Eighteen

It's nice to see a film from Canada with a Canadian focus. We Yanks tend to be a bit parochial in that if it ain't American, it can't be much good-- after all, we invented movies and hey, where's Hollywood anyway? This little film which gives us several peeks into Canadian middle class which isn't much of a departure from what some American Indie would have made about marginalized people, e.g., street people, hustling gay men, etc. The story line which begins confusedly and pops back and forth from flashbacks to back-story, then fuses the two in a very confounding manner to bring the viewer back to the present and then a quick cut to the future at the end. This is a morality tale of redemption, suffering and quasi-resurrection, melded into a young man's odyssey seeking virtue in an amoral world. The acting is generally weak: Pip the main character is completely unconvincing as an innocent youth wandering lost because of self-loathing and self-betrayal. He comes off as a spoiled brat who loathes anything smacking of responsibility more than he abominates his own self-perceived and self-condemned failings; Paul Anthony neither looks nor acts 18 in this role. His counterpart in the back story, Brandan Fletcher is quite convincing of the 18 year old Jason, caught in the throes of WW1, helping a dying comrade and having to kill or be killed. Indeed, the contrast is notable and highlights Anthony's not too attempts at misplaced and miscounted youth. Carly Pope is charming as the girl-friend albeit her love interest in a young spoiled homeless kid does not come across very well. David Beazley and Clarence Sponagle are fine in their roles of young gay men attempting a relationship and Serge Houde as Pip's hypocritical beast of a father and the ever brilliant Alan Cummings as the gay Priest gives the story the necessary added texture of complexity, duplicity and ambiguity. All in all, a decent film that could have admittedly better but then too, it could have been disastrously worse.

it is not great. it is not perfect. but it is only an independent film who has a lot of courage, special poetry of image and theme.but it has the rare gift to give a coherent touching, precise and useful message about grow up, commitment, friendship and family. and Paul Anthony does an admirable job. a film as an embroidery of stories, each complex, each perfect single as subject of film and smart links between stories. wise portrait of an age more than a character. and subtle science to mix shadows and lights in right manner. a film for reflection who propose fragments of stories who becomes parts of a large circle. in essence, story of metamorphose of angry in peace. as fruit of precious legacy.

This film was incredible! Looked high budget but felt heartfelt and original like an Indie. The most amazing part of this film were the astonishing performances by David Beazely, Mark Hildreth and Paul Anthony who plays the main role. He carried this film with ease, humor and charisma balanced with a huge depth.

The cinematography was really beautiful even though some of the subject was quite ugly. It wasn't very realistic in that way but it didn't have to be to make a larger point. It was really great seeing Alan Cumming in this too. The script was tight and propelled very nicely with some of the best acting I've seen in a while.

Go see this.

"Eighteen" (2004) tells the story of Pip Anders, a depressed and extremely cynical young man who is estranged from his dysfunctional upper/middle class family and living on the streets of Vancouver. On his 18th birthday, he receives a cassette tape and player from his recently-deceased grandfather, relating his memoirs of his own 18th birthday, spent serving with the British army in France, trying to help a mortally-wounded comrade avoid capture by the occupying Germans. As Pip listens to the tape (Ian McKellen provided the voice of his grandfather), we see the scenes he is describing as flashbacks, alternating with daily scenes of Pip's life, as well as more recent flashbacks filling in the dark secret why Pip left home and finds it impossible to trust anyone who is nice to him.

An ambitious second film from writer/director Richard Bell ("Two Brothers"), with a polished look, excellent photography, well-developed non-stereotypical characters (with gay and straight treated equally), and commendable efforts in emotionally and physically-demanding roles from some talented new actors (especially Paul Anthony as Pip and Brendan Fletcher as his grandfather at 18). There is also a noteworthy turn by Alan Cummings as a priest who tried to help Pip, and a small supporting role played by Thea Gill ("Queer As Folk"). The complex story - in the director's own words in his DVD commentary - is meant to drive a "vortex of emotion" pushing Pip to his breaking point, and it certainly accomplishes that. My only criticisms are that the overall effect is too "schmaltzy" or artificial for an audience to truly identify with, much of the supporting dialog (and the ending) too contrived and predictable, and the direction needed to be sharper to curtail sloppy overacting in some scenes. I do recommend it, 7 stars out of 10, including extra points for a noteworthy effort.

Street kid Pip (Paul Anthony) is estranged from his father after a fight and a deadly car wreck which killed his brother. His dad tracks him down and gives him his grandfather's audio tapes of his WWII experiences (Ian McKellen). Both Pip and his grandfather (Brendan Fletcher) from the tapes are turning eighteen. He's struggling in the streets while his grandfather was struggling in France. Pip befriends gay hustler Clark. Jenny (Carly Pope) rescues Pip from an attack by her boyfriend and does social work. Father Chris (Alan Cumming) tries to connect with the homeless teen.

The premise of twinning a runaway with his grandfather soldier is intriguing. I don't like the execution and one early WWII scene put me off. Eventually, the flashbacks become untenable. As for the present day story, that's a shocking final twist. It's a problematic twist for many reasons. I don't understand the father's motive of bringing Pip. It paints a really disturbing picture of the family. It makes it extremely unlikely that dad would go searching for Pip in the first place. The whole WWII aspect is more trouble than it's worth anyways. The main story has some great stuff but also some awkward stuff. Clark's creepy obsession with Pip is really off-putting. The audience wants to like Clark but he makes it near impossible. He's a terribly flawed character and not all his flaws are endearing. It's also weird that his scene with his John is met with a soaring romantic score. He really makes it hard to root for him. Pip's relationships with Jenny and Chris spin off some interesting stuff. It is also rather odd in having all happy endings wrapping the stories. The subject matter requires a dark tragedy somewhere. Overall, there are some really interesting stuff here among some valiant failures.