Charlotte Laurier Movies

Luke Kirby and Keith Carradine star in director Leonard Farlinger's adaptation of author Brad Smith's laid back neo-western novel. Ray Dokes (Kirby) has just been released from prison, and now as the laconic ex-con makes his way back home he is stunned to see just how much progress has transformed the countryside of his youth. Looking to lie low for a while, Ray heads to the farm of his good friend Pete Culpepper (Keith Carradine). A garrulous farmer who's drowning in debt, Pete is a true Texas cowboy whose corn seems too stubborn to grow this season. The first order of business for Ray is to visit his old flame Etta (Lisa Ray, but things have gotten complicated since Ray was put away and making his way to the woman he loves isn't going to be nearly as easy as he had hoped. Soon after hooking up with firebrand jockey Chrissis (Rachel Leigh Cook), Ray discovers that his old nemesis Sonny Staunton (Noam Jenkins) - the wealthy heir to a thoroughbred dynasty - is currently attempting to buy up as much farmland as possible in order to start breaking ground on a luxurious new golf course. It seems that Etta is the only member of the rural community bold enough to stand up against Sonny, but when a valuable thoroughbred goes missing from Staunton Stables the desperate entrepreneur forces the sale of the area's few remaining farms. Realizing the danger of contending with such a powerful and determined man (after all, it was Sonny who got Ray locked away in the first place), Ray does his best to sideline Sonny's nefarious plan and save the remaining farmlands without making the one false move that could land him back in jail. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

"To love with your molecules is only possible at the beginning of a relationship" theorizes Marguerite who has been married to Paul for five years; miraculously the molecules in their pairing are still at work. Except for one thing: they live in Montreal, and molecules do not like the cold! Paul who works in a zoo, takes care of his sick son from another relationship and his father who is a clandestine immigrant. Marguerite is terribly bored. One day her molecules explode, and she runs away with the brother of the parish priest -- though she refuses to make love to him. The film begins with a very long take of an intended kiss between Paul and Marguerite; another long take shows Paul killing Marguerite. It is all a big flashback. Slowly, it all gets quite boring because there is no intrigue. Viewers understand that there is something wrong with the relationship but may be left wondering why they should care. The continuous voiceover -- first Paul, then Marguerite -- does not help either. Director Bertrand Bonello seems to be searching for a personal style, but it ends up being a futile intellectual exercise, mainly because the style he is trying to adopt is claustrophobic, and to say the least, rather heavy to digest. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Six short movies by six successful Canadian directors are gathered in this anthology film, commissioned to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Montréal in 1992. The first film, directed by Patricia Rozema, humorously follows a bewildered Toronto housewife as she frantically attempts to enjoy her visit to this aggressively French-speaking city. She knows only English and must on one occasion resort to following the film's subtitles in order to understand what is happening. The second short feature by director Jacques Leduc attempts to encapsulate more than three centuries of history in brief documentary form. The third feature by Michel Brault parallels the action in a hockey game at the Montréal Forum with the divorce games of a young couple. In the next feature by Atom Egoyan, a lonely tourist experiences communication only from the headset narration provided by his electronic walking tour device. An automobile accident provides the occasion, in the next segment by Pierre Mignot, for a woman to have her life flash before her eyes. Finally, Denys Arcand shows an important governmental representative is quite innocently mangling the introductions being made to him as he stands in the receiving line of a cocktail party. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Le Party of the title is an event held in a men's prison periodically, featuring outside entertainers. Many of the prison staff and their families (and most of the prisoners) attend, and feelings run high. In this film, various female outsiders meet, have encounters with, and occasionally run afoul of the male prisoners. In addition to these main stories, several others include the efforts of a prisoner to escape through dressing up in drag and impersonating the female guest of a prison official, and the suicide plans of a man prevented from attending. This gritty drama is based on the prison recollections of scriptwriting consultant Francis Smiardi). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The year 1989 marked the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, and a number of filmmakers put together movies intended to celebrate that event. This historical action drama, based on the book Sous le vent de galerne by Andre Guilloteau looks at some of the less well-known and unappealing consequences of the republican takeover. In 1793, the entire region of Vendee rose up in revolt against the republican French government. Instead of bringing relief from the heavy taxation imposed under the monarchy, the republican government actually raised taxes in the region, and to add insult to injury, also imposed a heavy burden of military conscription ("the draft") on it. In the story, the inhabitants of one of the villages of the region organize under their blacksmith and a local nobleman to fight the government forces, but before they can prepare for a proper battle, they are massacred. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Agnes of God is an "opened up" adaptation of the minimalist stage play by John Pielmeier. Meg Tilly plays a young nun who secretly gives birth to a baby; the child's body is later found strangled to death. Court-appointed psychiatrist Jane Fonda is sent to the convent to investigate, a task made difficult by the weathervane behavior of mother superior Anne Bancroft. To draw out Tilly, who remembers nothing of the birth, Fonda suggests that hypnosis is called for. Playwright Pielmeier poses many questions--is Tilly a pure-and-simple murderess, or was there something "divine" in her act?--but offers frustratingly few answers. The evocative photography is by longtime Ingmar Bergman associate Sven Nykvist. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This heavy-duty literary drama is about the burdens faced by one family during the end of the Great Depression in the late 1930s and is based on a novel by Gabrielle Roy. The oldest daughter in the family works in a diner to help make ends meet, giving her paycheck to her mother and keeping her tips for herself. After a few encounters with a fast-talking womanizer at the diner she spends one night with him and ends up pregnant and abandoned. At the same time or in short succession, her father loses his job, they move to a miserable, damp location, and the youngest brother contracts tuberculosis -- numerous tragedies that ultimately stem from poverty. The pregnant daughter connives to get engaged to a decent, shy young man who then goes off to war. But because of their engagement, the daughter now has access to a new and large house, and in spite of everything, the family's fortunes may be improving a little. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi