sandover
Listen to the Elizabethan overtones of the title, then watch "As You Like It" appear in the film for a big part. "Whole New Thing" may not be a whole new approach, or cinematic thing, but it surely is a leisurely, thoughtful, and one hopes thought-provoking take on Shakespeare's "As You Like It"."As You Like It" is a pastoral comedy. That genre, rather obsolete now, works more like romance for us. Set in a snow-bleached Nova Scotia, the film seems to say pastoral with winter written allover. But that is not as grim as it sounds, one has just to see the juxtapositions with and the transpositions from the play, and will get what the film gives and is about. For reviewers complain, or note -without actual elaboration- on the touchiness of the subject or praise pointing to things that were weird or off-putting, not quite paying attention to the film's tone. This tone makes the affirmation that the theme is the teacher-pupil sexual relation dubious, if not plainly irrelevant.It begins with 13-year-old Emerson completing his huge manuscript of a novel and as it seems, with drawings all his own. Some seconds before in the sequence, we see a William Blake drawing hanging above. This sets the tone for what will follow. A quite young person with such capacities, this means we are already in the woods of Arden. Rather cunningly, it also suggests, as it gloriously happens with Shakespeare's Rosalind, that young Em, being a writer at that age, must be some kind of master of perspectives.And he is. It is just, and this is where the film's take on "As You Like It" begins to take off, that his parents are so much free-spirited hippies urging him to "talk", "be natural about discovering his burgeoning sexuality" (it seems for them it is little more than a matter of masturbation), that so much solicited liberty becomes problematic. And comical and entertaining for us, as young Em facing them, feels the strain but doesn't lose his wit.The parents are not peripheral to the story. Rog, the father, a self-absorbed scientist played with a hint of caricature by Robert Joy, recalls "the melancholy Jacques" from "As You Like It". Only here, instead of him being introduced to us as someone weeping over a deer, we have an idealist trying to convert human excrement to utilitarian, "fueling" purposes. That is good, but, well, when his wife starts en extramarital affair, he becomes an impotent, raging man, with the face of a religious fanatic. We are far away from the "jerk off" dialogue in the beginning.Kaya, the mother, is a sexy, assertive, and a bit disoriented woman, who, after having sex with Denny for the first time, cannot help herself but be as garrulous as she reports her husband to be. And all that positive stance from both parents, does not amount to much when they embark on the anxiety ride after they think they find out and about their son's sexuality. Well, a parent is just a comic parent, after all.And a teacher is a frustrated teacher. Don Grant, the teacher, never takes advantage of the boy. Actually, he is not at all interested. Emerson is a catalyst for him. What for? Watch the scene that comes after Em's acting out/declaration of love. What triggers Don's unease is not Em being a minor, being a pupil, being mature enough to discard gay and straight labels, but what he says in the end: it is not about having sex, he says, he just wants to feel close. That is what bothers Don. Daniel McIvor plays this finely hinting that where Don failed is exactly this: he was afraid of being close to his ex, Claude, as an earlier meeting between the two shows. And that is what he wants to restore, as it is elliptically conveyed to us. He calls Claude, then sets of to see him, then strangely stops at the public toilets for a quickie, as is his custom. And then we realize that this habit, reported to us before, is not due to protecting oneself from the public eye in a small town, but an obsessive pattern that refuses the reaffirmation of intimate moments.And what is the whole new thing that bothers Emerson? In the spirit of the film, it is as if it is not so much the discovery of sexuality, for we do not know if we can actually term infatuation his feelings towards his teacher. Saying that he wants to feel close, marks more as a feeling of loneliness and seclusion with his parents way too long (watch the first shot in the sauna, with its nonchalant nakedness and hot pressures). What Em discovers is innocence. As in "As You Like It", sex is sewn with innocence. The story of each character, with its shifting accent on sexuality and its roles, gender and its assumptions, is tender-hearted, tenderly and poignantly handled, recalling the shifting perspectives in Shakespeare's play. Rosalind may command perspectives throughout, but young Em at the end is exhausted. The Arcadian forest of Arden cannot be for long an Arcadian family, nor a Utopian relationship between teacher and pupil. The ending is not as abrupt as it seems. All couples are restored: Claude and Don, Rog and Kaya, and seemingly Emerson and his dreamworld. As his father says, we do not know what Em is dreaming of, he would not dare begin to think what he is dreaming of, thus letting it be; as the poet says, "the years shone back on yours/free and immune from mine". In a way love as sexual innocence, and in sexuality, not pre-sexual, is restored. It may not be, as the last phrase lingers after the film ends, a whole new thing, but isn't that something?
Roland E. Zwick
What happens to people who are raised without conventional social boundaries? Emerson Thorsen (Aaron Webber) is a thirteen-year-old boy living with his aging hippie parents in rural Nova Scotia. Even though they clearly love their son, Roj (Robert Joy) and Kaya (Rebecca Jenkins) often act more like Emerson's pals than his parents (they have the annoying habit of querying him about his burgeoning sexuality). After years of home schooling, the sensitive, highly gifted Emerson is enrolled in the local middle school where he immediately stands out from the more conventional members of the student body who have no interest in discussing poetry or reading Shakespeare. Emerson not only has problems relating to the other pupils, but he develops a crush of sorts on his English teacher (Daniel MacIvor, who co-wrote the screenplay), a common enough occurrence, except that Emerson, so long shielded from the societal norms of the outside world, feels no compunction not to act on his feelings, creating complications for everyone involved.Alternately touching and queasy, "Whole New Thing" is a generally sensitive coming-of-age tale that distinguishes itself with its novel setting and its unusual set of characters. The movie doesn't always feel like it knows where it's going, but that can be as much a recommendation for the film as a criticism of it. There are times when it seems as if it is going to go completely off the rails - particularly in the marital travails of Roj and Kaya - but it always manages to somehow right itself at the last minute. Only at the VERY last minute does it fail to do so, succumbing to an ending that is far too abrupt, upbeat and amicable for what has gone before.The acting is strong, and there is just enough complexity in the characters and storytelling to make us suspect that MacIvor (who has directed a number of films of his own) and writer/director Amnon Buchbinder, should they choose to collaborate again, will do even more sophisticated work in the future. As it stands, this is a promising early effort for the filmmakers.
martypres
I don't remember why I ordered this movie from Netflix, but it turned out to be on a whole other level from what I expected. And this surprise is what several reviewers have already mentioned.My neighbor and I watched it together and found our views very similar. I don't need to go into the plot as it was well covered in other reviews, but I wanted to add these particular notes.(1) I was at first concerned that the film would have the teacher-pupil relationship become sticky. I suppose I wouldn't have minded, but the story has been done so many times. It was delightfully refreshing to have the teacher act like a real teacher would with Emerson.(2) The movie was easy to understand, and identify with, showing parallel stories of everyone going through their own sea-churning bouts of relationship trips. This was handled so well. What we particularly liked was that the writers/director felt no need to over indulge their scenarios with dialogue that the viewers already knew. An example of this feature was when the police came after one of the characters and this was explained simply by showing lights flashing through a door.(3) In this vein, therefore, it was truly delightful to get to the end of the movie and to have all the loose ends tied up in one scene! We loved that particularly. Instead of going through all the repetitive scenes of how Aaron deals with his parents or his crush, he is depicted in a scene which shows us that he is coping with the normal ebbs and flows of growing up. And then, through one smile about tea bags, another relationship is redefined. Perfect. Needless to say, we loved everyone in the cast, but Aaron did stand out. We hope he continues to bring his boyish maturity to the new roles he will doubtless be offered.
NL1971
I loved this movie - it's a good, simple, both touching and amusing story - very Canadian (that's a good thing in my book, even though I'm a separatist!). It's also great to see plots taking place outside of the usual larger cities. Cudos to all involved. But... once more, it makes me think of how frustrating it is that Canadian movies almost never make it to Québec's movie screens (I'm writing from Montréal). I once complained about this in writing to our former Ministre du Patrimoine Sheila Copps - after watching the Genies one night, not having seen any of the Canadian films in competition, as they hadn't been distributed in Québec yet! One would think that the federal government, always out to promote Canadian culture and unity, might want to do something about this! We, in Québec, are so proud of our cinema and often look down upon the R.O.C.'s production - but that's so wrong! Canada has great movie makers - but poor distribution and promotion methods and means, sadly!
