Anna Paquin

  • Fly Away Home (1996)

    Fly Away Home (1996)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, September 2020) It always amuses me how some movies, and not necessarily the box-office champs, end up as being shorthand for an entire concept. For members of a certain generation, perhaps a declining one, Fly Away Home is “the movie where the geese imprint on a human.” It begins as a young teenager (Anna Paquin) moves to Ontario to live with her estranged father (Jeff Daniels) after the death of her mother. Through happenstance, she starts taking care of geese eggs after the disappearance of the mother goose, and becomes their surrogate mom. Had the film ended there, no one would remember it today. But our protagonist’s father, fortunately, is an ultralight aircraft enthusiast who uses his specific skills to teach the birds how to fly, and eventually leads them through a cross-continental migration so that they can be with their own. The film’s single best scene has the geese and ultralight plane flying through a city downtown (Baltimore in the film, Toronto in real-life) in between high-rises. Fly Away Home is a bit of uplifting fluff, but a comforting, even inspirational one—an eloquent proof (should aliens ask) that humans can care for animals as much as each other. I hope it stays a reference for entirely new generations.

  • Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

    Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, December 2009) This straight-to-DVD horror feature may not aspire to sophistication, but It does manage to hit most of its targets as a horror film made for horror fans.  Trick ‘r Treat’s most distinguishing featuring has to be its playful non-chronological interweaving of separate short stories (four main ones, plus a prologue), into a tapestry of Halloween-themed gags.  Some of them are trite and obvious, while others have one or two surprises in store, but they’re all handled with a decent amount of skill, and the visual aspect of the film is as good as anything else in the genre.  Don’t look for redeeming social values, though: The “morals” of the film are ones that only gore-hounds will like, what with serial killers being set against each other, and people apparently being killed for not following a set of entirely arbitrary social conventions.  This being said, c’mon: It’s a self-consciously exploitative horror film about Halloween: it would be surprising if it wasn’t about gruesome deaths first, and everything else after.  Nonetheless, there are a few nice touches here and there as the acting talent slums a bit: Anna Paquin and friends are cute as not-so-innocent girls on the prowl, while Brian Cox and Dylan Baker turn in worthwhile performances.  Special credit also goes to midget scarecrow “Sam”, as close an iconic creation as the film gets.  Trick ‘r Treat all wraps up to a slickly-made, somewhat genre-centric horror film, not noteworthy in any way, but competent enough to warrant a Halloween party viewing or somesuch.