Something or someone is definitely haunting the grassy Calgary ravine where much of Graham Foy’s ambitiously amorphous debut takes place. But whether it’s the roaming spirits of local teenagers taken before their time, or the grief of the friends they leave behind, or the lingering shadow of a large swathe of Gus Van Sant’s noughties filmography, or perhaps simply the more fully embodied drama whose outlines are just discernible through the pellucid layers of metaphysics, mournfulness and 16mm grain, it’s very hard to say.
Foy arrives as a filmmaker with an indisputable gift for atmosphere and a forthright faith in the potential of cinema to grasp the ungraspable, say the unsayable, and strive for meaning out beyond the edges of everything we traditionally believe to be meaningful. But whether the elegance of his aspirations is quite done justice by the sometimes distractingly elliptical nature of his storytelling is another matter.
Foy arrives as a filmmaker with an indisputable gift for atmosphere and a forthright faith in the potential of cinema to grasp the ungraspable, say the unsayable, and strive for meaning out beyond the edges of everything we traditionally believe to be meaningful. But whether the elegance of his aspirations is quite done justice by the sometimes distractingly elliptical nature of his storytelling is another matter.
- 11/10/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Concrete Valley.Hopefully you’ve been following along, but over the last decade there’s been a wonderful surge of young Canadian directors making exceptional short- and feature-length movies, all on a small, independent scale that should be invigorating to makers and audiences alike. While no one would (nor should) ascribe any kind of movement label to them, being eclectic in origins and approaches, it has been notable how many of the films hinge upon explorations of mental health, the search for well-being, and the weaknesses and strengths of community. Films as disparate as the substance abuse and social work documentary The Stairs (2016), the immersive impressionism of mental anguish of Anne at 13,000 Ft. (2019), and this year's Queens of the Qing Dynasty (2022), a striking story of social difference, hospitalization, and friendship filmed in Cape Breton, are among these adroit new Canadian films fueled by human inquiry and empathy.This note is...
- 9/17/2022
- MUBI
The Maiden, Graham Foy’s feature film debut after a series of impressive shorts, shows a lot of formal skill but a lack of flair for dramaturgy. The film initially centers on Colton (Marcel T. Jimenez) and Kyle (Jackson Sluiter), two unremarkable teenagers who nonetheless function as outsiders within the Canadian province of Alberta, a conservative oil nexus that’s lived in the shadow of Texas. They kill time outside of class the old-fashioned way: not on their computers or smartphones, but skateboarding through Calgary, exploring nature, and even flat-out tossing shit around. Of course, Kyle in particular is a perfect cipher for this kind of film—he’s both a dumb teenager and has artistic inclinations of hardcore music and graffiti art, as probably any director making a film within this setting can’t imagine it without some sort of surrogate for themselves.
Yet during a nighttime adventure, Kyle...
Yet during a nighttime adventure, Kyle...
- 9/12/2022
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
“The Maiden,” Graham Foy’s finely tuned story of adolescent mythmaking, togetherness and grief, has its world premiere Tuesday in Venice Days before heading to Toronto, but the film’s impressive international journey actually began in Cannes two years ago.
Based in Toronto since 2008, Foy grew up in suburban Calgary where “Maiden” is set, spent teenage summers near the graffiti-covered railroad bridge and ragged ravine, where much of the film was shot, and, like one of the characters, was an avid skateboarder.
He had been tapping away at the “Maiden” script — which draws from his experiences but is not autobiographical — for several years when his short “August 22, This Year” was selected for the 2020 Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
“It was the year the pandemic shut down Cannes, so we couldn’t go, but the festival did a lot for the filmmakers,” said Foy, who spoke to Variety from Venice last week, in advance of the festival.
Based in Toronto since 2008, Foy grew up in suburban Calgary where “Maiden” is set, spent teenage summers near the graffiti-covered railroad bridge and ragged ravine, where much of the film was shot, and, like one of the characters, was an avid skateboarder.
He had been tapping away at the “Maiden” script — which draws from his experiences but is not autobiographical — for several years when his short “August 22, This Year” was selected for the 2020 Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
“It was the year the pandemic shut down Cannes, so we couldn’t go, but the festival did a lot for the filmmakers,” said Foy, who spoke to Variety from Venice last week, in advance of the festival.
- 9/6/2022
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
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