New Waterford Girl

Allan Moyle, the director of "New Waterford Girl" captures the right atmosphere of a small town in Nova Scotia. He shows us how the people live in this isolated area. The life of the small village, with all its local characters, is presented by Mr. Moyle in a way that affects us into feeling for these people in that barren place.

The best thing going for this movie is the brilliant performance by Liane Balaban. She plays Moonie Pottie, a girl that wants to break away from the boredom of the town and go away to pursue her ambition. This young actress' face registers a lot of emotions going on inside Moonie's mind. She knows the only chance for her to get out of the mediocrity in which she lives is to become pregnant because invariably, those fallen girls are sent away to have their children.

Luckily for Moonie, she finds a friend in Lou, the rebel American teen ager who arrives from the Bronx to hide away with her mother and young brother. This is the only part that doesn't make much sense, but it's a diversion to the story that otherwise would be too confined to just the locals. Lou gives Moonie a confidence that the latter one didn't know she had. Moonie grows up helped by her friendship with the tomboyish Lou, who is too wise for her young age. Tara Spencer-Nairn does a wonderful job in recreating Lou Benzoa.

The film takes a while to click with the viewer, but it will stay in his mind for days after having seen it. The Pottie family is presided by Francis and Cookie. As played by Nicholas Campbell and the always excellent Mary Walsh, this family shows an inner strength, even at times of great crisis.

Andrew McCarthy is also seen briefly as the teacher that wants a better life for Moonie, who inspires her to break away from this small town. Cathy Moriarty plays, yet another, boxer's wife. She has nothing to do in the film.

This small movie will charm those willing to take a trip guided by the sure direction of Allan Moyle.

I absolutely loved this movie. Delightfully entertaining, this movie takes you on a truly wonderful adventure. Based in a small Christian town, the story reveals heroine, Moonie Pottie (Liane Balaban) and her plot to escape the drudgery of her small town to pursue an arts scholarship in new york.

Moonie is a loner and an outcast who is very easy for many teenagers to relate to. She recieves a NY scholarship and discovers a best friend in the unwanted newcomer next door, an infamous boxer's daughter named Lou (Tara Spencer-Nairn). Upon discovering that her parents won't let her go to NY, Moonie comes up with a plan. The only way out of town is to Antigonish to have an abortion. So, Eventually, Moonie fabricates a rumor that she's become a 'slut' and fakes a pregnancy in order to be sent away. In between, we see a little Andrew McCarty as her teacher, Mr. Sweeny. All in all, I'd say it's the best movie I've ever seen.

This movie inspired my trip to Cape Breton Island last year, because the scenery is so beautiful. I went to New Waterford and, suffice it to say, it is an even stranger town than the movie would make it appear. The movie was cute and melancholy, and Balban was pretty brilliant in the starring role. And movie with girls boxing ranks pretty high with me anyway.

Funny, hip, and full of fresh faces. Crisp direction, and a quirky script that never lets you down. Some of the jokes may baffle you non-Canucks, but be brave and try a taste of our true national culture.

Proves once again that there's more to Atlantic Canadian film than "Anne of Green Gables".

Clever, smart, modern coming-of-age pic made in Canada (surprise! a movie *this* cool made in Canada?)

What would it be like to grow up in the Canadian maritime provinces *and be different*?

Well the heroine Moonie (this a movie about girls! so it has some cute -- but not too cute -- guys too) *is* different. But so is everyone else. In fact, they're all too different, you don't really see the creeps, burnouts, basket cases that small-town life invariably throws up.

On the other hand, this *is* a movie. Moonie's family is loaded with characters and they're all cool ... sorta. Even the 'rents, in their own way.

Many characters are hilarious without losing their humanity. The whole town's Catholic and mostly Irish at that. Most situations are like real-life teenhood ... so sex is a predominant element. The setting is *very* real -- it's every backwater set-by-the-water hole-in-one that every teen longs to escape (sorry Rockford IL, but close enuf for IFMN).

Moonie's girlfriend, from New York (where Moonie yearns to go ... or any other place she's memorized the street map for), is a sweet and heavy-duty friend -- right outta Dazed and Confused -- who's the daughter of a jailed boxer and drives a rez car. In fact, substitute Indians in this movie and it'd work the same.

I won't go on and on, you get the driftwood. Fans of Linklater, Trainspotters, Depp and the ilk (like me) will enjoy NWG.