Calling French speakers

[raincitygirl]

Is the movie Polytechnique depressing? I need to watch more Quebecois movies. I really liked C.R.A.Z.Y., but that was a comedy (directed, incidentally, by a Quebecois director who later moved to Hollywood and made Dallas Buyers Club and The Young Victoria). Who says Canadians can't succeed in Hollywood?

And I got a rec from a francophone guy at work that the movie Octobre is apparently amazing. It's about the October Crisis of 1970, when Prime Minister Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act after acts of separatist terrorism. So, based on a true story, just like Polytechnique, but not such a hot button issue for me.

Maybe because I'm not a cabinet minister or a senior diplomat, but I am a woman. Octobre's victims were targeted because they were politically important. Polytechnique's victims were ordinary people targeted for studying engineering while female. So, has anyone seen Polytechnique, and is it likely to make me sob like a baby and sink into a grey depression?

On a totally different note, I don't usually have much time for the National Post. As Canadian newspapers go, it's pretty pathetic most of the time. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and Scott Stinson nails it covering recent developments in the Patrick Kane "situation", and the messages the Chicago Blackhawks as a corporate entity are sending to their female fans. Off to google Scott Stinson's name and see if that was a flash in the pan or if he's written other good articles on other subjects.

Comments

[ancarett]

I'm not ready to watch that film. The events are still so fraught.

That said, I am eying the Duplessis mini-series. It sounds good. Louis Cyr is also on my to-see list.

I love Quebec comedies like Starbucks. We also enjoyed the quiet drama, Monsieur Lazhar.

[raincitygirl]

Yeah, I'm worried that if I buy it, it will sit there unwatched because I'll be dreading it so much. So I probably won't buy it, even though I want the movie to do well financially. I still remember being 13 years old and it being all over the news, and my mum turning off the TV and insisting that I not watch any more. Which pissed me off at the time, but probably saved me from having nightmares.

I had not heard of Starbuck until just now, but I just looked it up and it looks very funny. I haven't seen Monsieur Lazhar, someone I know IRL said it was depressing, so I was avoiding it even though it won awards. Making a note of Louis Cyr and the Duplessis miniseries.

[ancarett]

"Starbuck" is uproariously funny. If you can giggle at "Bon Cop, Bad Cop", this is similarly smartly silly. Also, "French Immersion" is mostly in French and quite a hoot as a Quebec comedy. I mean, really silly, giddy, laugh until you're gasping comedic.

And you've seen Roy Dupuis as the Rocket in "Maurice Richsrd", no? If not, add that to your list - it is a really good "slice of life" movie that is dramatic but not deeply depressing. (Because he's the Rocket and thus, the best.)

[ide_cyan]

I still haven't seen it, either.

Hm. Have you seen the original La Grande Séduction? That's a comedy that was recently remade in English, about a small town trying to lure in a doctor to live there because a big company requires a resident doctor before creating jobs there?

Or there's Nez Rouge, about a romantic comedy centered on the people who volunteer to drive drunk people home during the holidays.

Neither are very recent. I'll try to think of more recs. I liked Monsieur Lazhar, and I saw Xavier Dolan's Mommy, but that might be too depressing, too.

[raincitygirl]

That is SO weird. Dreamwidth never sent me the comment notifications for your comments. I got notified about ancarett's, but not yours. I happened to be in this post to reply to Ancarett, and realized you'd commented. Two days ago. I wasn't ignoring you!

I have not seen La Grande Séduction although it was recommended to me by a co-worker and is on my "maybe" list. I will move it to the "definite" list. Nez Rouge also sounds promising. I'm still kind of depressed, and I want to watch stuff that will make me laugh.

A real life friend saw Mommy, and said I should stay far, far away from it. Monsieur Lazhar doesn't sound funny, but does sound really well done. Can you please PM me at some point and tell me whether it has a happy ending or a sad ending? Doesn't have to be right now. I don't mind good dramas with sad bits, as long the drama ends happily.

[ide_cyan]

FYI, if you can get the French CBC on TV, I recommend the TV show Infoman. It's a weekly news comedy show, but it also often has really interesting reportage. They went to Israel and reported on the security checkpoints to Palestine, and to... Sweden? I think it was? to look at public transport, and they went to Russia for the Olympics to cover less glamorous aspects of things around Sochi, etc. They also try to talk to politicians a bit like Rick Mercer.

The host, Jean-René Dufort, also does scientific capsules on Explora.