I was out of town when the Genies were handed out last night, but I understand Andrea Martin appeared via video and there was … ice skating and a performance by The Sheepdogs? Not necessarily the first place my brain goes when I think of celebrating Canadian cinema, but I guess it’s better than Celine Dion and curling.
And it was a fairly decent night for the Genies without a failed prestige project like Barney’s Version pointlessly dominating the conversation, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television had a pretty solid field from which to choose its winners. (I’d bring up my usual saw about David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method being wildly overrated, but its primarily technical victories seem to do that for me.)
Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar was the night’s big winner, taking Genies for Picture, Actor (for star Fellag), Director, Adapted Screenplay and Editing, as well as a surprise Supporting Actress win for 11-year-old Sophie Nélisse, who plays a traumatized schoolgirl who bonds with the film’s eponymous substitute teacher.
The six Genies for Monsieur Lazhar shouldn’t come as a big surprise Falardeau’s very good drama was unofficially anointed the best Canadian film of 2011 when the country submitted it to the Oscars as this year’s Best Foreign-Language Film candidate as with Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies last year, its subsequent nomination made it the instant Genie front-runner.
Of course, Incendies had a pretty easy path to the Genies, standing out in a fairly weak year Monsieur Lazhar was competing against the Quebec commercial smash Starbuck, Jean-Marc Vallée’s virtuoso Café De Flore, David Cronenberg’s expertly manicured A Dangerous Method and Larysa Kondracki’s human-rights drama The Whistleblower, all of which had their boosters – and all of which came away with some recognition of their own, with the exception of The Whistleblower, which saw none of its six nominations pay off.
A Dangerous Method won five Genies: Supporting Actor for Viggo Mortensen (whose surprise attendance at the ceremony galvanized the assembled media far more than any of the Canadian celebrities present), Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. Café De Flore, the year’s most-nominated production, took three of its 11 nominations: Best Actress for Vanessa Paradis, Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects.
In addition to the previously announced Golden Reel – awarded to the year’s highest-grossing Canadian release – Starbuck took Genies for Original Song, for Carol Facal’s “Quelque Part”, and Original Screenplay.
Costume Design went to the 1970s period kitsch of Funkytown, and the Quebec indie Snow & Ashes – which went directly to DVD in English Canada – won the Best Cinematography prize. At Night, They Dance was named Best Feature Documentary, while the Documentary Short prize went to Sirmilik, Zacharias Kunuk’s contribution to The National Parks Project. Ian Harnarine’s TIFF prizewinner Doubles With Slight Pepper was named Best Live-Action Short, and Best Animated Short went to Romance, by René Chénier, Georges Schwizgebel and Marc Bertrand.