Luc Vandal Movies

The ugly duckling son of a picture-perfect bourgeois family receives a much-needed dose of self-confidence when he is befriended by a beautiful and capricious stranger in director Stephane LaPointe's festering family drama. Thomas Dufresne (Marc Paquet) isn't like the rest of his family. The offspring of a highly successful father and a razor sharp mother whose keen intellect is widely known thanks to her winning performance on a popular quiz show, twenty-five year old Thomas is as clumsy as they come. When Thomas crosses paths with free-spirited waitress Audrey (Catherine De Lean), it seems as if he has finally found the muse who could truly help him live up to his vast potential. Subsequently praised by his architect teachers for his creative innovation, Thomas finally begins to savor the sweet flavor of success. But Audrey isn't everything she appears to be, and when Thomas finds out the truth behind their "chance encounter" the repercussions that follow may be enough to rend the tenuous seams that hold this family together once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A writer gets more than he bargains for when he heads to a small town in search of a scoop in this over-the-top horror comedy. Flavien Juste (François Chénier) is a young and quick-witted reporter who works for a newspaper run by his father (Pierre Collin). Dad would like to break one more big story before he retires from journalism, and when he hears about a number of bizarre disappearances taking place in the Quebec village of Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnes, he sends Flavien to check it out, with photographer Armand (Patrice Robitaille) in tow. Flavien and Armand check in at a large and forbidding local inn, the Two Malvinas Lodge, and Armand soon falls prey to the local curse and goes missing. As Flavien searches for Armand, he encounters the troubled ghost of a bride (who still has the tin cans from her getaway car stuck to her gown), and is dogged by the many bizarre denizens of Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnes as he tries to unearth the town's strange secrets. Flavien eventually gains a valuable ally in helpful local musician Missy (Isabelle Blais) and her son, Peanut (Alec Poirier), and with their help he discovers an abandoned factory on the outskirts of town where a strange scientist is up to no good. Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnes (aka Saint Martyrs of the Damned) was the first feature film from Quebec-based writer and director Robin Aubert. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Directed by Michel Boujenah, Pere et Fils (Father and Son) centers around retired traveling salesman Leo Serano's (Philippe Noiret) decision to become closer to his three children, albeit late in life. Leo's first son, David (Charles Berling), is a longtime overachiever who runs his own plumbing fixtures company and employs his youngest brother, Simon (Pascal Elbe), in the warehouse. Pot-smoking Simon is blissfully unconcerned when it comes to the intricacies of his family, but David hasn't spoken to his unemployed brother Max (Bruno Putzulu) in years, and isn't particularly keen to build a relationship with his long absent father. However, when Leo convinces the trio that he's slated for a risky heart surgery in a couple of weeks -- in fact, Leo's physician had declared him perfectly healthy -- the broken family decides to take a spontaneous trip to Montreal. The film also features Marie Tifo, Genevieve Brouillette, Pierre Lebeau, Jacques Boudet, and Matthieu Boujenah. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A scientist living in Tokyo is sent to a small Canadian town to study the tides in this visually inventive feature from director Manon Briand. Suspecting that the cecassion of the tides may indicate an impending earthquake, Seismologist Alice (Pascale Bussieres) arrives in her hometown of Baie-Comeau, Quebec to commence her investigation. Soon confronted by numerous figures from her past, the unusual weather and inexplicable behavior of the citizens lead Alice to believe that something beyond her comprehension is occurring to her old hometown. With a mysterious waitress (Genevive Bujold), a lusting woman, a pack of nuns, a sleepwalking child and a widower pilot who grows ever closer to Alice all factoring into the strange goings on, it seems as if human emotions may have somehow played an integral part in the sudden climate shift. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Gilles (Michel Cote) is a mild-mannered dentist until his wife of 20 years suddenly dumps him for another man. Dejected, depressed, and distraught, he turns to his psychiatrist, Docteur Bilodeau (Yves Jacques), who has his patients lay into a punching bag. For Gilles, the treatment proves to be too successful, and soon he's taking his treatment out on his clients. While cooling his heels in jail, he bonds with cellmate Sunsey (Patrick Huard), a hard-drinking, dope-smoking man's man. Soon, Gilles office has transformed into a neo-hippie drug den and party pad. Somewhere amid the THC haze, Gilles starts to date comely lass Sophie (Guylaine Tremblay) -- who in a Vertigo-like turn looks just like his soon-to-be ex-wife. Has he found the doppelganger of his life's love or should he lay off the hallucinogens? This film was huge hit in its native Quebec. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Quebec filmmaker Jean-Phillipe Duval debuted with this madcap comedy about a graduate student sucked into Montreal's criminal netherworld. Ph.D. candidate Gilles (Alexis Martin) literally runs into waitress Guylaine (Guylaine Tremblay) at the beach while he is reviewing his dissertation. The two immediately hit it off, and when he returns to his abode in Montreal he heads straight to the low-rent bar where she works. The lovebirds begin talking about the future, until Guylaine's gun-toting brother Bob (Gary Boudreault) staggers to their doorstep after getting worked over by the mob. Fearing for his life, he pleads with Gilles to deliver a message to Matroni, the big boss. On his way to hand off the note, the overly ethical Gilles has a moral crisis: the letter lists names of other soon-to-be-ex-hoods. His actions start a series of bizarre and unforeseen incidents. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Jean and Colette are teen-aged sisters living in Toronto who jointly conceive a passionate interest in their new neighbor, a handsome, piano-playing Japanese man named Takahasi. They are a bit too young to engage in sexual acts with him, but as soon as they are able, they tentatively cooperate in wooing him, and the threesome shares at least one night together in bed. Later, as feuding adults, the girls consider their first passion and eventually work out a way to be reconciled with one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide