The saga of well-qualified doctors from other countries having trouble being a doctor in Canada is well-known. Dr. Cabbie puts a spin asking what happens when a doctor becomes a cab driver who then works as a doctor from his cab.
The newly licensed doctor Dr. Deepak Veer Chopra (Vinay Virmani) becomes a doctor in India and is excited about practicing in Canada. His mother Nellie Chopra (Indian actor Lillete Dubey) is also coming to Canada, sponsored by his uncle Vijay Sharma (Rizwan Manji).
The good doctor struggles in working in his uncle's restaurant. He then meets a cabbie named Tony (English actor Kunal Nayyar) who introduces him to a whole new world as a cab driver.
The rom-com motive kicks in when Natalie, the woman he met earlier (American actor Adrianne Palicki), ends up in the cab, very pregnant, and about to give birth.
The baby's father Colin (Chris Diamantopoulos) is a jerk only interested in the baby as a political stunt while running to be mayor (presumably of Toronto). Colin will prove to be a thorn in people's sides but the twists and turns in this film don't require any Dramamine.
Dubey does very well as Deepak's mother Nellie. Manji (Schitt's Creek) has a lot of fun as Deepak's uncle Vijay. American actor Mircea Monroe gives life to what could have been a thankless role as Rani, Vijay's much younger wife and former stripper. Stephen McHattie has little to do but plays up his grumpy character with flair.
The best part of this film is the Bollywood type scenes and flair. Natalie is surprised how large Deepak's "small" birthday party happens to be. He says small in Indian terms.
Vinay Virmani, the lead actor, actually came up with the story idea. The screenplay comes from Manu Chopra and Ron Kennell with direction from Jean-François Pouliot. The script is geared toward the rom-com with small holes here and there if you are paying strict attention.
The film is a Canada-India-U.S. co-production. Toronto is on full display with lovely small details such as Tony and Deepak living above Hey, Meatball. The actual restaurant existed on College Street while shooting the 2014 film.
The presentation is pleasant. Virmani is a lovable lead. Nayyar is having a lot of fun in this film. The female characters have substance. Enough laughter and love in an above-average rom-com film.
Dr. Cabbie is available on CBC Gem in Canada and Amazon Prime Video in the United States.
video credit: YouTube/eOne Films Canada photo credit: Dr. Cabbie
Welcome to Victoria Day 2023, the unofficial start of summer in Canada. We gathered a few recent items of note and reflect on where Canada is at the moment. You don't have to be at the cabin or cottage to enjoy this notebook. Having a Caesar (or a virgin Caesar) and perhaps a bag of all-dressed or ketchup chips wouldn't hurt.
The Alberta election is a week today. Glad we got the decision that Alberta premier Danielle Smith breached the conflict of interest act. Smith's thought process sadly reminded us of the old Steve Martin joke about how he forgot armed robbery was against the law.
The primary story in the province this month is still the devastating wildfires, even with the election. The conditions are unfortunately ripe for wildfires. We've seen them spread beyond the province in Western Canada.
Can't wait for summer, except when wildfires are involved. Difficult to think about voting for Rachel Notley or Danielle Smith (not directly) when you might have to leave your home or already have evacuated.
We will have more on the Alberta election after we find out the results.
You likely have read about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas receiving luxury gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow. Sadly, this will likely not results in charges or removal from the bench.
Canada Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown has been on leave since February 1 over allegations in Arizona that involve a physical altercation and allegations of unwanted touching of women.
Action was swift in that the incident happened on January 28-29.
We haven't seen updates of late as to how long the leave will last or whether action can be taken against Brown.
The incidents are different in nature but you do get the sense that the Canada Supreme Court cares about appearances on the court while the same is not true in the United States.
Russell Brown and Clarence Thomas do have one intriguing element in common: both were highly conservative judges at a really young age with little judicial experience. Thomas had not been a judge while Brown was only a judge for 2½ years in Alberta.
Brown is 57. If he stays on the court, he can be there until September 15, 2040, his 75th birthday.
There are a lot of Canadian TV shows coming this summer and fall to the CW. One of those "old" shows is Transplant, where Season 3 will be further delayed, as in 2024. Some of that is the writers strike in the United States. That strike may open the flood gates for more Canadian TV.
There is a new Canadian film with a following in the United States. Blackberry is about the Canadian phenomena with a phone with a keyboard.
Matt Johnson directed the film from a screenplay from Johnson and Matthew Miller about the rise and fall of Canadian tech company Research in Motion. American actor Glenn Howerton plays Jim Balsillie while Canadian icon Jay Baruchel plays Mike Lazaridis.
Canadians have great stories that should be told by Canadians. Let's hope for more opportunities like Blackberry and fewer like Argo.
Your humble narrator has not seen the film. Just odd that a lot of Americans can easily see this film in theatres.
The End of Sex played in U.S. theatres for a week. The film played in a couple of Chicago suburbs but not in the actual city, where more likely filmgoers would see this film.
Monia Chokri's new film The Nature of Love | Simple comme Sylvain is the lone Canadian film in competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. This film follows a wealthy woman who has an affair with a working class man.
The film is in the Un Certain Regard section, the same place as A Brother's Love in 2019. You might recall that Chokri directed and starred in Babysitter (2022). Chokri wrote and directed the 2019 and 2023 films.
CBC News has a nice wrapup of the overall Canadian presence at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
The CFL preseason starts today at 4 pm Eastern/2 pm Mountain with the Battle of Alberta as the Elks of Edmonton travel to Calgary to play the Stampeders.
The new CFL Preseason Live means all the preseason games are available online in the U.S. (online for 6, TV for 3 in Canada) though there is no on-demand option.
Gary Bettman's pet project has been a colossal failure in the greater Phoenix area. The latest is a sound rejection of a new arena in Tempe last week.
The argument in Glendale was that fans couldn't get to the arena. The local TV ratings are anemic, barely ahead of what a test pattern (ask your grandparents) would get.
The Arizona Coyotes need a new home and not in the desert. Salt Lake City, Houston, and Kansas City have been mentioned as possible relocation destinations.
The obvious choice is Quebec City and the Quebec Nordiques 2.0. Beautiful new arena, hockey history, fans who like and will support hockey. TSN's Pierre LeBrun, among many others, mentions that Quebec City doesn't have enough corporate money. The idea that the arena would be filled, lots more merchandise would be sold, and a great rivalry in La Belle Province isn't as valuable as corporate money in Salt Lake City is highly frustrating.
The potential ownership has been vetted when Quebec City put up a bid for an expansion team, a setup that was rigged for another desert city and away from an actual hockey city. Time to right a wrong and bring back the Quebec Nordiques.
Canada has a bit of copycat with corporate names for stadiums and arenas. Rogers has the MLB stadium in Toronto and hockey arenas in Edmonton and Vancouver. Scotiabank has the NBA and NHL arena in Toronto and the NHL arena in Calgary.
There is a satisfaction of referring to the large stadium in Toronto as SkyDome, the original name for the stadium. Exhibition Stadium was the home of the Blue Jays (MLB) and Argonauts (CFL). Its replacement has a corporate name (BMO Field).
Taylor Field in Regina, the long-time home of the CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders, was named for Neil J. "Piffles" Taylor, a World War I fighter pilot who served as president of the Regina Roughriders, the Canadian Rugby Union, and the Western Interprovincial Football Union.
Ivor Wynne, as in Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, was athletic director and dean of students at McMaster University.
Mosaic Stadium was also the last name given to Taylor Field. The new Mosaic Stadium is likely to be called that since that field only had that name.
The CFL has corporate names in Regina, Winnipeg, Edmonton (field only), Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa.
Vancouver has BC Place and the old Empire Stadium, though one of the Rogers arenas is in Vancouver.
We have had the sense of Gordon Pinsent as an actor, one who shined much later in his career. The River of My Dreams shows us that Pinsent was also a strong writer, painter, and storyteller.
The storytelling element is best described when he talks about emigrating from Newfoundland to the mainland in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. This was before Newfoundland became a part of Canada, which didn't happen until 1949.
The Brigitte Berman documentary shows how Pinsent ended up in Toronto and then Winnipeg. Pinsent's big break was as the lead of Quentin Durgens MP, one of the first hour-long dramas in Canadian television. The show was about a member of Parliament from the riding of Moose Falls, Ontario. Quentin Durgens MP ran from 1965-1969 on CBC.
He also worked in theatre in Stratford where he formed a friendship with Christopher Plummer. Pinsent spent some time in Hollywood where he formed a friendship with Wally Cox and met Marlon Brando.
We learn personal details, like having 2 children with his first wife, whose name we never learn. His second marriage to actor Charmion King lasted 45 years. King died in 2007. Leah, his daughter with King, is a well-known Canadian actor.
Pinsent's decision to come back to Canada also meant being more involved, such as writing and starring in The Rowdyman (1972). Being in Canada was important to Pinsent.
The film shows him painting as part of the background for Pinsent being in the 2016 documentary. We don't know if he had professional success with the art or more of a hobby.
The film utilized motion capture technology to tell Pinsent's childhood. The fact that Pinsent himself was responsible for making that work is remarkable. The technology does feel a bit creepy. Even if you dislike the technology, the technology only applies to the recreation of his childhood.
Pinsent was a Canadian pioneer because there weren't too many TV and film options in Canada when he first started. His Hollywood career helped establish what he brought when returning back to Canada. This inspired thousands of Canadian actors about succeeding in the United States as well as in Canada.
The River of My Dreams is a delightful presentation of a long and wonderful life with an inspiring career that lasted decades.
Maybe the Telefilm Canada Made in Canada Spotlight campaign aka Canadian Movie of the Week was only a pandemic feature. Telefilm Canada had chances for Canadians to rent a Canadian film for 99¢ in each of the last 2 years. We haven't seen anything from Telefilm Canada on this for 2023. Canadians want to spend loonies on Canadian film.
There was joy in drawing attention to Canadian film in a way to engage Canadians to appreciate great content in their own country. You didn't have to love every film on the list (even I don't love everything) but getting 3-4 films for less than a fancy coffee drink was a great value.
Let's look back at some of those Canadian films in the spotlight:
The 2022 list included C.R.A.Z.Y., ranked #8 on the all-time Top 10 Canadian films list from 2015. A wonderful film from any country. Take This Waltz is one of our favourites. If you are just learning about Sarah Polley as a filmmaker, this is a must watch.
Water made the Top 5 cut for the Academy Awards in the international film category. Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres was that year's Oscars submission.
Giant Little Ones is a great coming of age film that still blows my mind. Night Raiders was a wonderful film from that year.
The other titles available from the 2022 list were Alone Across the Arctic; The Marijuana Conspiracy; A Dangerous Method; Akilla's Escape; Jean of the Joneses; and Long Time Running.
The 4 featured Quebec films were Laurence Anyways; Maria Chapdelaine; Kuessipan; and Souterrain | Underground.
We caught up on some of the titles. We have now seen The Marijuana Conspiracy, Drunken Birds, and Akilla's Escape. Still haven't seen Alone Across the Arctic, A Dangerous Method, and Underground.
Press Release - Telefilm Canada’s Made in Canada Spotlight campaign returns to the Apple TV app (@AppleTV)
The 2021 list was an introduction to the idea with a cavalcade of Canadian film possibilities.
Wander, Target Number One, The Rest of Us, The Kid Detective, and Crash would have been comfortable titles south of the border. Sophie Nélisse was in The Rest of Us and The Kid Detective.
The 2021 list had its own marijuana film around 4/20 (like 2022), the very funny and poignant Canadian Strain.
Quebec almost had as many films as on the 2022 list but did have the classic hockey film Les Boys, the classic Starbuck, Gabrielle, Nadia, Butterfly, and 1991.
The other films on the 2021 list were Maudie, The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw, and Porcupine Lake.
We caught up on some of the titles. We have now seen Target Number One; Crash; Nadia, Butterfly; and The Kid Detective.
Still haven't seen Wander and The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw.
The road trip with Jay Baruchel and Made | Nous was helpful in the spring of 2020 when people were staying home and chilling with Canadian content. This was more of a mix for Canadian film and Canadian television with some titles made in Canada but not considered to be Canadian product.
Canadian films don't show up in too many theatres in Canada, well, English Canada. Drawing attention to Canadian films could be a 24/7 practice and still struggle to penetrate the Canadian market.
Telefilm Canada helps Canadians (sorry, Americans) with See It All to keep track of Canadian films available on streaming services in Canada. We are curious to see how Bill C-11 will make an impact on Canadians to find actual Canadian content.
Knowing some of these films can also help Americans find Canadian content in their own country.
photo credits: Take This Waltz; Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres; Canadian Strain Twitter capture: @Telefilm_Canada
Actors, regardless of gender, reach a point where they start playing parents onscreen. Character actors know this more than traditional leading actors.
Unfortunately, there has been a stigma in Hollywood over female actors and their decision to play mothers. The worry is that they won't be seen as "sexy" or "desirable" once they have played a mother.
The concept is a bunch of bull[droppings] since a woman's "desirability" shouldn't decrease a drop just for playing a mother. Also, men don't have this stigma and they aren't usually as involved with the children onscreen.
Rachel McAdams (she's Canadian) is playing Barbara Simon, mother of Margaret, in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Without knowing (or caring) about her age, she would seem old enough to play a woman who has a daughter about 11 or 12. Not a stretch. Hoping Hollywood still thinks of her and other female actors as viable in the roles she is used to playing.
Natalie Portman rolled the dice on this topic a few years back when she played the mother of Jacob Tremblay's character in Xavier Dolan film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan in 2018. Portman's strategy might have been to play a mom in a film that might not have all that much traction in the United States.
Portman did a really nice job in that film. The scene where she is chasing after him on the sidewalk was highly powerful. As far as most of Hollywood knows, Portman never played a mom in a film.
I thought the film was better than most people thought, though I can feel their complaints about the film.
English Canada argues that they don't have a star system, and we generally agree. Quebec has its own actors, most of whom don't peek out into the English side.
Macha Grenon leaps into my head because I seen her play mother roles in English (The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom) and French (Familia). Grenon also played a mother as the lead in Nouvelle adresse on Ici Radio-Canada Télé. English Canadians might know This Life, which is the English language adaptation on the CBC.
Perhaps Grenon is known for doing well playing mothers and has that look. Plenty of American female actors play mothers and are often typecast in those roles.
We've seen Grenon play non-mother roles in French (Days of Darkness | L'Âge des ténèbres from Denys Arcand) and in English (Barney's Version).
Molly Parker is seen saying goodbye to her daughter as she goes off to university in Essex County. That isn't quite the same as she does very little mothering in the 5-episode miniseries this spring on CBC. Her character provides some work as a aunt, which is like a mother but not a mother. Parker does a number of U.S. based projects but again, few in Hollywood will know Essex County even exists.
Parker played the mother of Kit (Dylan Authors) in Weirdos (2016) from Bruce McDonald. Then again, her character was not going to win Mother of the Year.
Tatiana Maslany won an American Emmy and 4 (out of 4) Canadian Screen Awards for her roles in Orphan Black for 5 seasons. Sarah Manning was a mom to her daughter Kira (Skyler Wexler). Kira was smart enough to know which one was her mother, despite the clones. Cosima Niehaus did interact with Kira more than the other clones; Rachel Duncan, not so much.
Then again, with Maslany also playing Alison Hendrix, Helena, and several clones, maybe the motherhood part got pushed to the side. Siobhan Sadler (Irish actor Maria Doyle Kennedy) was more of a mother to Kira than Sarah was, having served as the foster mother to Sarah and Felix (Jordan Gavaris).
The Canadian system offers a lot more flexibility for female actors. Grace Lynn Kung, who is the lead in Wong & Winchester on Citytv, also plays a mom on Sort Of. Amanda Brugel played 7ven's mother on Season 2 of Sort Of. They aren't being typecast in Canada.
The hope is that Hollywood overhauls its view on female actors, especially lead female actors, to realize that playing a variety of roles enhances a female actor instead of diminishing them for playing a "mother."
Rachel McAdams playing the mother in the movie adaptation of a Judy Blume novel should be the catalyst that changes the Hollywood mindset toward female actors. Even when they get to play grandmothers, female actors are still viable in my film world.
photo credits: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; The Death and Life of John F. Donovan; The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom; Orphan Black
Getting Sarah Polley or Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers would be worth a podcast listen of the highest order. Having a podcast episode with these great Canadian filmmakers having an in-depth conversation without interference from a host is worth putting off other podcast episodes to the backburner.
The NOW magazine podcast dates back to last September before Women Talking broke out for Polley but after Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy came out for Tailfeathers.
As long as the conversation was, I could have listened for another hour. They have a healthy respect for each other's work and ask meaningful questions about the other's thought process to filmmaking.
The Maple Popcorn podcast has a Season 2 with 6 new episodes. Host Marriska Fernandes is back with more interviews with Canadian film and TV people.
Season 2 features conversations with Shasha Nakhai (Scarborough), Martin Edralin and Priscilla Galvez (Islands); Allan Hawco; Michael Greyeyes; Karen Robinson; Hamza Haq; and Joshua Jackson.
You can find out details for Season 2 as well as Season 1 of Maple Popcorn.
The podcast is produced by The Brand is Female with Telefilm Canada.
NOW magazine has some cool Canadian film episodes dealing with TIFF films from last September. A good conversation with Black Ice director Hubert Davis, producer Vinay Virmani and hockey player Saroya Tinker on the relationship between hockey and Canadian identity.
The intriguing conversation with I Like Movies director Chandler Levack made me want to see this Canadian film a second time.
You can find out more about these and other podcast episodes.
We note that Canadian theatres aren't required to air Canadian films, unlike radio stations with Canadian music. This leads to a dominance of American films at Canadian theatres.
A key problem in Canada for any film is Cineplex's 75% market share in Canada. As bad as 75% sounds, figure that in smaller markets, that figure jumps to 90% or 100%.
I confess I didn't know how bad the situation was in Canada until I heard this podcast episode from Commons (via Canadaland) on the Canadian theatres monopoly.
CBC News also has coverage on the difficulties for independent cinema forced to wait longer than normal for films to come to those theatres.
Guests on the podcast episode include Barry Hertz (The Globe and Mail), Corinne Lea, Andy Willick, and Sonya William.
We would love to know of other podcasts dealing with Canadian film. If you know of a podcast on that topic, even if just for an episode, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks.
photo credits: NOW magazine; Maple Popcorn video credit: NOW magazine
When we think of departed sports franchises in Canada, most people might think about the Montréal Expos. Kathleen Jayme thinks about her Vancouver Grizzlies.
6 short seasons in Vancouver. The NBA opened its way to Canada in 1995 for Toronto and Vancouver. The Toronto Raptors had their struggles and stuck around. Why not the Vancouver Grizzlies? The Grizzlie Truth is out to find answers.
Basketball was invented by a Canadian (James Naismith). The Toronto Huskies hosted the first Basketball Association of America, frontrunner to the NBA, in 1946.
Jayme is a superfan and talks to other superfans of the Grizzlies. She talks about the popular support for basketball in her home country of Philippines and adapted that in her home in Vancouver.
Stu Jackson gets a lot of blame for why the Grizzlies stay was short. Steve Francis is another villain in his own way. Vancouver drafted Francis but he didn't want to come to Vancouver. The only negative he listed was taxes. The story was remnant of Eric Lindros with Quebec Nordiques, except the Nordiques got a lot more value for Lindros than the Grizzlies got from Houston for Francis.
Jayme got to talk to both of them in a rather surprising fashion. Did they answer every question every fan had? No. They answered quite a few questions.
She touches on the Canadian teams being placed in a huge disadvantage by the NBA. This was not done before or since to other expansion teams, only for the Canadian teams. The new teams were not allowed to make a pick in the top 5 in the regular 1995 NBA draft. The Raptors and Grizzlies were also not allowed to get the top pick for their first 3 seasons, even if they were to win the draft lottery. They were not allowed to use their full salary cap for 2 seasons.
The Raptors and Grizzlies suffered severely from these restrictions. Vince Carter (Raptors) might have been a key force for why the Raptors stayed.
The NBA had played in places such as Buffalo, Cincinnati, Baltimore, St. Louis, Kansas City, and twice in San Diego. Memphis wasn't necessarily a better destination for the Grizzlies as Oklahoma City wasn't for the Seattle SuperSonics. The NBA had the potential for great rivalries with Portland (Trail Blazers), Seattle, and Vancouver but sacrificed that for smaller cities in the U.S. south.
Unlike people ironically wearing Montréal Expos hats, the Grizzlies haven't been all that visible in the 20+ years since leaving Vancouver. Jayme takes a bold move and goes to Memphis to see if she can love these Grizzlies. Those fanbases that have lost a franchise wouldn't dream of going to the new place.
We won't give away what happened but this bold move might lose some of the people on her side throughout the documentary.
The documentary is a good catharsis for fans who have lost a franchise. Finding answers as to why a franchise disappears is often futile but there is meaning in the search. The NBA didn't have a strong commitment to succeeding in Canada and not a strong sense of where franchises can succeed. Vancouver is a very strong market to support a NBA team but if the league can't see going back to Seattle, there will never be another chance in Vancouver.
There is a generation that knows little to nothing about the Vancouver Grizzlies. If you are a fan of Vancouver, the NBA, or both, The Grizzlie Truth will be a good watching experience.
The film was screened in Toronto at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in late 2022 with a brief Canadian theatrical run earlier this year. The Grizzlie Truth is available in Canada via Crave.
video credit: YouTube/Cargo Film & Releasing photo credit: The Grizzlie Truth
I saw Continental, a Film Without Guns | Continental, un film sans fusil at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. The film won Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. I saw Tu dors Nicole | You're Sleeping Nicole (2014) from the same writer/director Stephane Lafleur.
My excitement for seeing Viking was mostly because of Lafleur's previous films. The premise was that regular people were going on a space mission but not really. The 5 people selected fit the personalities of those actually on Mars. They don't physically look like the people in space, which is why Steven (Larissa Corriveau) is a woman and Liz (Denis Houle) is a man.
David (Steve Laplante) is John, as in John is the person he is emulating on Earth to help solve potential problems with the actual astronauts. David is a gym teacher looking for more significant purpose in his life. The others on his team are Janet (Fabiola N. Aladin) as the team leader and Gary (Hamza Haq). Gary relies more on English as opposed to French than his other teammates.
They are supposed to stay in character but David gets Steven to admit she's an event planner in the outside world.
They have their own team struggles as they exist to provide help to the other team. David gets a little too into his role and overthrows Janet as the leader.
The team plays these moments as deadpan so the audience has to laugh when the need arises. David's desire for 2 sugar cubes in his coffee while the team insists on one sugar cube may not seem funny but it works in the film.
Lafleur (co-written with Éric K. Boulianne) explores interpersonal relationships and the obsession over chemistry in personal relationships. The film does not break stride, much like the obsession over the project from John/David. An office drama where you live with your co-workers.
Gary is the go along/get along person you've seen on a team. He is happy to be on the side of whomever is in charge. This gets challenged a bit when Gary has to admit to John, who is into Steven, that he is into Steven.
I see quite a few Quebecois films and haven't run into a character that spoke French but struggled in moments. An intriguing small detail.
Laplante played a more gregarious character in Babysitter, meaning he starred in 2 of the 6 nominees for Best Motion Picture at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards. Character actors don't always leap well into being the lead but Laplante knows exactly what to do and is very easy to root for, especially when he screws up.
Viking is a rather clever film with subtle humour. The story is fresh and highly relatable. The pacing is solid and you are captivated to find out how the film will end.
Viking received 13 Canadian Screen Awards nominations, including Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Performance (Laplante), and Best Original Screenplay. Sara Mishara won a Canadian Screen Award for cinematography.
The film received Special Mention for Best Canadian Feature Film. behind To Kill a Tiger at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Viking did make the TIFF Top 10 Canadian films of 2022.
Viking is available on Fandor in the United States.
video credit: YouTube/TIFF Trailers photo credit: Viking
Feels like I've seen The Grand Seduction twice. In reality, I saw the 2003 film Seducing Doctor Lewis | La grande séduction and the 2013 film The Grand Seduction.
Both films are written by Ken Scott (Michael Dowse co-wrote the English language version) with other directors: Jean-François Pouliot (Francaise) and Don McKellar (English).
The stories are the same, maddeningly. A lot more similar than Delivery Man, the English language remake of Starbuck (both from Ken Scott). The premise is that a small fishing village needs a plant that will provide jobs. The company insists the town have a doctor, something the town has struggled to find.
Big city doctor gets tricked into coming to the small town. The people of the small town work hard to convince said doctor to stay.
Canadian film has certainly tackled the issue of health care. Think Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasions, the only Canadian film to win an Oscar in the international film category. The image of patients in hospital beds in the hallway felt like a parody.
What has been a quaint topic in those Ken Scott films is an ever growing reality in Canadian health care: finding a doctor in Canada is a difficult task.
"Roughly six million Canadian adults don't have access to a family doctor—up from 4.6 million in 2019. The situation is particularly alarming in rural communities where only 8% of physicians are serving nearly one-fifth of Canada’s population." This according to a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) report.
Please do not capture this out of context as a bash of the medical system in Canada versus the United States. Medical debt and anxiety that only happens in the United States is not a part of the rest of the world. The Canadian health care system is being hit with retirement of doctors due to burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Baby Boomers doctors retiring, and difficulty of trained medical doctors from outside Canada to get credentials to practice in Canada. The Jason Kenney government was chasing away doctors in Alberta but that was more about politics.
Those who have watched Transplant either on CTV in Canada or NBC in the United States know the complex route of the pilot episode so Dr. Bashir Hamed can practice medicine in a Canadian hospital. That is not typical though the show gives us a perspective on that struggle, even in getting to practice medicine.
Canada has 2 huge struggles in administering medicine in a single payer system. The country is mostly rural (think The Grand Seduction) and health care is run by the provinces.
Also, the provinces ask for money from the federal government but don't always spend that money on health care.
A recent episode of the Backbench podcast explored some of the many concerns over Canadian health care. Mattea Roach, the Backbench host (yes, that Mattea Roach), has a nice perspective in that she grew up in rural Nova Scotia and now lives in the big city in Toronto. Roach noted that big Canadian cities are starting to see the inequities of the Canadian health care system that rural people have known for a long time.
Canadian doctors have plenty of debt when they get out of university, though not nearly on the scale of the debt that U.S. doctors have. The issue with Baby Boomer doctors retiring, plus more old people who need care: these are true in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. The world also had to deal with the damage of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care systems.
Health care should not be a profit-making enterprise, even as we saw the significance of private long-term care homes in Ontario. Canada is the closest example of single payer to the United States. Americans should pay more attention to health care north of the border, good and bad.
photo credits: The Grand Seduction; Transplant/CTV
Cronenberg yes, but Brandon Cronenberg is behind Possessor, about an assassin who possesses bodies to perform the killings.
Tasya Vos (English actor Andrea Riseborough) is the assassin from within. Tasya's handler, retired assassin Girder (American actor Jennifer Jason Leigh) is concerned that Tasya is too emotionally devoted to her husband Michael and son Ira and not concentrating enough on killing.
Her next assignment involves infiltrating Colin Tate (American actor Christopher Abbott). The battle within takes up the majority of the film.
Character development is not a Cronenberg goal in this film. Science fiction is the driver for the plot and film.
Riseborough works hard to be almost robotic in the role. This sounds insulting but suits the film.
Leigh makes the most of her limited role. She seems to be the only actor having fun with the story.
The beginning of the film is beautiful and gorgeous. The rest of the film doesn't take advantage of the start.
The story feels cold and going through the motions. The idea of a person within a person can be more thoughtful, such as when Penélope Cruz played a man within her body with Victoria Abril in Sin noticias de Dios (2001).
There are enough twists and turns in the film to keep things interesting. Still, an intriguing story shouldn't be surrounded by a meh presentation.
The concept is enough to keep the filmgoer motivated. Just needed a lot more fun and/or interesting.
Canadians are rather low on the callsheet with Rossif Sutherland in a brief role as Tasya's husband Michael; Kaniehtiio Horn as Reeta; and Gabrielle Graham as Holly Bergman.
Toronto is off in the distance but only an expert or someone who lives there.
Possessor made the TIFF Top Ten list of Canadian films in 2020. The film is available on Hulu in the United States. There are 2 different versions: we reviewed the uncut version though we have no clue what is missing in the other version.
video credit: YouTube/Neon photo credit: Possessor
