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Sample: Title; rating (out of 4); principal setting; year of release; international co-producer (if any); cast; description; scriptwriter; director; content warning; running time.
FOR BETTER AND FOR WORSE
* 1/2 setting: other
(1992) (/France/German) Kate Nelligan, Geraint Wyn
Davies, Jennifer Beals, Werner Stocker, Madeleine Robinson, Manfred Lehmann.....In
Germany, a psycho (Davies) kidnaps his former U.S. army base teacher (Nelligan),
with whom he's infatuated, while a cop (Stocker) pursues an escaped convict.
Disjointed suspenser (the plots do converge -- sort of) poorly directed
and edited (look for a hand silhouette during the end credits), and scenes
that never work despite some clever ideas and a couple of genuine thrills.
Part of the Mary Higgins Clark Collection.
a.k.a. Terror Stalks the Class Reunion. sc: Marc Princi, additional
dialogue Terence Feely (from the short story "Terror Stalks the Class Reunion"
by Mary Higgins Clark). dir: Clive Donner. 96 min.
FOR THE LOVE OF AARON *
* * setting: Ont.
(1994) Meredith Baxter, Nick Mancuso, Keegan MacIntosh,
Joanna Gleason, John Kapelos, Malcom Stewart, Blu Mankuma, Matthew Walker.....True
story of writer Margaret Gibson's (Baxter) struggle to overcome mental
illness and retain custody of her son from her husband (Mancuso).
Well-done, well-acted drama. Imported Baxter does a fine job, but
when private networks (this was made for CanWest-Global) cast an American,
it's frustrating because it's so bloody...inevitable. The movie Outrageous!
was based on one of Gibson's stories. sc: Peter Silverman. dir: John
Kent Harrison. 93 min.
FOR THE MOMENT *
* setting: Man.
(1994) Russell Crowe, Christianne Hirt, Wanda Cannon,
Scott Kraft, Peter Outerbridge, Sara McMillian, Bruce Boa.....Story
of various characters in 1942 Manitoba, focusing on a suave Aussie air
force trainee (Australian actor Crowe shortly before hitting it big in
Hollywood) and his relationship with a married local woman (Hirt); and
a prostitute (Canon) and her relationship with a flight instructor (Kraft).
Good-looking drama suffers from dispassionate direction and too many obvious,
predictable scenes. The filmmaker wants so much to do justice to
the period (even dedicating the film to "the men and women...") but forgets
he needs a fleshed-out story and interesting characters. And the
film never entirely evokes war-time Canada anyway. sc./dir: Aaron
Kim Johnston. - brief female nudity.- 123 min.
For the Record.....Label for a series of hour-long dramas aired on the CBC from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s. Generally earnest, issue-oriented dramas culled from the headlines, the series boasted an impressive list of actors and directors and writers, and reflected a raw, realist style that made many of the episodes quite exceptional. It was later re-aired under the title Moments in Time and hosted by Al Waxman. Controversial, too. One episode, "The Tar Sands" -- the only one to actually use real names -- has been pulled from circulation entirely due to threats of legal action. Three of the episodes were actually feature-length: Dreamspeaker, Katie Ford, V.P. and A Far Cry From Home, but many are reviewed under their individual titles.
FOR THOSE WHO HUNT THE WOUNDED
DOWN * * setting: CDN.
(1996) Callum Keith Rennie, Brent Stait, Brooke Johnson,
Maggie Huculak, Michael Hogan, Jonathan Whittaker, Paul Jarrett, Kelli
Fox, Nancy Beatty, Niklas Konowal.....An ex-crook (Rennie) drifts about
his small home town where half the people are a little scared of him, worrying
about his leukemic son (Konowal), while grimly awaiting the arrival of
an escaped convict (Stait) with a grudge against him. Muddled, unconvincing
made-for-CBC TV drama. Rennie isn't really convincing as an intimidating
guy with a dark and dangerous past...and the film relies heavily on him
to make it work. Despite a female director, the female parts are
pretty thankless, even insulting. Received the Best Screenplay Gemini.
sc: David Adams Richards (from his novel). dir: Norma Bailey. - violence.-
91 min.
FORBIDDEN LOVE
* * * setting: CDN.
(1992).....Documentary (subtitled "The Unashamed
Stories of Lesbian Lives") looking at lesbian lifestyles in the '50s featuring
modern interviews and focusing on gay bars and pulp novels. Fascinating,
well-structured film manages to be funny, hip and engaging thanks to the
lively interview subjects. It never entirely evokes its period, though,
leaving a modern audience confused at times. Interspersed between
the interviews is a mini-drama (and eventually a fairly explicit one) in
the style of lesbian pulp novels featuring Stephanie Morgenstern and Lynne
Adams and narrated by Ann-Marie MacDonald. sc./dir: Aerlyn Weissman,
Lynne Fernie. - partial female nudity, sexual content.- 85 min.
FORBIDDEN SECRETS
* * 1/2 setting: USA.
(2005) (/U.S.) Kristy Swanson, David Keeley, Christopher
Bondy, Charles Powell, Marianne Farley, Richard Jutras.....Troubled,
recently divorced woman (import Swanson) moves into her childhood home,
stirring up memories of her traumatic childhood...and begins to suspect
there was more to her past than she remembered. Modest little suspenser
is a bit slow moving, and has some unintentionally goofy scenes at times,
and suffers because the villain isn't hard to guess if you do the math...but
has a personable enough cast, and keeps your interest with a few vaguely
suspicious characters and disparate clues. So, lacking finesse, but nonetheless
an okay time killer if you're looking for a low rent "Gaslight". Keeley's
name is misspelled in the credits as "David Kelley". sc: Karen Craig. dir:
Richard Roy. - sexual content.- 88 min.
FORD: The Man and the Machine
(TVMS) * * setting: USA.
(1987) Cliff Robertson, Hope Lange, Heather Thomas,
R.H. Thomson, Michael Ironside, Denis Forest.....Saga
of American automobile manufacturer Henry Ford (Robertson), and how he
abused and disregarded everyone around him, including his son (Thomson)
and his mistress (Thomas). So-so bio covers too much in too little;
scenes and characters come out of nowhere, then disappear, events aren't
clearly explained, and Ford is presented as such and S.O.B. that it's hard
to care. Robertson and Thomson are good. 4 hous. sc:
Robert Hamilton (from the book by Robert Lacey). dir: Allan Eastman. -
violence.-
FOREIGN OBJECTS (TV Series)Finkelman virtually exploded on CBC screens with his black comedy sitcom, The Newsroom, which proved both a commercial and critical hit. In an industry that has so few successes, this seemed to give Finkelman a teflon coating as the CBC has indulged him in successive, but less successful, efforts including More Tears and Foolish Heart. This time out, he seems to be using the series as an excuse to just try everything he ever wanted to try, with episodes ranging from attempts at a gritty pseudo-documentary about ethnic strife in the former Yugoslavia, to a satirical one about Jesus Christ returning to earth and how the media manages him, to "character" ones about the Findley character and his infidelities (which are getting just a tad overdone as Finkleman's repeated them in all his series), and more. He employs homages to European Art films, Japanese Samurai epics, and British TV writer Dennis Potter. Some of the episodes were based on existing material (short stories, a news article, and the play "The 47 Ronin", though that last wasn't credited). Employing rear screen projections, straight narrative scenes, characters addressing the camera, cinema verite, Art House pretension, scenes played out in various languages (with subtitles) and more, it's an eclectic and impressive technical achievement. As an artistic and intellectual effort, though, it's less effective. Finkelman too often tackles concepts as if he genuinely thought he was the first person in the world to think of them (ethnic strife is bad, the media is shallow) without tackling them in an incisive or novel way. His use of Art Film influences, instead of seeming to be filtered and interpreted through his own experiences, at times seemed more like a man who was just parroting something he'd seen and thought was nifty keen. Perhaps the biggest weakness, overall, is that Finkelman seems to regard human beings as abstractions, rendering the whole affair cold...ironic in a series meant to criticize the shallowness of others and the way people dehumanize each other. The funniest gag in the series is when Rebecca Jenkins, as a TV producer, blows her top at a German executive -- it's funny becomes it stems from the characters. This was also Finkelman's least "Canadian" series, in that there was little indication the characters or the setting were supposed to be Canadian. Though filmed to be six 24 minute, weekly episodes, the CBC aired it in hour long batches, without commercials (but with brief interviews with Finkleman conducted by Gary Michael Dault), and over three consecutive nights. This was applauded by critics as a prestigious treatment for the series, but more likely seems like programmers figured it wouldn't get an audience, and certainly couldn't keep one over six weeks, so they hoped to get it over with quickly. I believe it's called "dumping" in TV terminology. |
FOREIGN NIGHTS *
1/2 setting: Ont.
(1989) Terri Hawkes, Youssef Abdel-Nour (Abed-Alnour),
Bushra Karaman, Mohammad Bacri, Paul Morasutti, George Randolph.....Generational
conflict between a Palestinian-immigrant father and his Canadian daughter
(Hawkes) causes her to run away from home. Seemingly well-intentioned,
if cliched, drama suffers from weak performances and a muddled narrative.
Sometimes too sugary and simple, other times a little...sordid. sc:
Alan Zweig, Izidore K. Musallam. dir: Izidore K. Musallam. 91 min.
FOREVER KNIGHT (TV Series)This brooding TV series has become a cult hit with fan clubs and everything. The first season was unremarkable with just tired cop-show cliche plots (though apparently the early episodes had actual nude scenes -- not involving the regulars -- shot for German television but not shown in North America). It was made for CBS' Crimetime After Primetime, but when CBS dumped its nightime shows after aquiring David Letterman, the series went on hiatus for 18 months (an almost unheard of break), then came back with something like a vengeance. Moodier and a little more willing to be off-beat and generally better all around...though its increasing reliance, particularly by the 3rd season, on teasers involving the murder of scantily-clad women was unfortunate. Though its genesis was a 1988 U.S. TV movie called "Nick Night" (starring Rick Springfield), and its principle market the U.S., it was actually set in Canada -- increasingly blatantly. Sadly, Canadians have been making shows set in the U.S. for so long that writers don't entirely know how to be Canadian anymore: because even here they made occasional slip-ups (like sometimes calling the Crown Attorney a "D.A." and other cultural faux pas). Davies, the heart of the show, was extremely good. The two-part opener was a scene-by-scene remake of the TV movie "Nick Night". The series had yet another resurrection beginning in 1997, this time as a series of original paperback novels published by the American Boulevard Books (a division of Berkley Press) by such authors as Susan Sizemore and Susan M. Garrett. Such spin-offs are not uncommon for U.S. series, particularly fantasy/SF ones, but are rarer for defunct shows...and one set in Canada, yet. Another spin-off: Bennett co-wrote a vampire-thriller novel with American writer P.N. Elrod; again, a common occurrence in the '90s, tapping into the SF/fantasy fandom of an actor by having him or her write (or co-write) a theme-related novel (half the actors in the U.S. "Star Trek" series have done it), but again it indicates the (perceived) success, and audience-identification, of the series. Best bets: the weirdly apocalyptic "A More Permanent Hell" wherein the characters fear the world will be destroyed by a rogue meteor; others. See also the Highlander TV series for a similar premise. Three seasons, totalling about 70 hour-long episodes (including a couple of two-parters), shown only sparodically in Canada on CTV and later rerun on Showcase. |
FOREVERLAND
* * setting: B.C./USA/other
(2011) Max Thieriot, Laurence LeBoeuf, Demian Bichir, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Frewer, Juliette Lewis, Gary Farmer, Thomas Dekker.....Young man (American actor Thieriot) suffering from (but managing) Cystic Fibrosis grudgingly agrees to a road trip to take a friend's ashes to a shrine in Mexico, accompanied by the friend's pretty sister (LeBoeuf). Serio-comic flick has a solid cast but most appear in only a scene or two (Mexican actor Birchir is a particular stand out as an unorthodox priest). But road movies are a dime a dozen, as are road movies involving an ill person on a quasi-quest. And though there are some good scenes, some thoughtful scenes (when Frewer, as a funeral home director, reflects on how coffins represent so much craftsmanship only to be buried in the ground you think, "hey -- what a neat metaphor for life"...except then it's belaboured to the point where you just want to say: "okay, okay -- we get it already!"). And a lot of it just isn't that interesting a trip, with inconsequential "episodes", and without any particular layers to peel back from the two leads -- who they are in the first few minutes is pretty much who they are. Undoubtedly sincere -- director McGuire has CF himself. Though the movie can occasionally seem like a public service spot as much as a drama, and overly self-aware like when the characters complain that CF isn't a "sexy" disease in the public's mind. The movie, technically, starts out in Canada (you can see Vancouver listed on an envelope) but the dialogue and colloquialisms are "American-ized" (funnily, for a movie trying to depict the "reality" of CF, it doesn't get into the question of how easy it would be for a young adult to travel across two national borders with a bag full of pharmaceuticals!) a.k.a. Forever Land. sc: Shawn Riopelle (story McGuire). dir: Max McGuire. 93 min.
FORMULA 1 (TV Series)Weak He Shoots, He Scores-styled soap opera suffered from the usual, and most obvious, problem a soap can suffer from: characters that weren't especially interesting or engendering of sympathy. And the auto racing industry isn't the most dramatic of milieus. The series was so little heralded when it aired dubbed-into-English, it's not clear whether it was much of a success in Quebec to begin with. Hour-long episodes first shown (in English) on Global, then re-run on Showcase. - brief female nudity.- | >
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(2006) * * * Cedric de Souza ("Dr. Cedric Ferreira"), Dhirendra ("Harry Grewal"), Beverley Elliott ("Jeannine"), Lowela Jotie ("Josie"), Agan Darshi ("Rajanpreet"), Rekha Sharma ("Jaswinder Bophal"), Elizabeth Thai ("Lydia"), Rosette Sharma ("Puja Grewal"), Sonny Litt ("Baldeep Kumar"), Mina E. Mina ("Mr. Kumar"), Camille Sullivan ("Brooke"), Rohan Mathew ("Giles Ferreira"), others.....Try-out soap opera set within a multi-ethnic (predominantly East Indian) neighbourhood of Vancouver, stirred up by the arrival of a new doctor (de Souza). One of two soaps commissioned by the CBC (the other was North/South) where the intent seems to emulate the more working class, urban feel of British soaps like Coronation Street than the slick, up-scale suburban American soaps. And also with a more low-key, mundane approach to the stories -- everyone's not sleeping with everyone,, people aren't being killed and kidnapped. 49th and Main is a bit raw and unpolished, clearly struggling with its budget limitations, and with the writers, actors and directors getting a feel for the gig. Frankly, it kind of evokes Canadian series of a few decades ago that could seem a tad, well, amateurish in spots. And yet...And Yet...AND YET...the bottom line in a drama is: does it interest you and, in a series, does it kind of woo you back for the next episode? And that answer is...yes! De Souza is personable as the (nominal) lead, and gradually the other characters/actors start to make an impression. The mix of drama and humour (unlike the dour American soaps) is appealing, and the dramas revolving around money troubles and tentative romances can be involving, also effective is the willingness to deal unflinchingly with its milieu of clashing old world and new world values (including touching on issues such as sexism and domestic violence). Ironically, despite its technical roughness that might put off viewers not willing to forgive it its shortcomings, it really does draw you in, perhaps even moreso that the slightly slicker, more polished North/South (though that too is entertaining). Perhaps most interestingly, its "multiculturalism" isn't just token (ie: mainly white characters with a few ethnic characters on the peripheries). Created by Barbara Ellison and William B. Davis (the latter appearing on screen as an enigmatic customer at the local restaurant). a.k.a. 49th & Main. Six half-hour episodes on the CBC. |
The Four Arrows Feasko, a novel by Randall Beth Platt, was turned into the CBC TV movie Promise the Moon.
4 DAYS
* * setting: P.Q.
(1999) Kevin Zegers, Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovich,
Anne-Marie Cadieux, William Forsythe, Patrick Goyette.....Obeying his
dad's plan, a teen (Zegers) absconds with stolen loot and intends to meet
with his dad at a camp resort, hooking up with a flirtatious woman (Davidovich)
along the way; but he's unaware that his dad was killed during the robbery
and the dad's partner (Meaney) is pursuing him, having hooked up with the
dad's good-hearted girlfriend (Cadieux). Forsythe plays the dad in flashbacks.
Comic-drama wants to be many things: funny, serious, and ultimately profound,
though not very suspenseful since Meaney doesn't come across as very menacing
for the most part. It's never as clever or incisive as it needs to be,
and occasionally gets mired in Art House pretensions that veer toward surreal
(such as a black dog that keeps showing up). Worse, when the (dark) ending
shows up, it doesn't really feel as though enough's happened, story-wise
or character-wise, to have made a movie! Davidovich enlivens things considerably
as the brassy, seductive "older" woman, but is let down by her character's
denouement. Interesting casting against type, with Irish actor Meaney as
the heavy and American actor Forsythe as the dad...but it might've worked
better to have the actors switch roles. Stephen Reid, novelist and real
life bank robber, appears as the security guard at the beginning. sc: Pinckney
Benedict (from the novel Four Days by John Buell). dir: Curtis Wehrfritz.
- sexual content, brief female nudity, viiolence.- 90 min.
FOUR IN THE MORNING (TV Series)This is one of those frustrating series where you can admire its willingness to be off-beat -- even as it doesn't necessarily work. Essentially the model for it seems to be 1960s European New Wave cinema as the characters have long, ostensibly quirky conversations about life and love or go often on weird odysseys (in one episode they jump into a freezer full of water...and somehow emerge at a late night literati party). Unfortunately it can seem more self-indulgent than amusing, pretentious more than profound, like you're watching a university's drama club put on a show that they think is cleverer than it is. Arguably a problem is that the characters (with the exception of Elsadig) are as much a part of the weirdness as their surroundings, when maybe weird events work best observed by "normal" characters -- or absurdist characters work best when placed against vaguely normal situations. As it is, there's no real tether for the viewer. And the lead actors aren't engaging enough to draw you in -- with Tosh a possible exception (Maslany's over-the-top Drama Queen is positively grating). I'm put a little in mind of the (more) amusing American series, "Bored to Death," but that series' weirdness was a little more grounded, and its characters more relatable. Again, one can sort of applaud the CBC's willingness to try this -- like past efforts What It's Like Being Alone or some of the Ken Finkleman series -- but having an off-beat vision is only half the game. You also have to be able to realize it effectively. Half-hour episodes on the CBC. |
FOUR STIFFS AND A TROMBONE see L'assassin jouait du trombone
THE FOURTH ANGEL *
1/2 setting: other
(2001) (/U.K.) Jeremy Irons, Forest Whitaker, Charlotte
Rampling, Briony Glassco, Jason Priestley, Lois Maxwell.....When his
family is killed during a botched hijacking, and the killers set free,
a mild mannered English journalist (Irons) seeks out the Serbian mercenaries
responsible, many hiding out in England. Revenge thriller starts out promising,
being slick looking, with a strong performance from the ever dependable
Irons, and seeming to want to be a thinking man's thriller, asking moral
questions about vigilantism...but soon goes off the rails. Confusing, even
incoherent (as if crucial scenes were cut), while also being fairly predictable
(evocative of an earlier Canadian-made thriller, The
Amateur) where all the higher philosophical aspirations turn out to
be nothing more than window dressing. Whitaker is awkwardly cast as an
American F.B.I. agent who somehow seems to be in charge of a British investigation,
and most of the cast, like Rampling, have thankless parts. Canadians Priestley
and Maxwell have just bit parts (not playing Canadians, of course) -- Maxwell
plays Irons' mother or mother-in-law or something (I told you it was a
small part). sc: Allan Scott (from the novel by Robin Hunter). dir: John
Irvin. - violence.- 95 min.
"Fourth Daddy", a story by Russian writer Yuri Nagibin, inspired the movie, A Passage to Ottawa.
LES FOUS DE BASSAN
* 1/2 setting: P.Q.
(1986) (/France) Steve Banner, Charlotte Valandrey,
Laure Marsac, Marie Tifo, Jean-Louis Millette, Lothaire Bluteau.....Unstable
young man (Banner) returns to his stormy Gaspe home and becomes infatuated
with his cousin (the stunningly beautiful French actress Valandrey).
Stylish filming can't hide the fact that this is a confused, pretentious
drama that has nothing to say. A triumph of style over substance.
And why would anyone try to adapt Hebert's highly stylized novel anyway?
The marquee poster showing a semi-naked Valandrey (sans shadow in
some versions), is a lie: only Banner takes his clothes off. English
title: In the Shadow of the Wind. sc: Sheldon Chad, adapted
by Marcel Beaulieu, Yves Simoneau (from the novel by Anne Hebert). dir:
Yves Simoneau. - sexual content, partial male nudity.- 107 min.
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