Another boring Canadian movie

[dumpthemonarchy]

Living here in Seoul, South Korea, I asked my students if they can name a Canadian movie. Zero. Zilch. I eventually find out they know about Anne of Green Gables, but they do not know she is Canadian. She is "Anne" and "Red Haired Anne".

So, Canadians speak English, yet don't make any ineresting movies the world wants to watch. Canada, a great country to live in, makes too few entertaining movies. Like the French and Koreans, the great "Canadian/Fench/Korean culture" must be expressed in its most boring and fullest form. Canadians would insist they have a sense of humour, yet the anal directors who profess to know something about "art" make boring, gov't subsidized crap. Why do we pay for this?

One semi-funny show/movie in Trailer Park Boys is not enough.

Fact is, the arthouse genuflects to Hollywood Inc. It's all about the money. Losers beg.

Here's a URL of yet another plodding Cdn flick.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2007/06/08/4243793-sun.html

 

[Johnnny]

Bon cop bad cop was a good movie

 

[Unforgiven]

I agree with that. I've felt that Australia had put into their film industry what we should be putting into ours. While not genuflecting to the *****s of Hollywood babylon, America is the market because film cost money to make.

While there hasn't really be a huge block buster come from Canada imo, there have been a number of little gems that reflect a quality that is admirable. Flicks like Highway 61, and Whale Music aren't going to live on forever in the hearts of the common man, they do present great acting and the telling of a story that is worth telling.

But there are also films made here that aren't really about Canada at all. Mostly they are supposed to be about places in the US. A good example of that is Rambo. The first movie of that series was filmed in and around Hope BC. Granted that was an American movie just filmed on location in Canada. Still great movie, pity about the rest of them.

It's there none the less, I would point towards Canadian documentary features as a good place to find culture and excellent film craft in and about Canadian culture.

Living here in Seoul, South Korea, I asked my students if they can name a Canadian movie. Zero. Zilch. I eventually find out they know about Anne of Green Gables, but they do not know she is Canadian. She is "Anne" and "Red Haired Anne".

So, Canadians speak English, yet don't make any ineresting movies the world wants to watch. Canada, a great country to live in, makes too few entertaining movies. Like the French and Koreans, the great "Canadian/Fench/Korean culture" must be expressed in its most boring and fullest form. Canadians would insist they have a sense of humour, yet the anal directors who profess to know something about "art" make boring, gov't subsidized crap. Why do we pay for this?

One semi-funny show/movie in Trailer Park Boys is not enough.

Fact is, the arthouse genuflects to Hollywood Inc. It's all about the money. Losers beg.

Here's a URL of yet another plodding Cdn flick.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2007/06/08/4243793-sun.html

 

[Vereya]

And I just love Anne of Green Gables books. And I think the movie wasn't bad, too.

 

[AndyF]

The greatest Canadian movies were Quebec made in the 70's early 60's, by a couple of excellent directors, who's names escape me. They capture the real Quebequois of that period and depict a no holds barred reality of poverty and troubles of those times, complete with expletives not deleted. They are an accurate historic document of trials of ethnic groups in that province.

One movie was about an old Jewish knife sharpener and rag trader and his son who drove a horse cart and the horse was kept behind the house in downtown Montreal. This was a typical scene I recall in my youth, forget that title too, something like "My Father" I think. Two are "Mon oncle Antoine", and "Déclin de l'empire américain" by Denys Arcand, the later receiving an academy award in the US.

What I find funny in Canadian films is the sponsors like to be more pronounced and the message is glaringly obvious, like always having a Molson label facing you on a bar table, or a person will pull up to a Fina service station so close to the sign that you think the camera would hit it. It's fun to look for ones you missed, the "boat" cars of that era and the sideburns and bell bottoms.

I find amusing the National Film Board seems to feel it needs to Archive all Canadian movies, which shows they don't have too much confidence on their shelf life.

One good movie I enjoyed of the same generation and I enjoyed came out of the prairies and was about the trials of a depression era school teacher, funny yet sad, forget the title, but it deserved an award as well.

It's true that the arthouse genuflects to Hollywood Inc. But it makes you wonder that 50% of the talent is Canadian. So it says we need to find out what is wrong with our industry, which could net Canada billions in revenue if we could get our act togeather.

AndyF

 

[missile]

Just imagine what the US would do to us tradewise if we instituted a CRTC for movies & I wish we would go ahead and legislate one.

 

[#juan]

Louie B.Meyer, Martin Scorcese, Al Christie, Norman Jewison, are just some of the world class movie producers who are all Canadian.. All have won Oscars. The list of Canadian actors that work in movies is immense. Canadian animation people are in demand throughout the industry. I don't think we have to be embarrassed about our movie industry.

 

[Johnnny]

What happened to Chili Beach? that was alright

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Movies are "culture," sacred some would say, even "art." Torontonians like to joke "Alberta has no culture." Well, perhaps no one has noticed, Alberta is part of Canada, just like Toronto still is. Toronto, like other bastions of culture like Ottawa and Montreal, decide what Canadian movies will get the freeloading bucks. Crap is at both ends of the country, one end thinks its crap doesn't stink though.

They say "Robert Stanfield was the best prime minister Canada never had." He was charming in small groups, like Joe Clark, but facing the masses, he was awkward and stiff. Which is how most prime ministers are, including Harper, but not Trudeau. So why are our pols usually such dullards when dealing with large groups, we don't live in little villages any longer, or small towns? There is something essentially elitist and undemocratic going on here.

We all think we're funny, smart, and not earning enough money, but can Canadians make movies that make are enjoyable, and not cringe? Not yet. Making mediocre/decent/good? movies that make money is not crap, all the movies that come out of Hollywood regulate our view of the world. More people watch movies than read books. Would you like to read about a good looking chick or look/gawk/stare at one? Those fashion shows are so horrid. Does Canada have good looking chicks? A few I think.

 

[McDonald]

Um, Martin Scorsese is American. Born and raised in NYC.

There are plenty of great Canadian films being made, and of course you wouldn't know about them and neither would your English students in Korea. One reason would be that when you're in a place like downtown Toronto and you want to go to the cinema, you very rarely have the option to see a bona fide Canadian film because the theatres are all operating under American film distributing agreements. There are few examples of Canadian films being able to compete with the American blockbuster-style films, (TPB would be on of these exceptions), so that means Canadian filmmakers need to court the arsty film market in order to gain any kind of audience on the big screen or on DVD, within Canada or abroad. You may not like them, but I'm quite sure you know of very few in the first place.

French-Canadian cinema on the other hand is quite successful, winning Oscars and awards at Cannes and Génie awards etc... and gaining a loyal audience among Francophone Canadians at the theatres and in the shops.

 

[Liberalman]

If you want American style movies then watch American made movies, if you want British style movies then watch British made films.

Each country have their own style of movies that tell a story.

Canada has their own style as well.

I subscribe to the Movie Channel and the majority of movies are Canadian made on Canadian subjects and they are really good.

It also has a lot of international movies.

Some are deep and some are thought provoking.

You have to remember that a large percentage of Americans have limited education so they like movies that are simple and have a lot of action and they like funny movies as long as they are simple.

 

[cdn_bc_ca]

Are you talking about films completely made in Canada? Filmed in Canada (but is a hollywood production)? Or directed by a Canadian?

Here's a list:
http://www.gazillionmovies.com/Country/Canada.htm

 

[unclepercy]

"Eight Below" was filmed in Canada, although it was supposed to take place in the Anarctic. My favorite film made in Canada - though - was Anna Paquin in "Fly Away Home." Throughout the movie,
I thought it was filmed in the US, until they got to the classroom with the Queen of England's picture on the wall. A red flag went up in my mind. When the credits rolled, I saw what the deal was.

Uncle

 

[unclepercy]

You have to remember that a large percentage of Americans have limited education so they like movies that are simple and have a lot of action and they like funny movies as long as they are simple.

Don't be insulting. Limited education? Uh, is that why we have so many foreign exchange students and the brain drain is flowing our way?

What are the odds that a Canadian will find the cure for cancer?:roll:

Uncle

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Wrong wrong wrong Liberalman, not every country has its own movie style. Why? Because just last night I saw a Japanese movie in Korea, and do you know what it was like? Dull, bleak, and boring, much like a Canadian movie. Or a Korean movie. These "artie" types seem like the real haters in society. The non-American style is dull dull dull.

Name an exciting French movie. Exactly. They are not funny or happy either. The divine, the sacred French culture cannot be defiled by mere commerce. I sniff my nose at you!!! I blow my nose on your hockey stick!!! One can only make a movie if Jean-Paul Sartre would have approved. The man who had a nauseating philosophy and hated life in general, but mostly himself.

Who is France is happy these days? With all their severe economic problems? Maybe two people, or rather deux people. And do the French have a sense of humour? it is not allowed. You must worry about Iraq, or George Bush, or Russia, or .... The French, they are so wise.

 

[#juan]

Wrong wrong wrong Liberalman, not every country has its own movie style. Why? Because just last night I saw a Japanese movie in Korea, and do you know what it was like? Dull, bleak, and boring, much like a Canadian movie. Or a Korean movie. These "artie" types seem like the real haters in society. The non-American style is dull dull dull.

Name an exciting French movie. Exactly. They are not funny or happy either. The divine, the sacred French culture cannot be defiled by mere commerce. I sniff my nose at you!!! I blow my nose on your hockey stick!!! One can only make a movie if Jean-Paul Sartre would have approved. The man who had a nauseating philosophy and hated life in general, but mostly himself.

Who is France is happy these days? With all their severe economic problems? Maybe two people, or rather deux people. And do the French have a sense of humour? it is not allowed. You must worry about Iraq, or George Bush, or Russia, or .... The French, they are so wise.

Just out of curiosity,dumpthemonarchy, who died and made you judge of what is good, bad, or humourous?

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Me, judge? I just wonder why the so-called artists have little problem getting financing for their lousy movies the world over. The great French culture is so high no one can figure it out.

And if these foriegn movies are not dull they tends to be mindnumbingly violent. In some Korean movies, the violence inflicted on women is severe. I saw one movie with a whiskey bottle being smashed over her head for no real reason. Then there is watching Korean TV in general and people hitting each other on a fairly regular basis. But then movies are just for the local market.

The world seems to like simple good/evil American movies. They sell. They don't plod. Americans it has to be said for them, seem to let their culture all hang out for anyone to judge. We can see in their fishbowl. Odd.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

Name an exciting French movie.

Le Femme Nikita

 

[Unforgiven]

Le Femme Nikita

Baxter.

 

[karrie]

I've read through this thread, and I have to say, the Canadian films I've seen, while they're stellar, are often not geared towards children, so it's no surprise that Korean school children can't name Canadian films. We seem to make a bit, how shall I say... deeper... films, rather than 'movies' purely for entertainment. And I don't think that's a bad thing. When you're looking at a saturated market, trying to make the same things as everyone else would be a bad choice frankly.