This day ended up being nothing like the one we had planned. It was supposed to have been crazy in a 4-movie kind of way, but as you’ll see it ended up being crazy in an unanticipated kind of way.
The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man: This ultra-indie (made for less than I have in my bank account on any given day), a dark comedy written and directed by Josh Hope, tells the tale of Riley (Tommy Beardmore), perpetually irritated by his wife and miserable at his job. The opening scenes of the movie don’t exactly make you sympathetic to his plight, however – could it be that Riley himself is the architect of all his pain? If every single facet of your life is going wrong, the only common denominator is you, Riley. It’s hard to watch a movie having no sympathy whatsoever for the main character; it’s even harder to do so when the man who wrote and directed the film, based on his own real-life experiences, is sitting next to you in the theatre. Matt and I agreed afterward that we couldn’t decide if it was bad writing or bad acting that made whole scenes fail. It felt like it was trying too hard to be a quirky movie while actually being ridiculously unimaginative. Sean had a slightly kinder outlook, but here’s what it boils down to: nobody died. And I think there has to be a rule that if you announce in the title there’s going to be a death, you bloody well better go through with it. And furthermore, if you’re going to create a character this irritating, then you’d better reward us with his destruction. Anyway, we’re very happy that the director got to exorcise some demons in the making of this film, while also convincing lots of young actresses to remove their tops (needlessly, sure, but there is no balm to the divorced man’s soul like young, nubile, goosepimply tits). Kudos to him.
How To Plan An Orgy in A Small Town: Like the previous one, this
independent film was crowd-funded, made on a teeny budget, and vied to be crowned ‘Most Awkward Title 2015’ . It’s about a “town slut” turned successful sex columnist who has to go back home for her mother’s funeral only to encounter the awful people who chased her away, who are now begging her to organize an orgy for them. This little Canadian gem is written and directed by Jeremy Lalonde and I’m happy to report that while there’s also heaps of nudity in this one, the whole thing was pulled off an awful lot better than the one we saw before it. It’s probably not fair to compare them, but we’re at a festival, we’re watching movies back to back, and it can’t be helped. We rated this movie better on every score: the writing was better, the acting better, the score was better. The jokes landed. In fact, the jokes were funny to begin with, and then well-executed. The scenario was a bit of a stretch but it asked you to go along with it, wink wink, and so we did. Matt thought it was a little “low-brow”, which is frankly probably what won Sean over. It’s not arty. It’s not putting on airs. It really is the kind of weirdos you’d expect to show up to a small town orgy, and you kind of love it for that. If you’re familiar with small towns at all, you’ll find something to relate to in this movie. The lead actress, Jewel Staite, looked awfully familiar to all of us without any of us being able to say why. She must be one of those Canadian staples that just floats around in everything, but I can tell you this: we’ll be deliberately looking out for her from now on. I loved her sarcasm, her cynicism, her naiveté. This character is interesting, and she pulls her off with a wry, shy charm. The cast as an ensemble was actually very solid, and we had fun discussing our favourite characters over dinner – and nearly all of them were mentioned at one point or another. So this is how you assemble a successful indie film: you work and rework the script; you find great talent. And you don’t start filming until you have done both those things. And when it comes time to film the nude scenes, you film quickly, and without permits. Is it weird that the director of both these movies told about illegally filming public nudity? Should we be worried about our film selections? Nah. I think we’re cool.
independent film was crowd-funded, made on a teeny budget, and vied to be crowned ‘Most Awkward Title 2015’ . It’s about a “town slut” turned successful sex columnist who has to go back home for her mother’s funeral only to encounter the awful people who chased her away, who are now begging her to organize an orgy for them. This little Canadian gem is written and directed by Jeremy Lalonde and I’m happy to report that while there’s also heaps of nudity in this one, the whole thing was pulled off an awful lot better than the one we saw before it. It’s probably not fair to compare them, but we’re at a festival, we’re watching movies back to back, and it can’t be helped. We rated this movie better on every score: the writing was better, the acting better, the score was better. The jokes landed. In fact, the jokes were funny to begin with, and then well-executed. The scenario was a bit of a stretch but it asked you to go along with it, wink wink, and so we did. Matt thought it was a little “low-brow”, which is frankly probably what won Sean over. It’s not arty. It’s not putting on airs. It really is the kind of weirdos you’d expect to show up to a small town orgy, and you kind of love it for that. If you’re familiar with small towns at all, you’ll find something to relate to in this movie. The lead actress, Jewel Staite, looked awfully familiar to all of us without any of us being able to say why. She must be one of those Canadian staples that just floats around in everything, but I can tell you this: we’ll be deliberately looking out for her from now on. I loved her sarcasm, her cynicism, her naiveté. This character is interesting, and she pulls her off with a wry, shy charm. The cast as an ensemble was actually very solid, and we had fun discussing our favourite characters over dinner – and nearly all of them were mentioned at one point or another. So this is how you assemble a successful indie film: you work and rework the script; you find great talent. And you don’t start filming until you have done both those things. And when it comes time to film the nude scenes, you film quickly, and without permits. Is it weird that the director of both these movies told about illegally filming public nudity? Should we be worried about our film selections? Nah. I think we’re cool.
Le Mirage: This one garnered some controversy when it was released in its home province of Quebec earlier this year. It’s about a 30-something man who seems to have it all – a successful business, a beautiful wife, an impressive home, great kids. But things aren’t as swell as they seem and instead of telling his wife about the trouble they’re in, he turns, instead, to her best friend, newly implanted with ginormous tits, the new object of his fantasies. It doesn’t sound all that out there, but there’s … an aggressive kiss. A kiss aggressive enough that some people were calling sexual assault. I’d like to give you my take on it, but the truth is, for first time in Asshole film festival history, we missed a screening. Entirely our own fault. Sean decided last-minute that in fact, he could not come all the way to Whistler and not ski the mountain. But he’d in no way prepared for this, so we scrambled around to rent all the necessaries, and that cut into our movie-going time. I’m sad to have missed it, but not sad that life got in the way. We love movies, but they’re only a portion of our happy lives, not the entirety.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Well have fun! 😊
LikeLike
Oh my God you guys. I had so much fun reading this post. You don’t half watch some interesting movies! 😀
– Allie
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a shame you could not see The Wave, I remember hearing good things about it at TIFF.
As for Love, it is one of the few films where I walked away thinking there was actually too much sex in a film about love and sex. The 3D work was great though, it made the film gorgeous to look at.
LikeLike
Yes, funny how things that start out shocking can feel so mundane after a while.
LikeLike
“goosepimply” – nasty 🙂
“slapping of balls” – XD oh man that made my morning. 😀
LikeLike
I should have warned people to have their coffee first!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have heard some good things about Love, though some do call it porn. Will have to see for myself. An interesting selection of films there.
LikeLike
I didn’t feel like porn to me, nor did it feel like a good movie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😮 All I can say is THAT was an interesting concoction! (No pun intended. But hey, I’ve always wondered why the women are the ones who have to bear it all. Could the tides be turning?)
LikeLike
Reading your description of Love makes it sound like the director is attempting to challenge heterosexist ideals of beauty and eroticism by forcing straight male viewers to focus on the male member…or he’s glorifying heterosexist ideals of beauty and eroticism by focusing on how it’s all about the guy getting off.
Yeah, I could see the point (no pun intended) of unsimulated sex in Shortbus, but here not so much.
LikeLike
I think he’s mostly just fixated on himself. He uses his own name TWICE in the movie, besides which, the main guy is a film student wannabe director.
LikeLike
Jewel Staite: Firefly!!! She’s been in many other things besides, but that’s what I remember her for.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know her from that. Looking at her IMDB, it seems like she’s been in a tonne of shows, none of which I’ve seen. I guess she’s just “around” and now I’ll remember her from this.
LikeLike
heard good things about how to plan. Also glad to hear there’s nudity, hate films that go for the raunchy subjects but keep it pg-13!
Any idea on what rating it would get?
LikeLike
It’ll definitely be an R.
LikeLike
How To Plan An Orgy in A Small Town? What an intriguing title. Plot sounds interesting too. I’ll have to see if I can find it.
LikeLike
It’s getting Canadian distribution in the spring!
LikeLike
I so want to see Love.
LikeLike
Pingback: Her Composition | ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES
Jay, you made me laugh like crazy! 🙂
I could only imagine an orgy in this small town with all the 75+ and the picture wasn’t pretty… (I tried to let myself out of it, maybe that’s why!) 😀
LikeLike
Yeah, it’s really not an ideal situation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a combo of films to see! I absolutely cannot wait to see Gasper Noe’s Love. It sounds so outrageous and ridiculous and I’ll probably hate it but I also get the feeling that by the end I would be hysterically laughing at everything. It sounds like a really tiring film experience. Love your write-up!
LikeLike
Yes – you kind of do have to see it. Preferably in 3D. It may not be great film, but it is an experience.
LikeLike
Pingback: One Proud Canadian at the Whistler Film Festival | ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES
Pingback: Melodrama… in 3D!: Part 1 | ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES
Pingback: Here Is TV | How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town
Jay,
Small Town Orgy sounds like a gem. I’d heard about Love a while back…interesting that it is shot in 3D 🙂 I don’t have a TV, but I’m going to ask around for who has a 3D set and see if we can organize a home viewing and then a discussion to follow for a group.
LikeLike
Pingback: ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIESThoughts and Themes from Whistler Film Festival