Canadian Cinema

So this post will be half commenting on Canadian theatrical release and half a movie review. This is what I get for not blogging yesterday like I had planned to.

First of, I was overjoyed to hear on the radio yesterday that The Trotsky was going to be released in theatres this weekend. I'd heard so much about it when it was at TIFF and dared not hope that I would ever actually get to see it in theatres. After all, how often do you get to see any Canadian movie in a Canadian theatre? Then I remembered that Gunless should've been out around this time too. And also in the theatres! It was a glorious day. But after looking up both movies, I realize that Gunless was currently out but today was the last day that it was playing at this theatre but The Trotsky would be playing this weekend. Apparently they can only have 1 Canadian movie playing at one time.

I know I shouldn't complain because I am genuinely happy just to see any Canadian movie playing in a theatre but I really wish that they would both be playing at once. I mean, Gunless was released (ordering to Cineplex website) on April 30 and today was the last day it was playing. That gives it a run of 2 weeks. Now keep in mind that not only is this theatre still playing Alice in Wonderland (going on 2 months now), it's still playing Avatar (which was released in December!!!!!). But only one Canadian movie at a time. Which is why it's so important to go out and see Canadian movies actually in the theatres so hopefully we can fix this. The more of a demand there is, the more Canadian movies they will play and the longer the runs.

Which is why I went to go see Gunless this afternoon. Truthfully, I didn't have high expectations. I'm not generally a big fan of Westerns (I'm pretty sure the only one that I've seen at this point in my life is Shane) but Paul Gross is a very attractive man. Plus he does do a lot for the Canadian film industry (whether you like what he does or not) so I feel the need to support him. And I thought it was generally good. Did it change my life? No but I wasn't really expecting it to. It was kind of predictable but I still chuckled at parts. I did find it strange that this small Western town managed to have both Chinese immigrants and French people but hey, maybe that's what it was like. The one thing though: Mr. Gross had remarkably white teeth for an American outlaw.

Overall, it was a good movie. And everyone should go check out The Trotsky this weekend. Not necessarily because it's a Canadian movie, but because it really looks hilarious! (seriously, the guy who directed it used to be on Are You Afraid of the Dark? That's reason enough)