TIFF 2022: 'I Like Movies' Is A Perfect 'Film Bro' ComingofAge Film
Alex Billington September 19, 2022
I don't just love movies, I love them! If you love movies as much as I do, you probably know the "movie bro," the weirdo who is so obsessed with movies that he can only talk and think about them. (Here are two good articles about them: No Film School or Little White Lies.) Kinobro can be found anywhere and everywhere, usually hiding in various dark corners of the Internet and waiting to appear in your private messages. Some women mention David Fincher or Drunken Love at the time. Surprisingly, there's a new movie at the Toronto Film Festival this year called I Like Movies, and it's a gritty coming-of-age drama about a "brother with a belt" from Canada. This is not to belittle the brothers in the movie or to turn any of them into a movie to laugh at, it's actually an incredibly compassionate and caring movie about the hardships of growing up as an idiot and growing up alone. It could be a movie about a brother, or it could be one of the gems of this year's TIFF lineup. I watched it with pleasure and hope that it will find a wide audience.
I Love Movies is the feature-length debut of Canadian director Chandler Levack. There is also a joke in the film that Cinebro's main character, Lawrence, doesn't want to be called a "Canadian director" because, come on, how many Canadian directors can you name? But it's a joke because his mother is trying to remind him of the Cronenberg boy. (Not to mention Jason and Ivan Reitman, Denis Villeneuve, James Cameron, Jean-Marc Vallet, etc.) Lawrence, played by Isaiah Lehtinen, is the epitome of an obsessive film nerd: he can't stop talking about the dark arts. . The film The Room or Panch Matal Prem is the best film of all time, either by this director or by that director or whatever. In fact, the 2002 PTA movie with Adam Sandler that pops up most often is set in 2002 when he can't stop talking about its release in theaters. His best friend puts up with his stupidity because he likes movies too and many others don't. He tries to get a job at a local video rental store (mostly to get free rent) and awkwardly befriends the manager, a woman named Alana, played by Ramina D'Hugo.
This movie really brought me back. As soon as it started, I felt like I was back at Sundance in 2007. It has an authentic vibe and a slightly dated 2002 aesthetic that makes this movie feel like you've stepped back in time. I loved everything about it. fully. It's an independent Canadian coming-of-age film that perfectly blends nostalgia, awe and derision. A deeply honest film, but also a brutally honest comedy about this character and his obsession with cinema, it's also extremely sympathetic, touching and kindred. I get that Lawrence has flaws, he doesn't quite get it and acts like an idiot at times, but he didn't become a character we should hate or anything like that. He's not perfect like the rest of us, he just loves movies so much that he has no idea how to behave in the real world or with other people who don't like movies as much as he does. She treats everything with such warmth and optimism, as if with age she will learn to be better, and one can be glad that she has found her place. I'd rather talk to Lawrence about movies any day, although we probably don't agree with half of them, but still.
From all the Subway sandwiches to the details of the video store and watching SNL with you every weekend, Levak fully embraces all the elements of nostalgia, perfectly capturing what it was like to be a edgy teenager at that time in the early 2000s. Guys, the part about “video stores is a growing industry” is fun and sweet. I have to say this not for comparison, but to show that he deserves to be side by side with another geeky classic: I Like Movies is as good as Clerks. This is the film festival debut of an instant favourite, tied to a time long lost due to the rise of video stores and DVD players. It could be the next generation of office workers, a great movie that will make you laugh but also remind you that there is more to life than just reporting everything. Or not? Eventually, it seems Lawrence needs to learn a lesson to stop being obsessed and work on real conversations that don't involve the movies. There will always be new movies to enjoy, always more movie bros that will make you roll your eyes and laugh.
Alex TIFF 2022 rating: 9 out of 10
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