Canadian Crossing

Not getting a major distributor doesn't mean your film is banned

Editor's note: We refer to an American film in the story. We are not identifying the film to avoid giving them any publicity.

We hold up Canada as a beacon of freedom, especially compared to the United States. Like a lot of things about Canada, freedom is a bit complex.

The United States can essentially block films through its film rating system. A NC-17 rating essentially bans a film since theatres can't financially justify a NC-17 film. In the Blockbuster Video days, the conservative movie rental company would not carry NC-17 films. The NC-17 was only a consideration for nudity, sex, or female sexual pleasure. Violence got a R or even a PG-13.

Canada doesn't have that issue but has one area where Americans have a slight advantage: Canadian provinces can ban films from their province.

I stumbled upon this fact when Ontario banned the 2001 Catherine Breillat film A ma soeur | Fat Girl. The ban drew a lot of publicity to a film that might have been ignored. I enjoyed the film. While the content isn't for everyone, adults could watch this in a mature manner.

Nova Scotia banned I Spit on Your Grave (1983) until 1998. Alberta banned Women in Love due to nudity. Ontario banned Pretty Baby (1978) until 1995. New Brunswick banned Blue Velvet. Nova Scotia temporarily banned Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

Common sense and modern technology (e.g., cable TV, streaming services) have helped reduce the threat of a banned film.

We generally feel that censorship is bad and banning films through direct action or indirect approach, such as ratings systems, diminishes the filmgoing experience.

There is a gigantic difference between banning a film and a movie not finding a distributor. Xavier Dolan is one of the best filmmakers in the world. Dolan's first film in English The Death and Life of John F. Donovan — with well-known names such as Natalie Portman, Susan Sarandon, and Kit Harington — is having trouble getting U.S. distribution.

Only governments can ban a film. An individual private decision to not carry a film is not a ban.

The folks behind a recent anti-abortion propaganda movie are claiming their movie is essentially banned in Canada. There is not a ban; they contacted 3 major distributors. Mongrel Media, Canada’s largest distributor, allegedly turned down the movie for "content." Landmark and Cineplex — other large distributors in Canada — reportedly also said no to the film.

A cursory Internet search shows there are more than 3 Canadian film distributors. There is certainly no right to have a movie with a large distributor in Canada. Otherwise, all the great Canadian films could be shown in U.S. theatres that were otherwise lacking a distributor.

The audacity of rolling into a foreign country and assuming your movie should be carried by a large distributor is the prototype of the ugly American. They also are playing the ban card to make themselves out to be the victim. There are wonderful Canadian films that can't break into the United States because of a lack of distributor.

These folks should also know that Canada is far less accepting of propaganda and hate speech than the United States as a country.

Bohemian Rhapsody played with the truth in its portrayal of real people. There are creative choices within films that may or may not pay off, but the anti-abortion propaganda movie is in a whole different category.

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

We don't toss out the word "propaganda" lightly. Our Editor's note is there for a reason. The movie is designed to shock and misrepresent the abortion process. You can read these clips from our sibling site, BalanceofFood.com.

Film review: Food Evolution

'Fed Up' speaks to limited truth along with whining and exploitation

'Farmland' is propaganda, but Katie Couric doesn't help 'Fed Up' credibility

Feel free to extend the conversation in the comments section or on Twitter (@canadian_xing).

photo credit: A ma soeur | Fat Girl film

Monia Chokri wins a prize in her directorial debut at 2019 Cannes Film Festival

Monia Chokri's directorial debut La femme de mon frère | A Brother's Love shared in the Un Certain Regard Heart Prize with The Climb from Michael Angelo Covino (United States) at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The top Un Certain Regard prize went to The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão | A vida invisível de Eurídice Gusmão from Karim Aïnouz (Brazil).

Xavier Dolan's Matthias et Maxime competed for the Palme d'Or, the top prize at Cannes. The top Palme d’Or prize went to Parasite from Bong Joon-ho (South Korea).

A very touching end of screening for MATTHIAS ET MAXIME (MATTHIAS AND MAXIME) by Xavier Dolan, "the child of Cannes". #Cannes2019 #CannesMoments #XavierDolan pic.twitter.com/deXR21ztSN

— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 23, 2019

The last film that Dolan presented at Cannes that didn't win a significant prize was Tom à la ferme | Tom at the Farm. Dolan won the Jury Prize for Mommy and a tie for the Grand Prix for Juste la fin du monde | It's Only the End of the World.

J'ai tué ma mère | I Killed My Mother won the CICAE, Regards Jeunes and SACD Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. Les Amours imaginaires | Heartbeats won the Regards jeunes prize. Mommy won the Jury Prize. It’s Only the End of the World took home the Grand Jury Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

He went out of his way to skip the Cannes Film Festival with The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.

The consensus from the festival was that Matthias et Maxime was good but not good enough to rank well. Vulture had its top 15 films from the festival and Dolan's entry didn't make that list.

"Of course it’s not a problem for me to film heterosexual love, but I’m here as a human being, making films that are very close to me, and there’s no reason for me to feel coy about my sexuality. Making Matthias and Maxime was a way for me to tell a love story about two men, which I realized I had never really done," Dolan said in an interview with The New York Times.

We still don't have a U.S. release date for The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Dolan told The New York Times that he doesn't think Matthias et Maxime will get U.S. distribution. "I don’t think I will. No. You want to bet? One hundred thousand dollars."

Xavier Dolan is back with a new film at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival

Xavier Dolan is not giving up on Quebec for future films

Xavier Dolan's new film won't debut at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

Xavier Dolan wins Grand Prix at 2016 Cannes Film Festival

Xavier Dolan wins coveted Cannes Jury Prize for 'Mommy'

Without having seen the new Xavier Dolan film, we shouldn't make much of him not faring well at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Filmmakers take paths where they need to go. That said, I still want his last 2 films.

Dolan's influence extends to Chokri, who won her prize in her directorial debut. The trailer for her film looked pretty funny. Chokri was one of 13 female directors in the festival.

The film stars Évelyne Brochu, one of our favourite Canadian actresses.

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

It Must Be Heaven, a France-Canada co-production in the Palme d'Or category, got good notice in the festival. Nova Scotia got some hearty praise as an unofficial co-star in The Lighthouse, a U.S.-Canada co-production with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. The movie was shot in Yarmouth and Cape Forchu in Nova Scotia.

The 2019 Cannes Film Festival ran May 13-25.

photo credit: La femme de mon frère film
Twitter capture: @Festival_Cannes
video credit: YouTube/cophinebw

Canadian notebook: Celebrating Victoria Day 2019

Editor's note: The column was updated to reflect the impact of the detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in China in the struggle with Canada and the United States. 

Happy Victoria Day 2019. The day theoretically applies to Queen Victoria's birthday falling on the Monday before the actual birthday (May 24). In reality, this is the start of Canadian summer.

CanadianCrossing.com NBA coverage

Staying up later to watch the Toronto Raptors win their first game of the NBA Eastern Conference finals 118-112 in double overtime was easier if you didn't have to go to work today. The Raptors are now 1-0 in double OT in the NBA playoffs.

This was Milwaukee's first road loss in the playoffs. Milwaukee only has 2 playoff losses this season. Game 4 is Tuesday night at 8:30 pm Eastern on TSN in Canada and TNT in the United States.

The New York Times introduces Americans to butter tarts and more Canadian food

IFC should applaud the unique drink that is a Caesar

Celebrating the Caesar

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Caesar. Dan Aykroyd in the Toronto Sun video above talks about how the Caesar is Canada's drink and you would have a tough time arguing otherwise.

Read the stories above. Watch the video. Google a recipe or two. You don't have to be at the cottage to enjoy a Caesar. The drink is a taste of Canada.

The opposite of that might be Mayochup, a combination of mayonnaise and ketchup from Kraft Heinz. The U.S. product recently came into Canada.

The product doesn't sound all that great. You could combine the two without having to buy a specific separate product.

The funny part comes with the name Mayochup, which in the Cree language isn't so funny. The rough translation of Mayochup is "shitfaced" or "shit is on my face."

If you are having a picnic, bring both condiments separately and let your guests make up their own minds.

Trump threat to withdraw from NAFTA should lead back to original Canada-U.S. free trade agreement

NAFTA 2.0, er, USMCA is a nightmarish trade deal for Canada

Despite childish threats by Donald Trump, Canada should hold out for a good NAFTA deal

Deal in place to (finally) lift damaging #steel #aluminum #tariffs on #Canada. Do not let that be a reason to consider ratifying #CUSMA #USMCA https://t.co/Y8mPU8cl8K #cdnpoli #cdntrade

— Chad Rubel (@canadian_xing) May 17, 2019

Let's start with the good news: the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs — 25% on imports of steel and 10% on aluminum — are gone as are Canada's retaliatory tariffs.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is still worried about future tariffs from the United States. "Eternal vigilance is required."

The steel and aluminum industries aren't the only ones to feel the wrath of the angry toddler. There were the 292% tariffs against Bombardier over its C-Series aircraft. The only reason why that isn't an issue any more is that the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled unanimously that "100- to 150-seat large civil aircraft from Canada do not injure U.S. industry."

Boeing has had other issues lately rather than fighting the Canadian airplane industry.

The softwood lumber tariffs are the centre of a battle Canada is fighting with WTO and NAFTA.

The Trudeau Government is going "full steam ahead" — in Freeland's words — to ratifying the new USMCA | CUSMA trade deal. Canada was diligent in not considering the approval of the trade deal without the lifting of the steel and aluminum tariffs.

Parliament almost certainly won't approve the deal before the summer recess. We argue that Canada should receive considerable concessions to consider ratifying the trade deal, despite the lifting of the specific tariffs, especially when there isn't a guarantee that the tariffs won't return.

A long-term softwood lumber deal would be a start. The deal would have to be thorough and reasoned, traits that haven't existed in the U.S. trade delegation.

A no-more-tariffs promise would be ideal, though the current U.S. administration can't be counted on to keep a promise. A name change to the deal would help symbolically. An apology for the steel and aluminum tariffs is less likely than a pipe dream.

Though a short-term deal isn't a lot against long-term trade damage, the U.S. putting pressure on China to release Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig would be helpful. The United States is the reason why Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada and the reason why Spavor and Kovrig were essentially kidnapped.

Canada's passage means nothing if the Democratic legislators in the U.S. House don't approve the deal. Canada's passage of the deal, even if it doesn't go into effect, shows tremendous weakness. No one will come along to bail Canada out of the horrible USMCA | CUSMA trade deal.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. brings a lot of excitement to Toronto Blue Jays

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

I saw Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the first time in person. His fourth HR of his career, the first one not to dead centre field, gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead on the way to a 5-2 win. I saw his father play for the Montréal Expos in the same ballpark on the South Side of Chicago. Good memories on both sides of the family equation.

Billy McKinney (solo HR) and Danny Jansen (2-run HR) contributed to the offence to give Toronto a split in that series. MLB Network in the United States will have the Blue Jays this afternoon at 1 pm Eastern; Rogers Sportsnet carries the game in Canada.

Xavier Dolan is back with a new film at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival

La femme de mon frère | A Brother's Love has already played at Cannes. Xavier Dolan's Matthias et Maxime makes its world debut Wednesday at 4 pm local time. (10 am Eastern).

photo credit: me
video credit: Toronto Sun
Twitter capture: @canadian_xing

Xavier Dolan is back with a new film at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival

Xavier Dolan went out of his way to skip the Cannes Film Festival with his previous film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. We still don't have a U.S. release date for that film.

Dolan's latest release Matthias et Maxime makes its world debut at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The film is about a group of friends in their late-20s. Dolan will be on screen in the new film; his last screen appearance in his films was Tom à la ferme | Tom at the Farm.

Dolan's Cannes success includes the Jury Prize for Mommy and a tie for the Grand Prix for Juste la fin du monde | It's Only the End of the World.

Matthias et Maxime will compete for the Palme d'Or, the top prize at Cannes.

Xavier Dolan is not giving up on Quebec for future films

Xavier Dolan's new film won't debut at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

Xavier Dolan wins Grand Prix at 2016 Cannes Film Festival

Xavier Dolan wins coveted Cannes Jury Prize for 'Mommy'

Monia Chokri will compete in the Un Certain Regard section with her directorial debut La femme de mon frère | A Brother's Love. Chokri has a connection with Dolan since she was the lead in Les Amours imaginaires | Heartbeats and also appeared in Laurence Anyways. You might have also seen her in Denys Arcand's L'Âge des ténèbres | Days of Darkness and as the female lead in Les Affamés | Ravenous.

The film centers on siblings whose close relationship is torn apart when the brother falls in love.

Chokri is one of 13 female directors in the festival. 4 women are in the main category, tying a festival record set in 2011.

Les Amours imaginaires | Heartbeats won the Regards jeunes prize at Cannes.

Agnès Varda was one of many who protested at last year's festival for slighting female directors. Varda passed away in March at the age of 90. Varda is featured on the official poster of the 2019 festival. The image is from when she filmed her debut film La Pointe Courte (1955).

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Here are the other Canadian-related Cannes presentations:

• Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You from Brandon Cronenberg under short films, special screenings.
• It Must Be Heaven, a France-Canada co-production in the Palme d'Or category.
• The Lighthouse is a U.S.-Canada co-production with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in the Directors' Fortnight section. The movie was shot in Yarmouth and Cape Forchu in Nova Scotia.

The 2019 Cannes Film Festival started yesterday and runs through May 25.

photo credit: Matthias et Maxim film; La femme de mon frère film

Video review: Cold Comfort

Cold Comfort is a mix of a scary, creepy film and a play with few characters. A traveling salesman is caught in a blizzard. He gets rescued by a tow truck driver with a few issues. The traveling salesman stays there longer than he wants to be there.

Stephen (Paul Gross) is the salesman in Manitoba trying to get to Calgary. Floyd (Maury Chaykin) is the sociopathic illegal tow-truck driver who rescues him and brings him back to his place as a present for his daughter Dolores (Margaret Langrick) for her 18th birthday.

Paul Gross usually plays strong characters but not in this film early in his career (1989). You might know Langrick from more pleasant films as Sandy Wilson in My American Cousin and American Boyfriends. Her role in Cold Comfort required a lot of maturity. Often, older actresses would play a mature 18-year-old but Langrick was 18 when this film was released.

Video review: My American Cousin/American Boyfriends

Chaykin was a long-time character actor on both side of the border. While he generally plays nicer roles, he is plenty creepy and scary in this film.

While there are few characters in the entire film, Jayne Eastwood has a brief role early in the film.

This film may remind you a bit of Misery (1990) but came out before the American film.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

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The acting performances are wonderful. The creepiness scale is rather high. The intensity is more psychological than physical. If you can handle those elements, you will enjoy the film. If not, we understand completely.

Cold Comfort won the Genie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film also got nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Chaykin), Best Actress (Langrick), and Best Musical Score).

The film is currently available in the United States via Amazon Prime.

photo credit: Cold Comfort film

Canadian films on streaming video need a lot more publicity

As an occasional viewer of Busy Tonight with Busy Philipps, I loved that Geena Davis and Emma Roberts were on back-to-back nights last week. Busy Tonight is not a typical talk show though projects get mentioned.

Geena Davis and Emma Roberts both have a Canadian film on Amazon Prime Video: Don't Talk to Irene (Davis) and Little Italy (Roberts). We almost never hear about Canadian films from American celebrities on American talk shows.

There are several good arguments for why this is so:

• American talk shows aren't there to promote films that people can't access in American theaters.
• If an actor or director has several projects, there is a track toward promoting a specific project.
• That promotion is usually tied to an American film with a large promotion budget.
• Talk shows haven't figured out to promote projects on streaming video.

Canadian films should be promoted on Canadian talk shows. The late-night talk shows on Canadian TV are the same ones seen in the United States. There are daytime talk shows in Canada such as Breakfast Television, The Marilyn Denis Show, and The Social. They don't spend too much time on Canadian entertainment and what little time there is gets devoted to Canadian television.

The promotion of Canadian film would likely be limited to films that open nationwide, and there aren't that many Canadian films in that category.

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

You almost need a TV show or even a YouTube channel devoted to Canadian films premiering on streaming services in Canada and the United States. That might be a 3-minute segment weekly at best on a talk show.

If we can come up with a viable way or you find an option, please let us know.

photo credit: Don't Talk to Irene film

Canadian film case study: Roads to February

We are introducing a new segment at CanadianCrossing.com for our film coverage. We have danced around the idea of Canadian films that aren't so Canadian. We will pick a Canadian film and showcase what does and doesn't make it Canadian.

Roads in February | Les routes en février made the TIFF Top 10 Canadian film list for 2018. On the surface, the film takes place in Uruguay though the main character lives in Montréal. I did make the remark before watching the film that the story will start briefly in Montréal but spend most of the time in Uruguay. The example is my head was Incendies.

So much for optimism.

Roads in February spends no time in Montréal, Quebec, or Canada literally or figuratively. The entire film is set in and filmed in Uruguay.

Canada becomes visible as a place where Sara lives but also invisible in that, while you are in Uruguay, you could be in China as easily as Canada. The application is remnant of the phenomena in the United States of teenagers having an invisible boyfriend/girlfriend in Canada.

The true Canadian presence is actress Arlen Aguayo-Stewart, who has the lead role as Sara. This was the first opportunity for Aguayo-Stewart to have the leading role in a film. Aguayo-Stewart has a lot of her shoulders in the film and responds well. She won the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Film.

Writer/director Katherine Jerkovic noted during a Q&A session after a screening in Chicago that her Canadian producers required her to have a Canadian in the lead of the film. Like Sara, Jerkovic lives in Montréal.

The film centres on Sara's return to Uruguay to visit her grandmother years after the family left the small village where they lived. The film is a very sleepy story. The story focuses on the grandmother who wonders why her son didn't come back to visit her and Sara trying to find something back in this tiny village.

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2018

Roads in February is a pleasant film, not bad or great. Random acts don't mean anything above and beyond whatever happens to Sara. The film has more meaning to Jerkovic than it does to the audience.

The film won Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Presumably, the award is the primary reason to be included on the list.

As we noted in our recent review of Mary Goes Round, the lead is actually an American actor in Aya Cash. The acting talent doesn't determine the identity of a Canadian film. Aguayo-Stewart took advantage of a wonderful opportunity, but her presence in Roads in February doesn't make it a Canadian film any more than Mary Goes Round would be an American film with an American lead actor.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

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The TIFF Top 10 list is supposed to be a cross-section, not literally the 10 best Canadian films of the year. Some of that cross-section are films that don't easily identify as "Canadian." This film, along with What Walaa Wants, are the films on the 2018 TIFF Top 10 list that have little to no visible Canadian content.

Roads in February is a quiet, sleepy film set far away from Canada. Katherine Jerkovic and Arlen Aguayo-Stewart show quite a bit of potential. Just don't look for a whole lot of Canada in this Canadian film.

photo credit: Roads in February
video credit: YouTube/TIFF Trailers

Celebrating National Canadian Film Day 2019

THE A to Zs of #CanFilmDay 📚 🇨🇦 — April 17

ANGRY INUK
BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY
C.R.A.Z.Y.
DEAD RINGERS
EDGE OF THE KNIFE
FALLS AROUND HER
GINGER SNAPS
HURT
INDIAN HORSE
KAYAK TO KLEMTU
LÉOLO
MAUDIE
NELLY
LES ORDRES
POUR LA SUITE DU MONDE
REMEMBER
SABAH
THE TROTSKY
VIDEODROME
WATER

— Canadian Film Day (@canfilmday) April 4, 2019

An alphabetical list is a great way to think about Canadian film as we celebrate National Canadian Film Day today. I decided to come up with my own list in the spirit of the exercise.

These are Canadian films that I have seen. I didn't necessarily pick the best film that started with the letter but compiled a list with a cross-section of Canadian film. I could not come up with X or Z (or Zed). I would love to do a documentary on Zed called Zed or Z in American.

I also picked different films from the @CanFilmDay list. My list isn't better or worse than their list or other lists.

All the Wrong Reasons
Better Than Chocolate
Cafe de Flore
The Decline of the American Empire
Empire of Dirt
The Five Senses
Goin’ Down the Road
Hard Core Logo
Into the Forest
Jesus of Montreal
Kissed
Last Night
Marion Bridge
New Waterford Girl
One Week
Polytechnique
Quebec-Montreal
The Red Violin
Stardom
Trigger
Unarmed Verses
Vic and Flo Saw a Bear
waydowntown
x
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom
z

Those who live or are in Canada can celebrate at Canadian film gatherings across the country. You can celebrate in an more intimate setting with online streaming, films on cable channels, and films in Canadian theatres.

While CBC Gem is mostly for television, the service has quite a few Canadian film titles. A relative new trend is checking out Canadian films from your local library. You can support Canadian film and your local library at the same time. Canada Screens is another great option within Canada where you can rent individual films one at a time.

The necessity of Canadian films that don't seem Canadian

You can even explore Canadian films that don't look Canadian with subtitles in languages other than English or French or an indigenous language. They count, too.

Made Nous and other ways to promote Canadian content

Dream of a Starlight Canadian film channel should shift to a streaming service

Made | Nous has been a wonderful campaign to bring a spotlight to Canadian content. You can use your love of Canadian television to find films that have the same actor. Emily Hampshire just won a Canadian Screen Award for her portrayal of Stevie Budd on Schitt's Creek. You can see Hampshire in Canadian films such as The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, All the Wrong Reasons, My Awkward Sexual Adventure, Cosmopolis, Good Neighbours, and The Trotsky.

Kevin Hanchard has done a lot of Canadian television, including Orphan Black. Hanchard also played Dizzy Gillespie in Born to Be Blue.

Caroline Dhavernas is known for her TV work but has been in a number of Canadian films in English and French: Hochelaga, Land of Souls; The Forbidden Room; Mars et Avril; Passchendaele; and Niagara Motel.

This year's edition of the National Canadian Film Day has the theme of 100 years of Canadian film. Reel Canada points out the oldest surviving feature film from 1919: Nell Shipman's silent film Back to God’s Country.

I know I've seen a couple of shorter films from the 1960s. Goin' Down the Road (1970) and Mon Oncle Antoine (1971) are the caretakers to the shift to the modern era of Canadian film. You might choose a more recent Canadian film but you do have more options.

Celebrating National Canadian Film Day 2018

Celebrating National Canadian Film Day 2017

Celebrate the 2016 version of National Canadian Film Day

Celebrating National Canadian Film Day 2015

See a Canadian film on National Canadian Film Day (2014)

Those outside Canada can find plenty of Canadian films on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

2019 Canada Now Canadian film festival still too focused on U.S. coasts

Here are a bunch of Canadian films that pass the Bechdel test

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews coverage

You can gather more information about National Canadian Film Day 2019.

Twitter capture: @CanFilmDay
video credit: YouTube/Encore +
photo credit: National Canadian Film Day/Reel Canada

Video review: Mary Goes Round

As a child of a father who was a marriage counsellor with perhaps not the best marriage on the block, I could appreciate a story about a substance abuse counsellor with a drinking problem.

Mary Goes Round is about Mary, who gets arrested for drunk driving. She goes from the big city (Toronto) to where she grew up (Niagara Falls) back to her family. She shows up to find that her father is dying from cancer but he won't tell his younger daughter, the half-sister Mary has never met.

Aya Cash — an American actress know primarily for her lead role in the FXX series You're the Worst — gives us an innocence to Mary, who doesn't take the path that substance abuse counsellor Mary would take to help alcoholic Mary. Writer/director Molly McGlynn strikes an ideal balance with light and meaningful but never sappy. The concept could easily fall apart but everyone involved doesn't let that happen.

Being back at home, Mary searches for the connection between drinking and her family, taking on the added burden of getting to learn more about her half-sister while also taking care of her.

You get a feel of small-town Ontario in the film. Mary points out during a meeting that she is from Timmins and makes a Shania Twain reference.

TIFF 2017 preview

TIFF 2017 Canadian films preview

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

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Kristian Bruun has a nice small role as a police officer. Emma Hunter plays a random friend Mary runs into while back home. Aaron Poole, in a less scary role than Strange Empire, plays Mary's Toronto boyfriend.

Bruun and Hunter starred in the McGlynn short film 3-Way (Not Calling) in 2016. The 2017 film was McGlynn's full-length film debut.

McGlynn hovers in the middle with the film not getting too high or low but does a marvelous job of setting the tone she wants and getting her audience to come along for the ride.

Mary Goes Round is available in the U.S. through Amazon Prime.

video credit: YouTube/Wilding Pictures
photo credit: Mary Goes Round

2019 Canada Now Canadian film festival still too focused on U.S. coasts

The 2019 version of Canada Now films sneaked past us and already launched in New York City and Los Angeles.

The New York City version at the IFC Center featuring some films we know, some films where we had no clue, and in the words of The New York Times: "Canadian productions in disguise."

Those words specifically applied to Hugh Hefner's After Dark: Speaking Out in America but also appears to apply to The Accountant of Auschwitz.

There are Canadian documentaries on the list that are known to our readers, which includes Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, winner of the top doc award at the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards, and Edge of the Knife.

The Fireflies Are Gone is the only other film besides Anthropocene: The Human Epoch on the list we've seen. Mouthpiece from Patricia Rozema is on my list and their list.

Clara and À tous ceux qui ne me lisent pas | For Those Who Don't Read Me, based on the poet Yves Boisvert from Yan Giroux, are completely new to me.

Other areas are getting fewer films or different films. As an example, the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA got Through Black Spruce and Firecrackers. You can see all the films and all the dates in various places.

We love the idea of Canadian films touring the United States, but a real tour with advance publicity that isn't trapped by the yo-yo that is New York City and Los Angeles and somehow New Orleans most years.

This isn't just about Chicago but more about the idea that people in the middle of the United States could get into the idea of a Canadian film festival if one ever came to their city. Some of the dates are throwing in a film or two in another festival. Canada Now is its own festival in New York City and Los Angeles.

Canada Now is adding Germany and Mexico to the UK for international destinations, which is welcome news. Semana de Cine Canadiense (Canadian Film Week) just finished up in Mexico.

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Telefilm Canada, which organises Canada Now, should spread the word to places that would warmly embrace Canadian film in the United States.

You can find out more about the 2019 Canada Now Canadian film lineup.

video and photo credit: Canada Now