The 32nd Genie Award were tonight and Monsieur Lazhar wins top honours of the night going home with 6 awards including Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Directing, Adapted Screenplay, Editing and 2 acting awards for FELLAG for Actor in a Leading Role and SOPHIE NÉLISSE for Actress in a Supporting Role. A Dangerous Method also went home with a hefty set of statues with winning including art direction, score, sound and sound editing plus Actor in a Supporting Role to Viggo Mortensen who wrapped his Genie in a Montreal Canadiens Flag, which was the highlight of the broadcast (although the meta-Andrea Martin non-co-hosting skit was pretty funny). I was a little surprized that the leading out of the gate film Café de Flore which was nominated for a whopping 13 films only won 3 awards but I think goes to show just how strong the competition was this year.
I can't forget to mention that the broadcast had actual on-stage figure skating to the nominated songs. When George Stroumboulopoulos said that, I really though he was pulling our legs. But no, there was lots of leg extension and figure skating. That's a first.
And with that - congratulations to the winners! Let's have a look at them now. They are listed in the order in which they were presented on the live broadcast (best motion picture) plus remaining awards.
32nd Genie Winners
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION MASCULINE DANS UN RÔLE DE SOUTIEN
VIGGO MORTENSEN - A Dangerous Method
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION FÉMININE DANS UN RÔLE DE SOUTIEN
SOPHIE NÉLISSE - Monsieur Lazhar
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION FÉMININE DANS UN PREMIER RÔLE
VANESSA PARADIS - Café de Flore
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION MASCULINE DANS UN PREMIER RÔLE
FELLAG - Monsieur Lazhar
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION / MEILLEURE RÉALISATION
PHILIPPE FALARDEAU - Monsieur Lazhar
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG / MEILLEURE CHANSON ORIGINALE
CAROLE FACAL - Starbuck - Quelque part
BEST MOTION PICTURE / MEILLEUR FILM
MONSIEUR LAZHAR - Luc Déry, Kim McCraw
ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN / MEILLEURE DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE
JAMES MCATEER - A Dangerous Method
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY / MEILLEURES IMAGES
JEAN-FRANÇOIS LORD - Snow & Ashes
ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN / MEILLEURS COSTUMES
MARIE-CHANTALE VAILLANCOURT - Funkytown
ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING / MEILLEUR MONTAGE
STÉPHANE LAFLEUR - Monsieur Lazhar
ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP / MEILLEURS MAQUILLAGES
CHRISTIANE FATTORI, FRÉDÉRIC MARIN - Café de Flore
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE / MEILLEURE MUSIQUE ORIGINALE
HOWARD SHORE - A Dangerous Method
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY / MEILLEUR SCÉNARIO
KEN SCOTT, MARTIN PETIT - Starbuck
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY / MEILLEURE ADAPTATION
PHILIPPE FALARDEAU - Monsieur Lazhar
ACHIEVEMENT IN OVERALL SOUND / MEILLEUR SON D'ENSEMBLE
OREST SUSHKO, CHRISTIAN COOKE, JACK HEEREN, REINHARD STERGAR, DON WHITE – A Dangerous Method
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING / MEILLEUR MONTAGE SONORE
WAYNE GRIFFIN, ROB BERTOLA, TONY CURRIE, ALASTAIR GRAY, ANDY MALCOLM, MICHAEL O'FARRELL - A Dangerous Method
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS / MEILLEURS EFFETS VISUELS
MARC CÔTÉ, STÉPHANIE BROUSSAUD, GARY CHUNTZ, VINCENT DUDOUET, CYNTHIA MOUROU, ERIC NORMANDIN, MARTIN PENSA, LUC SANFAÇON, SYLVAIN THÉROUX, NATHALIE TREMBLAY - Café de Flore
BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY / MEILLEUR LONG MÉTRAGE DOCUMENTAIRE
LA NUIT, ELLES DANSENT / AT NIGHT, THEY DANCE - Lucie Lambert, Isabelle Lavigne, Stéphane Thibault
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE DOCUMENTAIRE
SIRMILIK - Zacharias Kunuk, Joel McConvey, Kristina McLaughlin, Kevin McMahon, Michael McMahon, Geoff Morrison, Ryan J. Noth
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT DRAMA / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE DRAMATIQUE
DOUBLES WITH SLIGHT PEPPER - Ian Harnarine, Ryan Silbert
BEST ANIMATED SHORT / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE D'ANIMATION
ROMANCE - Georges Schwizgebel, René Chénier, Marc Bertrand
SPECIAL AWARDS
CLAUDE JUTRA AWARD / PRIX CLAUDE-JUTRA
Anne Émond - Nuit #1
CINEPLEX GOLDEN REEL AWARD / Prix de la Bobine d'Or Cineplex
STARBUCK – Producer: André Rouleau (Distributed by Les Films Christal in partnership with Entertainment One).
The 32nd Genie Awards were broadcasted on Thursday March 8, 2012 at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Television.
32nd Genie Winners
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom (DVD Review)
Writer/Dir: Tara Johns - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Macha Grenon, Julia Stone, Gil Bellows, Rebecca Croll, Trevor Hayes and the voice of Dolly Parton
Canada, 2011
Reason to see: Canadian & coming of age film is a yes/yes for me!
I’ve been aching to see The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom ever since it released here in Toronto almost a year ago, as I’ve realized I love the genre and we’ve had a really great run of young coming of age films recent that truly speak to and of the experience of young girls and women. It’s so refreshing to see moments of young girls depicted with an true, emotional resonance. The awkward stages of life, the changing wave of friendships during puberty, the realness of life and how the whole world of emotions that surface with fierce intensity at a time that can often be shown as just fun and games. Those of us that go through it know better, and it’s shown bravely in The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom.
I adored this film. It’s a Canadian film set in the early 1970’s about a girl who thinks Dolly Parton could be her mom. It really has the very young coming of age vibe perfectly, and I love when films get that right (see also Grown Up Movie Star). There is always a kitsch appeal for films set in the 60s and 70s and even now in the 80s and it’s lovely to see them get the time period so well in an earnest in true sense over flamboyant flavour appeal. The film actually makes interesting commentary on style and changing of the times in a way I’ve not seen before, which was very impressive.
The emotional journey of young protagonist Elizabeth (Julia Stone) is where the film really hits home, her struggle, her searching and her creating her possible past to make sense of her present self is a beautiful and often heart breaking story to see. She’s a great character, both unique and accessible, whom we live with and thrugh during the film. I loved many of the characters in the film, including her Phil (Gil Bellows in another fantastic performance) and Marion (Macha Grenon completely wowed me), and I especially loved the Stella (Rebecca Croll), the free-thinking, feminist hairdresser/friends mom who lives across the street. Who couldn’t love Stella? We all need a Stella in our lives, she was fantastic.
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom was a complete treat. I’ve really come to cherish seeing young female protagonist stories, especially when they are journey film like this with have strong acting and interesting characters. It felt so real. Beautiful & daring, I highly recommend it.
DVD Extras:
Trailer
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom is available on DVD as of January 24, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com
Shannon's Overall View:
I loved it
I'll watch it again
I highly recommend it
Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews
Also see my review of The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:
© Shannon Ridler, 2012
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom (DVD Review)
Writer/Dir: Tara Johns - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Macha Grenon, Julia Stone, Gil Bellows, Rebecca Croll, Trevor Hayes and the voice of Dolly Parton
Canada, 2011
Reason to see: Canadian & coming of age film is a yes/yes for me!
I’ve been aching to see The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom ever since it released here in Toronto almost a year ago, as I’ve realized I love the genre and we’ve had a really great run of young coming of age films recent that truly speak to and of the experience of young girls and women. It’s so refreshing to see moments of young girls depicted with an true, emotional resonance. The awkward stages of life, the changing wave of friendships during puberty, the realness of life and how the whole world of emotions that surface with fierce intensity at a time that can often be shown as just fun and games. Those of us that go through it know better, and it’s shown bravely in The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom.
I adored this film. It’s a Canadian film set in the early 1970’s about a girl who thinks Dolly Parton could be her mom. It really has the very young coming of age vibe perfectly, and I love when films get that right (see also Grown Up Movie Star). There is always a kitsch appeal for films set in the 60s and 70s and even now in the 80s and it’s lovely to see them get the time period so well in an earnest in true sense over flamboyant flavour appeal. The film actually makes interesting commentary on style and changing of the times in a way I’ve not seen before, which was very impressive.
The emotional journey of young protagonist Elizabeth (Julia Stone) is where the film really hits home, her struggle, her searching and her creating her possible past to make sense of her present self is a beautiful and often heart breaking story to see. She’s a great character, both unique and accessible, whom we live with and thrugh during the film. I loved many of the characters in the film, including her Phil (Gil Bellows in another fantastic performance) and Marion (Macha Grenon completely wowed me), and I especially loved the Stella (Rebecca Croll), the free-thinking, feminist hairdresser/friends mom who lives across the street. Who couldn’t love Stella? We all need a Stella in our lives, she was fantastic.
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom was a complete treat. I’ve really come to cherish seeing young female protagonist stories, especially when they are journey film like this with have strong acting and interesting characters. It felt so real. Beautiful & daring, I highly recommend it.
DVD Extras:
Trailer
The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom is available on DVD as of January 24, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com
Shannon's Overall View:
I loved it
I'll watch it again
I highly recommend it
Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews
Also see my review of The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom on Episode 59 of the Movie Moxie Podcast:
© Shannon Ridler, 2012
Moon Point
Dir: Sean Cisterna - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Nick McKinlay, Paula Brancati, Kyle Mac, Kristen Gutoskie
Canada, 2012
Reason to see: Canadian comedies are always films I want to see
Moon Point is a quirky Canadian comedy, and for folks that don’t watch a lot of or any Canadian film it might be hard to explain, but a clear way to say it is that it has beautiful blend of comedy and quirkiness Canadian films do so well with spunk, a cast of great characters and a lot of fun.
I love the humour in this film, it was quite cutting and for me it might be more cutting than I normally take but there was a real humanity to it. It follows Darryl (Nick McKinlay) who decides to go on a journey to see his grade school sweetheart who is starring in an upcoming horror movie in Moon Point, and for the travel there he decides to take his friend Femur in his electric wheelchair. That is one heck of a travel to try and rekindle grade 5 loves! I love journey films, they always hold a special place in my heart and this one really had that beautiful blend of not only the quirkiness and Canadian-ness but also a nice blend of comedy, realness and humanity; and there was also an interesting theme in the film about being a jerk. Because, the main character is not the nicest guy and even though he gets kind of piled on for that and he pushes back on it; but it always felt real, and very timely and I really enjoyed that for some reason which feels completely bizarre to say. I don’t see that many comedies but this one really got me. There was a real sweetness in terms of layered nostalgia with this depiction of how people were when you used to know them, and how life was ‘then’ and will it be like that if you see them ‘now’, what would it be like, and then also even the question of why you would think back to your past when you are living your life today. That was interesting question theme in the film too, about if you are living in the moment or not, and even when you think about it the past is created so quickly so even though we are always in the ‘now’, it will eventually come ‘then’. I liked that aspect of the film, the kind of back and forth nature of it.
The cast is really good in Moon Point, I thought Nick McKinlay was great as Darryl, who really is kind of a jerk but somehow you do feel instinctively that like you should support him as the underdog, but also question if you should support him, although either way you are really with him throughout his journey. We also have his friend Femur played by Kyle Mac who is amazing, I haven’t seen him in anything else before but he was in a series called 'Valemont' with Kristen Hager and Eric Balfour that was on On Demand, which now I have to see because he was so good I can’t wait to see him in more; truly fantastic. We also had Paula Brancati as Kristen, she’s a character I really like to see –a strong woman who treated everyone the same, but was open and called people out and wasn’t a jerk and still held her own. An awesome independently spirited, strong-minded but also kind and fun-spirited; I sometimes find that you don’t always get that blend of fun and real with quirky and cutting but not mean but Paula Brancati found that perfect blend of real, funny and kind all in one. And that is also what I really felt and liked about Moon Point, is that it was funny and often cutting, but it wasn’t mean.
It really was funny too, there were certainly moments where I missed the next thing because I was laughing so hard. When you get these characters from all different perspectives and the sometimes comfortable or uncomfortable combination of things, it really levelled off with that unlikely but just likely enough go with them, and for that I really enjoyed it. Moon Point is a great journey film, great Canadian comedy, great quirkiness and it’s a great movie with a Valentine’s flavour to it. I would definitely recommend checking out Moon Point.
Moon Point opened in limited release on February 3, 2012 here in Toronto at the AMC Yonge & Dundas, and has been held over for an additional week.
Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'd watch it again
I widely recommend it
Also check out my review of Moon Point on Episode 60 of the Movie Moxie Podcast.
© Shannon Ridler, 2012
Moon Point
Dir: Sean Cisterna - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Nick McKinlay, Paula Brancati, Kyle Mac, Kristen Gutoskie
Canada, 2012
Reason to see: Canadian comedies are always films I want to see
Moon Point is a quirky Canadian comedy, and for folks that don’t watch a lot of or any Canadian film it might be hard to explain, but a clear way to say it is that it has beautiful blend of comedy and quirkiness Canadian films do so well with spunk, a cast of great characters and a lot of fun.
I love the humour in this film, it was quite cutting and for me it might be more cutting than I normally take but there was a real humanity to it. It follows Darryl (Nick McKinlay) who decides to go on a journey to see his grade school sweetheart who is starring in an upcoming horror movie in Moon Point, and for the travel there he decides to take his friend Femur in his electric wheelchair. That is one heck of a travel to try and rekindle grade 5 loves! I love journey films, they always hold a special place in my heart and this one really had that beautiful blend of not only the quirkiness and Canadian-ness but also a nice blend of comedy, realness and humanity; and there was also an interesting theme in the film about being a jerk. Because, the main character is not the nicest guy and even though he gets kind of piled on for that and he pushes back on it; but it always felt real, and very timely and I really enjoyed that for some reason which feels completely bizarre to say. I don’t see that many comedies but this one really got me. There was a real sweetness in terms of layered nostalgia with this depiction of how people were when you used to know them, and how life was ‘then’ and will it be like that if you see them ‘now’, what would it be like, and then also even the question of why you would think back to your past when you are living your life today. That was interesting question theme in the film too, about if you are living in the moment or not, and even when you think about it the past is created so quickly so even though we are always in the ‘now’, it will eventually come ‘then’. I liked that aspect of the film, the kind of back and forth nature of it.
The cast is really good in Moon Point, I thought Nick McKinlay was great as Darryl, who really is kind of a jerk but somehow you do feel instinctively that like you should support him as the underdog, but also question if you should support him, although either way you are really with him throughout his journey. We also have his friend Femur played by Kyle Mac who is amazing, I haven’t seen him in anything else before but he was in a series called 'Valemont' with Kristen Hager and Eric Balfour that was on On Demand, which now I have to see because he was so good I can’t wait to see him in more; truly fantastic. We also had Paula Brancati as Kristen, she’s a character I really like to see –a strong woman who treated everyone the same, but was open and called people out and wasn’t a jerk and still held her own. An awesome independently spirited, strong-minded but also kind and fun-spirited; I sometimes find that you don’t always get that blend of fun and real with quirky and cutting but not mean but Paula Brancati found that perfect blend of real, funny and kind all in one. And that is also what I really felt and liked about Moon Point, is that it was funny and often cutting, but it wasn’t mean.
It really was funny too, there were certainly moments where I missed the next thing because I was laughing so hard. When you get these characters from all different perspectives and the sometimes comfortable or uncomfortable combination of things, it really levelled off with that unlikely but just likely enough go with them, and for that I really enjoyed it. Moon Point is a great journey film, great Canadian comedy, great quirkiness and it’s a great movie with a Valentine’s flavour to it. I would definitely recommend checking out Moon Point.
Moon Point opened in limited release on February 3, 2012 here in Toronto at the AMC Yonge & Dundas, and has been held over for an additional week.
Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it
I'd watch it again
I widely recommend it
Also check out my review of Moon Point on Episode 60 of the Movie Moxie Podcast.
© Shannon Ridler, 2012