EONE FILMS
Mohamed Fellag delivers a heartfelt performance in the title role, opposite charming novices as his students, including Sophie Nelisse.- Advertisement - 
Visit the TD RINK at the Brink Enjoy ice skating just a snowball’s throw from the brink of the Falls!
Visit the TD RINK at the Brink Enjoy ice skating just a snowball’s throw from the brink of the Falls!Monsieur Lazhar
(out of 4)
Does this sound like the stuff of comedy? It is if you embrace life as the engaging absurdity we pass through en route to death’s boring finality, with many stops for both joy and sadness along the way.
Fellag’s Bachir Lazhar, an immigrant new to Montreal whose status is still undetermined, arrives at the school shortly after the teacher’s suicide. He’s read of the case in the papers, but he’s no hearse chaser.
Sure, he needs a job, Lazhar tells the suspicious principal (Danielle Proulx). But he loves children, and he thinks he can help.
Lazhar has had 19 years of experience teaching in war-torn Algeria, his homeland. He understands suffering; exactly how much, we shall discover.
At wit’s end, the principal accepts Lazhar as a temporary substitute. She has the assistance of a psychologist (Nicole-Sylvie Lagarde) to help her keep an eye on things.
Lazhar is willing to listen to his young charges, unlike other adults, who simply make assumptions.
“Everyone thinks we’re traumatized. It’s the adults who are,” Alice confides to him.
Lazhar has his own difficulties with adults. His Algerian French is different from Québécois French, and so are his customs. He doesn’t know what Rice Krispie Squares are. He doesn’t know how an iPod works.
A female teacher named Claire (Brigitte Poupart) makes romantic gestures towards him, but he’s not sure how to react. He’s mostly awkward.
“You’re not from here, so certain nuances escape you,” a parent tells Lazhar.
It’s true, but what kind of nuance do you bring to the truth? What should the students be told about what happened to their teacher?
And what reckoning will Lazhar make with his own harsh reality?
Fellag’s deeply felt performance is matched by the natural charm of the novice actors whom Falardeau guides to poignancy, enhanced by Jean-Pascal Hamelin’s beautifully spare piano score.
(out of 4)Starring Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Brigitte Poupart and Danielle Proulx. Written and directed by Philippe Falardeau. 94 minutes. Opens Jan. 27 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. PG
In Monsieur Lazhar, a distraught elementary school teacher hangs herself in her Montreal classroom.
She did it “with her blue scarf from the big pipe on a Wednesday night,” says 10-year-old Alice (Sophie Nélisse), who discovered the body along with her more fragile classmate Simon (Émilien Néron). Alice matter-of-factly reports the details of their ghastly find in a presentation to fellow students.Does this sound like the stuff of comedy? It is if you embrace life as the engaging absurdity we pass through en route to death’s boring finality, with many stops for both joy and sadness along the way.
Monsieur Lazhar is made in this spirit. Based on a one-person play by Quebec’s Évelyne de la Chenelière, there are no heroes or villains in this transcendent film, a TIFF prize-winner that has just been named one of the five contenders for Best Foreign-Language Film at next month’s Academy Awards.
There are just adults and kids struggling with a reality shaded by euphemisms, secrets and loss.Starring the extraordinary Algerian actor Mohamed Fellag in the title role, and featuring fresh young faces that Quebec writer/director Philippe Falardeau excels at finding, this isn’t just another tale of an idealistic teacher struggling with fractious students, such as The Class or To Sir, with Love.
It’s a tapestry of fraught relationships, weaving issues of parental authority, social taboos and national boundaries. Empathy comes through understanding, but it’s not easily achieved. It never is.Fellag’s Bachir Lazhar, an immigrant new to Montreal whose status is still undetermined, arrives at the school shortly after the teacher’s suicide. He’s read of the case in the papers, but he’s no hearse chaser.
Sure, he needs a job, Lazhar tells the suspicious principal (Danielle Proulx). But he loves children, and he thinks he can help.
Lazhar has had 19 years of experience teaching in war-torn Algeria, his homeland. He understands suffering; exactly how much, we shall discover.
At wit’s end, the principal accepts Lazhar as a temporary substitute. She has the assistance of a psychologist (Nicole-Sylvie Lagarde) to help her keep an eye on things.
Lazhar, a man of curly hair but ramrod-straight posture and demeanour, quickly learns that he’s walking on quicksand. His students don’t like his insistence on straight rows for desks, or his teaching of Balzac, who wrote La Comédie humaine — who teaches Balzac to Grade 6?
But they sense a kindred spirit in this deeply involved man, someone who has also felt pain and loss.Lazhar is willing to listen to his young charges, unlike other adults, who simply make assumptions.
“Everyone thinks we’re traumatized. It’s the adults who are,” Alice confides to him.
Lazhar has his own difficulties with adults. His Algerian French is different from Québécois French, and so are his customs. He doesn’t know what Rice Krispie Squares are. He doesn’t know how an iPod works.
A female teacher named Claire (Brigitte Poupart) makes romantic gestures towards him, but he’s not sure how to react. He’s mostly awkward.
“You’re not from here, so certain nuances escape you,” a parent tells Lazhar.
It’s true, but what kind of nuance do you bring to the truth? What should the students be told about what happened to their teacher?
And what reckoning will Lazhar make with his own harsh reality?
Fellag’s deeply felt performance is matched by the natural charm of the novice actors whom Falardeau guides to poignancy, enhanced by Jean-Pascal Hamelin’s beautifully spare piano score.
Monsieur Lazhar is as simple as sunlight, yet as difficult as forgiveness.
RECOMMENDED WEB POSTINGS: More On This Topic
Tyrannosaur is relentless in its depiction of male rage. But you won’t find two finer... 
January dumpers: Man on a Ledge that steals brain cells while One for the Money is... 
There are no heroes or villains in Monsieur Lazhar, Canada’s transcendent... 
You don’t expect poetry at the multiplex in the year’s first month, much...
Spotlight advertisement
- Downsview Park GoKarts, Rock Climbing and more
- Blue Mountain Ontario’s winter playground!
- Medieval Times Free Admission for Kids @ Medieval Times*
- Egoyan at Canadian Stage Oscar-nominated filmmaker directs
Amanda Hocking’s e-books may change face of publishing
- Advertisement - Visit the TD RINK at the Brink Enjoy ice skating just a snowball’s throw from the brink of the Falls!
Visit the TD RINK at the Brink Enjoy ice skating just a snowball’s throw from the brink of the Falls!Amanda Hocking’s stories about witches and vampires falling in love may be changing the face of publishing.
The college dropout from Austin, Minn, had no connection to other writers or the publishing industry when she resorted to self-publishing just over a year ago after rejections from many publishers.
First the Muppets fan just posted her books for anyone to read, then she started selling them, at low prices of 99 cents to $2.99. By late last year she was in Kindle’s million-seller e-book club along with Stieg Larsson and Janet Evanovich.
“We struck the chord we were hoping to strike.”
Read, who formed Read Publishing to handle the online enterprise, says talks have begun with a print publisher.
The editing, printing, distribution, publicity and other skills print publishers provide are still extremely valuable, says Geoffrey Taylor, director of Authors at Harbourfront Centre and the International Festival of Authors.
E-books are still relatively new on the scene, he says, adding that “five years ago it was a fringe thing; now every publisher has e-books.” Most publishers, though, sell only works that have already been published online.
As for Hocking’s success, Taylor calls it a “Cinderella” story. “It’s quite miraculous.
“This is not the death of publishing, it is a whole new chapter,” he adds. “There is not just one example of how to do it.”
In this way, self-published ebooks are like a “minor league” from which publishers pick their future writers.
Kim McArthur, president of McArthur and Associates Publishing, says ebooks will probably settle at 15 per cent of the business.
Although she admits to being “totally biased,” McArthur says many self-published e-books are poorly written.
Print publishing allows extensive copy editing and “still there are mistakes caught by vigilant readers,” she said. What about the book just “thrown online,” she wonders. Who’s making sure they’re not riddled with errors or even plagiarized?
Sarah MacLachlan, president of House of Anansi Press, echoes that.
“There’s no quality, policing and control,” she says, adding that paper and binding cover only 10 per cent of the cost of a book: the rest is editing, marketing and “more than spellcheck.”
MacLachlan also applauds Hocking’s success, saying, “She was just completely dedicated to making her books. It’s quite an exceptional story.”
But not one she expects to see replicated often.
The college dropout from Austin, Minn, had no connection to other writers or the publishing industry when she resorted to self-publishing just over a year ago after rejections from many publishers.
First the Muppets fan just posted her books for anyone to read, then she started selling them, at low prices of 99 cents to $2.99. By late last year she was in Kindle’s million-seller e-book club along with Stieg Larsson and Janet Evanovich.
The 28-year-old signed a $1 million deal with St. Martin’s Press and is currently on a European tour promoting her books. There’s a movie option on her Trylle Trilogy and a comic book is in the works.
Has the paranormal romance writer written a new chapter in publishing?British businessman Nicholas Read studied Hocking’s winning formula and decided he’d also make his own publishing success. His book Endworlds: Echoes of Worlds Past is sold in three instalments for $7 each. Launched in December on many e-book sites, including Kindle and iTunes, the science fiction series has more than 49,000 fans on Facebook.
Sales figures won’t be known until the first quarter report, but Read “couldn’t be happier. The bloggers and social media response has been great,” he said in an interview.“We struck the chord we were hoping to strike.”
Read, who formed Read Publishing to handle the online enterprise, says talks have begun with a print publisher.
The editing, printing, distribution, publicity and other skills print publishers provide are still extremely valuable, says Geoffrey Taylor, director of Authors at Harbourfront Centre and the International Festival of Authors.
E-books are still relatively new on the scene, he says, adding that “five years ago it was a fringe thing; now every publisher has e-books.” Most publishers, though, sell only works that have already been published online.
The publishing world is full of stories of wonderful books that had trouble getting published — J.K. Rowling had a hard time getting anyone to take on Harry Potter — and Taylor can see why frustrated authors turn to e-publishing.
It’s cheaper and accessible to more people, whether or not they can write, like a “YouTube for books.”As for Hocking’s success, Taylor calls it a “Cinderella” story. “It’s quite miraculous.
“This is not the death of publishing, it is a whole new chapter,” he adds. “There is not just one example of how to do it.”
Cheerleading magazine editor Brittany Geragotelis (brittanythebookslayer.blogspot.com) may be another Hocking. She gave away her writing online, chapter by chapter, before self-publishing Life’s a Witch. She published both online and in paperback at the insistence of her millions of social media readers who wanted to give friends a copy of the book.
Given wide exposure on WATTPAD — a Toronto social media site for book lovers and authors that just won an award for Best Canadian Startup of 2011 — Geragotelis’s paranormal drama has attracted offers from publishers as well as movie and TV producers. In this way, self-published ebooks are like a “minor league” from which publishers pick their future writers.
Kim McArthur, president of McArthur and Associates Publishing, says ebooks will probably settle at 15 per cent of the business.
Although she admits to being “totally biased,” McArthur says many self-published e-books are poorly written.
Print publishing allows extensive copy editing and “still there are mistakes caught by vigilant readers,” she said. What about the book just “thrown online,” she wonders. Who’s making sure they’re not riddled with errors or even plagiarized?
Sarah MacLachlan, president of House of Anansi Press, echoes that.
“There’s no quality, policing and control,” she says, adding that paper and binding cover only 10 per cent of the cost of a book: the rest is editing, marketing and “more than spellcheck.”
McArthur has published only one e-book that wasn’t first published on paper, Gordon Ferris’s The Hanging Shed, which sold 150,000 e-copies. However, he was already a well-established author.
McArthur says Hocking “hit pay dirt. I’m all for it. But she is the exception.”MacLachlan also applauds Hocking’s success, saying, “She was just completely dedicated to making her books. It’s quite an exceptional story.”
But not one she expects to see replicated often.
More On This Topic
- The self-publishing industry is booming thanks to the internet and the proliferation...
Virginia metal warriors Lamb of God brutalize a small venue while Harlem's hottest... 
New Performing Arts Centre has Burlington joining other nearby cities in arts real... 
The week’s most prolific, most surprising and most defeaning acts.
Spotlight advertisement
- Egoyan at Canadian Stage Oscar-nominated filmmaker directs
- Remezzo Italian Bist Gourmet Italian fare in Toronto east
- Blue Mountain Ontario’s winter playground!
- Medieval Times Free Admission for Kids @ Medieval Times*
Toronto.com Guides
Black History MonthYour guide to Black History month in Toronto.
WinterliciousYour guide to Winterlicious 2012.Runs January 27...
ConcertsBig-ticket shows, live local bands and more cool...
GetawaysA guide to daytripping in Ontario.
BarsPubs, lounges, cocktail bars and more. Toronto's...
TheatreThe total guide to theatre and performing arts...
FamilyFamily-friendly events, attractions and activities...
NeighbourhoodsFind out what shops to hit in these neighbourhoods...
Featured sponsored listings
Pangaea Restaurant Rated 3.5, best lunch & desserts by Toronto Life
Fading Fast Tattoo Removal Because Brenda wasn’t forever
Crush Wine Bar on King West Eclectic dining daily, 60+ wines by the glass. Outdoor patio
Atom Egoyan at Canadian Stage
No comments:
Post a Comment