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I saw it and liked it. The story line was really moving and the characters realistic. The only critique I would have is that the accents were off for 2 of the actors. Other than that, he nailed it. It has been extended for another week at AMC. It was first screend at the TIFF.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> This story originally ran during the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.
Five summers ago in the Mojave Desert, Charles Officer gripped the wheel of a rented RV and pitched his first feature film. The Toronto director and actor had just been to Burning Man, Nevada’s annual fiesta of id, with a troupe of colleagues and friends. On the way home, actor-producer Ingrid Veninger (Only, Gambling, Gods and LSD), who was riding shotgun, asked to hear his biggest ideas.
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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Officer told her an urban love story about three interlocking characters, each one inspired by members of Officer’s own family and community. The first, a beautiful nurse, would represent his mother and sisters, the women who had been the caretakers of his youth. (He’s the youngest of four children.) A fading fighter would stand in for absent fathers and male role models — guardians in theory, if not always practice. Officer would draw on himself for the third character, the nurse’s son, a stargazing boy who believes in magic. The nurse’s incurable illness — sickle cell anemia, which Officer’s sister Hannah has borne all her life — would drive the film’s conflict. Could the boy’s spell of protection bond them to the fighter in this world and beyond?
Once Officer finished his tale, Veninger offered to produce the project on the spot. Some 60 months later, their dreamy, lyrical Nurse.Fighter.Boy premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Mongrel Media purchased domestic distribution rights last summer and Rezo Films, an independent French distributor, locked up N.F.B 's foreign rights. What’s left is a deep bow from director Officer, who has now placed himself with the likes of Anita Doron (The End of Silence), Richie Mehta (Amal) and Sarah Polley (Away from Her) on Canada’s list of hot emergent feature filmmakers.
Nurse.Fighter.Boy stars the mighty Clark Johnson (Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire) as a disenchanted boxer and street brawler named Silence. He plays opposite Canadian actors Karen LeBlanc (ReGenesis, This Is Wonderland) as the nurse, Jude, and 12-year-old Daniel J. Gordon (Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, ’Da Kink in My Hair) as the boy, Ciel.
Officer’s direction is unhurried and deliberate. He paints scenes from a palette of reds, yellows and greens — lushly filmed by cinematographer Steve Cosens — to stress the film’s moods. The script, written by Officer and Veninger, has sparse dialogue throughout. Silence meets Jude when she bandages his wounds in an emergency room; neither of them says much, although he holds her with a probing stare. Ciel phones Jude during her work breaks, holding his handset to a turntable while he plays her favourite records. Roots reggae and soul songs accompany Jude’s bicycle rides through the alleys of Toronto’s east end, the neighbourhood of Officer’s youth.
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Anyway, it's nicely done. Onoo should check it out.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> This story originally ran during the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.
Five summers ago in the Mojave Desert, Charles Officer gripped the wheel of a rented RV and pitched his first feature film. The Toronto director and actor had just been to Burning Man, Nevada’s annual fiesta of id, with a troupe of colleagues and friends. On the way home, actor-producer Ingrid Veninger (Only, Gambling, Gods and LSD), who was riding shotgun, asked to hear his biggest ideas.
</div></div>
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Officer told her an urban love story about three interlocking characters, each one inspired by members of Officer’s own family and community. The first, a beautiful nurse, would represent his mother and sisters, the women who had been the caretakers of his youth. (He’s the youngest of four children.) A fading fighter would stand in for absent fathers and male role models — guardians in theory, if not always practice. Officer would draw on himself for the third character, the nurse’s son, a stargazing boy who believes in magic. The nurse’s incurable illness — sickle cell anemia, which Officer’s sister Hannah has borne all her life — would drive the film’s conflict. Could the boy’s spell of protection bond them to the fighter in this world and beyond?
Once Officer finished his tale, Veninger offered to produce the project on the spot. Some 60 months later, their dreamy, lyrical Nurse.Fighter.Boy premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Mongrel Media purchased domestic distribution rights last summer and Rezo Films, an independent French distributor, locked up N.F.B 's foreign rights. What’s left is a deep bow from director Officer, who has now placed himself with the likes of Anita Doron (The End of Silence), Richie Mehta (Amal) and Sarah Polley (Away from Her) on Canada’s list of hot emergent feature filmmakers.
Nurse.Fighter.Boy stars the mighty Clark Johnson (Homicide: Life on the Street, The Wire) as a disenchanted boxer and street brawler named Silence. He plays opposite Canadian actors Karen LeBlanc (ReGenesis, This Is Wonderland) as the nurse, Jude, and 12-year-old Daniel J. Gordon (Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, ’Da Kink in My Hair) as the boy, Ciel.
Officer’s direction is unhurried and deliberate. He paints scenes from a palette of reds, yellows and greens — lushly filmed by cinematographer Steve Cosens — to stress the film’s moods. The script, written by Officer and Veninger, has sparse dialogue throughout. Silence meets Jude when she bandages his wounds in an emergency room; neither of them says much, although he holds her with a probing stare. Ciel phones Jude during her work breaks, holding his handset to a turntable while he plays her favourite records. Roots reggae and soul songs accompany Jude’s bicycle rides through the alleys of Toronto’s east end, the neighbourhood of Officer’s youth.
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Anyway, it's nicely done. Onoo should check it out.
His story is based on certain experiences he had growing up.
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