Blog: A Collection of Canadian Screen Award Reviews

This week has been the Canadian Screen Awards, with the film awards being handed out on Friday May 31st. Covering and supporting Canadian film is a core tenet of Contra Zoom, and this past year we did more reviews than ever. We have published a whopping nine reviews of nominated movies including 3/6 Best Motion Picture nominees. If you are interested in knowing more about the nominees, check out Jeff Bulmer’s Letterboxd list and Matthew Simpson put together where to watch all of the nominees. Click on the titles to read the full reviews for each film!

BlackBerry – 17 nominations

Mike explains his dream is to create something that isn’t just “adding to the hiss”. When Balsillie pushes back, he challenges that “good enough” is the enemy of humanity. As the house of cards starts to topple, corners are increasingly cut until “good enough” starts creeping in. It’s said by an engineer forced to rush the implementation of a half-baked trackpad, and then later by a Verizon executive presented with it. At the end of the movie, inspecting a shipment of new BlackBerry’s he despairingly outsourced to China, he hears that hiss, haunting him like Poe’s nevermore raven. Or Mozart’s laugh mocking Salieri in Amadeus. He sold his soul, and all we got was more hiss.
Jay Stryker

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person – 12 nominations

Louis-Seize and co-writer Christine Doyon explore the themes of assisted suicide and consensual death – even making the metaphor explicit in a scene at the end involving a patient receiving medical assistance in dying. Where the comparison falls flat, however, is that while Paul and Sasha’s actions and choices are always their own, they aren’t given many other options by the narrative. Paul was initially driven to depression by relentless bullying, and his dying wish is to lash out at everyone who bullied him. Though he’s technically free to go back to his “normal” life afterwards, his night out with Sasha succeeds only in making his existing situation significantly worse. Sasha meanwhile can either kill others or die of starvation, a dichotomy she overcomes by finding a way to kill ethically instead of in cold blood.
Jeff Bulmer

Ru – 12 nominations

Avoiding the trope of mythologizing the refugee experience while also not ignoring the trauma and difficulties therein, Ru deftly balances celebrating the addition of diverse cultures to the Canadian social landscape and the people who make it possible, while also acknowledging that it’s by no means perfect for everyone involved. At the end of the day, this is but one chapter of one immigrant family’s story over many generations, and while it may not have the high drama of other stories, it is still an important story worth telling and remembering.
Paulo Bautista

Red Rooms – 5 nominations

The film feels like it could have been a part of the Millenium Series written by Stieg Larsson, with Kelly-Anne as a Lisbeth Salander type, willing to go into the depths of humanity to find out the truth. Juliette Gariépy is fascinating to watch as she tries to hide and bury her emotions, deceiving the audience and those around her. When the time comes she is a ticking time bomb of potential destruction and she sells the building tension masterfully.
Dakota Arsenault

Hey Viktor! – 3 nominations

The bedrock of the film is the relationship between Lightning and fellow Signals actor Simon Baker. Estranged since the release of the original film, the two have led very different career paths. Baker is a successful actor with a lengthy filmography, including a collaboration with Steven Spielberg (Into the West, a 2005 miniseries which Spielberg produced). Despite this, he maintains a modest, solitary life in Alberta. Lightning, in contrast, is a boisterous alcoholic who gets by as an acting coach for children. Far from respected within the community, he’s nevertheless generally well-liked at the local pub where he’s known for his hard-partying antics.
Jeff Bulmer

Fitting In – 2 nominations

The film does a phenomenal job of including outside references to help understand the pain and confusion that Lindy is going through. McGlynn uses horror films to help counter balance the real life drama. When Lindy decides she wants to have sex with Adam it is after watching the Canadian cult horror film Ginger Snaps, which is about two female friends and after one of them gets her period for the first time turns into a lycanthrope. Later in the movie at a costume party Lindy dresses up as the titular character in Carrie about a young woman who gets her period for the first time and unlocks kinetic super powers. Both films show the alienation and horrors that girls feel as they experience shedding their uterine wall for the first time, something that Lindy physically can never do.
Dakota Arsenault

Seagrass – 2 nominations

The best part of the film is the youngest daughter Emmy seems to be followed by an apparition. The family attends this retreat mostly due to the struggles that Judith has experienced since her mother passed away a few months earlier. Emmy is susceptible to supernatural beliefs that other kids tell her and when she is left alone, these fears seem to manifest themselves. We get beautiful handheld tracking shots where the camera floats around like a spectral, eventually tracking Emmy. At first you are left to wonder if this is something haunted and insidious, or all inside the young girl’s head. The more these oddly hypnotic camera movements appear, the more you assume it is likely her Grandmother’s spirit, not haunting, but guiding her.
Dakota Arsenault

Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun – 1 nomination

Horse racing and rodeo events have always been filled with danger and outsiders who often question why people would want to put themselves or the animals in potential harm. To those that live rancher lifestyles, it is just a natural thing to participate in. To indigenous communities, it’s a way to continue on family traditions that have gone on for generations. In Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun, directed by Banchi Hanuse, we get an inside look at the world of Indian Relay Races.
Dakota Arsenault

Polaris – 1 nomination

Much of the heavy lifting is done via terrific lead performance by the film’s young star (played by Viva Lee) who has to carry the emotional resonance of the film as Suki, an almost feral like child, cautious yet inquisitive, violent yet compassionate, fierce yet thoughtful, who uses her ingenuity, and special link to Polaris, in order to survive. She was raised by a polar bear simply referred to as Mama, but after she is kidnapped by the Morads and separated, fearing they have killed Mama, she pursues her freedom, escaping in a brutal fashion.
Brodie Cotnam