Liane Balaban

  • The Wisher aka Spliced (2002)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, December 2022) I have always had a soft spot for horror movies about horror movies, even if that fondness is rarely rewarded. The Wisher, for instance, gets a few points for focusing on the experience of watching horror movies compared to the more frequent horror moves about making horror movies. But it doesn’t get very far in originality within that framework: Apparently inspired by the first Scream films (down to the use of “Do you like scary movies?” in its trailer), this one follows a young woman as her fascination for horror films ends up echoed in the apparition of a murderous supernatural figure. Her powers even extend to directing that figure to do harm to people she dislikes… but don’t expect much more than this in terms of digging into questions of guilt, power and fantasy. While The Wisher was never designed to fly high (it’s still a Canadian horror film…), it’s still hampered by a workmanlike script, low-budget production values and unambitious direction. While it’s cool to see a young Liane Balaban playing a female lead that isn’t limited to screaming at knife-wielding psychos, there’s still not as much for her to do. The period details of the early 2000s are now coalescing into a definite aesthetic, so that may add a bit of unintentional interest to the result. Still, the overall impression here is one of missed opportunities. Much is made of horror watching in the opening minutes, but it turns into a moral lesson by the end of the film. Too bad—Canadian horror fans may enjoy, but that’s an admittedly narrow niche.

  • A Small Fortune (2021)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, March 2022) Money is power in a compact package, and like all concentrated forms of power, its sudden release in a void can be explosive. A Small Fortune isn’t taking place in an area where money is common: it’s set in a small Atlantic Canada community, where making ends meet can require an artful combination of jobs, government benefits and small-scale crime. It’s in this unglamorous environment that our lead couple lives, with tensions made worse by the imminent arrival of a baby. When a large quantity of money makes its way to the shore, our male lead doesn’t think for a long time about taking some of it to improve his life. The problem, though, is that the money comes from somewhere, and its owners really want it back. The small town isn’t ready, either for that amount of money nor the force exerted to get it back. I frankly watched the film to have a look at long-time favourite Liane Balaban, who looks great as the pregnant woman in the middle of the escalating mayhem, but Andrea Bang is not bad either as a policewoman clearly out of her element. The story isn’t all that original and the execution may feel excruciating to those who don’t want to spend time in such a dispiriting environment, but the Prince Edward Island setting is more original than most, and it leads to some unusual cinematography along the way. A Small Fortune, alas, doesn’t quite manage to build a satisfying conclusion: there are structural issues in the way some things are resolved, and the coda is far less satisfying than it could have been. Still, it’s not a bad watch for a low-budget Canadian production—even when it plays along familiar lines.