Some time ago I got a
chance to see Picture Day, a Canadian film at the Vancity
Theatre here in Vancouver. It's a theatre that specializes in
festival cinema rather than mainstream films. What drew me to this
film was the lead actress is Tatiana Maslany, who I knew quite a few
years ago through improv theatre circles, though admittedly not too
well, though we had some good conversations together. I knew her
younger brother better. Geez, I guess that was about ten years ago
now. Well, it's been really fun seeing some of my old acting peers'
careers grow, and Tatiana's has been quite noteworthy as she even had
a secondary role in the hit Valentine's Day movie, The Vow.
And now her career is booming with the lead role in the series Orphan
Black.
While Maslany has been
a success in independent films for some time now, this is the
directorial debut of Kate Miles Melville, who has been involved more
in Canadian Television, writing for shows like Degrassi: The Next
Generation and Being Erica. But Picture Day does
show that she has the vision for cinema and can make the transition
well, at least with low budget pictures such as this.
The film follows Claire
(Tatiana Maslany), a late teen who is still in high school after
being held back a year, She should have graduated, but skipped too
many classes and got suspended too many times. She bumps into Henry
(Spencer Van Wyck) a younger student who Claire used to babysit when
he was a kid. They become friends again, but the truth is that Heney
has had feelings for Claire since he was a kid and them finding one
another again reignites those feelings. However, Claire has a spark
elsewhere with Jim (Stephen McCarthy) who she met at a show of his
band The Electrocitizens, which are a real Toronto based band.
Picture Day
makes an interesting character portrait of an adult youth. Claire is
in that awkward space between adolescent and adult, and the two men
who have entered it, or re-entered, represent the opposing forces.
Claire tries to bring Henry up to speed at school and get him some
friends as well as a girl friend by moulding him in a sense; she
changes his style, hair colour and gives him a fake back story. This
works on a superficial level, which only mildly interests Henry. Her
relationship with Jim is quite different as she attempts to become a
part of the rehearsing and touring band life, in a way trying to
change herself to accommodate him. She doesn't really fit in there,
and she doesn't fit in well at school particularly either as she
still gets in fights and is lost when it comes to math. Henry is the
only one there who seems to give her positive attention. It's an
interesting contrast to have him accept her fully for who she is
while she changes his identity radically before his eyes.
Tatiana rises to the
occasion to give Claire a lot of depth and a natural likability
despite her questionable actions. In a sense, she is an anti-hero on
a small scale. She is deeply troubled, but tries to help Henry find
his footing in his social life... tries anyway. I must confess that
Maslany is a little too naturally pretty and not as unkempt as I
might see this character, but she plays it very well. And to counter
my own point, she looks very neutral in dress and appearance, as if
to reflect her median place in life. Perhaps heavy piercings or a
grunge dress would have tilted her character too much one way or
another.
Despite interesting
characters and fairly strong performances, I didn't find myself
enjoying Picture Day as much as I felt I should have. I think
that the story was quite personal to the film maker, but not as
interesting as one might hope as an audience member. It goes through
some familiar movements. And there is a definite pattern with young
adult and teenaged coming of age stories where they feel that the
protagonist must have a lot of sex before discovering herself and her
place in life. I suppose that might be true for some, but I honestly
think that there can be more creative ways for people to find
themselves. I suppose that's the problem, I couldn't really see much
of myself in this character. There wasn't something I could connect
to. Or if there was, it was much more with Henry than Claire. I was
a bit of an outcast in school, though I didn't keep shoe boxes of
memorabilia in my closet. He was fascinating to watch, but I guess I
found myself frustrated when the film took the focus away from him
and his interesting relationship with Claire. Her story with Jim is
nowhere near as engaging, but I guess it gives that necessary
contrast.
Whatever the case, it
is a well made and thought out film and I'm glad I came out to
support it. Picture Day played at several festivals including
the Toronto International Film Festival where it won a couple of
awards. And it may be getting a limited release soon, so if you're a
fan of coming of age stories or classier teen dramas, you should come
out to support some Canadian cinema.
3 Stars
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