Spring Love on the Screen
by Dan Laxer – Film Correspondent
(March 7, 2024 – Montreal, QC) “In the Spring,” wrote Tennyson in 1835, “a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” I am no exception; despite the fact that I once rented Gangs of New York for Valentine’s Day, I am a sucker for Rom-Coms. Canadian film does have its fair share. Here are just a few that come to mind.
Juno (2007)
Juno premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007 to a standing ovation, and garnered several awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Roger Ebert considered it the best movie of the year. Directed by Montreal-born Jason Reitman (son of Ivan), the film stars Canadians Elliot Page of Halifax, Nova Scotia (working, at the time, as Ellen Page), and Michael Cera of Brampton as high school sweethearts whose dalliance leads to Juno’s pregnancy (perhaps writer Diablo Cody meant to name the character after the Roman goddess, but proud Canadians would otherwise note the name of the Canadian music award). The couple turn to each other in the face of angst, and judgement by their family and peers, deciding to put their baby up for adoption. There is a lot of love in the film. Not just the mushy, romantic stuff; Juno has a special relationship with her father, Mac, played by J. K. Simmons. Yes, he’s shocked and appalled by his daughter’s pregnancy, but loves her fiercely. I love that he calls her “June Bug.” And my favourite scene involves him reassuring her that it is possible for two people to fall in love. “Look, in my opinion,” he says to Juno, “the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of person that’s worth sticking with.” Learn more about the cast and crew of Juno.
Crazy Moon (1987)
Crazy Moon from 1987 is as Canadian as they come. Directed by Allan Eastman of Manitoba, and written by Concordia graduate Tom Berry and Nova Scotian Stefan Wodoslawsky, the film stars Kiefer Sutherland and Vanessa Vaughan, along with a completely Canadian cast. Kiefer, as is well-known, is the grandson of legendary Canadian politician Tommy Douglas, the father of Canadian health care. His parents were, of course, Donald Sutherland (who loved the Montreal Expos baseball team) and Saskatchewan-born Shirley Douglas who raised Keifer in Toronto. Crazy Moon is filmed in and around Montreal, and chronicles the budding romance of Brooks, a quirky (not to say mentally ill) young man who meets the hearing-impaired Anne while shoplifting a mannequin from a sports store. They help each other break out of their respective shells against a backdrop of family drama and coming-of-age angst. Toronto-born Vanessa Vaughan is indeed hearing impaired. She learned sign language for this film, and went on to appear in a handful of other Canadian film and TV projects. She now works as an artist in Los Angeles.
I saw Crazy Moon when it first came out, and loved seeing so many Montreal locales and landmarks in the film. Learn more about the cast and crew of Crazy Moon.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Nia Vardalos is what makes My Big Fat Greek Wedding both Canadian and delightful. Vardalos was born in Winnipeg and educated in Toronto. She made her way to the U.S. where she eventually wrote and performed MBFGW as a one-woman stage piece. It was hugely popular, capturing the imagination of Rita Wilson, who brought it to the attention of her husband, Tom Hanks. The couple produced the film, and the rest is history that includes Oscar nominations, Golden Globe nominations, a People’s Choice Award, and other accolades, and is one of the highest-grossing independent romantic comedies in history.
The film is indeed Vardalos’s story of bringing her non-Greek boyfriend-cum-husband into the fold of her large and traditional Greek family. It is based on her marriage to actor Ian Gomez (the couple divorced in 2018). Parts of the movie were filmed in Toronto. A handful of Canadian actors make up part of the cast, including legends Fiona Reid and Jayne Eastwood. There were two sequels which did not do as well, and a TV show which flopped. One of my favourite lines, in terms of the romance, is when Ian – played by John Corbett – say’s “I don’t remember frump girl, but I remember you.” Learn more about Nia Vardalos.
Titanic (1997)
What makes Titanic a Canadian film is, of course, writer-producer-director James Cameron of Kapuskasing, Ontario, actor Victor Garber of London, Ontario, and the fact that the actual Titanic sank just off the coast of Newfoundland (which was still 37 years away from joining Confederation, but I digress). Cameron, like author Clive Cussler, documentarist Robert Ballard, and others, has a fascination with the Titanic. He wanted to tell the story of the ship that couldn’t sink, but felt it needed a love story to draw viewers in. Enter Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who couldn’t have been more disparate. And while their story might have been clumsily clichéd, it was also compelling enough to keep viewers rapt for the nearly 3½ hours of the film (for the record, that’s more than an hour longer than it took the actual Titanic to sink).
The movie counts as both a disaster film and a romance; Jack’s love for Rose saves her several times as he introduces her to a life different from and more exciting than the only one she knows, the one from which she secretly wishes to escape. He saves her again, later, this time literally, as he scrambles to get her to safety, giving up his own life so that she may live, even though – say it with me – THERE WAS ROOM ON THE DOOR! He saves her a third time when she adopts the last name Dawson to save herself from ever being found either by her own family, or that of her evil fiancé. See more about James Cameron.
There you have it, just a few Canadian romance films to consider as we gently slip into spring, which arrives at 11:09am on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, EDT.
Dan Laxer is a Montreal broadcaster, writer, voice-over artist, poet, and erstwhile comedian. He spent nearly 30 years on the air and behind the scenes at CJAD800 where he wrote and hosted “The Trivia Show,” filled in on many news and information broadcasts, and wrote and voiced commercials. He has written for The Suburban, The Montreal Times, and other publications.
