Martin Drainville Movies

Denise Filatrault wrote and directed this episodic Canadian comedy adapted from a novel by theater great Michel Temblay. Laura Cadieux (Ginette Reno) joins other overweight Montreal women at a doctor's office for their regular Wednesday diet injections. In truth, they love these weekly waiting-room gatherings as an opportunity for fun, frolic, spats, jokes, songs and dances. Shown at the 1998 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This Canadian French language parody was universally panned by critics. The resulting controversy concerned questions of indiscriminate government funding of such obviously terrible material. Written by Francois Camirand and Pierre Plante, who also made his directorial debut with the film. The story centers on dopey, dull-witted Fredo who has inherited his late uncle's shipping company. Con artist Angelo is his racquetball partner. Angelo has doggedly been trying to convince Fredo that he is a famous film producer so Fredo will invest in his latest film. This sets Fredo to dreaming about films and these daydreams comprise the basis of the parody sketches that attempt to make fun of such genres as martial arts films, gangsters flicks, sexy Italian romances, and one scene where the filmmakers combine The Piano with Crocodile Dundee. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Non-Canadians may not be aware that, come mid-winter, Florida is the promised land for many of the thoroughly chilled residents of that northern country. A tradition of winter residence in Florida has grown up, and whole communities make their livings from Canadian visitors. In this comedy, a Montreal bus driver has aspirations of retiring in that southern state, and his attempt to put a motel on the land he has bought is fraught with difficulties, beginning with the schemes of a real-estate developer, and continuing with the shenanigans within the community of Canadian sunbirds. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The central character of this philosophical drama is a man on the verge of turning forty, who has had significant relationships with three different women up to this point in his life. He is driven to daydream and meditate upon them as his birthday approaches. Coincidentally, he runs into each of them, and in their present-day encounters the role each once played in his life becomes clearer, while it also becomes clear that resuming a relationship with any of them would be out of the question. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi