Having your big Hollywood break in the middle of a global pandemic is a curious experience.
Whereas many rising stars about to be jettisoned into the public eye thanks to a TV show or movie might expect to be shepherded by teams of publicists between late night talk show sofas, photographer's studios, magazines and newspaper offices, hotels for press junkets and perhaps even a few long-haul flights, for Daisy Edgar-Jones the Covid-19 lockdown has seen the usual media circuit stripped back to whatever can be achieved from her bedroom.
Not that it's made the promotional work any less ...
Whereas many rising stars about to be jettisoned into the public eye thanks to a TV show or movie might expect to be shepherded by teams of publicists between late night talk show sofas, photographer's studios, magazines and newspaper offices, hotels for press junkets and perhaps even a few long-haul flights, for Daisy Edgar-Jones the Covid-19 lockdown has seen the usual media circuit stripped back to whatever can be achieved from her bedroom.
Not that it's made the promotional work any less ...
- 4/30/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Normal
Pusan International Film Festival
BUSAN, South Korea -- Like the high-profile Reservation Road and White Night (also screening at PIFF), Normal tracks the after-effects of a devastating accident. Constructed like an interconnected character piece a la Short Cuts or Crash, the film doesn't have as much finesse as the former, but is a good deal less manipulative than the latter.
Carl Bessai's latest is intermittently affecting, though too often it wallows in soap opera. Carrie-Anne Moss' dramatic star turn could generate interest for a limited release in its native Canada and possibly on the festival circuit. Theatrical distribution elsewhere seems a long shot.
Catherine (Moss) is the grieving mother of teenager Nicky, traumatized to the point of near paralysis following his death in a drunk-driving accident. She's distanced herself from her husband and neglected her younger son Brady (Cameron Bright, Birth) for two years. Jordie was Nicky's best friend, just out of juvenile detention, and living once again with his overbearing father Carl (Michael Riley) and his young wife Elise (Camille Sullivan). Professor Walt Callum Keith Rennie), who has an autistic brother and a failing marriage, is overwhelmed with guilt at causing the accident that killed Nicky.
For most of its running time, Normal unfolds as a series of vignettes, some vivid and compelling. Catherine's anger and suffering are palpable, as is her family's frustration. Their weariness with her extended mourning is understandable too. The troubled Jordie, with his own burden to bear, is equally believable in his unfocused rage, and Walt's resigned responsibility toward his brother rings true.
When Jordie begins an affair with his stepmother, it's straight out of daytime television, and adds a good dose of unnecessary sordidness to narrative. Not to be outdone, Walt gets in on the sexy plot turns as well, with a student. It's here that Normal steps into the realm of melodrama in its attempt to investigate life in an affluent and white Vancouver suburb.
From the beginning, it's clear that the grief-stricken Catherine and the guilt-ridden Walt are on the sort of collision course. This results in mutual redemption, yet the catharsis is only mildly satisfying.
Bessai gets the strongest performances from Moss, the underrated Rennie (possibly best known now as the Cylon Leoben on Battlestar Galactica) and Zegers, who makes a cliche character believable. Normal functions best as a series of snapshots about lingering guilt, the desire for redemption, and the dangers in allowing grief. But as a whole, Normal isn't quite convincing.
NORMAL
A Mongrel Media, Raven West Films, Submission Films production
Credits:
Director: Carl Bessai
Screenwriters: Travis McDonald, Carl Bessai
Producers: Andrew Boutilier, Carl Bessai
Executive producers: Stephen Hegyes, Shawn Williamson, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross
Director of photography: Carl Bessai
Production designer: Nancy Mossop
Music: Clinton Shorter
Co-producer: Rajvinder Uppal
Costume designer: Michele Maillet
Editor: Lisa Binkley
Cast:
Catherine: Carrie-Anne Moss
Jordie: Kevin Zegers
Walt: Callum Keith Rennie
Dale: Andrew Airlie
Brady: Cameron Bright
Dennis: Tygh Runyan
Abby: Allison Hossack
Sherri: Lauren Lee Smith
Running time --100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BUSAN, South Korea -- Like the high-profile Reservation Road and White Night (also screening at PIFF), Normal tracks the after-effects of a devastating accident. Constructed like an interconnected character piece a la Short Cuts or Crash, the film doesn't have as much finesse as the former, but is a good deal less manipulative than the latter.
Carl Bessai's latest is intermittently affecting, though too often it wallows in soap opera. Carrie-Anne Moss' dramatic star turn could generate interest for a limited release in its native Canada and possibly on the festival circuit. Theatrical distribution elsewhere seems a long shot.
Catherine (Moss) is the grieving mother of teenager Nicky, traumatized to the point of near paralysis following his death in a drunk-driving accident. She's distanced herself from her husband and neglected her younger son Brady (Cameron Bright, Birth) for two years. Jordie was Nicky's best friend, just out of juvenile detention, and living once again with his overbearing father Carl (Michael Riley) and his young wife Elise (Camille Sullivan). Professor Walt Callum Keith Rennie), who has an autistic brother and a failing marriage, is overwhelmed with guilt at causing the accident that killed Nicky.
For most of its running time, Normal unfolds as a series of vignettes, some vivid and compelling. Catherine's anger and suffering are palpable, as is her family's frustration. Their weariness with her extended mourning is understandable too. The troubled Jordie, with his own burden to bear, is equally believable in his unfocused rage, and Walt's resigned responsibility toward his brother rings true.
When Jordie begins an affair with his stepmother, it's straight out of daytime television, and adds a good dose of unnecessary sordidness to narrative. Not to be outdone, Walt gets in on the sexy plot turns as well, with a student. It's here that Normal steps into the realm of melodrama in its attempt to investigate life in an affluent and white Vancouver suburb.
From the beginning, it's clear that the grief-stricken Catherine and the guilt-ridden Walt are on the sort of collision course. This results in mutual redemption, yet the catharsis is only mildly satisfying.
Bessai gets the strongest performances from Moss, the underrated Rennie (possibly best known now as the Cylon Leoben on Battlestar Galactica) and Zegers, who makes a cliche character believable. Normal functions best as a series of snapshots about lingering guilt, the desire for redemption, and the dangers in allowing grief. But as a whole, Normal isn't quite convincing.
NORMAL
A Mongrel Media, Raven West Films, Submission Films production
Credits:
Director: Carl Bessai
Screenwriters: Travis McDonald, Carl Bessai
Producers: Andrew Boutilier, Carl Bessai
Executive producers: Stephen Hegyes, Shawn Williamson, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross
Director of photography: Carl Bessai
Production designer: Nancy Mossop
Music: Clinton Shorter
Co-producer: Rajvinder Uppal
Costume designer: Michele Maillet
Editor: Lisa Binkley
Cast:
Catherine: Carrie-Anne Moss
Jordie: Kevin Zegers
Walt: Callum Keith Rennie
Dale: Andrew Airlie
Brady: Cameron Bright
Dennis: Tygh Runyan
Abby: Allison Hossack
Sherri: Lauren Lee Smith
Running time --100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/8/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Toronto to fete Arcand, Cronenberg pics
TORONTO -- David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen, and Denys Arcand's Days of Darkness will get the red-carpet treatment at the Toronto International Film Festival, organizers said Tuesday.
The latest work from veteran Canadian directors Cronenberg and Arcand -- whose film closed Cannes this year -- will receive galas at Roy Thomson Hall.
Unveiling the Canadian contingent in Toronto, festival organizers said they have booked Francois Girard's Keira Knightley starrer Silk from Picturehouse and New Line International, Roger Spottiswoode's Rwandan drama Shake Hands With the Devil and Clement Virgo's boxing tale Poor Boy's Game, starring Danny Glover, for Special Presentations slots.
Also joining the Special Presentations program is Adam Vollick's Here Is What Is, a portrait of famed record producer Daniel Lanois, and Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, billed as a "docu-fantasia" about the filmmaker's hometown.
Canadian films unspooling as part of Toronto's Contemporary World Cinema section include Leonard Farlinger's All Hat; Bruce Sweeney's American Venus, starring Rebecca De Mornay; Bernard Emond's Contre Toute Esperance, which will also screen in Locarno; and Carl Bessai's Carrie-Anne Moss starrer Normal.
Also joining the CWC party is Laurie Lynd's Breakfast With Scot, Denis Cote's Nos Vies Privees and Kari Skogland's The Stone Angel, the big-screen adaptation of the classic Margaret Laurence novel, starring Ellen Burstyn.
The latest work from veteran Canadian directors Cronenberg and Arcand -- whose film closed Cannes this year -- will receive galas at Roy Thomson Hall.
Unveiling the Canadian contingent in Toronto, festival organizers said they have booked Francois Girard's Keira Knightley starrer Silk from Picturehouse and New Line International, Roger Spottiswoode's Rwandan drama Shake Hands With the Devil and Clement Virgo's boxing tale Poor Boy's Game, starring Danny Glover, for Special Presentations slots.
Also joining the Special Presentations program is Adam Vollick's Here Is What Is, a portrait of famed record producer Daniel Lanois, and Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, billed as a "docu-fantasia" about the filmmaker's hometown.
Canadian films unspooling as part of Toronto's Contemporary World Cinema section include Leonard Farlinger's All Hat; Bruce Sweeney's American Venus, starring Rebecca De Mornay; Bernard Emond's Contre Toute Esperance, which will also screen in Locarno; and Carl Bessai's Carrie-Anne Moss starrer Normal.
Also joining the CWC party is Laurie Lynd's Breakfast With Scot, Denis Cote's Nos Vies Privees and Kari Skogland's The Stone Angel, the big-screen adaptation of the classic Margaret Laurence novel, starring Ellen Burstyn.
- 7/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Quartet sign up for 'Normal' roles
Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie and Cameron Bright are starring in Carl Bessai's Normal, a drama about the impact of a deadly traffic crash. Rennie also has joined the cast of Sci Fi Channel's upcoming miniseries Tin Man, a new take on L. Frank Baum's classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from RHI Entertainment.
In Normal, Moss plays Catherine, a mother filled with rage and unable to recover from the death of her teenage son in a car crash. Rennie plays Walt, a literature professor trying to overcome his guilt from the accidental killing. Zegers plays a young thief involved in a taboo love affair with his stepmother whose life becomes intertwined with the other characters. Bright plays Catherine's 12-year-old son, Brady.
In Tin Man, Rennie -- best known for his recurring role as Leoben Conoy on Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica -- will play Zero, the lead henchman for the wicked sorceress Azkadellia (Kathleen Robertson), who lives in the Outer Zone, a wondrous world oppressed by dark magic.
In Normal, Moss plays Catherine, a mother filled with rage and unable to recover from the death of her teenage son in a car crash. Rennie plays Walt, a literature professor trying to overcome his guilt from the accidental killing. Zegers plays a young thief involved in a taboo love affair with his stepmother whose life becomes intertwined with the other characters. Bright plays Catherine's 12-year-old son, Brady.
In Tin Man, Rennie -- best known for his recurring role as Leoben Conoy on Sci Fi's Battlestar Galactica -- will play Zero, the lead henchman for the wicked sorceress Azkadellia (Kathleen Robertson), who lives in the Outer Zone, a wondrous world oppressed by dark magic.
- 4/11/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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