Andrée LaChapelle Movies

A young boy still recovering from his mother's recent death teams with his two best friends to turn a regular pooch into a stunt-performing super-dog in this affectionate comedy for the whole family. Losing a parent is never easy, but for 11 year old Daniel it's been especially hard; when his father dives into work in an attempt to keep his grief at bay, Daniel starts causing mischief around the neighborhood with his best friends William and Colin. When the kids catch wind of a canine competition that's coming to town, they focus on training lovable canine named Gypsy into a true contender. Trouble is, Daniel's father has forbidden him from hanging out with William and Colin after the trio destroyed a neighbor's barn. But good friends are just what Daniel needs most right now, and by secretly teaming with his pals to teach Gypsy some outrageous new tricks, the troubled young boy develops the courage to overcome any problem that life throws his way. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Jean-Claude Lauzon's highly praised film tells the strange story of Léolo, a young boy from Montréal. Told from Léolo's point-of-view, the film depicts his family of lunatics and Léolo's attempts to deal with them. Not one individual in the boy's life is well adjusted. His brother, after being beaten up, spends the film bulking up on growth protein. The grandfather hires half-naked girls to bite off his toenails and, in a brutal rage, almost kills Léolo. As he witnesses his family decay around him, Léolo retreats into himself and the fantasy world he has constructed. In response to the weirdness of his daily life, Léolo creates a little mental mayhem of his own which Lauzon renders in an amazing series of free-form, surreal images. Eventually, this precarious balance of reality and fantasy cracks and Léolo is hospitalized after attempting to murder his grandfather. The score by Tom Waits underscores the narrative arc of Léolo's breakdown. On its release, the film won numerous awards including the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Director (1992) and a Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay (1992). ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi

Simon (Michel Cote) is fed up with his job as a court bailiff. He's fed up with his life in the cold of Quebec. He's fed up with his wife. He settles accounts with her, and out of the nearly $40,000 he has left, buys a convertible and heads south to Florida. He has recently inherited a house there from his mother, and he plans to sell it for enough money to live on. When he gets there, he finds an unemployed woman (C;aore Mebpit) squatting there. She gets by through stealing and pulling small con jobs. Instead of kicking her out, he becomes acquainted with her. As they get to know each other's inner lives, they also fall in love. The two of them play word-games with each other, and it looks as though, if at least one of them can find work, they might have a life together. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Dear Father and Dear Papa are the English-language titles for the Italian domestic drama Caro Papa. Vittorio Gassman plays a flint-hearted industrialist who thinks as little of destroying his business partner as he does of cheating on his wife. Gassman's son is an apparently weak-willed lad, who may or may not have become involved in the "Red Brigade". When Gassman learns that his son has been appointed to execute someone known only as "P", he assumes the victim is his ex-partner. Only as he is being gunned down does the industrialist realize that "P" stands for Papa. But that's not the end of Dear Father; there's still a viciously ironic coda before the final fade-out. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Robert (Arthur Hill) is a successful family man who attends an insurance convention in the U.S. Leaving behind his wife Barbara (Sharon Acker) and two sons ages 19 and 13, he has an affair with an American girl. His wife suspects something is wrong when he returns. The youngest son skips school and the oldest son gets involved with a female rock singer and participates in campus demonstrations. Robert slowly grows more distant from his family and is plagued by having never taken a stand on anything political or controversial. After seeing some disturbing pictures of Vietnam, student riots, and the Warsaw Ghetto, Robert begins to lose his mind in this drama of the good life that goes from bad to worse to insanity. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi