What films should I see or books should I read?
There are hundreds of books, novels, guides, movies, etc that you can see or read that will give you a good idea of life in Montreal. I will only list a couple of films for the moment, I'll add more references later. The best Montreal movies are, of course, made here (the only foreign movie that take place in Montreal, as far as I know but I am not even sure if it was filmed here, is the original version of The Fly, with Vincent Price who even has a French accent... there's also the 1955 Edward G. Robinson movie "A Bullet for Joey"). The obvious recommendation would be "Montr�al vu par...(1991)" (Montreal sextet) which was made for Montreal's 350th anniversary in 1992. It's six short films made by different directors that shows their impression of Montreal (it's not a travel guide). The two first ones are not that good but the two last one are the best (Atom Egoyan's and Denys Arcand's). Three Denys Arcand movies are also recommended : "J�sus de Montr�al (1989)" (great images of Montreal from the Mont-Royal), "R�jeanne Padovani (1973)" (the last scenes are of the construction of the Ville-Marie highway) and "Joyeux Calvaire (1996)" (not his best work but it's a homeless guide to Montreal). There are also Jean-Claude Lauzon's "L�olo (1992)" (great and disturbing images) and "Un zoo la nuit (1987)" (AKA Night Zoo, once you get passed the opening scene, it's easier). For a fringe look of Montreal, there's "Cosmos (1997)" (black and white collection of six sketches from six young local director, it won a prize at Cannes this year) and "Eldorado (1995)" (almost all improvised, with some of the best images of Montreal I have seen). Amongst other films, there's "La vie heureuse de Leopold Z.", "Les Ordres" (about the 1970 october crisis), "OK Lalibert�" for life in Montreal in the 70s, Yves Simoneau's "Pouvoir Intime" (a Brink's truck robbery gone wrong). For original English language movies, there's "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)" and " Lies My Father Told Me" for life in the Mile-End district in the 40's, Arto Paragamian's "Because Why (1993)" (interesting romantic comedy)... I'll get more as soon as I remember more. You can check you the Internet Movie Database for more information.
< back...
|