This Movie Is Broken (2010)

Today is Canada Day, and what better way to celebrate that then by posting a review of a distinctly Canadian movie.  This Movie Is Broken is a sort of live concert movie with a very loose romance story taking place during the performances.  It was written by Don McKellar and directed by Bruce McDonald, both notable Canadian filmmakers that are pretty much unknown throughout the rest of the world.  It’s not that they’re not talented (although I hated haaaaaated McDonald’s The Tracey Fragments), it’s just that the world doesn’t seem to want that much of their particular Canadian perspectives.  What do I know though, I’m just seeing this from inside Canada.

The stars of the film are Broken Social Scene, an amazing Canadian band that I had been resisting listening to for years because I didn’t want to fall into that hipster garbage and how dumb was I for that?  Their songs are anthems, powerful collections of musical collaborations between many of their FIFTEEN members.  Their creativity blows me away.  The other two stars of the movie are Greg Calderone and the breathtakingly gorgeous Georgina Reilly, playing two people that have known each other since childhood.  Bruno (Calderone) has been carrying a torch for Caroline (Reilly) since then, and now, fifteen years later, they wake up after spending the night together.

The entire movie takes place on that day, a day when BSS is giving a free concert in Toronto, leading to Caroline and Bruno enjoying said concert.  The dialogue is natural, improvised, and generally takes a back seat to the songs.  I’d say it was guerrilla film making, but it’s actually more impassioned than that.  McDonald gets the shots he needs, tells the story, and the band provides a gorgeous background for the whole tale.

It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s a far better pastiche of scenes than the pretentious wankery of The Tracey Fragments.  There are some scenes that are captured so beautifully that it makes my heart ache, and if I’m being honest, they usually contain the lonely pretty girl, Caroline Rush.  She’s the kind of girl I used to write (probably) bad poetry about, you just want to know her, and I’m going to stop before I start writing “Ode to Caroline Rush” here.

4 / 5

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

All of a sudden, I’m so very conflicted.  Apparently well-know troll critic Armond White named this movie as his #1 of 2010… the very same accolade I awarded it (Oh, uh SPOILER ALERT I love this movie).  Now, in case YOU didn’t know, White is known for actually being um.. well there’s no way to say this without sounding like a snobby critic, but he’s known for liking shitty movies.  Or, I guess, movies that are viewed as shitty in the eyes of most critics.  White is pretty much the only reason that Toy Story 3 doesn’t have a 100% rating at RottenTomatoes.  So now .. I’m questioning everything.

Is it really that great of a movie?  Oh, you silly bastard, OF COURSE it is.  I will say that it is probably not the most accessible movie for everyone, and that it’s clearly going to be a cult favourite for years, and mainstream audiences will never appreciate it.  The box office gross for it proves that point.  For me, the most amazing part is that I’ve probably seen it around ten times now and I still see new things that I had never noticed before.

Not to mention how, well, sexy is a weird term to use to describe SPvtW, but there’s so much love put into many of the scenes, and the execution of it is just so perfect that I sit back in awe.  And yeah, I think it’s a sexy movie, not just because I have a thing for girls with awesomely coloured hair (right behind redheads on my list), but it’s such a perfect marriage of comic books and movies.  The one part where I feel a bit embarrassed about when I show the movie to people is the first fight scene.  To me it works, but it’s a bit jarring when Matthew Patel starts singing.

There are so many wonderfully epic performances that just fly under the radar, because these actors completely embody these characters.  Or Edgar Wright is just giving fantastic motivation, I don’t know, but I love this movie.  I love it so much that it is now officially in my Top Five of All Time.

5 / 5