Calendar Leaves

Calendar Leaves

Infobox Film
name = Calendar Leaves


image_size =
caption =
director = Martin Dudzik
producer = Anthony Bortolussi
writer = Michael Serebriakov (story)
Martin Dudzik (screenplay)
narrator = Martin Dudzik
starring = Brad Giglio
Tyler Kranz
Naomi Inglis
music =
cinematography = Martin Dudzik
editing = Martin Dudzik
distributor =
released = May 24 2005
runtime = 17 mins
country = Canada
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0476530

"Calendar Leaves" (2005) is a short Coquitlam-shot drama produced by Dudzik Films and based on Michael Serebriakov's short story of the same name [http://www.dudzikfilms.com/company/films/independentfilms.htm. Retrieved on 2008-07-02] .
Coming off of the success of his last movie, Joe's Package, a comedy in the tradition of "The Cat Came Back", director Martin Dudzik was looking for a drama to direct. Through an aide, he had received the plot synopsis of Serebriakov's "Calendar Leaves". Serebriakov had written it in the previous year, in response to a cruel practical joke he had witnessed. A month later, on the patio of a Starbucks on Vancouver's East side, the contract that brought Calendar Leaves to life was signed.

Plot

Set in an ordinary Canadian town, it follows Parker Jones (Brad Giglio), a formerly troubled youth, on a morning when he is running late for school. Arriving, he seeks out his girlfriend, Macy, but she is also a no-show that day. When he asks if his friends Steven (Tyler Kranz) and Josie (Naomi Inglis) have seen her, both disavow any knowledge of such a person. Her locker is no longer hers, and when he calls her house, he is told that she does not live there. Confused and distraught, Parker must now grapple with himself to answer the burning question: "Was she real?". Believing that he had lost his mind and his life is not worth living, Parker takes his own life by jumping off a secluded bridge into a river. The final narration reveals that it was an April Fool's joke that had gone terribly wrong.

Production

Calendar Leaves was shot in Coquitlam, in the usual speedy Martin Dudzik manner in five days [IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0476530/trivia Retrieved on 2008-07-02] . Port Moody Secondary School was used for the interior shots. For the day of interior shooting, short story author Michael Serebriakov was invited on set. When asked about his impressions, he remarked with good humour: "I never knew a single fart could delay an entire movie production almost fifteen minutes."
For the opening scene, the crew spent the morning painstakingly recreating a bus stop. Because of Dudzik's love for close shots, no part of the replica bus stop made it into the final cut.
Tyler Kranz was initially slated to be the boom operator, but the actor cast to play Steven fell sick just before production. Many consider Kranz's performance the best of the movie.
During one day of production, the set was visited by a dreary notorious Vancouver rain. Although soaking the crew, it provided for some of the more memorable scenes of the movie.
According to Dudzik, Kranz turned out to be a sub-par narrator, so he took over personally. To get the "narratory" voice, he ate copious amounts of ice cream before recording his lines.
As a joke, newbies were told the movie would star Ed Harris, because of Peter Nicholas Smith's uncanny resemblance to the actor.

Deviations from the short story

Naturally, while writing the screenplay, Dudzik was forced to make some changes from the original Serebriakov version. Firstly, the short story started in a relatively light mood, turning dark by the end. The movie holds an ominous sombre tone throughout - in tune with Dudzik's vision of the drama he was looking for.
What is in the short story a subtlety, Parker's suicidal history is obvious in the movie, since his cut wrists are shown in the opening scene.
Some of the foreshadowing hidden in the lines of the short story was cut in the screenplay, leaving the ending to be confusing for some, including a Toronto film criticcite news|title=Young Cuts unreels|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gm9bLmbNXgQ6Re9jMc_NI6Ty8FFwD8VKR2N82|author =Swain, Deirdre|publisher =Toronto Now| accessdate =2008-07-02] .

Reception

After premiering at the Pacific Cinematheque on Burrard Street in Downtown Vancouver, Calendar Leaves went on to several film festivals. It has received several awards, including for Best Film at the 2005 Young Cuts Film Festival in Toronto [Young Cuts Inc. (2005). http://www.youngcuts.com/?q=press. Retrieved on 2008-07-02] and the 2006 B.C. Student Film Festival. It is so far arguably the most critically recognized independent film from Dudzik Films.The two reviews of the movie were generally favorable. A writer for the Hour.ca commented that the movie had a "Canadian look", but was typical of a teen dramacite news|title=Youthful Take|url=http://www.hour.ca/film/film.aspx?iIDArticle=8109|author =Hewings, Meg|date =2006-01-12|accessdate =2008-07-02] .

References

External links

*imdb title|0476530


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Calendar of 2003 — ▪ 2004 January So long as there is a single Brazilian brother or sister going hungry, we have ample reason to be ashamed of ourselves. Lula, in his inaugural address as president of Brazil, January 1 January 1       The Socialist Lula (Luiz… …   Universalium

  • Leaves — This most unusual name is of Anglo Saxon origin, and is in most cases a patronymic form of the surname Leaf, which derives from the Old English pre 7th Century personal names Leofa , (masculine), and Leofe (feminine), from the Olde English… …   Surnames reference

  • Calendar of 1998 — ▪ 1999 January January 1       At the stroke of the new year, the Russian ruble is worth a thousand times less than before as three zeros are removed from its value; about six new rubles equal one U.S. dollar.       Foreign Minister David Levy… …   Universalium

  • Calendar of 2000 — ▪ 2001 January We are fortunate to be alive at this moment in history. Never before has our nation enjoyed, at once, so much prosperity and social progress with so little internal crisis and so few external threats. Never before have we had such… …   Universalium

  • Calendar of 2001 — ▪ 2002 January America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles …   Universalium

  • Revised Julian calendar — The Revised Julian calendar, also known as the Rectified Julian calendar, or, less formally, New calendar, is a calendar, originated in 1923, which effectively discontinued the 340 years of divergence between the naming of dates sanctioned by… …   Wikipedia

  • Kurdish calendar — The Kurdish calendar is a Lunisolar calendar used among the Kurdish people. A longstanding agricultural and nomadic lifestyle formed the basis for the Kurdish calendar. The ways and power of nature have always played significant roles in the life …   Wikipedia

  • Hebrew calendar — The Hebrew calendar (הלוח העברי ha luach ha ivri), or Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances. It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of Torah… …   Wikipedia

  • Days of week on Hebrew calendar — The modern Hebrew calendar has been designed to ensure that certain holy days and festivals do not fall on certain days of the week. As a result, there are only four possible patterns of days on which festivals can fall. (Note that Jewish days… …   Wikipedia

  • Islamic calendar — Arabic calendar redirects here. For the Gregorian calendar in Arabic, see Arabic names of calendar months. This …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”