Canada

Tom Lyons, Eye Weekly said:
Jacob Miller reappears on the darkened stage not as a good-natured clown but as a possessed messenger. Peter Tosh spits out “400 Years” as if he is reading a death sentence to a condemned people. And Marley himself seems less a pop singer than a genuine messiah when he returns to the island to deliver classics like “War” and bring Manley and Seaga together onstage in an attempt to halt the bloodshed. Even seemingly innocuous songs like “Jammin’ ” and “Trenchtown Rock” take on an added dimension when they are viewed as wished-for escapes from the violence.Read More »

Scatterbrained Polly gets a job as a secretary in Gabrielle’s art gallery. Polly aspires to be a professional photographer, and idolizes Gabrielle for her artistic ability. When Gabrielle rekindles an old romantic relationship with the younger painter Mary, Polly becomes jealous, and discovers Gabrielle is not who she claims to be.Read More »

Clara and Nikolaï meet at a rave. They return to Nikolaï’s apartment and make love. Afterwards, instead of parting, the two lovers divulge their deepest secrets to one another.

Nicolaï is a beautiful loser. At thirty-one years old, he leads a simple and frugal life. He applies himself to reading the great classics of literature but never finishes a book he has begun. Unable to submit to any schedule, he finds himself unfit for work. He envisions big projects and has large ideas but, inevitably and despite himself, loses sight of them beforethey are realized.Read More »

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Inspired by stories from the fantasy graphics magazine Heavy Metal, this five-part animated feature combines the talents of hundreds of artists and animators from 17 different countries. A glowing green orb called Loc-Nar that contains the sum total of all evil in the universe travels through space and time, spreading violence and discord in its wake. The stories that follow demonstrate Loc-Nar’s malevolent presence throughout the universe. In New York in the year 2023, cabbie Harry Canyon picks up a fare who turns out to have Loc-Nar in her possession, and it turns out to be one trip he wishes that he had never made. In contemporary suburban America, a nerdy high school kid finds the orb in his backyard and is transported to a comic-book universe where he’s a mighty warrior and famous spoiler of women.Read More »

A lifetime of suburbia in a half hour, Springtime in Greenland uses 50’s cinematic conventions and attitudes to tell a story about the sophomoric inhabitants of a fictional utopia. Meet Nick, a young Adonis played by Paizs. He is silent, aloof and straining against his suburban values. Nick wears a gloomy cloud despite the sunny spring weather.Read More »

After a burglary of millions in insured art in Gray’s home, two detectives suspect Gray and Perla, a retired cat burglar. Gray has Bloom “take care” of things.Read More »

The final instalment of John Paizs’ “Three Worlds of Nick” trilogy is an amusing melange of ’60s spy thrillers and other classics. Super secret agent Nick attempts to liberate a top secret microchip from the clutches of multimillionaire Quinton Frost. Paizs pokes fun at the jet set, the Cold War and Jean-Paul Sartre.

The film stars Canadian television personality Peter Jordan as the protagonist, and John Paizs in his reoccurring silent Nick character. Guy Madden (credited as Gal Madden) also has an unbelievable cameo, as does George Toles.Read More »

In the second instalment of “The Three Worlds of Nick”, Paizs’ silent hero sets off to college where he meets Brock West (Winnipeg journalist and rocker Peter Jordon, aka Rocky Roletti). Unwittingly, Nick becomes involved in attempts to restore an old campus hangout and in the dirty political tricks swirling around a hard fought student election. The film successfully weaves the tone of college hijinx movies through the clever spoof of electoral trends, suggesting how easily old fashioned ethics can turn into fashion.Read More »

This surreal film, shot in pixilation (a kind of stop-motion animation with actors), is about two neighbours who come to barbaric blows over a flower that straddles the property line.Read More »