Xavier Dolan on Heartbeats

In this video clip Xavier Dolan presents some of his thoughts on his film called Heartbeats, on producing cinematic productions and why he makes these films.  It gives us some interesting background to his work.

~ Volker

Dalida's Bang Bang on Les Amours Imaginaires

I love this song called "Bang Bang" which you find in Xavier Dolan's second film called Les Amours Imaginaires  (or Heartbeats in English).  Its such a rich song and sets the mood and tone for what is coming in the film,  Xavier, by the way, is our young actor/film director from Montreal, Quebec (Canada).  Check it out, both the song and the film.  - Volker

only a little cloud, no rain, and a lot more sunshine!

Today was one of those days where we didn't have to concern ourselves with taking along an umbrella. The sun was out and shining brightly plus it was warmer. Tomorrow may even be better. Too bad the work week follows right behind that!

I spent my time indoors doing things there that needed doing, mostly at he computer. I had breakfast after my shower this morning and ate some sandwiches periodically through the day as I became hungry and then washed it all down with tea (Earl Grey but also some chai).

For supper I had some salad, a mix of romaine lettuce and pieces of tomato along with a simple wine vinegar and oil dressing. Later I was still hungry and cooked up some perogies (potato and cheese, though my favourite is potato and onion). Now its almost bedtime!

Tomorrow morning it time for getting the laundry out of the way once again. I'll do that after my shower and breakfast. Then I may be off to the grocery store before returning home and checking things out online.

Have a good night, guys! - V

P.S. - The image is from the film, "Heartbeats" (les amours imaginaires). If you haven't seen it, check it out! That's Xavier Dolan on the left and Monia Chokri on the right. - V

les amours imaginaires - Heartbeats

This evening I heard one of the theme songs from the movie, "les amours imaginaires", on the radio (Radio Canada - Vancouver). The song is deeper and richer in the film. The version I heard on the radio wasn't anywhere near as good. I took the time to watch Xavier Dolan's film again this evening. In English its called "Heartbeats." Consider seeing it if you haven't as yet. Xavier is a young Canadian film maker from Montreal and certainly worth seeing where his career goes!
That's Xavier Dolan, Niels Schneider and Monia Chokri in the photo above. Xavier and Monia appear in some of the other images. Love the sweater and the hat! What about you? - V

more on Xavier and "Heartbeats"

I was in Vancouver late Saturday afternoon to take care of some errands. My supply of underwear is showing its age and need replacing, so my first stop was The Bay to get a start at replacing some of the older, worn out pieces. Then it was on to visit other venues.

While going about, I stopped in HMV to check out some dvds. I did notice that Xavier Dolan's "Heartbeats" had been resupplied. There were now three disks available for those interested. I hadn't seen any for a while but I'll check in occasionally to see how things are as far as sales.

Speaking of Xavier, I logged in at touscoprod.com to check how the funds situation is with his latest film project. Its up a bit but he does have another four months to accumulate the money required to start the project. A lot can happen in a very short time. We'll just see where this goes but Xavier's first two ventures went well, so we'll see where this takes us. - V

P.S. - The photo above is from a postcard sent to my mother back in the early 1960s. It shows the Basilica in Quebec City. The basilica dates from 1647 and is one of North America's oldest buildings. As far as dating the photo, you can tell from the vehicles shown that its from the early 1960s period. I've been to that city before, the Quebec Winter Carnival in 1973. I'll share some photos as time becomes available to scan the slides I took during that trip, a school trip! I just thought I'd share! Now I'm off to get the laundry done once again. - V

contribution

Its Friday and nearing the end of the day. After a week of research, I've decided to contribute to Xavier Dolan's next film effort, "Laurence Anyways," and if you're interested, perhaps you might consider this too. I've long been interested in cinematography and have amassed a eclectic collection of films in both the vhs and dvd format, plus I have a few reels of my own efforts on super8 film tucked away somewhere (I know, this takes us quite a way back!). I hope to have the latter transfered to dvd at some point but I digress.

So, here's a short list of Xavier's film efforts so far. He's certainly worth watching!

1. I Killed My Mother (Canada, 2009) or J'ai tue ma mere

2. Heartbeats (Canada, 2010) or Les Amours imaginaires

3. Laurence Anyways (in production)

To my French-speaking readers, sorry about the spelling. I only have an English keyboard, so I can only type characters commonly used in English. The new laptop computer I have an eye on hopefully will have a bilingual keyboard but for the moment this will have to do. You know what I mean anyways, hopefully.

Meantime, check out the touscoprod.com website for inspiration. Congratulations, Xavier, you're doing an awesome job!!! Hopefully those of us interested in your efforts can make your visions a reality!!! - V

more on "Heartbeats"

This appears to be the look and the photo that the drawing on the dvd cover is based on. I have no idea of who took the photo but Xavier is certainly a handsome guy! I plan to make an attempt to find out the name of the photographer. Meantime, check out Xavier Dolan's film ("Heartbeats" or "Les Amours imaginaires" in French). I think its worth it in my opinion!

Xavier Dolan and the film "Heartbeats"

Last evening I sat down to watch the film "Heartbeats" (in French, "Les Amours imaginaires") that I purchased while in Vancouver earlier that day (Saturday) and mentioned in two previous posts. It must have been the only dvd that the store had because that was the only one I saw on display. It was well worth the $26.99 plus tax that I paid. The cover has the face of Xavier Dolan on the front against a red background. The face is in a black line drawing against the red background with the text in black as well. Its very distinctive!

Xavier is both the director of the film and an actor in it who plays the part of "Francis", along with Monia Chokri who play "Marie" and Niels Schneider who plays the part of "Nico." All I can say is that I can relate to what has happened in the film without giving too much of it away.

Xavier says something about growing up gay in this youtube video clip and if you'd like to know more about him, check out this Wikipedia entry for more. I a threesome and the interplay between each person sounds like something to explore, or you just like to know more about the gay experience, buy or rent the dvd! I'm not going to give much of it away. It would spoil the film if I did! - V