Léolo (1992)

Directed by

Jean-Claude Lauzon

Genre

drama film, comedy film

Country

France, Canada

Runtime

1h 47m

Rated

16

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 137 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A boy named Leo copes with his chaotic Montreal family by inventing a vivid fantasy world. He becomes fixated on a neighbor girl, mixing his imaginary life with his growing sexual curiosity.

fantasticalpoignantintrospectivesensualdarkly humorousnostalgicdreamlikeraw

What happens

Léolo is a 1992 Canadian coming-of-age fantasy comedy-drama written and directed by Jean-Claude Lauzon. The film tells the story of a young boy named Léo "Léolo" Lauzon, played by Maxime Collin, who engages in an active fantasy life while growing up with his Montreal family, and begins to have sexual fantasies about his neighbour Bianca, played by Giuditta del Vecchio. The film also stars Ginette Reno, Pierre Bourgault, Andrée Lachapelle, Denys Arcand, Julien Guiomar, and Germain Houde. Gilbert Sicotte narrates the film as the adult Léolo. With a story developed by Lauzon as a semi-autobiographical work, the project was supported by producer Lyse Lafontaine as a co-production with France. Filming took place in Montreal and Sicily in 1991. It was Lauzon's second and final film, as he died in a plane crash in 1997 while working on his next project. Initially released in the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, Léolo won three Genie Awards, including Best Original Screenplay for Lauzon, losing Best Motion Picture to Naked Lunch. It later benefited from a resurgence of interest, leading to critics and filmmakers adding it to the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time in 2015. The film also influenced the naming of the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, when site co-creator Senh Duong decided upon the site name while viewing the film. The film was selected as the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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