pdorion Reviews

On My Own (1991)

Overview and Commentary

[8/10 · 16 December 2001]

On My Own is a very good coming-of-age film depicting Simon, a boy who lives at a boarding school in Canada, which is the primary setting for the movie.

During the Christmas break, Simon learns that his mother had a "breakdown" through his father. After visiting her at the hospital and learning her incapacity to spend the holidays with him, the boy chooses to return to the board instead of going on a ski trip with his father.

Having been incapable to see her son during the holidays, Simon's mother decides to visit him at school and informs him that she suffers from schizophrenia.

The movie focuses mainly on Simon's boarding lifestyle and his relationship with his mother, rather than his relationship with his mother's illness. Schizophrenia plays but a very superficial role in this movie.

However it was not what I expected, because of a misleading review, I greatly enjoyed this film. The movie in all its aspects is extremely well balanced. The characters are very well acted, the storyline is appealing, realistic and doesn't drip from emotions.

In summary, a very good, pleasant and balanced coming of age film.

You Cried: Let Me Go (1997)

Tu a crié: Let me go: An overview and commentary

[6 December 2001]

In this documentary, filmmaker Anne-Claire Poirier reflects upon the death and murder of her prostitute and heroin-addict daughter through interviews of other parents who lost their children to drugs and the street, and of street-girls not unlike her daughter who helped her understand the life of her daughter as she lived it.

I did not see this film through the eyes of a parent, but rather through the eyes of a street kid, not unlike the ones who took part in the documentary. I recognized the streets having walked on them, I recognized the parks having hung-out there, I recognized the other kids, being one myself.

I believe that my perhaps unique perspective, as a bilingual Montreal street-kid, allowed me to appreciate this movie to a different degree than than other viewers. I was able to grasp subtilities and nuances in both languages, and I was also able to understand the very precise context which was depicted.

In this movie I recognized myself, my parents, my city, my life and perhaps my fate. Maybe you could say that this movie "hit too close to home", if it didn't hit right into it.