Luc Dery Movies
- 2008
La Moitié Gauche Du Frigo director Philippe Falardeau follows up that Toronto International Film Festival favorite with this darkly comic study in abandonment and innocence lost as related to a troubled young boy from an explosively dysfunctional family. Set in 1968, Falardeau's adaptation of Bruno Herbert's novel centers on the early life experience of ten year old Leon (Antoine L'Écuyer in his screen debut). Leon's proclivity towards theft, vandalism, breaking and entering, running away from home, and failed suicide attempts might lead the casual observer to deduct that his parents were a horrifically mismatched pair prone to window-rattling domestic tiffs that are frequently punctuated by broken dishes and shredded paintings - a deduction that couldn't be more accurate considering the fact that his parents relationship is rapidly deteriorating. His father is distant, and his mother's conspiratorial approach to child-rearing ensures that Leon has precious few people to confide in outside of his best friend Lea, who seems to come from an equally discordant household. With each inch Leon's parents move towards the brink, their son's rebellion seems to increase tenfold. Later, when his mother abandons the family to start a new life in Greece and Lea announces her plans to move into a dictatorship, the young hellion embraces his wild side as never before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Clement, Antoine L'Écuyer, (more)
- 2007
First-time Canadian helmer Stephane Lafleur's defiantly eccentric French-language comedy-drama Continental, un film sans fusil (AKA Continental: A Film Without Guns) 2007) commences with a bizarre event: a man who falls asleep on a bus awakens to find the vehicle suddenly vacant, hears unidentifiable sounds emanating from a nearby forest, and treks off to investigate. Lafleur then proceeds to crisscross several stories, concerning idiosyncratic characters who are both acquainted with the vanished gentleman and have no discernible connection to him. In one, the man's wife feels torn violently between accepting his disappearance and accepting the idea that he may never again turn up; at a complete loss to make this call, she opts instead to visit a ballroom and do the continental of the title. In another, a young insurance salesman (Real Bosse) spends the evening in a hotel and finds himself listening intently to a woman and her partner who make love in a nearby room - until the lady crops up and asks the salesman to visit the room and watch. In a third, a butterfingered young executive assistant (Fanny Mallette) at a packed bridal shower accepts an offer to hold a woman's baby - but drops it, to everyone's horror; and in a fourth, a pawn shop worker (Bernard Sicotte) with a serious dental problem begs his ex-wife for the money necessary to have the procedure - and proceeds to whittle it away on gambling bids. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie-Ginette Guay, Gilbert Sicotte, (more)
Two men who live in different nations on different continents discover how closely their fates have followed the same path in this drama from filmmaker Philippe Falardeau. Belgian engineer Michel Roy (Olivier Gourmet) looks after his ailing father Herve (Jean-Pierre Cassel) with the help of his wife Alice (Claudia Tagbo) and son Jules (Arnaud Mouithys). One day, Herve decides to share a long-held secret with his son -- Michel was actually adopted, and he was born to a poor family in Canada. Hoping to learn the truth about his birth parents, Michel flies to Quebec and makes his way to Sainte-Cecile, a farming community where Herve says he might find the truth about his heritage. After visiting with a priest sympathetic to his dilemma, Michel meets Louis Legros (Paul Ahmarani), whose electric auto sparks a conversation which leads to a fast friendship between them. As the narrative turns back to examine Louis' life and his efforts to publicize the work and theories of his father, a brilliant but little-known scientist, we see that Michel and Louis have been following similar paths throughout their lives, from unconventional births in Canada to a shared connection with the Congo. Congorama received its world premier at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the Directors Fortnight series. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivier Gourmet, Paul Ahmarani, (more)
The influence of genetics and the ability to identify oneself as a separate entity from family lineage lies at the heart of award-winning short-filmmaker Louise Archambault's slice of life drama concerning a nomadic mother and her teenage daughter. Affectionately known as Mimi by her friends, Michèle (Sylvie Moreau) is an aerobics instructor with a nasty gambling habit. When Mimi's boyfriend discovers that she has gone back on her promise to avoid the gaming table, his threat to freeze her finances drives the free-spirited mother to collect her daughter Marguerite (Mylene St. Sauveur) and hit the road on the sly -- again. A brief but revealing stop at the home of Mimi's youthful mother reveals the source of Mimi's impulsive nature, and after a friendly visit, Mimi and Marguerite seek refuge at the home of Mimi's childhood friend Janine (Macha Grenon). Reluctantly allowing the wayward pair into her suburban heaven so that they may get back on their feet, Mimi and Janine attempt to improve their parenting skills and serve as positive examples for their teenage daughters before an inherent difference in value systems leads to elevating tensions. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliette Gosselin
- 2004
- NR
A pair of e-mailing lovers discover romance is more difficult in the real world than in cyberspace, especially when a highly unexpected rivalry comes into the picture in this understated comedy drama. Norman (Noël Burton) is a middle-aged college professor from Montreal who, through an on-line dating service, has been corresponding with Gladys (Vanessa Bauche), an attractive younger woman from Mexico. Emboldened by the dating service's prediction that their relationship has a 61 percent chance of lasting, Norman flies to Mexico to ask for Gladys' hand in marriage. Gladys accepts, but only under the condition that her mother, Fernanda (Susana Salazar), can join them in Canada. Norman agrees, but it isn't long before both Norman and Gladys discover the chemistry they enjoyed through the mail doesn't work nearly as well in person. Gladys wonders aloud if Norman actually wrote his own letters, and Norman starts to suspect his new bride is more interested in a green card than in him. Matters become all the more difficult when Norman finds himself becoming infatuated with Fernanda, who is not much older than he is and quite attractive for her age. A Silent Love was the first feature film from director Federico Hidalgo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paulina Robles, his spouse. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Bauche, Noël Burton, (more)
Director Bertrand Bonello adapts the Greek myth of Tiresias to a modern day setting with this unforgiving tale of a transsexual prostitute held captive by a man obsessed with her ethereal beauty. Bound in her lonely prison and deprived of the hormones that keep her from reverting back to manhood, Tiresia's increasingly obvious masculine traits slowly begin to repulse her captor until he brutally blinds her and leaves her to die. Tiresia's will to live is strong, however, and though the bizarre beauty lives on devoid of her sense of sight and trapped in an indefinable twilight zone somewhere between man and woman, her power of second sight gradually emerges until Tiresia becomes more in tune with the world than ever before. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clara Choveaux, Thiago Teles, (more)
- 2001
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David La Haye, Isabelle Blais, (more)
The burgeoning online romance between a middle-aged Canadian professor and a young Mexican woman is soon complicated by the prospect of marriage and growing suspicions on each side in a romantic comedy starring Vanessa Bauche, Noël Burton, and Susana Salazar. Norman (Burton) and Gladys (Bauche) are two lonely souls just looking for love. Soon after being brought together in the virtual world by an online dating service, the pair gradually gets to know one another over e-mail before eventually making a plan to meet face to face in Mexico. When Norman arrives and proposes marriage to the Mexican beauty, she reluctantly agrees under the explicit understanding that her widowed mother, Fernanda (Salazar), also be able to move to Canada and reside with the pair. But building relationships in the real world is much more difficult than getting to know someone over e-mail, and as Gladys begins to suspect that Norman had help writing his romantic e-mails, Norman begins to harbor suspicions that his new bride only married him to obtain her green card. Though Fernanda does her best to smooth out the rough roads for the troubled couple, her attempt at helping the pair soon results in the most complicated development of all as she and Norman begin to fall deeply in love. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
