what i'm watching: la grande seduction, neil young

We saw a good movie last night - very funny, and sweet without being saccharine: "Seducing Dr. Lewis", or in the original French, "La Grande Séduction".

It takes place in a poor seaside town in Quebec, an once-proud fishing village, where the sons of fishermen now queue up for welfare cheques. They are trying to attract a factory to their town, but in order to get the factory, they first have to get a doctor. They set about to lure a big fish to their little boat - to seduce a young Montreal doctor to fall in love with their town and set up a practice on their little island. You could say it's "Northern Exposure" meets "Waking Ned Devine," but it's better than either of those.

Once again, the best Canadian movies we see are made in Quebec. I've gotten to really trust the French Canadian recommendations on Zip.ca.

We also saw "Neil Young: Heart of Gold," Jonathan Demme's film of a Neil Young concert. From the promo:
In the fall of 2005, Neil Young returned to the sound and style of his iconic 1972 album "Harvest" with "Prairie Wind", a set of ten songs which look to America's past and future accompanied by sweet but rough-hewn country-rock. The album was written and recorded after Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, and shortly before he went into the hospital for surgery for the condition, Young played a pair of special concerts at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, where he performed the "Prairie Wind" album in full along with a set of old favorites.
I admire Neil Young no end, a committed artist who has always gone his own way, and put out the music that was in him, with no regard to commercial trends. What I like of his, I love. But man, when he is off the mark, is he ever boring and trite. For me, "Prairie Wind" is Neil Young at his worst: literal, prosaic lyrics set to standard Neil Young templates that sound like he wrote them in his sleep.

The music is boring, and the movie is boring. You'd have to really love this brand of music to like this film. We were glad it was a Zip rental and made frequent use of the fast-forward button.

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