Death of a Ladies' Man (dir. Matt Bissonnette, cert 15) isn't getting a theatrical release in the UK, only streaming. It takes its inspiration from Leonard Cohen songs.
Sam (Patrick Byrne) is a Literature professor in Quebec, his second marriage breaking up, his son Layton (Antoine Olivier Pilon) coming out as gay, and he's hallucinating about his dead father (Brian Gleeson) - "a terrible ghost". When the hallucinations affect the day job, the doctor initially discounts a brain tumour - his years of hard drinking would explain a lot - but a scan reveals an inoperable tumour that could affect memory, hearing, vision and motion ("That's a relief; I hardly ever use any of that stuff").
His daughter Josée (Karelle Tremblay), 18, a performance artist, has new boyfriend Chad (Raphael Grosz-Harvey) leading her into bad ways with drugs. That will end badly.
The second act has him "reflecting on my life and imminent death" by visiting his childhood home in Galway, still envisioning and conversing with his dead father. The encounter at the local grocery store with Charlotte (Jessica Paré), a French-Canadian woman reading Leonard Cohen's poetry, prompts a "small world" moment, leading quickly into too, too solid flesh moments (the script references Shakespeare as well as Cohen). The shot of a Cohen lookalike as a Buddhist monk miming to Why Don't You Try is definitely "trippy", and the appearance of Charlotte's former boyfriend adds a violent twist to the story.
Act 3 has Sam back in Canada at Alcoholics Anonymous, and dealing with Josée's drug addiction.
The licence that hallucinations can give to a script has the AA group dancing to Did I Ever Love You? (a late Cohen mash of his ever-raspier voice suddenly transformed into country music). Then comes a Lazarus gag, and Death (with scythe) accompanying Sam on a walk with an old friend, discussing Sam's new book recounting his experiences.
The book launch - with his dead dad and others from his hallucinations in the audience - is a triumph, but rudely interrupted by a claim of plagiarism, and a rather more abrupt encounter with death than foreseen. When the number of new films is still quite low, for this not to get a theatrical release even on the arthouse circuit seems strange.
Sam (Patrick Byrne) is a Literature professor in Quebec, his second marriage breaking up, his son Layton (Antoine Olivier Pilon) coming out as gay, and he's hallucinating about his dead father (Brian Gleeson) - "a terrible ghost". When the hallucinations affect the day job, the doctor initially discounts a brain tumour - his years of hard drinking would explain a lot - but a scan reveals an inoperable tumour that could affect memory, hearing, vision and motion ("That's a relief; I hardly ever use any of that stuff").
His daughter Josée (Karelle Tremblay), 18, a performance artist, has new boyfriend Chad (Raphael Grosz-Harvey) leading her into bad ways with drugs. That will end badly.
The second act has him "reflecting on my life and imminent death" by visiting his childhood home in Galway, still envisioning and conversing with his dead father. The encounter at the local grocery store with Charlotte (Jessica Paré), a French-Canadian woman reading Leonard Cohen's poetry, prompts a "small world" moment, leading quickly into too, too solid flesh moments (the script references Shakespeare as well as Cohen). The shot of a Cohen lookalike as a Buddhist monk miming to Why Don't You Try is definitely "trippy", and the appearance of Charlotte's former boyfriend adds a violent twist to the story.
Act 3 has Sam back in Canada at Alcoholics Anonymous, and dealing with Josée's drug addiction.
The licence that hallucinations can give to a script has the AA group dancing to Did I Ever Love You? (a late Cohen mash of his ever-raspier voice suddenly transformed into country music). Then comes a Lazarus gag, and Death (with scythe) accompanying Sam on a walk with an old friend, discussing Sam's new book recounting his experiences.
The book launch - with his dead dad and others from his hallucinations in the audience - is a triumph, but rudely interrupted by a claim of plagiarism, and a rather more abrupt encounter with death than foreseen. When the number of new films is still quite low, for this not to get a theatrical release even on the arthouse circuit seems strange.