I have not yet written a post on Xavier Dolan, considering that he is now rather well-known across Canada (most of my blog posts concern Francophone Canadians who may not be so well known to Anglophones).  I did however give a brief mention to Dolan in the post l’Été indien.

But considering that Mommy is now playing across Canada, it may be a good time to let you know you can now see the movie over the next few days.

For those who are not aware, Xavier Dolan (from Montréal) is one of the most highly internationally acclaimed movie writers and director of his generation, and in the history of movie making, there have not been any other directors / writers who have won so many awards at such a young age.  He‘s in his mid-20’s.  By the time he was 16, he had a drawer-full of movie scripts.  By the time he was 19 he was already making movies.  As he entered his 20’s, the international awards and mentions were piling in.

This year he won the Cannes award for best movie, Mommy (the film festival in Cannes, France is regarded as giving the world’s top award for international & non-Hollywood films).   The same movie has been doing the rounds of the world’s film festivals, including Toronto’s TIFF, and keeps taking more and more awards.    Mommy is also Canada’s entry for best international film at this Oscars (if memory serves me correctly, it is one of only 9 nominees in this category).

Xavier Dolan has come out with other films of various degrees of success.  Owing to his age, many critics say we’re able to see the maturing of his movies in parallel with Dolan’s own process of maturing.   One of the other highly acclaimed films he came out with was J’ai tué ma mère.

I won’t spoil the plot for you, but Mommy stars Anne Dorval, who was the subject of a blog post a few days ago.

Apart from the Canadian film festival circuit (TIFF, MIFF, VIFF, Banff, etc.), Mommy is now starting to be shown in movie theatres across Canada, however the showings may not last any longer than just a few days.   You don’t want to delay checking the show times in your town or city, otherwise you will miss it.

In Québec, Northern New Brunswick, and Eastern/Northern Ontario, you likely just have to check your local theatre listings (for example, I know it’s being shown at the Cineplex in Caraquet, New Brunswick three times daily on October 14, 15, and 16 — thanks for the heads-up Jocelyne –… and likely there are similar showings in major theatre chains across the three above-mentioned Francophone regions).

Elsewhere in Canada, showings may be in more specialized theatres, so you’ll likely have to phone around, contact your city’s local arts & culture magazine, or contact your local French community associations (such as l’ACFA, l’association canadienne française de l’Alberta, etc).

Here in Toronto, it’s playing October 14, 15, and 16 at the Cineplex on 55 Bloor (Varsity area), (416) 961-6304.

Showings are announced to start in Vancouver on 17 October, and in Calgary and Edmonton on 24 October.   I also understand it will be shown in other cities across Canada (Saskatoon, Halifax, Moncton, possibly others), but I’m not able to find the exact locations for the above showings (which is why I suggest you make some phone calls).

If you want to see one of the best of best films which the world has to offer (don’t take my word for it – rather take everyone else’s), then you’ll want to catch this movie.

As an aside, until yesterday, Québec’s all-time best box-office hit in France was Les invasion barbares.   It was reported that Mommy beat that record today.

A couple more things …

• I doubt the movie will be dubbed (meaning it shouldn’t be voice-overed into English), but I’m pretty sure it will at least have English captions at the bottom of the screen,
• For those of you who are just starting to learn French (and there are a few of you) “Xavier” is pronounced “X” (like the name of the letter), A (as in “cat”), Vee-Eh:  “X”-A-Vee-Eh (4 syllables).   Keep up the good work with your French studies!  It all comes together one small piece at a time.  🙂
• If you miss the showings for whatever reason, there are online pay-per-view internet sites where you can likely catch it later.

Make a few calls, gather some friends, buy a bag of popcorn, and make an evening of it.  Have a great time!