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From Faster Louder, one of our team of experts bringing you the best new music from around the world: a perfect slice of anxious Aussie slacker-pop

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Home to Dick Diver and the Twerps, independent record label Chapter Music are the masterminds behind a low-key slacker pop revolution in Melbourne, and their most recent signing The Stevens fits snugly into this expanding stable.

Led by Travis MacDonald and Twerps drummer Alex Macfarlane on guitars, the band was snapped up by Chapter following the release of their 2012 self-titled debut Ep. New single Hindsight is their first official release since the signing. Clocking in at just over two minutes, it's a perfect slice of anxious Aussie pop. MacDonald's nasal vocals are mixed low and lazy alongside jittery guitar and sweet backing melodies, recalling The Church's earlier work as well as Orange Juice and The Wedding Present.

The band came together...

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (Acct) have announced the nominees for the 29th Annual Genie Awards. Leading the pack for the awards honoring the best in Canadian film was "The Necessities of Life". The movie about an Inuit hunter stranded in a Quebec hospital collected eight gongs, including best picture, best director for Benoit Pilon and best original screenplay for Bernard Emond.

In the category of best pictures, Pilon's film will be up against "Amal", "Normal", "Passchendaele" and "Everything Is Fine". Meanwhile, for the best original screenplay title, it placed Bernard Emond in competition with Deepa Mehta of "Heaven on Earth", Travis McDonald of "Normal", Randall Cole of "Real Time" and Guillaume Vigneault of "Everything Is Fine".

While "The Necessities of Life" took the most nominations, "Fugitive Pieces", the Samuel Goldwyn Films drama based on best-selling novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels grabbed six nods. Some of the...

TORONTO -- "Corner Gas", Canada's most popular TV sitcom, earned writers Mark Farrell and Robert Sheridan top honors for best half-hour comedy as the 2008 Canadian Screenwriting Awards were handed out here Monday night.

Denis McGrath and Robert Wertheimer grabbed the writing trophy for best one-hour drama for "Across the River to Motor City", while Travis McDonald picked up the movie script award for his work on Carl Bessai's "Normal".

Organized by the Writers Guild of Canada, the show also saw Peter Mohan (Blood Ties, Mutant X) awarded the prize for top showrunner.

A complete list of winners follows:

Best children and preschool

Kenn Scott, Iggy Arbuckle "Petition Impossible"



Best documentary

Barri Cohen, "Toxic Trespass"



Best half-hour drama

Mark Farrell, Robert Sheridan, Corner Gas, "Seeing Things"



Best one-hour drama

Denis Mcgrath and Robert Wertheimer, Across The River To Motor City, "Happy Birthday, Mr. President"



Best feature film

Travis McDonald, "Normal"



Best TV movie of the week or miniseries

Ian Weir, "Dragon Boys"; written by Ian Weir



Best radio drama

Jason Sherman, Adam Pettle, Greg Nelson, "Afghanada"



Best variety

Kevin White, Mark Critch, Irwin Barker, Gavin Crawford, Gary Pearson, Jennifer Whalen, Carolyn Taylor, Albert Howell, Dave Nystrom, Geri Hall, Todd Allen, Tim Mcauliffe, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, "Episode 17"



Best youth

Brent Piaskoski, Naturally Sadie, "In or Out of Africa"...

Pusan International Film Festival

BUSAN, South Korea -- Like the high-profile Reservation Road and White Night (also screening at PIFF), Normal tracks the after-effects of a devastating accident. Constructed like an interconnected character piece a la Short Cuts or Crash, the film doesn't have as much finesse as the former, but is a good deal less manipulative than the latter.

Carl Bessai's latest is intermittently affecting, though too often it wallows in soap opera. Carrie-Anne Moss' dramatic star turn could generate interest for a limited release in its native Canada and possibly on the festival circuit. Theatrical distribution elsewhere seems a long shot.

Catherine (Moss) is the grieving mother of teenager Nicky, traumatized to the point of near paralysis following his death in a drunk-driving accident. She's distanced herself from her husband and neglected her younger son Brady (Cameron Bright, Birth) for two years. Jordie was Nicky's best friend, just out of juvenile detention, and living once again with his overbearing father Carl (Michael Riley) and his young wife Elise (Camille Sullivan). Professor Walt Callum Keith Rennie), who has an autistic brother and a failing marriage, is overwhelmed with guilt at causing the accident that killed Nicky.

For most of its running time, Normal unfolds as a series of vignettes, some vivid and compelling. Catherine's anger and suffering are palpable, as is her family's frustration. Their weariness with her extended mourning is understandable too. The troubled Jordie, with his own burden to bear, is equally believable in his unfocused rage, and Walt's resigned responsibility toward his brother rings true.

When Jordie begins an affair with his stepmother, it's straight out of daytime television, and adds a good dose of unnecessary sordidness to narrative. Not to be outdone, Walt gets in on the sexy plot turns as well, with a student. It's here that Normal steps into the realm of melodrama in its attempt to investigate life in an affluent and white Vancouver suburb.

From the beginning, it's clear that the grief-stricken Catherine and the guilt-ridden Walt are on the sort of collision course. This results in mutual redemption, yet the catharsis is only mildly satisfying.

Bessai gets the strongest performances from Moss, the underrated Rennie (possibly best known now as the Cylon Leoben on Battlestar Galactica) and Zegers, who makes a cliche character believable. Normal functions best as a series of snapshots about lingering guilt, the desire for redemption, and the dangers in allowing grief. But as a whole, Normal isn't quite convincing.

NORMAL

A Mongrel Media, Raven West Films, Submission Films production

Credits:

Director: Carl Bessai

Screenwriters: Travis McDonald, Carl Bessai

Producers: Andrew Boutilier, Carl Bessai

Executive producers: Stephen Hegyes, Shawn Williamson, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross

Director of photography: Carl Bessai

Production designer: Nancy Mossop

Music: Clinton Shorter

Co-producer: Rajvinder Uppal

Costume designer: Michele Maillet

Editor: Lisa Binkley

Cast:

Catherine: Carrie-Anne Moss

Jordie: Kevin Zegers

Walt: Callum Keith Rennie

Dale: Andrew Airlie

Brady: Cameron Bright

Dennis: Tygh Runyan

Abby: Allison Hossack

Sherri: Lauren Lee Smith

Running time --100 minutes

No MPAA rating...