112 minutes – Drama
Release date: April 12, 2002
Canadian distributor: CHAOS a film company Inc.

Paige Fleming is a high school student who dreams of becoming a writer and, following the suicide of her mother, now lives with and takes care of her father in Moncton, New Brunswick. Her father, Ross, is trying to recover from alcohol addiction. Her older brother Trevor left the family shortly after mom’s death. But before he did, he got into a fist fight with Ross, who ended up in the hospital. One night, Trevor unexpectedly returns after a long absence and reawakens the memory of their dead mother. Paige, who fictionalizes her life in the plots of her stories, asks her English teacher for help with her writing, but feels betrayed when her teacher reveals more to her literary friends than Paige would have liked. Ross, whose grasp on his work–a–day life is tenuous at best, resumes drinking and loses his job. Trevor finds this out when Ross comes home while Trevor is searching through some of his mother’s clothes in the basement. Ross drunkenly insists he put them back. When Trevor refuses, the two fight and Ross is hurt again. Paige blames Trevor and starts to drink herself. This leads to a drunken confrontation with her teacher. Later Paige comes home to find Trevor wrecking the living room with a golf club. He insists the family must come to terms with the mother’s death and confront the turbulent past. For once Paige agrees with him, and tells Ross she can’t stay if he doesn’t begin to deal with it.

Also see: A review of Turning Paige
Poster and still courtesy of CHAOS, a film company Inc.