Isabelle Blais Movies

Quebec cinematographer turned filmmaker Andre Turpin directs this character study about one man's ability to charm and inability to face the truth. The film revolves around Alex (David La Haye), an acclaimed underwater photographer who is in demand around the world. When a diving accident results in a brain injury, he is forced to dry his flippers in Montreal. Though a relative stranger to the town, he quickly charms himself into the lives of an egocentric businessman, a neurotic drug pusher, and his friend's deaf girlfriend. Yet, slowly his personality is shifting as a result of the accident. Will he let himself take a long sober view of his changing life? This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Chuck Barris is best known to most Americans as the guy who used to host The Gong Show. He was also the creator and producer of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and a handful of other successful game shows in the 1960s and 1970s. But was he also a hired killer working with the CIA? That's the take-it-or-leave-it premise of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the memoir of the same name by Chuck Barris. Barris (Sam Rockwell) grows up dreaming of success in show biz and winning the hearts of beautiful women, but early on, he meets with plenty of resistance from both women and the television industry, despite writing the hit tune "Palisades Park" and scoring a job with Dick Clark on American Bandstand. The 1960s proves more fortunate for Barris; he meets the love of his life, Penny (Drew Barrymore), and sells ABC on the idea of The Dating Game. However, after the show has made him wealthy and successful, Barris is approached by the mysterious Jim Byrd (George Clooney), a CIA agent who wants to recruit Barris as a covert operative. Barris finds the notion of playing spy games intriguing and agrees, but soon discovers what Byrd and his partners really want is for Barris to assassinate uncooperative figures around the world. Soon, Barris finds that his life has been all but taken over by Byrd and another CIA agent, the mysterious and sexy Patricia (Julia Roberts). As he hops the globe, killing people in the name of American security (using his status as a Dating Game chaperone as a cover), Barris learns that the KGB has discovered his not-so-little secret and that his own life is in great danger. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind marked the directorial debut of actor George Clooney, working from a screenplay adapted by Charlie Kaufman from Barris' book. Dick Clark, Dating Game host Jim Lange, frequent Gong Show panelist Jaye P. Morgan, and Gene Gene Patton appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A melancholy athlete trades football for a new life as a hit man in this black comedy. Jean-Marc Thomas (Laurent Lucas) was once a reasonably successful professional soccer player, but after his career took a tailspin Thomas's girlfriend committed suicide, which sent him into a deep depression. Thomas moved to his late girlfriend's hometown of Montreal, and twelve years later has left sports behind for a career as a small-time criminal, though he still insists on carrying his soccer ball with him most of the time. While Thomas and his partner Michel (Pierre-Luc Brilliant) have barely mastered the art of knocking over doughnut shops and empty houses, a low-level crime boss has approached Thomas and asked him to consider becoming a hired killer. Thomas reluctantly agrees even though he has no idea of how to use a gun, and begins trailing his first target through Montreal in mid-winter. Sur La Trace d'Igor Rizzi (aka On The Trail of Igor Rizzi was the first feature film from Toronto-based writer and director Noel Mitrani. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A tragedy brings together two strangers in this independent drama from Canada. Nathalie Beauchamp (Isabelle Blais) and Henry Welles (Zach Braff) live just a few blocks away from one another in Montreal, but they have precious little in common. Nathalie is married to a wealthy man (Patrick Labbe), has a fine home, and is excited about the birth of her first child in a month. Henry, on the other hand, supports himself dealing drugs, rents a grubby Chinatown flat, and lives his life in constant motion. One night, Henry accidentally runs into Nathalie and speeds off before the police can catch up with him. Henry's conscience gets the better of him and he tracks down Nathalie to see if she's OK; he's crushed when he learns that she's fine, but her baby died and she'll be giving birth to a stillborn infant. Nathalie's husband reacts in a callous fashion to the news and she turns her back on him, setting out on her own. Henry befriends Nathalie and offers to take her in as she tries to start a new life; however, he doesn't have the courage to tell her it was his actions that set these events in motion. The first feature film from writer and director Deborah Chow, The High Cost of Living was an official selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi