VICTORIA DAY (Canada 2009) **
Directed by David Bezmozgis

Set in May 1988 in Toronto, VICTORIA DAY (the name of a Canadian bank holiday) tells the story of Ben amidst the backdrop of one boy found missing from the long weekend Bob Dylan concert. 

Ben Spektor (Mark Rendall of CHARLIE BARTLETT) comes from a Russian Jewish family.  Thus, the dialogue of the film frequently and uncomfortably breaks into Russian.  There is nothing really Jewish about this film – it could be about a film about a community of any other religion or race.  Nominated for the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival (but did not win), VICTORIA DAY is not half bad but it is a rather plain un-layered first feature.  This is witnessed particularly in the one scene where Ben’s girlfriend’s looks on for almost 5 minutes in the background, not saying anything or interrupting - anyone else would – while her father reams out Ben. 

The owner of Peccadillo Pictures in London, England once told me about coming-of-age films.  He knows how good they can be, but he will seldom pick these up for distribution as there are so many around and there is absolutely no market for them.  VICTORIA DAY has been billed as an honest unglamorous coming-of-age story based on the director’s own experiences.  Unglamorous, it certainly is and it is unlikely this film will see much light.