The nominations for the 2009 Gennie Awards came out today and I was impressed to see that I had seen three of the nominated films, including two up for Best Picture. Seeing as I've only seen five of the Oscar nominated films this year, I think that's pretty good.
For those who don't know (and that would be most people), the Genies are the awards for Oscars for Canadian films, which gets about as much attention as, well, Canadian films.
The Necessities of Life (Ce qu'il faut pour vivre) picked up eight nominations, including best picture and best actor for Natal Ungalaaq, an Inuit actor who I last saw in Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (ain't I cultured?) The Necessities of Life was the Canadian entry for best foreign film for this year's Oscars, and made it to the semi-finals but did not make the final list. Oddly enough, I saw it four days ago as part of the Canada's Top Ten program.
It was a beautiful film and follows an Inuit man in the '50s who, after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, is taken from a remote island in the far North to a sanatorium in Quebec City, where he is separated from his family and unable to communicate with those around him. It is in French and Inukitut and the trailer is above, but I could only find it in French, thought the official site has an English version.
Though it may be hard to find it, keep an eye out for this film. It's supposed to be having a limited release in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver later this month.
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