Xavier Dolan on Laurence Anyways

This is Xavier Dolan's first interview concerning his third film, Laurence Anyways.  Since the interview is in French, those that can understand the language will get more out of it.  The rest of us will just have to follow along.  As you will see, Xavier is quite fluent in both languages, English and French.  I did contribute some funds toward this production.  I would have contributed more but health issues came in the way last year.  Things happen and priorities have to be set. I do hope this film is successful as his earlier efforts!

~ Volker

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

a musical tribute to Xavier Dolan

This is a musical tribute to our young Canadian film director/actor, Xavier Dolan, with two films behind him and one in the works.  I wish Xavier much success in his current endeavour.  Enjoy the musical journey!

~ Volker

I killed my mother - German language film trailer

Today I saw the German language film trailer for Xavier Dolan's first film, I Killed My Mother.  The mood and emotion is the same.  I  have the French language version of the film on DVD and have seen it once, though I have seen excerpts from it on several occasions.  Check it out. - 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

Bern, Switzerland II

I found another photo of Bern, Switzerland that I had somehow missed, so here it is complete with flags! Remember, this is 1987, not current!

Its been a slow, easy weekend. I received Xavier Dolan's first film (dvd), "J'ai tue ma mere" ("I Killed My Mother") filmed in 2009. The film is in French with no subtitles (I couldn't find one that had subtitles), so I had to make due watching it in French. The dialect was a bit rough for me to understand in places (I learned Parisian French in school, not the same, and actually speak French with a German accent when I do speak it since German is my first language - don't ask, that's just the way it is about the accent bit) so I'll have to see it again to get more out of it. When watching the film, the feeling I got was of unease from the two extremes in mood between mother and son, almost bipolar in a sense. Its the relations with other guys in the same sex scenes that ease that mood and cause me to relax, to enjoy. You'll have to see the film to get your own impression, feeling of what is happening.

Both Xavier's first, as well as his second, "Heartbeats" ("Les amours imaginaires") have some parallels in my own life and why I find them so relevant. Have a look at them and decide for yourself. - V

warm

Its been warm here today, even with some sunshine in the afternoon, but despite all that, the wind was a cool. The temperature got up to about 10 degrees Celsius today, balmy by Canadian standards since much of the country is in the grips of winter. That means lots of snow and cold temperatures, so I don't mind the warmth. That's one of many reasons why I came out here. The other is that I didn't want to shovel any more snow, at least for a while!

This afternoon I purchased Xavier Dolan's first film, "I Killed My Mother" or "J'ai tue ma mere" in French, online and should receive it later this month or early next. I cost me twice what I paid for "Heartbeats" but I believe its worth the price. I'll give you a bit of a commentary on both of Xavier's films after I've had a chance to see the first.

He's working on his third, "Laurence Anyways." We'll how it compares to the first two of his films. I've started investing in his third effort and plan to invest more. Good luck, Xavier! You seem to have found the secret.

Finally, I managed to clean the hard drive on my laptop of unneeded files and get a defrag completed. Now I'm ready to install the software that came with the photo scanner. Then the real work begins, and I promise some interesting surprises. Come back for more! - V

in the rain!

All the snow we had earlier in the week melted as the temperatures warmed up and with the warmer temperatures has come the rain! So, we're back to normal winter weather around here.

Despite the wet stuff, I'm off to Vancouver for a few hours. First stop will be Chapters followed by HMV where Ill try to find a copy of Xavier Dolan's first film in dvd format (I Killed My Mother). Considering that he was only 19 years old when that one hit the screens, I think it'll be interesting to see as far as seeing a progression in his work. I'll let you know more later.

Meantime, have an awesome weekend regardless what you have planned, guys! - 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