New column: Films du Fleur de Lys

Hello readers.


As some of you might have noticed, there is a new review category at Between the Seats titles Films du Fleur de Lys (Movies from the Lily Flower). What is this nonsense? In a nutshell, it is a more personal category of reviews that will be featured on occasion at the site. For the uninformed, Between the Seats is based in Montréal, Québec, a province that is home to a remarkably creative and successful film industry.

Now, I will not hide the cold, hard facts from my faithful readers.Many, if not most of the movies for which I shall write reviews will be totally unknowns for you. This is understandable. For one, it is difficult to market French-language films in a predominantly English-speaking market. You know, people don't enjoy reading their movies. Secondly, and this is not to be purposely exclusive but rather a function of the reality from the previous point, Québec movies mostly (not always) try to satisfy the tastes and sensibilities of Québecers. That isn't to say that these films cannot find an audience outside of the province for they do sometimes. In rare instances a Québec film resonates with people almost around the world. The Barbarian Invasions and last year's Incendies are two examples. By and large however, a lot of these movies never make significant inroads in other Canadian provinces, and especially not in the United States.

The Films du Fleur de Lys does not aim to be any sort of ‘game changer.’ This is but one blog. I do feel a personal urge to show some respect for the filmmakers who strive to make quality films in my neck of the woods. Keep in mind that any movie, big or small,  that has been given a DVD release is accessible. If there are some people who find the reviews interesting to the point where they would like to discover the movies for themselves, then I’ll be all the more happy. If this ends up being the least popular column at the site, we won't care much because, as was mentioned above, this more a personal exercise than anything else.

Merci beaucoup, et bon film!

The first 'official' review is already up! En Terrain connus (2011, Stéphane Lafleur)


If you are curious for more, check out these previously published articles (retro-titled so are now part of this category of film review):

Incendies (2010, Denis Villeneuve)
Polytechnique (2009, Denis Villeneuve)
Curling (2010, Denis Côté)