Wilby Wonderful

2004 "Everybody gets a second chance."
6.6| 1h39m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 13 September 2004 Released
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Info

A day-in-the-life dark comedy concerning a group of islanders, their respective secrets, and one man's plan to kill himself quietly.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Wilby Wonderful (2004) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Daniel MacIvor

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Wilby Wonderful Audience Reviews

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation
AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
zee While this movie isn't quite as slow as Warhol's Empire, the filmmaker gave that a good try. There was potential in some of the situations, but they came to nothing. I didn't care. I found myself rooting for the ?main character to die, so something, at least, would happen. By the time I began fast forwarding at minute 40, I realized nothing could make me care. I watched this for free, but I still wanted my money back.Not so bad it's good, unfortunately. Just dull.Is this ten lines? Not every movie deserves that many.
phd_travel If not for the wonderfully expressive face of Sandra Oh this movie wouldn't be worth watching. Her portrayal of an tightly wound realtor is quite hilarious. Quite a realistic character. The ongoing suicide attempt is quite funny. Ellen Page is a little under used. Not quite enough star power to draw in viewers. This Canadian indie movie about the day in the life of a small town is slightly insightful and entertaining with some laughs here and there. Nova Scotia seems a bit bleak in this movie - maybe that is the way the lighting is there. The gay plot seems a bit forced in to be modern.Worth one watch.
freakyfreak05 Every one strays from the path of being a descent human being. we all have our own way of coping with life. where ever a person can hide, not to take responsibility for their lives. or compensate through being a workaholic, promiscuous, chasing money, or finding a mate to validate ourselves when we feel lonely etc...etc. people can complicate a glass of water. and so are the characters in this story. each one is their own worst enemy (arent we all) in this slice of wilby history. it's decision making time in wilby wonderful. am i going to continue avoiding the accountability of my life or am i going to change?this film just reminds me of why i love independent, dialogue driven film. the beauty of the town isn't not to be confused with the kind of people that live there. each character was brought out into full dimension. and i was able to feel all their pain. the fact that i hated sandra oh, just means she's a great actress. if i were her husband in this film, things wouldve turned out different. my recognition for outstanding actress in this film goes to ellen page. i recommend this film to any one who is a member of the human race. i also have to thank Film Movement for delivery of this film to my home. we don't get any indies out here. if not for them, i've missed it.
Richard I saw this film at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.Wilby Wonderful is the latest film from director, writer, playwright, and actor Daniel MacIvor. Set in a small island town, the film follows a cast of characters (played by a veritable who's who of Canadian cinema) over the course of a single day.There is the woman who grew up in Wilby, moved away, and returned with her teenaged daughter to reopen a cafe (Rebecca Jenkins and Ellen Page, who previously worked together on the MacIvor-penned Marion Bridge). There is one of the town's police officers (Paul Gross), and his businesswoman wife (Sandra Oh), who find themselves in a marriage that has drifted apart. There is the town mayor, played by Maury Chaykin, and a dyslexic painter, played by Callum Keith Rennie. And finally, there is a video store owner (James Allodi), who spends much of the movie making ineffectual attempts to commit suicide. Lurking under it all is a scandal that will affect them all.The film takes a look at the connections between the people in a small town, their hopes and dreams (both realized and not), and their prejudices. It shows people trying to both discover new, and recapture lost, feelings. As Paul Gross' character puts it while standing on the shore, looking at the mainland: seeing where you came from lets you remember what you wanted for the future.I really enjoyed this movie, my one Canadian pick for the festival this year. The cast acquits themselves well, and despite the relatively large number of characters, I didn't feel like I was distracted by too many story lines, or that any one character received more attention than the others. And despite the limited timeframe of the movie, a single day, the story did not feel rushed or hurried. I thought the resolutions found or not found by the characters followed from what was seen and felt on screen, and didn't come out of the blue.Daniel MacIvor, along with pretty much the entire cast, attended the screening. MacIvor gave quite an entertaining introduction before the film and stayed afterwards for a Q&A session:MacIvor calls the film a "Canadian commercial film", and wanted it to be familiar, but with a twist to wake everyone up.The story took about three years to make it to the screen, starting from around New Year's Eve 2001 at a party of Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa.MacIvor wanted to write a "guy with a heart story" rather than his usual fare.The movie was originally to be called Honey, but then the Jessica Alba movie of the same name came out, which necessitated a change. This lead to the current title, which affected part of the story.MacIvor said the theater (and the movie) contained pretty much every famous Canadian actor, assuming Don McKellar and Sarah Polley were in the room (not sure about Polley, but I did see McKellar talking with the cast outside the theatre prior to the showing). He found it weirdly easy to get the cast he wanted, helped by being able to tell people that he wrote specific parts for them.MacIvor was asked if writing for a wide range of characters was harder than writing for a few. His response was that he wanted to learn how, and figured there was no better way than to try. He was worried that the audience might attach themselves to a specific storyline and spend much of the movie waiting to get back to their favoured plot, but those fears were dispelled by the excellent acting of the cast.Because the film is set during the course of a single day, editing and continuity is harder.MacIvor was asked if he is now favouring films over plays or vice-versa. He said he isn't favouring either, and is currently working on both a new play and a new screenplay. Asked about the difference between the two , he said that what he doesn't like about films (vs. writing plays) is that once a film is complete, he can't change it.When starting to write, things for the stage tend to start out post-modern; but for a movie, it is usually an idea about watching somebody.About the differences between film and theatre, he likes to use the quote, "it's not apples and oranges or cats and dogs, it's apples and dogs", they're completely different. He likes to think from the theatre background he's able to bring a collaborative, inclusive feeling to the set. Art in theatre is live in front of the audience, whereas in film it is light projected on a flat surface and the art has happened previously.As a writer, he finds that sometimes for film he writes too much.Asked about writing specifically Canadian stories, he said that while he has made a commitment to stay in Canada and more specifically, in Nova Scotia, he likes to keep stories open so that people do not focus on watching a story about a specific group (islanders, easterners, Canadians, etc).