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Arguably the most eclectic director of the “Toronto New Wave,” Bruce McDonald returns with his most ambitious and perhaps most frustrating film yet, Dreamland. A mashup of cinematic and pulp influences set in Luxembourg (a country that’s a few hundred square miles smaller than Rhode Island), McDonald continues to play with language and cultural tension as he reimagines Pizzagate through the lens of Alphaville, Last Year at Marienbad, Taxi Driver, John Wick, and countless other films and moments to dizzying and nearly incoherent effect. There’s also hitmen, vampires, a countess, and a wedding party where colonialism takes center stage. Lost yet? It’s a feature, not a bug.

Frequent collaborator Stephen McHattie stars as Johnny Deadeyes, a trumpet player moonlighting as a hitman (or perhaps it’s the other way around?) on one heroin-infused trip. He arrives in Luxembourg wandering the streets and night clubs killing time before his next mission.

You can never have too much Isabelle Huppert, but in Barrage, the legendary actress plays a supporting role that perhaps shows you can have too little. It’s a generational drama anchored by three great performances, but it feels rather distinctly average — and it’s hard to make Isabelle Huppert look average.

The selling point here is Huppert playing the mother to her real-life daughter Lolita Chammah, to whom she looks uncannily, almost distractingly similar. Chammah portrays Catherine, returning to her family home in Luxembourg from a self-imposed exile ten years after leaving her daughter Alba (Themis Pauwels, a terrific find) to be brought up by her mother Elisabeth (Huppert). Alba is hesitant to reconnect with her real mother, but agrees to a day out with Catherine, who acts more like a sister than a matriarch. After the death of Catherine’s beloved dog, Alba finds herself emotionally blackmailed into...

“There was her, there was me, and there was me beside myself. There were three of us.” That’s how Catherine (Lolita Chammah) describes what it was like to deal with a newborn daughter as a single parent in the deepest throes of depression. That’s all that she says on the subject, but it’s more than enough for us to understand why the woman — now in her early 30s — once felt the need to skip town and leave her baby with the child’s grandmother, Elisabeth (Isabelle Huppert, who happens to be Chammah’s mom in real life, as well).

But that was a long time ago, and Catherine has found some good pills to keep the darkness at bay. Now she’s returned to Luxembourg without any advance warning, finally ready to be a mother more than 10 years after she became one. If only it were so...

Author: Stefan Pape

Recent Golden Globe winner (and Oscar hopeful) Isabelle Huppert has enjoyed a remarkable year, cementing her status as one of the most magnetic, subtle and simply irresistible actresses on the planet. In her latest endeavour, Barrage, directed by Laura Schroeder in her sophomore feature film, the French superstar takes something of a backseat, instead allowing her daughter Lolilta Chammah to truly flourish, something she takes in her stride. It must run in the family.

To describe Chammah as a newcomer would be doing her a disservice, as she’s an actress who has been appearing on screen for almost thirty years – but rarely has she been gifted such a nuanced part to truly show off her credentials. She plays Catherine, determined to reconnect with her 10-year-old daughter Alba (Themis Pauwels) who has been raised by her grandmother Elisabeth (Huppert). Though somewhat ambiguous, we gather that Catherine had...

Exclusive: Family drama unites Golden Globe winner Huppert with daughter Lolita Chammah on the big screen.

Paris-based Luxbox has boarded sales on Laura Schroeder’s family drama Barrage, which unites Isabelle Huppert and daughter Lolita Chammah on the big screen.

The film will get its world premiere in the Forum section of the 2017 Berlinale.

Chammah stars as Catherine, a young woman who returns to Luxembourg after a 10-year absence to spend time with her daughter Alba, who she abandoned to the care of her mother Elisabeth (Huppert).

Alba, played by French child actress Themis Pauwels, gives Catherine a cold reception while Elisabeth is equally unwelcoming, perceiving her daughter as a threat to her role as the child’s main carer.

In a bid to rekindle her motherly bond with Alba, Catherine “kidnaps” her daughter and takes her on a trip to a lake in the north of the country. The main obstacle to their relationship, she discovers...