn’t be fighting each other. We should be fighting [those] who pits us against each other.” How about not fighting at all? ]

(27 Jan) Brokeback Mountain (2005, Ang Lee)[ review ]47

(28 Jan) Gilmore Girls 1.1 (2000)[ review ]

(29 Jan) Gilmore Girls 1.2-1.3 (2000)[ review ]

(30 Jan) Gilmore Girls 1.4-1.6 (2000)[ review ]

(31 Jan) Imagine Me & You (2006, Ol Parker)[ review ]41

(31 Jan) Gilmore Girls 1.7 (2000)[ review ]

December / February