Cinemanovels
Dir. Terry Miles, Canada
Starring: Lauren Lee Smith, Ben Cotton, Jennifer
Beals, Kett Turton, Katharine Isabelle
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema (World
Premiere)
Cinemanovels, the
newest maplecore film from Indie Canadian filmmaker Terry Miles (A Night for Dying Tigers), is an
ambitious and innovative tribute to the canon of Canadian cinema. Miles
reunites with Tigers alumnus Lauren
Lee Smith, who stars as a young woman named Grace Laurentian who is putting
together a film retrospective for her late estranged father. Grace’s dad, a
Denys Arcand type director, was one of the greatest filmmakers of all time
according to the onscreen pundits, not only for Canada but also for the world.
His death is equated with the losses of Bergman and Antonioni.
The little meta-films of Cinemanovels,
however, also act as little mise en abymes for how all over the map this
well-intentioned little movie fires. As Grace dives further into her father's
filmography, she begins to mirror the behavior of his onscreen muse and act out
on a series of erratic sexual acts. Messy storylines with unwanted pregnancy,
unrequited love, and infidelity all generate a sense of art house chaos that
doesn’t really work. Lauren Lee Smith is sensational in the lead role of the
distressed cinephile, but she can't save this sprawling, messy picture from its
own misfires.
Smith is joined by a mix of supporting players, most notable
get fellow Tigers co-star Jennifer
Beals, who salvages a thankless role that could easily have been scrapped in
the editing room. Miles nevertheless displays another competent creation of dynamic
and fully believable characters, especially the females, as he did in Tigers. The minimalism of Cinemanovels often has a unique
authentic energy, but the film is a mush mash for a film that is so markedly
indebted to cinema.
Rating: ★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★½ (out of ★★★★★)