Review of This Movie Is Broken (2010) by Daniel P — 06 May 2013

This movie made me feel broken, like I had suddenly woken up old and alone. It manages, somehow, to tell that "scuffling twenty-somethings" story in a way that feels fresh and vivid and honest, and merges this plot with a concert film.

It made me long to be young and sexy and free and to lose myself in a rock show, specifically a rock show at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, where I haven't seen a show in at least five years, somehow.

And while I'm trashing my own Toronto cred, I'll say that my general indifference to Broken Social Scene (what? But they're FROM Toronto...) didn't stand in the way of enjoying the movie.

I think where it succeeded with the often-precious "entry to adulthood" story was that it took a less-is-more approach, punctuating the telling moments - a sort of short-hand plot - with cuts back to the concert.

And hilariously: only Canadians will understand this, but the parts in which Bruno (Greg Calderone) is using his smartphone are totally riffs on the Rogers (telecom company) commercials he's been in for the last few years.

Literally, Bruce McDonald has imbued those annoying Rogers kids with souls. I did struggle with the ending - it didn't strike me as the likeliest outcome - but what's been assembled here (possibly from two half-finished, abandoned, or "broken" works.

..?) is another gloriously messy film from one of Canada's best directors. How messy? McDonald shot it during Toronto's ridiculous public workers' strike of 2009, when parks became dumpsites out of necessity during one of the hottest recent summers.

It felt important that this was committed to film; in fact, it felt important that a lot of what Toronto is was committed to film, here. A real surprise - I wasn't ready to like this movie, but it hit me right in the gut.

It could be my hometown bias or the fact that I just turned 30 talking, though...