Days of Darkness

A sad and dark view of a dystopian Quebec imagined by Arcand in 2007 with some surprising twists. Some of Arcand's predictions are extremely close to what happened in 2020. Other than that, the movie offers some good moments but it's tendancy to alternate between dreams and actual scenes gets on the nerve.

This is not a rip off of American Beauty, but a rip off of Montreal.

The government of Quebec must make this movie mandatory to every immigrant before coming to Quebec because everything in it is 100% true. Our hospitals are horrible and inadequate filled with incompetent doctors, the elderly are treated very badly in nursing homes, the government wastes money in everything but efficiency, less and less people are getting married and affairs are the norm, our laws are retarded and city itself is riddled with depression. sex and alcohol. Our suicidal rates are one the highest and if you don't day dream about an escape, your already dead inside.

Saw this recently at the Canadian film festival.

I was expecting to be let down by this film (as Arcand set the bar very high with his previous films. However I was pleasantly surprised and found this to be very, very entertaining.

With the opening shower scene and the fact that his wife is a real estate agent there are obvious comparisons to American Beauty.

Ulimately I think Arcand covers more ground in his film and you can't help but laugh at his very dark and also very accurate observations on modern life in a big city.

From ridiculous government bureaucracy to disconnection through mobile phones and MP3 players, speed dating and relationships in general Arcand is dead on.

I guess the only thing I didn't quite agree with was the notion of moving to the country house away from the city and it's craziness and everything will be just fine.

I guess it is ultimately sad that this is a pretty accurate depiction of modern society in many western countries right now. The level of disconnection among people is both sad and and frustrating.

But I loved the honesty in the film and found it extremely entertaining and much funnier than his other films.

If there is any hope for Canadian films it is in Quebec. Quebec filmmakers are not beholden to Hollywood, enslaved by its techniques or inclined to copy its product. This is an original, brilliantly conceived, masterfully shot and superbly performed film. I'm not sure whether it's satire, social commentary, comedy or perhaps a little of each. It's slightly reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's Brazil but it stands on its own as a powerful film with a thoughtful (if dark) message. The shame is that films of this quality are not seen in English Canada nor in the US outside the limited sphere of film festivals and fringe cinemas. Denys Arcand is a genius and it shows in this work. This film is what movie making is all about! Or should be.

The main concept of this underseen Denys Arcand film is not original (downtrodden middle-aged public servant with a problematic family life finds refuge in his nighttime dreams and his even more vivid daytime fantasies), but it is well-employed by the Canadian writer-director and the result is a mature, incisive, intelligent, moving, and sometimes very funny film. As usual, Arcand feels free to deal with a different topic in almost every other scene, and the film embraces ideas as well as good old-fashioned slapstick. 17 years later, its views on our "connected" society and the bewildering government bureaucracy are more pertinent than ever. *** out of 4.