New Waterford Girl

This is one of those movies that stay with you. Andrew McCarthy is the best I've seen him even though his role is small. The main character Mooney seems troubled but she is just not fit for that small town. The girl from the Bronx pulls her out of her shell and makes life bearable. It made me wish I had a friendship like that when I was younger. I need to buy this movie so I can watch it often. Just something about it. And I got it even though I never lived in Canada nor a small town. I still identified with those girls.

I hadn't expected the comedy aspect but some surprising events really made me laugh. If you are like me and like those off beat non commercial Hollywood type movies, then you will love this one.

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.

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.

I truly enjoyed this film. I'm usually not the type to like the girl coming to age films. But I loved this one probably because its not completely focused on the usual girl growing breast and realizing she's now a woman, story plot. Instead its about a girl that will do almost anything to get out of her small mining town. Including pretending to be a floozy and getting pregnant. I think the two lead actress (Liane Balaban and Tara Spencer Nairn)are great and I'm sure they will go far. If you like a good not so coming of age film check out this one I'm sure you will like it.

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".