Last year at the Toronto International Film Festival I got to see Elijah Wood in Try 17, and this year I got to see Sir Ian McKellen in Emile, directed by Carl Bessai and filmed in Vancouver. The story of Emile is simple enough: Emile (McKellen) is a retired professor, born in Canada but living in England for the last 40 years. He turns to Canada to receive an honourary degree and reconnect with his only living relatives, his niece (Debra Unger) and her daughter (delightfully played by Theo Crane, who's more interested in soccer than a career in acting).

This is classic Canadian cinema (no, not like Porky's): more concerned with character than plot; slow and moody; preoccupied with failure. But of this type, this is a well executed addition to the Canadian canon. McKellen was brilliant; no surprise there. Like John Whale in Gods and Monsters, Emile is overwhelmed at times by memories from his past, but Emile responds differently, and McKellen's portrayal is in no way a repeat of that performance. The rest of the cast, including a number of Canadian mainstays, plays beautifully with McKellen.

Bessai approaches his portrayal of memories in an interesting way, and I would have liked to hear him speak more about it during the Q & A, but it didn't happen. There are also lots of moody shots of characters faces, which Bessai explained took the place of landscape shots, since mountainous Victoria had to stand in for the prairies of Saskatchewan (where Emile grew up).

I can't say this was a totally successful film. I never felt I totally connected with Emile's past, and why he made the choices he did, so the ending didn't feel completely justified for me. But the acting was brilliant, and the style was interesting. Worth seeing if you get the chance.