Hot Picks
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Happy Face
Canada 2018
produced by Stéphane Gérin-Lajoie, Alexandre Franchi, Ester Velasco (executive) for Les Films de la Mancha, Line & Content
directed by Alexandre Franchi
starring Robin L'Houmeau, Debbie Lynch-White, David Roche, E.R. Ruiz, Alison Midstokke, Cyndy Nicholsen, Noémie Kocher, Rosalie Julien, Romy Gendelmen, Sarvie Sage, Mattias Lucas, Dean Perseo, Paul Zinno, Rachel Schmidt, Paul Batah, Lorraine Coulter, Dawn Shaw, Pierre Rivet, Daniel Boloten, Keith Widgington, Dinh S. Nguyen, Pauline Beal, Monique Savoie, Anna Beanland, Keith Waterfield, Edith Kuper, Andrew Oster, Mélanie Leduc, Madelline Harvey, Zach Fenlon, Vincent Bellefleur, Alessanbdro Russotti, Nadia Rona, Chris Price
idea by Alexandre Franchi, screenplay by Joelle Bourjolly, Alexandre Franchi, music by Gabriel Scotti
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Vanessa (Debbie Lynch-White), a woman suffering from obesity, runs a
support group for disfigured people, but only with moderate succes: While
she's got all the theory down and manages to get her group members to open
up to one another, when she takes them out into the "real world"
to bolster their self confidense, this only leads to disaster, with only
one of them, Stan (Robin L'Houmeau), managing to stand up for the lot of
them when he empties a trash can in a restaurant they were treated poorly
in. But then she finds out Stan isn't disfigured at all but only faking
it, and despite his assurances that his motives for joining the group were
sincere, she expels him. It's only eventually that he convinces her he
didn't mean no harm but joined the group to feel closer to his mother
(Noémie Kocher), who's slowly consumed by cancer and thus is actually
disfigured for life. The other group members (David Roche, E.R. Ruiz,
Alison Midstokke, Cyndy Nicholson) are actually very much in favour of
keeping Stan with the group, as he's the most in touch with the
"real" world, and thus Vanessa's actually willing to hand over
some of the command over to him - and with a combination of things he has
learned from The Man from La Mancha and the boardgame Dungeons
& Dragons, he manages to give the group some self confidence
they've so desparately needed. Thing is, he hasn't been quite honest to
them, and has actually just as many hang-ups facing his problems (this
being caring for his mother) as they have, and when that's found out it
might jeopardize everything he has achieved both for the group and his own
mindset ... A very compelling drama that despite being very
specific in its story is bound to ring true with everyone, as at the core
it's about self acceptance and self confidence, and about finding one's
place in the "real world", so really universal topics. And that
the movie comes to life so beautifully is that despite the gravity of the
subject it chooses a light-footed approach, one that even allows glimpses
of humour, while emphasizing the humane aspects of its story, and giving
its out-of-the-norm protagonists much dignity in the process - which
really makes this a very likeable and rather remarkable film.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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