This is the 20th Anniversary of the Canadian Film Fest, taking place March 24-29. Our illustrious leader of Biff Bam Pop has entrusted this Granny with a review of her favourites. We will start with Plan C.
Plan C
Plan C is one of the better crime dramas that I have seen in a while. Written and directed by Scott Anthony Cavalheiro and starring Claire Cavalheiro, Daniel De Santo, Vivica A. Fox, Jamie Spilchuk, Koris Jarsky, and Kris Holden-Reid, Plan C is a fast-moving and gritty crime thriller where a desperate sister (Claire Cavalheiro) commits a horrendous robbery and then kidnaps a plastic surgeon (Jamie Spilchuk) in order to save her brother’s (Joris Jarsky) life.
The writing and acting were superb, and the story quite believable in a world where good healthcare is affordable everywhere but in the States. It runs a tight 89 minutes, but the storyline and emotions have you hooked from the start. I give it an A+
The next film from the Canadian Film Fest is The Bearded Girl.
The Bearded Girl, directed by Jody Wilson and starring Anwen O’Driscoll, Jessica Pare, Skylar Radzion, and Ava Anton, is a coming-of-age tale set in a family-run circus sideshow. Cleo (Anwen O’Driscoll) born with the gene for the hereditary beard is having a hard time finding her purpose and identity while Cleo’s sister, Josephine (Skylar Radzion) born without a beard has more freedom.
As the day of the Sacred Initiation approaches, Cleo is expected to begin performing with her mother. But craving a normal, beardless life, Cleo rebels against her mother, Lady Andre (Jessica Pare) and runs away to find love. This film was excellently written and performed. I see this becoming a cult favourite for all of us who are trying to find our place in this world.
A Breed Apart is a Canadian historical drama written and directed by Adam Belanger and David Lafontaine, and starring Joshua Close, Isaac Highams, Krista Bridges, James Gilbert, Stuart Hughes, Charlie Storey, and Simon Webster. A Breed Apart is a harsh frontier story that should win the Academy Award, or I am going to be very upset.
Soon after an English cattle breeder, Sydney Tompkins (Joshua Close), and his young son, Emmett (Isaac Highams), arrive in Canada with a new breed of cattle, they are dealt many losses. Sydney loses his wife, and Emmett his mother. It’s the 1850s, and everyone is interested in raising cattle, and they are especially interested in the cattle owned by Sydney.
While Sydney’s cattle begin to mysteriously die, Emmet makes friends with a neighbouring farmer and his family. The story is told from Emmett’s viewpoint, and Isaac Highams gives an incredible performance as a young boy observing the struggles of surviving frontier life in Northern Ontario in 1950.
Nesting (Peau ‘a Peau) is certainly one of the scariest postpartum films that I’ve ever watched. Nesting, written and directed by Chloe Cing-Mars and starring Rose-Marie Perreault, Simon Landry-Desy, and Saladin Dellers, is a French-Canadian film that follows a new mother, Penelope (Rose-Marie Perreault), who is dealing with severe postpartum symptoms. Her baby boy is constantly hungry, which doesn’t help with Penelope’s sore and bloody nipples. The baby is not thriving, and Penelope receives no compassion from either the doctor or her family.
Baby Lou also doesn’t sleep, and all of us parents out there know what a nightmare that can be, but Penelope is getting no help at all from her boyfriend, Gaspard (Simon Landry-Desy). Let’s just say that Gaspard is too busy having fun with his band. An armed robbery at a convenience store causes Penelope to have a psychotic episode. Our sympathy for Penelope quickly shifts to genuine concern for baby Lou’s survival. Motherhood can be dangerous when a young mother does not have a support system, but especially when the dead decide to visit. I loved this film, but I chewed on my fingers the entire time. I give this a 5+ star rating.
Granny saved the best for last, Ballistic. Written and directed by Chad Faust and starring Lena Headey, AmyBeth McNulty, Hamza Haq, Enrico Colantoni, Chad Faust, Amanda Brugel, and Jesse Redfield, Ballistic is a heartbreaking story about a mother who works at an ammunition manufacturing company and discovers a horrible secret after her son is killed in Afghanistan.
This one really hit a nerve, especially since our president decided to go “Epic Fury” without Congress’s knowledge. Seven soldiers were killed almost right away. Seven families are dealing with an unnecessary loss. And let’s not even mention the death and destruction in the Middle East…so yes…Ballistic is a hard film to watch. War sucks. Rich men get rich making weapons, and the poor are forced to send their children to their graves.
Okay, my rant is over…back to the review. Lena Headey is absolutely stunning as a grieving mother who finds out that the bullets she made had somehow landed in the hands of the enemy soldiers. Ballistic allows Lena Headey to use her great acting skills to convey every emotion a mother of a fallen hero would feel as she tries to understand and cope with the horror that upended her world. Once word gets out about this film, I guarantee you, that Ballistic will rise to the level of recognition that Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk, and Full Metal Jacket have received. That’s if we haven’t blown ourselves up in WW3. Ballistic is definitely an Academy Award Winner.
