Underplayed Gems
The whole movie catalogue

Films and series, searchable by what they are

← Back to the shop

The Morning Man (1989)

The Morning Man poster
Original title
Un matin Une vie
Directed by
Danièle J. Suissa
Genre
drama
Country
Canada
Runtime
1h 34m
Rating
8.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb

How it feels

An escaped bank robber builds a new life as a morning radio host in a small Quebec town. He falls in love with a local doctor who treats his injuries while a detective closes in on him.

tenseromanticsuspensefulmelancholicbittersweetearnestlow-keygentle

What happens

The Morning Man (French: Un matin, une vie) is a 1986 Canadian crime drama film, directed by Danièle J. Suissa. A fictionalization of the true story of Robert Lavallée-Ménard, a convicted bank robber who escaped from prison and successfully established a career as a local morning radio host in Chicoutimi, Quebec, before being recaptured, the film stars Bruno Doyon in the title role as Paul Nadeau-Ménard, an escaped convict and radio host who enters a romantic relationship with local doctor Kate Johnson (Kerrie Keane) after going to her for treatment of the injuries he incurred in his escape, and Marc Strange as John Mailer, the police detective pursuing him. Lavallée-Ménard, who had been paroled from prison and was again working as a radio host by the time the film was made, directly participated in its promotion. The film was not positively received by critics. Matthew Fraser of The Globe and Mail heavily criticized it, both for downplaying the real criminal and broadcasting aspects of the story in favour of a fictionalized romance, and for shooting the film in English even though the real-life story involved francophone Quebecers. It was one of five films nominated for Best Quebec Film at the 1987 Montreal World Film Festival, but lost to Night Zoo (Un zoo la nuit). René Verzier received a Genie Award nomination for Best Cinematography at the 8th Genie Awards in 1987. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? Tell the Catbot what you feel like watching and it picks from the whole catalogue, or browse by genre, country and year.

Lists: Korean thrillers worth the evening · Anime films beyond Studio Ghibli · Slow films for a rainy night · Horror that unsettles instead of startling · Series you can finish in a weekend · Nordic crime worth the subtitles · Good films that end in under 90 minutes · Documentaries that play like thrillers

Loading movies…

What should I watch?