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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.
Harlequin .....The Canadian-begat publishing giant of romance novels has made a few forays into film. First with the theatrical release Leopard in the Snow, then with two different series of made-for-TV movies. The first series was under the title Shades of Love (see that entry for details), the second (starting in the mid-'90s) was just under the Harlequin name. This latter group, produced by Alliance, were expensive, good-looking films, based on published books (by Harlequin or one of its imprints). Slightly inferior to the Shades of Love series, these films too often seemed workman-like, with everyone -- writers, actors, directors, cinematogrraphers, etc. -- doing their job but seeming without much enthusiasm. Most of the early entries featured a Hollywood import as the female lead (and sometimes supporting roles as well) with a Canadian guy as the romantic interest, but this became less rigid in later flicks (in Loving Evangeline, both leads were Canadian). In Change of Place this was reversed. Most were about Americans, but a few actually admitted to being Canadian! The early films often aired in the States a year before being shown in CAnada, but it was unclear whether the later entries had much U.S. distribution. By the late '90s, these were practically the only "Canadian" movies CTV showed. titles: Treacherous Beauties, Broken Lullaby, Change of Place, At the Midnight Hour, The Awakening, This Matter of Marriage, Hard to Forget, Diamond Girl, Loving Evangeline, The Waiting Game, Recipe for Revenge, and the best: Another Woman.
HARMONY CATS *
* setting: B.C.
(1993) Kim Coates, Jim Byrnes, Lisa Brokop, Hoyt Axton,
Alec Willows, Byron Lucas, Beverely Elliott, Charlene Fernetz, Dave "Squatch"
Ward..... Unemployed classical violinist (Coates) reluctantly takes
a job with a touring country & western band. Light-hearted drama is
slick enough, but it's just a collection of vignettes with abrupt scenes
and unexplored characters and ideas. Some nice performances, especially
Willows, but singers-turned-actors Byrnes, Brokop and Axton (in a small
part) seem like just that. The busker is John Mann from the band Spirit
of the West. sc: David King. dir: Sandy Wilson. 100 min.
HARRISON BERGERON *
* setting: USA.
(1995) Sean Astin, Miranda de Pencier, Christopher
Plummer, Nigel Bennett, Richard Monette, Buck Henry, Linda Goranson, Diana
Reis.....In a future U.S.A. where intelligence and talent is suppressed
to make everyone equal, a smart teen (Astin) is initiated into a secret
organization of smart people who run things behind the scenes. Serio-comic
made-for-TV pic about a mediocre future is just a mediocre satire...how
clever! Potentially interesting idea (albeit an elitist, even fascist one)
but too thin for a feature and never as smart as the filmmakers apparently
think they are. And there's something hypocritical about criticizing a
world lacking individual identity, where art has to conform to an established
blueprint, when this Canadian film is set in the U.S. with an American
actor and based on an American story. Lots of well-known actors in bit
parts, from American John Astin (Sean's dad) to Anthony Sherwood. Co-produced
by Altantis films who did Kurt Vonnegut's Monkey
House. sc: Arthur Crimm (from a short story by Kurt Vonnegut). dir:
Bruce Pittman. - violence.- 102 min.
HARRY TRACY *
* setting: USA.
(1981) Bruce Dern, Helen Shaver, Michael C. Gwynne,
Gordon Lightfoot..... Story of a turn of the century American out-law
(Dern), his love for a woman (Shaver) and his final run from the law (Lightfoot).
Inspired by fact, this handsome western is undermined by poor characterization,
a cliched script and values that, if taken seriously, are down right scarey.
Possibly singer-songwriter Lightfoot's only (film) role. sc: David Lee
Henry. dir: William A. Graham. 100 min.
HARRY'S CASE *
* * setting: Ont.
(2001) Brian Markinson, Adam Beach, Tom Melissis,
Sherry Miller, Janet- Laine Green, Conrad Dunn, Mark Lutz, Kim Schraner,
Diane Debassige, Martha Burns.....Down on his luck lawyer, Harry Decker
(Markinson), agrees to a little private eye work helping a young man (Beach)
find his sister who disappeared two years before while searching for her
father. Made for CBC TV mystery-suspenser is extremely well put together:
well-paced and well acted with a gritty, vivid edge. Strong performances
from Markinson and Beach (making more of a buddy-combo than simply hero
and client) and a notable supporting turn from Dunn as a colourful transvestite.
Nice acknowledgement of Beach's Indian ethnicity -- neither ignored, nor
belaboured. With all that being said, it never quite becomes more than
a standard example of the genre (despite some attempts to give things a
deeper resonance involving themes of redemption and ethical choices). It
trots out a lot of the cliches both in character and even in plot twists
(even forcing the story to leap a few logic ditches), and by the end is
a bit too obvious in its hope to spawn sequels, or even a series. sc: Peter
Lauterman. dir: Stephen Williams. - violence, sexual content.- 90 min.
HARVEST *
* *
(1993) (/U.S.) Ted Shackelford, Rebecca Jenkins, Ken
Pogue, Ron White, Zack Ward, Benjamin Vieweg, Shane Meier, Nikki Jansen.....Story
of a farming family (headed by White and Jenkins) and its various troubles,
including the return of his brother (Shackelford) who ran off 20 years
before...leaving Jenkins at the altar. Solid, nicely done made-for-TV drama
boasts strong performances and manages to avoid cliches. Imported (and
top-billed) Shackelford actually has just a supporting part. sc: Malcom
MacRury. dir: Michael Scott. 94 min.
HAS ANYONE HERE SEEN CANADA?:
A History of Canadian Movies 1939-1953 * *
1/2 setting: CDN.
(1978).....NFB documentary chronicling the early
days of Canadian sound cinema, focusing primarily on the rise of the National
Film Board. Interesting movie, but not quite a fascinating one. Part of
the problem is simply the subject matter -- looking at an industry that
never quite was -- but also a failure to conjure up the catchy anecdotes
or to entirely shape the thing into a narrative whole or even to go into
as much detail as it should. Probably more effective for those unfamiliar
with the subject. Narrated by Michael Kane. Sequel to Dreamland.
sc: Donald Brittain. dir: John Kramer. 84 min.
HATLEY HIGH *
* setting: CDN.
(2003) Nicolas Wright, Rachelle Lefevre, Robert Jadah,
Nwamiko Madden, Paul Van Dyck, James A. Woods, Ilona Elkin.....In a
town where members of the high school chess team are the superstar jocks,
the son (Wright) of a former chess prodigy moves back to town...and bewilders
everyone when he doesn't want to join the team. Low-budget comedy
tries mixing low-key, coming-of-age teen movie scenes...with whimsical
absurdism (a priest who has God talk to him, or the core running gag of
a town where the chess jocks are the big men on campus). It's good natured
and kind of likeable, and Wright and Lefevre are very good...but
it also tends to lose steam, being more cute even when it's trying for
hilarity. And because it's basically a comedy that's sort of spoofing the
kind of movie it resembles, it means it doesn't really deliver on any deeper
level. The climactic match isn't really supposed to be suspenseful, and
the hero's decisions to not play/play are rather loosely developed. A borderline
call, depending on how easy going a mood you're in. One kind of gets the
impression the filmmakers latched onto the concept because it was a cute
idea...not because they had any real interest in chess. sc: Myles Hainsworth
(story Hainsworth & Price). dir: Phil Price. 88 min.
HAUNTER *
* 1/2
(2013) Abigail Breslin, Peter Outerbridge, Michelle Nolden, Stephen McHattie, Peter DaCunha, Samantha Weinstein, David Hewlett, Sarah Manninen, Eleanor Zichy.....A teenage girl (American actress Breslin) lives with her family in a perpetually fog enshrouded house...and she's the only one who realizes there's something odd about it, or is aware of strange sounds and a sinister presence (McHattie). Horror-thriller takes place mainly in the one location with a limited cast (following director Natali's other minimalist genre efforts like Cube and Nothing) and it's nice to see a modern supernatural thriller that isn't relying on gore or excessive violence. It has solid performances and some twists (hence why my synopsis is deliberately a bit vague) and is enjoyable enough. But the very element that is its thing -- namely, the minimalism -- is also a flaw as it can feel a bit thin and repetitious in spots, with everyone but Breslin a supporting player. And maybe the fact that the heroine is a teen means it doesn't quite feel like an adult movie while being too creepy and spooky at times to be a young adult flick. sc: Brian King. dir: Vincenzo Natali. 97 min.
THE HAUNTING OF JULIA *
* 1/2 setting: other
(1976) (/U.K.) Mia Farrow, Keir Dullea, Tom Conti,
Jill Bennet, Robin Gammell, Cathleen Nesbitt.....After her daughter's
death, a troubled woman (Farrow) moves into an old house and investigates
its history when strange things start happening. Supernatural thriller
is suitably spooky, albeit pretty predictable. The two leads have trouble
with their English accents and Gammell (the flick's sole Canuck) has about
5 minutes of screen time. a.k.a. Full Circle. sc: Dave Humphries,
with Harry Bromley Davenport (from the novel Julia by Peter Straub).
dir: Richard Loncraine. - violence.- 96 min.
HAVANA 57 *
* setting: other
(2012) Juan Riedinger, Elisabetta Fantone, Paulino Nunes, Tony Nardi, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Nicola Correia-Damude, Daniel De Santo, David Calderisi, Gerry Mendicino.....A lone honest cop (Riedinger) in 1957 Cuba (pre-communist revolution) must navigate the systemic corruption, brutality and student protests incurred living under a dictatorship, while investigating the death of a lowly showgirl which may lead him to high places. Suspense-drama (filmed in Cuba but with mainly Canadian actors using Canadian accents) boasts an authentic sense of time and place (period cars, clothes) and sprawling street scenes and diverse locations -- yet in other respects seems modestly budgeted (presumably filming in Cuba, a dollar stretches farther). There are some solid turns by familiar character actors like Nunes (as his corrupt partner), Nardi (as a military officer), Calderisi (as a mobster), and a likable performance from De Santo (as a guileless beat cop) but a lot of the acting isn't that compelling. It's not that the actors are bad, just lacking chops, or gravitas, at least given the script and the direction. The story itself is practically a genre: honest cop in a corrupt regime whose dogged investigation of a dead "nobody" ruffles highly placed feathers. But it never seems like more than a low-rent version of a cliche, not really offering fresh twists, or surprise revelations and, as mentioned, without the scenes and the acting enlivening the telling. Well-intentioned and ambitious, but doesn't quite pull it off. sc./dir: Jim Purdy (from the novels of Harlan Abrahams). - violence; female nudity.- 98 min.
HAVE MERCY *
* 1/2 setting: Ont.
(1999) Alisa Wiegers, Clark Johnson, Nancy Beatty,
Ingrid Veninger, Jackie Burroughs, Greg Spottiswood, Carlo Rota.....Story
of various female patients at a psychiatric hospital, and how they are
encouraged to put on a talent show. So-so drama maintains a decent tempo
that keeps it watchable, but it doesn't really deliver a focal character
the audience can invest in. Wiegers, as the title character who's arrival
and departure opens and closes the film, would seem to be that -- but her
character isn't developed or used as an anchor. Likewise, Johnson (in a
nice turn) as the caring therapist, is undefined. In fact, with some of
the characters it's never explained why they're even there...which is a
problem since the movie is supposed to be about how (some of them) grow
over the course of the film. An observational film more than an involving
one...and smacks a little too much of a dramatist's view of mental illness.
sc./dir: Anais Granofsky. 86 min.
HAVEN (TVMS) *
* 1/2 setting: USA./other
(2001) (/U.S.) Natasha Richardson, Colm Feore, Henry
Czerny, Anne Bancroft, Sheila McCarthy, Sebastian Roche, Robert Joy, Tamara
Gorski, Daniel Kash, Bruce Greenwood, Hal Holbrook, Martin Landau, William
Petersen.....True story of U.S. government official, Ruth Gruber (Richardson),
and how, near the end of World War II, she oversaw the bringing of 1 000
Jewish refugees to a refugee camp in Oswego, New York -- and the anti-Semitism
they faced both from some of the local town folk and the government. Interesting
drama, exposing the prejudice of the very people who were rescuing them
(though the town folk come around eventually, particularly in a manipulative
but undeniably effective "I am Spartacus"-type scene). Rarely quite makes
the leap to making you forget you're watching actors in a well-intentioned
TV movie, but neither is it bad either. Gorski, as a gamine-like refugee,
is particularly effective, and her relationship with Czerny, as another
refugee, has the potential to really click, but ends up kind of perfunctorily
handled. Kenneth Welsh has a cameo as U.S. president Turman...the same
role he played (as the lead) in the mini-series Hiroshima.
Of course, need I say what I say for half these reviews? Having Canadian
producers do a movie like this about the U.S. just makes you wish they'd
expend the same energy on a similar Canadian project. As often happens
with Holocaust movies, there's a brief sequence using real footage of death
camps that's, of course, disturbing. Four hours. sc: Suzette Couture (from
the book by Ruth Gruber). dir: John Gray. - violence.-
THE HAVEN see Le Conciergerie
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