Callum Keith Rennie

Prompted to rescue ten-year-old Lillith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) from her parents after allegations of abuse suggest that the child is not safe in her own home, kind-hearted social worker Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) discovers to her horror that the situation is far deadlier than she ever suspected. Ian McShane and Bradley Cooper also star in the thriller from Antibodies director Christian Alvart. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Hopper, Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, and Deborrah-Lee Furness star in a family drama detailing the efforts made by an 12-year-old girl to come to terms with her mother's abandonment. Tara's (Robb) mother, Joleen (Theron), just can't seem to get her life together. Her boyfriend has recently been arrested for growing marijuana, and rather than attempting to create a stable living environment for her daughter, Joleen instead places Tara in foster care before vanishing without a trace. Joleen's brother, James (Stahl), isn't exactly the picture of equilibrium, yet he does feel sympathetic toward his niece and obligated to help her though such difficult times. After breaking Tara out of foster care, James and his newly freed niece set out on the open road together. Destination: nowhere. But every road has an end, and before long James and Tara find themselves at James and Joleen's father's farm. James has always avoided thinking about his violent childhood, though he realizes that in order to break the vicious cycle of dysfunction that the family has fallen into he must finally confront the demons of his past. Now, as Tara begins to understand why her missing mother has lived such a tumultuous life, James prepares for the confrontation that could bring his family closer together than ever before, if it doesn't destroy them first. William Maher, who served as visual effects supervisor for the 2005 Sundance film The Chumscrubber, makes his feature directorial debut with a film based on an original screenplay by that film's scribe, Zac Stanford. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man who has lost his memory has a new and dangerous life thrust upon him in this comedy thriller. Jake (Cedric the Entertainer) is a janitor who finds himself stricken with a crippling case of amnesia. While Jake struggles to regain his memory and identity, he becomes convinced that he's an undercover spy who is trying to ferret out a ring of underground arms dealers wanted by the FBI and the CIA. As Jake is thrown into the world of international intrigue, he gains an unlikely ally in Gina (Lucy Liu), an actual U.S. intelligence agent who is tracking the same bad guys and develops a liking for the janitor. The Cleaner also stars Nicollette Sheridan, DeRay Davis, and Callum Keith Rennie. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The massive fences designed to protect the unhappy suburbanites who populate a posh Vancouver neighborhood from the outside world don't prove nearly as effective as the psychological barricades they erect following a tragic accident in director Carl Bessai's simmering small town drama. After popular high-school student Nick is killed in a drunk driving accident, all those touched by the tragedy gradually find their lives beginning to unravel. Nick's grieving mother Catherine (Carrie-Anne Moss) simply locks herself away in her son's room and refuses to permit anyone else entry into her chamber of sorrow. For those directly involved in the accident, the pain is almost too great to bear as well. When Nick's best friend Jordie (Kevin Zegers) -- who was driving the car at the time of the accident -- returns home from juvenile detention, his overbearing stepmother clings to him with every ounce of her energy as his domineering father makes the boy a target for his unchecked rage. But Nick's friends and family aren't the only ones whose lives have been torn asunder by the accident, because as the other driver -- a failed writer named Walt (Callum Keith Rennie) -- gradually falls into an alcoholic haze, his already troubled marriage continues to disintegrate as he becomes unable to provide his autistic brother with the attention he so desperately needs. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The despair of Canada's native community in the 21st century dovetails with a story of mystery and murder in this moody drama from filmmaker Carl Bessai. Rebecca (Carmen Moore) is a woman in her early thirties of aboriginal heritage living in the rough and tumble East Side of Vancouver, where crime, drugs, and prostitution are common and many native Canadians have become caught in a downward spiral of self-destruction. Rebecca also looks after her ailing father, and shortly before he dies, he shares some startling news with her -- Rebecca's mother Rita (Tantoo Cardinal), who she has long thought to be dead, is actually still alive and living in Vancouver. Rebecca desperately wants to reconnect with Rita, but she begins to scour the East Side in search of her mom at a very dangerous time. Norman (Callum Keith Rennie) is a psychotic killer obsessed with aboriginal women who has been prowling the East Side looking for victims, and as Rebecca looks for Rita she unwittingly puts herself in the fiend's path. Based on an acclaimed stage play by Marie Clements (who also wrote the film's screenplay), Unnatural and Accidental received its world premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A precocious teenage genius is suddenly forced to adapt to the real world, while the real world around him is having some growing pains of its own in this independent comedy drama from Canada. Emerson Thorsen (Aaron Webber) is an exceptionally talented and intelligent 13-year-old who has been raised and educated by his free-thinking parents ,Rog (Robert Joy) and Kaya (Rebecca Jenkins). While Emerson is clever, witty, and has recently written his first novel, he doesn't seem to have very good socialization skills when he spends time with others, and as he enters adolescence, Rog and Kaya decide to enroll him in public school so he can learn how to function with others (as well as patching up some gaps in his education). While most of Emerson's teachers are happy to have him in class, his ambiguous sexuality and tart intellectualism make him an immediate target for bullies in his small Nova Scotia town. Emerson's English teacher, Don Grant (Daniel MacIvor), has a bigger problem than most with his new student -- Emerson becomes quite infatuated with Don, and isn't at all shy about expressing his attraction, while the closeted Don is torn between a desire to return his advances and the knowledge that he'd be throwing away his career in education if he even acknowledged them. Whole New Thing received its world premier at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A billiard-savvy street kid resorts to desperate measures after finding himself caught between a pair of veteran hustlers and a corrupt vice cop in this urban thriller directed by Keoni Waxman and starring Freddie Prinze Jr. Jericho Hudson (Prinze Jr.) knows his way around a pool table, but he's still no match for legendary pool sharks Cue Ball Carl Bridges (Ving Rhames) and Tenderloin Tony (Angus Macfayden). With some help from his grifting girlfriend Jezebel (Roselyn Sanchez), Hudson sets a plan into motion that will draw Cue Ball Carl and crooked cop Timothy Mortensen into a dangerous confrontation, but if the plan doesn't go just as planned Hudson might not live long enough to call his next shot. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Final Destination 2 screenwriters Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber make their directorial debut with the sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect. Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher with facial hair) wants to free himself from his disturbing childhood memories. As a kid, he often blacked out for long periods of time and tried to detail his life in a journal. As a young adult, he revisits the journal entries to figure out the truth about his troubled childhood friends Kayleigh (Amy Smart), Lenny (Elden Henson), and Tommy (William Lee Scott). When he discovers he can travel back in time in order to set things right, he tries to save his beloved friends. However, he finds out that relatively minor changes can make major problems for the future. The Butterfly Effect also stars Eric Stoltz, Ethan Suplee, and Melora Walters. The title was inspired by the story A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

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, All Movie Guide

Canadian filmmaker Scott Smith directs the black comedy Falling Angels, based on the novel by Barbara Gowdy and adapted for the screen by poet and author Esta Spalding. Set in the late '60s and filmed on-location in Saskatchewan, this dark family drama focuses on the three teenaged daughters of the Field household. Callum Keith Rennie plays Jim Field, the loud-mouthed, domineering patriarch who has intimidated his wife Mary (Miranda Richardson) into a catatonic state of alcoholism and depression. Norma (Monté Gagné) is the oldest, most responsible daughter; she is overburdened and preoccupied by events from the past. Middle child Lou (Katharine Isabelle) chooses the rebellious path in order to escape her father's unreasonable demands. Youngest daughter Sandy (Kristin Adams) aspires to maximum femininity, engaging in an affair with an older, married man (Mark McKinney) in the process. Falling Angels was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The first season of the provocative Canadian anthology Bliss offers eight different tales of erotica, written and directed by women, for women. The opening episode, "Valentine's Day in Jail," stars Tory Higginson as a compassionate teacher who arranges a special visit with her prize pupil -- a prisoner serving time for drug smuggling. In "Six Days," a farm woman who has never spent a day without her husband develops an intimate relationship with a hired hand (Collum Keith Rennie) while the "mister" is recovering from an accident. "Guys and Dolls" finds a successful and famous lawyer (Jenny Levine) having a fling with a stranger (Peter Wingfield) who is unaware of her true identity -- and would not be overly pleased if he found out. Tara Spencer-Naim appears in "The Value of X" as a high school senior who fantasizes about the school's most popular boy -- that is, she fantasizes what it would be like if he were a girl! In "Voice," Mikela J. Mikael is cast as a woman whose dreams are invaded by the wife (played by Veronica Hurnik) of her lover. "Leaper" concerns two lost souls (Michelle Lipper, Paula Ducharme) drawn together in an unexpectedly sinister fashion by the "suicide" of a third woman (portrayed by Mille Tresierra. Victoria Sanchez plays a mild, reserved young miss whose animalistic urges are unleashed by a martial-arts class in "The Footpath of Pink Roses." And in the season finale, "In Praise of Drunkenness and Fornication," a dinner party attended by six middle-aged couples devolves into an exercise in overindulgence (in more ways than one). ~ All Movie Guide

The family drama Flower & Garnet is the feature-length debut from Canadian filmmaker Keith Behrman. Ten years after the death of the family matriarch, the widower and her two children are still coming to terms with their lives. Daughter Flower (Jane McGregor) gets pregnant and moves out. Her younger brother, Garnet (Colin Roberts), is an odd child who has trouble connecting with father Ed (Callum Keith Rennie). One of Ed's former girlfriends, and a gun, are key to the plot. Flower & Garnet was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In 1930s Hamilton, Ontario, after her husband's corpse is discovered in the woods without its head or limbs, beautiful would-be socialite Evelyn Dick (Kathleen Robertson) is arrested by Canadian police for the murder. Her ever-changing jailhouse testimony leads Inspector Woods (Callum Keith Rennie) in various directions as the devoted detective tries to piece together a coherent chain of events and motives. But once Dick's manipulative mother (Brenda Fricker) is implicated in the scheme, Dick's story changes again, this time with twist that leads to a tragic denouement. Her future in grave danger -- her sentence could be death by hanging -- Dick hires attorney J.J. Robinette (Victor Garber) for one last attempt at freedom. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide