Daniel MacIvor Movies

The home-schooled son of loving, marijuana-growing hippies discovers the twisted values of the suburban status quo in this comedy featuring Rosanna Arquette and Rachel Blanchard. Quinn Dawson (Staven Yaffee) may be your average teenager, though his parents are far from your typical, white-picket fence homemakers. They've recently relocated to the suburbs, where sheltered Quinn meets the girl of his dreams. Trouble is, the object of Quinn's obsession has enrolled in the local high school, where she's sure to fall for the star football player - or anyone else whose parents aren't committed criminals. Later, as Quinn begins to embrace his own independence and explore the world his parents so despise, he comes to realize they may be the sanest people in the entire town. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The residents of Wilby, Nova Scotia, learn the importance a day can make as scandal weighs heavily on their conscience in the sophomore feature from Canadian playwright-turned-filmmaker Daniel MacIvor. Suicidal Dan Jarvis (James Allodi) is longing to find a reason to live, and as Buddy and Carol Franch's (Paul Gross and Sandra Oh) marriage falls to pieces, single mom Sandra Anderson (Rebecca Jenkins) seeks male companionship to relieve the strain of raising a child alone and unlucky painter Duck MacDonald (Callum Keith Rennie) struggles to overcome his own nagging problems. On the horizon, a shocking revelation threatens to change the way the residents of the small town view both themselves and their neighbors, but how will the people of Wilby deal with such a major problem when they can't even work out their own issues? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This portrait of the man who brought nude male flesh into the American mainstream combines present-day interviews, archival footage, and semi-fictionalized dramatization into a cinematic hybrid. Photographer and filmmaker Bob Mizer (Daniel MacIvor) founded the Athletic Model Guild, or AMG, in Los Angeles in 1945, hoping to turn his fascination with the male physique into a successful business that used nude and semi-nude photographs to sell the services of models to painters and the like. When the photos themselves proved more lucrative than the non-existent modeling contracts, Mizer launched Physique Pictorial. The magazine ostensibly offered bodybuilding tips and moral guidance to young men the world over, but in reality its clientèle included legions of gay men eager for eye candy. With the help of his mother and business partner, Delilah (Carroll Godsman), Mizer parlayed his magazine, short films, and other work into a palatial residence/studio where young men fresh off the bus from Nowheresville could frolic, crash, and earn a little cash in front of the camera (or on the casting couch). Occasional run-ins with the law and stints in prison couldn't deter Mizer from continuing his photography until his death in the early '90s. His models, contemporaries, and associates included bodybuilding proponent Jack LaLane and future Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro, who are among the many men interviewed by filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald. The writer/director/producer intersperses his dramatic and documentary sequences with plenty of actual AMG and Physique Pictorial images. The film's narrative arc, however, focuses on the fictionalized character of novice model Neil E. O'Hara (Joshua Peace), who serves as a stand-in for the audience as he acclimates himself to Mizer's campy, flesh-filled compound and witnesses the photographer's betrayal by another model, Red (Jack Griffin Mazeika). Beefcake was inspired by F. Valentine Hooven III's book Beefcake: The Muscle Magazines of America, 1950-1970. The scenes of Mizer's trial for pandering were based on transcripts of the real-life Red's courtroom testimony. The character name Neil E. O'Hara, of course, is a joking reference to Neely O'Hara, the ingénue character from Valley of the Dolls. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In this Canadian Candide update, orphan Gordie (Jamie Shannon) lives with his hippie aunts at a quiet Porridge Glenn farm. When his beagle Speedoh is lost, a call from a psychic suggests a search in Toronto, where hayseed meets hooker wannabe Heidi (Sarain Boylan). She introduces him to two past-porn performers (Shelly Mars, Scott Thompson), the former stars of "Who's Afraid of Vagina Woolf?" Hick Gordie seems destined for street hustling and boogie nights after encountering a gay band that raises AIDS-research money by selling Gordie off to a sleazeball pimp (Alex Karzis). At this juncture, however, Heidi hatches a plan to reunite Gordie and Speedoh. Shown at the 1997 Vancouver and Toronto film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Targeted toward gay audiences, this pseudo-documentary follows the summer exploits of a young homosexual assigned to film everything he does during the summer by his occasional lover who is going to Europe. The film the young man makes chronicles his endeavors to find a relatively steady boy friend. He films many propositions, holds interviews and finally finds a likely candidate in a young college buck who is not sure of his sexuality. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This intellectually demanding drama is based on a theatrical monologue by actor/writer Daniel MacIvor. Victor and 10 others sit in a church. He, who has just come out of group therapy, is sharing his odd life experiences with the people and as he rambles on, little reenactments of the strange tales are depicted. He tells one story of a boy friend who is driven insane by his girl friend's dog. It seems the pooch can laugh like a person and the longer the man is around it, the more convinced he is that the dog's laughter is directed at him. In another, even stranger, tale of a reporter and a librarian who spend their entire lives almost meeting. When they finally do run into each other, each suddenly realizes that they are soulmates and are deeply in love. So joyful are they that they physically explode. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Desire, the fleeting pleasures of casual sex, and the difficulty involved with keeping passion alive are the focus of this unusual Canadian drama. The film, which was shot alternately in black and white, and color, is set in modern Toronto days before a solar eclipse is to occur. For his high school project, Angelo is filming a documentary on eclipse fever. His work is presented in color as he interviews people about the eclipse. Interspersed between Angelo's film is a series of sexual scenes, shot in black and white, involving gay and straight encounters between 10 friends, lovers, and acquaintances. What makes the film unique is that a connected progression occurs as one character from a preceding sexual encounter always appears in the subsequent one. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Actor Henry Adler (Tom McCamus) has a tenuous hold on his identity in Canadian director David Wellington's I Love a Man in Uniform. On his way to audition for a violent TV police show, he sees an officer shot in the line of duty. Using what he witnessed in his tryout, he impresses the casting director and gets the role of a tough street cop. But it's more than just a part for him: he takes his uniform home, goes out on the street, and gets mistaken for a real cop. Like Anthony John in A Double Life, he has become his character, and like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, he wants to clean the world of its filth. This film is not merely an exploration of one man's descent into madness; it is also an indictment of society's confusion of televised fiction with real life. ~ Steve Press, Rovi

A priest tries to help a young prostitute escape the life of sex and drugs in this exploitation drama. Father Jack (Chuck Shamata) tries to help 14-year-old Lindsay (Heather Kjollesdal) get off the streets to save her young life. Monsignor O'Brien (Art Carney) becomes concerned when Jack seems to be spending too much time trying to save the girl he believes belongs in a shelter. Lindsay left home after suffering from an incestuous relationship with her father, but now she turns tricks for her sleazy boyfriend Lenny (Daniel MacIvor). Jack hopes to intervene before the young teen ends up dead. Contains nudity and profanity. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi