Comedy/Drama • PG-13 • 99 Minutes • 2022
Bear with me. I promise this film is good, I just need to go on a brief tangent. The first time I watched Chandler Levack’s I Like Movies, starring Isaiah Lehtinen as Lawrence Kweller, a narcissistic seventeen-year-old high school student and Romina D’Ugo as Alana, the older video store manager, I didn’t really like it. I knew, inherently, it wasn’t a bad film by any measure; I just thought Lawrence was such an unlikable narcissist! Or… That’s what I wanted to believe. In reality, the issue was that Lehtinen’s character hit a little too close to home for me. It was like staring directly into a mirror with a seventeen-year-old version of my unbearable self. I’m pretty sure I even said to my own mother, “I never want to be a Canadian director.” Something that is repeated to his own mother during a hilarious scene as Terri Kweller (Krista Bridges) tries to support Lawrence’s decision to go to film school, but not to travel to New York to attend.
Set in the early 2000’s, the film tells the story of Lawrence Kweller, a high school senior working at a local video store in the GTA to save up enough money to attend NYU film school. While working, Lawrence befriends the much older Alana, the video store manager, as she attempts to mentor him subconsciously. Levack recreates the early aughts through shots of Canadian tv commercials that have been subconsciously seared into my brain during what was most likely my pre-frontal cortex development, and her own renditions of Big Shiny Tunes mixtapes that pull you in as the non-diegetic needle drops make you feel like you’re a kid again, back at the skate park listening to Sum 41. Ingrained in the very DNA is a sense of something vintage; shot in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the film is reminiscent of old MuchMusic music videos.
In this love-letter to movies, Chandler Levack hits the perfect tone between what could have been an intense and dark character drama about obsession and manipulation, but instead grounds the world in a real abandoned Blockbuster in Owen Sound, Ontario, with hilarity, sincerity and human emotions that sometimes have you questioning your empathy for Lawrence. And let’s talk about that abandoned Blockbuster. It’s like watching a historical time capsule from 2003 open up right before your eyes. From the computers to the TV screens mounted to the top corners of the store, I wanted to take the long drive from Vancouver to Ontario just to step back in time and wander the blockbuster aisles as I used to on Friday nights, preparing myself for a long and exciting weekend of watching film after film.
In case you were one of those kids who didn’t spend all your time watching movies in your adolescence and had friends or were busy attending parties, this film can still be something to enjoy. Think back to the first job you worked, maybe it was a grocery store, a gas station, or maybe you even worked at a Blockbuster video store, the universal lessons we learned of friendship, navigating our first crush, and trying to be cool with the older staff members; it might be cringy to think about now but this film reminds us that these experiences aren’t unique to either you nor I.
I hope everyone takes the time to explore this film and revel in this time capsule of early 2000’s Canadian culture, and before clicking play, close your eyes and ask yourself this. What was I like at seventeen?
Also worth checking: CBC Gem (often carries Canadian titles not listed elsewhere).
about the author
Merrick Gajdics is founder, publisher and editor of The Canadian Film Reviewer.