Mon oncle Antoine

I have just watched the film ”Mon oncle Antoine”(1971), a Canadian portrait of a boy´s coming of age in a wintry 1940s rural Quebec. According to critics, this is one of the greatest Canadian films of all time. According to me, the director Claude Jutra (1930-1986) has made a fine and authentic cinematographic experience, where the camera works nicely together with the excellent cast. There are some scenes that are more intense than others, but sometimes the film gets a bit slow even for my taste. I had wanted to see more of the main actor Jacques Gagnin, who is playing the young boy Benoit. Apart from this film I can only find one more film where he appears (”La mort d´un bûcheron”, 1973). I have a tendency to be a bit critical about the soundtrack in many films, but the soundtrack in this film is better than usual. There are no real surprises in this film, so don´t get disappointed if you just find a good drama here. This is not one of the best films in my collection, but it still is a film I certainly would recommend if you are interested in coming of age films!

            

Synopsis: Benoit is a young boy who is living together with his uncle who is running a funeral company, and we´ll follow the boy when he is helping his uncle with the death of a 15 year old neighbor boy.

Saving Shiloh (2006)

Another American family-oriented coming-of age story, this time it´s the sweet and sensitive teenage boy Marty who sets out for an adventure where the important lesson is to learn to trust your heart. Marty is played by the very talented Jason Dolley, born in 1991. The story takes place in a small town in the US where Marty is living with his parents and two younger sisters. In the neighborhood in the woods there is living a lonely man, Judd, of about 50 years old who is known for being cruel to animals, especially his own dogs, and for stealing from people in town. Marty´s own dog, Shiloh, had once escaped from Judd to become part of Marty´s family instead. When a dead body suddenly shows up the rumours start immediately. However, for some reason Marty feels sorry for the man, and asks himself if not a man can change. Soon some kind of friendship evolves between the two, but will it last? Marty´s friend has reasons to believe that Judd is dangerous, and Marty himself then feels insecure around Judd. Who can he trust?

The camerawork is good, and it´s obvious that the film is made by professionals. All the acting is good, and Jason is here entertaining to watch. The story is rather plain, with some twists, but easy to follow and the film is perfect to watch on a lazy Saturday morning.

Meeting Judd.

                       

Photo: **** (very good)

Acting: **** (very good)

Story: *** (good)

Soundtrack: *** (good)

Total: **** (very good)

The Wizard (1989)

This movie is a rather fun coming-of-age story from the US that centers around two brothers, the younger brother with an emotional handicap after a devastating experience in the past and the other completely different and out-going. With the threat of having his brother institutionalized, the older brother Corey (Fred Savage, born in 1976, 13 years old in the film) one day escapes together with his younger brother Jimmy (Luke Edwards, born in 1980, 9 years old in the film), and embark on a journey that will change everything around them. By chance Corey discovers that Jimmy, in spite of his emotional disturbance, has an unusual gift for playing video games, even games he haven´t even seen before. After meeting up with a girl (Jenny Lewis), they start heading for the great video games contest, to be able to prove to the world (and their parents) that Jimmy is an intelligent boy. But the journey isn´t without dangers and difficulties, and in the end everyone perhaps has grown a little (without saying anything about how the story ends). You can find some more info here at IMdB. In summary, this is a warm-hearted family adventure, without some of the usual clichés, and even I (hm..) got some tears in my eyes at one episode….

           

Photo: ****(very good)

Acting: ****(very good)

Story: ****(very good)

Soundtrack: ***(good)

Total: ****(very good)

Upcoming reviews (during july/beginning of august):

1. Country Teacher

- A very new Czech film about a middle aged teacher who is going to the countryside to work in the local school, at the same time struggling with his own acceptance of his homosexuality and with his falling in love with a teenage boy. A very rare and good film!

2. Nachttocht

-A Dutch coming-of-age story about a boy who is falling in love with his sports/canoe-teacher, who in turn is falling in love with the boy´s mom. A very nicely done and rare triangle drama about love and friendship. Similar to ”Country teacher”, though with totally different twists and also much older (but equally good!).

3. Gutta boys

- A Norwegian TV-series about a group of boys in a coming-of-age drama.

4. Russian film (rare)

- A rare film (so rare I have forgotten the title but will of course update you with that information later), about a boy who is struggling to survive a hazardous boat trip.

5. My uncle Antoine

- Considered to be the best Canadian coming-of-age film, and is about the developing consciousness of a young boy as he learns to deal with both sexuality and death.

6. Malena

- An Italian coming-of-age-story about a young boy who encounters the beautiful Malena, the dream of all men. Said to be an intense and very interesting film.

7. City of Men

- A Brazilian TV-series about kids in the slum of Rio de Janeiro.

8. Captain Abu Raed

-A new film, not yet released in my country, about an older man finding a new task in life and becoming a sort of father figure to a group of boys/children. Seems interesting on the trailer, more info will come later.

And some bonus reviews…..

1. ”Close to Leo”

2. ”This boys life”

3. ”The wizard”

4. ”Saving Shiloh”

Hornets nest, 1970

How about a review of a US Hollywood production? Well, this flick from 1970 represents an era in which there were a little more freedom in the American film industry. A film like ”Hornets nest” would never have been produced in the US today, but could well have been so in for example Italy or Spain. It´s a pity that the best films produced in the US today concerning anything about the genre of coming of age are films like for example ”Dog days of summer”, ”Hotel for dogs” and similar rather lame productions. I know that there are exceptions, but they are few. The story of the film takes place in Italy during the WWII. An American parachute soldier (Rock Hudson) is shoot down by the German troops and rescued by a group of orphaned boys (and one girl) of about 11-13 years old, and taken to their isolated camp in the forest. During the following night they force a female doctor (Sylva Koscina) to go to the camp and help the soldier. After he recovers he gets on with his mission to blow up a dam, thus intending to flood the German military base located downstreams. However this task isn´t so easy to accomplish without involving the kids in the operation, something the doctor is strongly against. Underneath the main story there is the psychological drama of the orphaned children having to have witnessed the shooting of their parents in the beginning of the film. This use of multiple layers in the story, makes it deeper than many US films, that many times have difficulties in getting a single thread going. The children in the film are beautifully acted by very talented boys.

         

Photo: *****(excellent)

Acting: ****(very good)

Story: ****(very good)

Soundtrack: **(below average)

Total: ****(very good)

          

The boys:

Aldo (Mark Colleano)

Carlo (Mauro Gravina)

Dino (John Fordyce)

Franco (Giuseppe Cassuto)

Tonio (Amedeo Castracane)

Romeo (Giancarlo Colombaioni)

Mikko (Ronald Colombaioni)

Arturo (Valerio Colombaioni)

Rico (Giuseppe Coppola)

Paolo (Luigi Criscuolo)

 

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Hornets nest” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!