Guitar Lessons

This is a slow moving but sweet and funny film that makes a virtue of its limitations. The budget was clearly small, but the director makes great use of the unknown cast and the stunning scenery of northern Alberta. Conway Kootenay is a standout and steals every scene he is in. The plot may be cliched, but the clever script and stylized direction make it feel fresh. I loved the indigenous characters and the glimpses into their culture added a lot to the story. While there is some drama, it never gets too heavy, and the resolution to the various plot lines is very satisfying. This would be a great date movie.

This gem of a Canadian movie is so powerful and beautiful. It's slower pace reminds me of Harrison Ford's "Witness" where we too have to slow down from our frenetic pace of life. We are lulled into the plot with stellar performances and excellent humor that pokes fun at all kinds of stereotypes. I especially laughed and resonated with the woke white woman swooning at the Cree speaker in the diner scene. But the movie's real power is how it deftly reveals the deep pain of each character with simple words and gentle scenes. The pain of being human and struggling to deal with other humans, the pain of understanding our own struggles, the pain of lost dreams and lost opportunities. As in real life, there are no simple answers served up on a plate, solved by magic cloaks or marvelous technology, but it still offers hope and insight to the human condition and how we can strive to be more gentle with ourselves and each other. I recognized myself and my neighbors in this careful character study. Well done!

Guitar Lessons is a great watch! Very realistic portrayal of life in northern Alberta. At times funny, at other times emotional, sad and heart warming. Corb Lund does a very nice job as a gruff northern oil entrepreneur and I was so very impressed with the job done by all the actors - particularly young Kaden. The story starts out with what seems to be just a collection of remotely unconnected events and as the movie progresses they are woven into a very moving story that at times is all too true! Throughout realistic, funny and moving aspects of living north of Peace River are recreated! It also portrays some of the beautiful scenery that our province has to offer !

Watched this movie last night in Leduc Cinema and thoroughly enjoyed the story line, the beautiful cinematography highlighting Northern Alberta, the humour and most of all the relationship that developed organically between the man and teen. An uplifting theme of redemption and connection and of second chances in life and love. The sound track was well selected and hopefully is available soon as well. Highly recommend seeing this if you like movies that make you feel hopeful. As it's being distributed independently, have your local cinema owner call the director, Aaron Sorensen directly to arrange to have it come to your town/city. 403 464 7586. I'm looking forward to watching it again!

Let me say right off, the movie wasn't bad. But when I see all the 9 and 10 star reviews, I get suspicious. Then I look who did the reviews and I find that almost all of them are from people who have only reviewed exactly one movie. Could they possibly be friends and family of the actors or the film crew? Ya think?

Anyway, the film is rated on IMDb as a 7.3. Heck, "Gone with the Wind" and "Lawrence of Arabia" only got an 8.3! Come on folks!

So the movie wasn't bad. Unfortunately, it had a hard time figuring out just what it wanted to be. There were about three different stories going on at the same time. And none of them really got resolved in the end. It seemed to get lost.

The acting and the writing weren't half bad. Except the lead actor, Corb Lund spent about 2/3rds of the movie staring at the ground with his hand over his eyes. Overall, it was an okay film. It seemed a bit long to me. They could have easily cut 20 minutes or so out of it.

--MovieJunkieMark.