Underplayed Gems

Mon ami Walid (2019)

Mon ami Walid poster
Directed by
Adib Alkhalidey
Genre
drama film, comedy film
Country
Canada
Runtime
1h 16m
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 3 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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The catalogue in 3D

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How it feels

A depressed immigrant working in a Montreal grocery store plans to kill himself. His coworker decides to force a friendship on him to help him through his struggles.

depressiveintrusivedarkly comicgentleuncomfortablehopefuloffbeatlow-budget

What happens

Mon ami Walid ("My Friend Walid") is a Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by Adib Alkhalidey and released in 2019. The film stars Alkhalidey as Walid, a depressed immigrant working in a grocery store in Montreal whose decision to attempt suicide is interrupted by his coworker Antonin (Julien Lacroix), who decides to help Walid out of his mental health struggles by insinuating himself into Walid's life as Walid's new best friend whether Walid wants him around or not. The cast also includes Iani Bédard, Laurent Paquin, Guy Jodoin, Christian Bégin, Sophie Cadieux, Marie-Ève Perron, Yannick De Martino, Catherine St-Laurent, Jean-François Provençal, Guenièvre Sandré, Isabel Richer, Antoine Pilon, Sophie Caron, Karina Aktouf, Danielle Fichaud, Hubert Proulx, Mehdi Bousaidan and Debbie Lynch-White in supporting roles. The film, Alkhalidey's full-length directorial debut, was shot in just ten days on a crowdfunded budget of just $150,000. It was originally planned for independent distribution as a web series, but instead premiered at a self-funded theatrical screening in Montreal on January 13, 2019, followed by an independent screening tour of other Quebec cities over the next number of weeks. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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