Sébastien Pilote – Le Vendeur (2011)

adminMarch 14, 2012

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This stunning Quebecois kitchen sink drama is so raw and real, the pain evoked so acute, you’ll be devastated by its quiet power while at the same time dazzled by its cinematic genius. The film had its World Premiere in Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and was cited as one of Canada’s Ten Best Films of the year in the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) CTT. That it has not garnered one single nomination for a Genie Award is an utter disgrace.

(Greg Klymkiw, canadianfilmcorner.blogspot.com)

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A tale of quiet resilience and human frailty that plays out against a harsh and apparently endless Quebec winter, befouled by the global economic downturn and a cruel twist of fate, Quebec filmmaker Sébastien Pilote’s debut, Le Vendeur (The Salesman) is a masterful observation of ordinary people squeezing what they need to get by out of unforgiving circumstances.

Paced against the relentless ennui of a long strike at the local pulp-and-paper mill, Le Vendeur homes in on the little rituals and colourful idiosyncrasies that make small-town life durable, and offer vague promises of better times ahead: kids’ hockey in the community arena, dancing to Mexican music in the community hall, snow removal in all its variations, ice-fishing on the lake.

(“Depth of a salesman”, Greg Quill, toronto.com)