Claude Gagnon Movies
- 2005
After losing his father and his will to carry on, a suicidal 22-year-old embarks on an eye-opening journey of self-discovery in director Claude Gagnon's intimate family drama. After Ken awakens to discover that he has somehow survived a plunge from a bridge that by all accounts should have ended his life, his desperate mother enlists the aid of her estranged brother, Takuma, in shaking her son out of his current funk. An internationally renowned potter whose eccentric nature couldn't set him farther apart from Ken's late father, Uncle Takuma is an unpredictable outsider who lives by his own indecipherable moral code. When Ken arrives at his uncle's home and finds himself greeted by a disorienting blend of sake, art, sexual tension, and intrigue, the sense of wonder and curiosity that sadly seemed to wither away following the death of his father is gradually resuscitated by his mysterious new surroundings. The title of the film refers to a centuries-old method for firing Japanese pottery in a kiln. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Smiley, Tatsuya Fuji, (more)
A middle-class teenage misfit living in '70s era Montreal dreams of abandoning his familiar hometown surroundings to seek a brighter future in director Jean-Marc Vallée's character-driven drama. A sexually-confused Christmas Day baby who likes to march to the beat of his own drummer, Zachary Beaulieu (Marc-André Grondin) nevertheless longs to live up to his old-fashioned father's (Michel Cote) decidedly more traditional expectations. As Zachary seeks solace in the sounds of Pink Floyd and David Bowie, his mother assures him that he's bound for greater things and testosterone-fueled siblings raise hell around the house. Despite feeling bound by his comparatively normal surroundings, the revelations provided by David Bowie's "Space Oddity" allows the disheartened Zachary the luxury of dreaming. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Cote, Marc-André Grondin, (more)
- 1999
Histoires D'Hiver/Winter Stories is a nostalgic story set in Montreal in 1966, where 12-year-old Martin (Joel Drapeau-Dalpe) eats, sleeps and dreams hockey. Martin's favorite team is the Montreal Canadiens, an enthusiasm shared by his Uncle Maurice (Denis Bouchard), who loves to spin tales of the team's glorious past, but Martin's father seemingly couldn't care less about the icers. Meanwhile, Martin concocts a scheme to score tickets for a Montreal game by writing star player Henri Richard and claiming to be seriously ill, which does not go as he had hoped. When not thinking about hockey, Martin finds romance first entering his life thanks to his schoolmate Vera (Maude Gionet), and his bohemian English teacher introduces the class to protest music (in this case, Barry McGuire's Eve Of Destruction). Filmed on location in Montreal, Histoires D'Hiver/Winter Stories recieved enthusiastic notices for its strong performances and fine camerawork. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel Drapeau-Dalpe, Denis Bouchard, (more)
A man must decide how long can he hold onto his dream in this drama. Tiff Wood (Colin Ferguson) is a world-class amateur rower whose dream is to compete in the Olympic games. While competition is fierce and Wood suffers more than his share of disappointments, in 1980 he makes the U.S. Olympic team and is thought to be a sure thing to bring home a gold medal in the Moscow games. Political tensions heat up between the United States and Russia, however, and President Jimmy Carter announces that America will be boycotting the Olympics. Crushed, Tiff sees only one option available to him -- to train himself to beat younger and stronger rowers so he can make the team in 1984. Based on the book The Amateurs by David Halberstam, Rowing Through was jointly produced by Japanese and Canadian production companies; the supporting cast includes Leslie Hope, Helen Shaver, and Peter Murnik. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Ferguson, Leslie Hope, (more)
Deliberately Felliniesque, this surreal and uneven Canadian satire from iconoclastic French Canadian director Gilles Carle offers an episodic look into an anarchistic, metaphorical world filled with a bizarre assortment of weirdos, wackos and misanthropes. The story roughly centers on the adventures of Yo-Yo, a young woman who is first seen acting as a high priestess for a ceremony involving the miraculous healing powers of the little boy Alphonse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
A woman looks for her lost son in this Canadian-French melodrama set in Quebec city. Marie-Alexandrine (nicknamed Max) has not been in this city for over 25 years. Max burst into the home of her former best friend and classmate at the Conservatoire de Musique, Catherine Mercier, a renowned concert pianist. The two are opposites. Max was the rebellious one, and Catherine the quiet one. They begin reminiscing and the film flashes back to their youth when both were 15 and had budding musical careers. Max's career is nipped when she tells her strong-willed mother that she is pregnant. Her mother forces Max to give her son up for adoption. Enraged, Max throws her life to the winds and runs away. Back in the present, she has returned to find her son. Catherine assists her. Denis, a garage mechanic who is searching for his mother who abandoned him when he was a baby assists them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geneviève Bujold, Marthe Keller, (more)
In this gentle comedy, Alex (Michael Riley) seems to be blundering through his life like a misguided housefly. After an absence, he returns to Montreal to discover that his best friend Arto is leaving for a long stay in Cairo. He briefly consoles and then becomes the bedmate of Arto's former girlfriend, and then becomes friendly in an intimate way with a neighbor-woman, a single mom with two kids. None of his prospects, romantic or otherwise, inspire him much. It's just as well that the other inhabitants of his apartment building are so friendly and supportive, from the rather odd landlord to the elderly gay couple. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Riley, Martine Rochon, (more)
- 1993
In this home-grown sex farce that takes place in a small Quebec town just before the commencement of World War II, a trio of very handsome and willing women show that they are able to suffer almost any indignity in their quest to satisfy their men sexually; that includes one of them dressing up as a doe in order to excite her huntsman lover, the mayor of this sex-crazed burg. The men, too, show considerable enthusiasm in playing at the game of love. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1991
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
- Starring:
- Macha Grenon
- 1990
It is Christmas Eve, and it's snowing hard. For reasons of his own, Pouliot (Claude Blanchard) tells his two friends (Guy Thauvette and Marcel Leboef) that he won't join them in their attempt to rob a department store. After some discussion, the two (who are brothers) go ahead with their planned theft. They have been followed by a radio reporter (Denis Bouchard), who is aware of the whole scheme. When one of them is caught by the police as they leave the scene of the crime, having killed someone in the confusion, the reporter suggests that the remaining thief take him hostage - at his radio station. Once they are ensconced at the radio station, they are beseiged by advertisers insisting that they interrupt their live-crime broadcast with ads, since everybody is listening to it. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Denis Bouchard, Marcel Leboeuf, (more)
Kenny is a Canadian kid who has a couple of pals and, like a lot of the other lads, idolizes the jock his pretty older sister has chosen as her boyfriend. However, Kenny was born without legs or even the lower part of his body. He gets around (quite well, in fact) on his arms. He has been given a prosthesis that makes him look "normal," but he protests, rightly, that it was made so as to keep other people from getting upset at the sight of him -- it only slows him down. When his sister runs away during the filming of a documentary about how his family has coped with his handicap, he embarks on a solo journey to Philadelphia to find her. There, she pours out her heart, complaining that everything she values in her life has been turned inside out so as to serve and support her legless brother. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Caitlin Clarke, Liane Alexandra Curtis, (more)
- 1985
With an unlikely hero who apparently excels at almost anything, this confused saga of survival in the wilderness and accidental murder starts out hard to believe and stays that way. C.H. (Luc Matte) used to be a star player for the Montreal Canadiens and has turned in his puck and hockey stick for the pursuit of women -- as well as a good game of chess (he is a master at that too). He supports himself by waiting tables and one day takes some time off to go on vacation in the Quebec wilderness, where some local thugs give him a hard time. From that point onward, things get worse after one of the hooligans is accidentally killed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Luc Matte, Allison Odjig, (more)
- 1982
This superficial tale is about a man who inherits a house, enlists a friend and his mistress to help him fix it up, and then all three go to Mexico on a wild goose chase. When they return, they set up a Mexican restaurant in the house. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Niquette, Luc Matte, (more)
- 1979
With the assistance of his Japanese wife, Canadian Claude Gagnon wrote, directed and edited this film. Beset by financial difficulties, shooting for the film was completed in 1975, four years before it was able to be released. Set in Kyoto, the story concerns a stage actress who has an overwhelming need for love and finds most of the men she has affairs with disappointing. She enters into a successful relationship with a woman, who is able to be her true mate. Nonetheless, she is an obedient Japanese daughter, and when her father insists on marrying her to a man he has chosen, she accepts the situation. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Junko Wakashiba, Akiko Kitamura, (more)
