new denmark (Rafaël Ouellet)87 [ I’ve written before about my fascination for the new wave of Quebec filmmakers that includes the likes of Denis Côté, Yves Christian Fournier, Stéphane Lafleur, Maxime Giroux and yes, Rafaël Ouellet. Now, Fournier made the biggest impact on me of them all with his brilliant “Tout est parfait”, but I also have a particular affection for Ouellet, who first came…
Browsing Category Festivals
Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
OPENING FILM: Reste avec moi (Robert Ménard)17 [ More likely to win him yet another Aurore than a Jutra, Robert Ménard’s latest is a shamelessly, nah, obscenely melodramatic, manipulative, hammy, preachy, unsubtle, cloying and contrived ensemble film that’s badly directed alright, but suffers from even worse writing. The cast features some good actors (Gérard Poirier, Danielle Proulx, Vincent Bilodeau, Louis Morissette, Maxim Roy, Julie…
FANTASIA 2004
The Fantasia Ubisoft Festival will hit Montreal for the 8th edition, from July 8 to August 1st 2004! One of America’s leading genre film festivals, it shows the edgiest, craziest flicks to packed houses that eat it all up. This year will bring 109 features and 80 shorts from all around the world to the two movie rooms of Concordia University. REVIEWS! Blueberry58 [ I…
Nouveau Cinéma 2008
Afterschool (Antonio Campos)92Fuck. Mike D’Angelo wasn’t kidding. In less than three minutes, this movie has already just about perfectly encapsulated in one little montage of various footage how, in this era where seemingly everything is being filmed then streamed online, every aspect of the human experience, from the cutest (a baby giggling, a cat playing piano) to the most sordid (Sadam Hussein’s hanging, porno actresses…
FANTASIA 2011
Red State (Kevin Smith)88 [ Inspired by Fred Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church and their bullshit “God Hates Fags” campaign, but also by the Waco siege and the U.S. government’s post-9/11 excesses, Smith has put together a violently nihilistic film that comes off like an unholy cross between “Hostel”, “There Will Be Blood” and “Die Hard”, if that makes any sense. Going back and forth…
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma 2010
OPENING FILM: 10 1/2 (Daniel Grou – Podz)56 [ Podz’ first feature, “Les Sept jours du talion”, was not perfect, but its qualities strongly outweighed its flaws. Now, in “10 1/2”, there is still quite a bit to admire, but I feel like this time the negatives slightly overcome the positives. The big problem is Claude Lalonde’s screenplay which, while undeniably well-informed about its subject…