Wilby Wonderful
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Movie Reviews of Wilby Wonderful
Movie Review: Wonderful, indeed.
Summary: 5 Stars
You know, I really love finding stuff like this. From the mind of the tragically underrated but extremely talented Canadian filmmaker Daniel MacIvor comes "Wilby Wonderful", a quirky offbeat tale of love, redemption, and other random things. Basically it's a day in the life of the residents of Wilby, a small and tightly-knit island community. There's not really a main plot on the whole, but rather several smaller plots that sort of intertwine and fit together nicely.
The story follows a variety of colorful characters, including a depressed gay man who continually attempts suicide; a teenage girl (played perfectly by the ever-amazing Ellen Page) who is struggling to maintain relationships with her promiscuous alcoholic mother and her jerk boyfriend, who is pressuring her into having sex; a high-strung real-estate agent (Sandra Oh) whose fierce dedication to her work is putting a serious strain on her marriage; a handyman (played by an unfortunately unknown actor named Callum Keith Rennie) who oddly seems to offer solace to everyone he meets, and many others.
The characters all face their own conflicts, which all escalate as the day progresses, and each plot thickens as their paths cross. With a movie like this, the challenge is keeping everything focused and organized, and MacIvor does an excellent job of this. The performances are great across the board, and the story is filled with genuine emotion and just a bit of dark humor to balance things out. It may sound a bit bleak and depressing by my description, but this is ultimately a feel-good movie that never feels sappy or contrived. It also manages to be quirky and unique, but still pretty realistic. You sort of get the feeling that these kinds of things probably really do go on in small towns all over the world, that sort of struggle to maintain a balance between the conflict of the individual and the comaraderie of the community.
Finally, the cinematography is excellent as well. It has this sort of simplistic, pastoral feel that's perfectly conducive to the mood, and the location (somewhere in Nova Scotia, I think?) is really beautiful. I really like the music too. There's at least a couple of songs in here for which I really need to find the artist.
Anyway, this is just a really great movie, one that I could watch over and over and never get tired of. I really wish MacIvor would make more movies, because I really dig his style. He did one before this called "Marion Bridge" (which also stars Ellen Page, and the woman who played her mother in this one), which is also really good. I definitely need more.
Movie Review: Top Drawer
Summary: 5 Stars
"Wilby Wonderful" is a delightful gem I encountered through the Magnolia Arts Center. This Canadian film was directed by Daniel MacIvor who plays the little role of Stan, a cop that keeps trying to plant drug paraphernalia on a pristine beach to further a plot hatched by the mayor to turn it into a golf course. Unfortunately, Stan doesn't know the difference between an unused insulin needle and a heroin addict's discard. James Allodi who starred this year with Carrie-Anne Moss & Signorey Weaver in "Snow Cake" does a great job as the hapless divorcee Dan trying to kill himself rather than come to terms with his attraction to other men. Callum Keith Rennie plays Duck MacDonald, the town workman, who has an attraction to Dan, if he could ever catch him between suicide attempts. MacIvor generates comedy such as in the scene where Sandra Oh happens upon the hanging Dan and we hear the body clunk to the floor as she cuts him down off-camera. We know what's happening and hear it, and laugh harder because we don't see it. Rennie won the Canadian Oscar, the Genie, as best supporting actor for "Last Night" and also appeared in "The Butterfly Effect." Sandra Oh who has become prominent via the hit TV series "Grey's Anatomy" and films like "Under the Tuscan Sun" & "Sideways" turns in a stellar performance as the real estate woman Carol French who'd rather hide a body in an empty house rather than blow a sale. Her husband is Buddy who is the town cop played by Paul Gross who we saw as the Canadian mountie in the "Due South" TV series. Buddy is tempted toward an affair by local restaurant owner Sandra Anderson played by Rebecca Jenkins who was in the "10.5" disaster TV movie. She also received a Genie nomination for Best Original Song for "Wilby Wonderful." Her daughter Emily has to sort out her relationship with a boy. Emily is played by Ellen Page who currently appears in "X-Men 3" and garnered a Best Supporting Actress Genie nomination for "Wilby Wonderful." The little cafe patron who hates gays named Irene played by Mary Ellen MacLean also gives a delightful cameo performance. "Wilby Wonderful" is a film that speaks about tolerance and people's need to be loved and find love. The characterizations are top drawer in this delightful little gem. BRAVO!Movie Review: A Microcosm of Deftly Drawn Characters...and Life
Summary: 5 Stars
A day in the life on Wilby Island, off Nova Scotia, may not sound like a resource for rich storytelling, but in the gifted hands of writer/director Daniel MacIvor and inordinately talented Canadian cast WILBY WONDERFUL penetrates more dark secrets, exposes more astray lives, and addresses more human frailties than almost all of the competition. This is independent filmmaking at its finest, with all of the emphasis on quality and little concern for the big budget special effects that mire so many films today.
On the little island, divided between islanders and mainlanders 'visiting', lives an array of lonely people. We are introduced to a 'cause celebre' that happened on the beach (though the facts are hazy) and investigating the scandal are police officers Buddy French (Paul Gross) and his somewhat loose cannon Stan (portrayed by MacIvor himself). Buddy's wife Carol (Sandra Oh) is a very busy real estate person, assisted by her doofus secretary Deena (Kathryn MacLellan), out to sell a home to the town mayor (Maury Chaykin) and family (Susannah Hoffman and Marcella Grimaux), and while Carol is fretting over details, her meandering husband Buddy is secreting an affair with island returnee wannabe cafe owner Sandra Anderson (Rebecca Jenkins), whose libidinous past negatively influences her young daughter Emily (Ellen Page) in her new physical tryst with young Taylor (Caleb Langille). And while each of these stories unfolds, the town gossip Irene (Mary Ellen MacLean) keeps her evil eye on the soon-to-be-made apparent scandal that video store owner Dan Jarvis (James Allodi), who spends the entire movie attempting variations on suicide, and town painter Duck MacDonald (Callum Keith Rennie) are to be outed as being gay. It is the strange interplay of each of these lonely, needy characters that brings brilliant focus to the tiny bit of reality that is actually heartfelt.
MacIvor and friends pull off this strange little black comedy with ease and aplomb and the film is a charmer in every way - from script to cinematography (Rudolf Blahacek) to musical score (Michael Timmins). This is a splendid little movie that deserves a very wide audience. Grady Harp, October 07
Movie Review: WILBY is Truly Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
Featuring an all-star Canadian cast, WILBY WONDERFUL is a warm ensemble comedy written and directed by the talented Daniel MacIvor. The small, island-town of Wilby is populated by islanders and off-islanders alike, but what all the characters share is a desire to love and be loved. Central to Wilby's difficulties is a scandal that threatens to tear the town apart. Details are scarce, but rumors are flying with the threat of public exposure hovering over the lives of two central characters in the film. Dan (James Allodi) repeatedly attempts to take his own life, but is constantly interrupted. Real estate agent Carol French (the delightful Sandra Oh) frantically prepares for a town-wide celebration while her relationship with her husband Buddy, a town cop (Paul Gross) grows stagnant. Buddy flirts with infidelity with Sandra (Rebecca Jenkins) whose attempts to resuscitate a local restaurant depends on her decision to stay or leave the town; a decision Sandra's daughter Emily (Ellen Page) frets about as she grows closer to a local boy whose motives for declaring his love for her grow suspect. WILBY WONDERFUL is a funny movie, filled with moments of gravity. MacIvor, whose first film was the emotional PAST PERFECT, directs with a light touch, allowing the ensemble of very strong performances shine. In this case, WILBY is truly wonderful.Movie Review: Insightful and sweet.
Summary: 5 Stars
I stumbled upon this film through an Amazon "listmania," and am very glad I did. There are no car chases, gun fights, supermodels and so forth, just regular people making it through their days; which is the most interesting sort of film imaginable. "Wilby" touches on issues like bad attitudes towards gays, how golf course development can wreck beautiful wild spaces, and how we sometimes lose ourselves in our pursuit of some illusory future or romances.
"Wilby" is about people ending fruitless pursuits, and restoring their integrity.
Filmed in Nova Scotia, it had beautiful scenery and sounds of nature to work with, and implied that a connection to the land can lead to healing ourselves. Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind
It can be hard to find such a nice film, a film that a person wouldn't be horrified to know that their children watched.
The music is quite good as well.
I'm glad "Film Movement" made "Wilby" available, and I'll be looking for other independent movies that they are trying to bring to a larger audience.