Family first is an ideal philosophy but even that concept has its limits. The family in Family First (Chien de garde) tests those limits.
Uncle Dany runs a drug cartel and uses his nephews JP (Jean-Simon Leduc) and Vincent (Théodore Pellerin) as muscle. Their mother (Maude Guérin) is a recovering alcoholic.
JP lives in the family house with his brother and mother. His girlfriend (Claudel Laberge) is trying to get him to leave the house: think of her as Marilyn Munster, the only reasonably normal one.
JP is trying to better himself to become an electrician. The film watches him get closer and closer to making the decision to leave.
Chien de garde is Canada's Best Foreign Language Film entry
If you saw Théodore Pellerin in Never Steady, Never Still last year, Vincent is the opposite, a mashup of various -paths (psychopath, sociopath). Vincent doesn't have an off-switch. He headbutts people with little provocation. He is entirely inappropriate to women, especially his mother and brother's girlfriend. No one seems concerned or cares. Uncle Dany likes Vincent because he will be violent anytime, anywhere.
Vincent's redeeming quality, as such, is that he is loyal to the family. This includes threatening the brother's girlfriend if she takes him away from the house.
Writer-director Sophie Dupuis, in her full-length feature debut, runs into a few problems with this film.
- Xavier Dolan had a troubled teenager who was a terror in his film Mommy. Antoine-Olivier Pilon as Steve Després gave a multidimensional portrayal. Vincent comes across more as a cartoon character right down to his atypical haircut.
- From the moment the film starts, you can predict almost every action in the film. The lone exception is the level of creepiness Vincent can reach.
- The film could use some context, any context. Character depth is also highly limited. Dany is as evil and the mother is clueless as Vincent is without boundaries. Outside of JP, the other major characters feel 1-dimensional. This doesn't feel quite like a TV movie but does have many similar elements.
Vincent has Family First tattooed on his arms in English yet the film is in French, unless that is a way to remind viewers of the English-language title.
The characters exist in Verdun, a neighbourhood in the southwestern part of Montréal. We see bits of that in the early part of the picture. Other than a shot of downtown Montréal late in the film, we lose the sense of place.
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Pellerin's performance is the only reason to pay to see this film. The sad part is with a bit more dimension and a much better script, Pellerin's performance would shine brighter.
You might recognize Jean-Simon Leduc from last year's Et au pire, on se mariera from Léa Pool. Leduc conveys JP's anguish well over leaving a really bad situation.
Chien de garde received 8 Prix Iris nominations and won 3 awards, including Best Actress for Guérin and Revelation of the Year for Pellerin. The film is also Canada's nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film award at the Academy Awards on February 24. We should know in December whether this film made the Top 9 cut.
video credit: YouTube/Chien de garde le film
image credit: Chien de garde film
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