In this era of streaming taking priority (unfortunately), there’s a whole generation of movie watchers – if they aren’t on their phone during said watch – who are unaware of just how special a time the video store truly was. I Like Movies indulges in that time.
Set amongst the backdrop of teen angst, Blockbuster Video and Paul Thomas Anderson, Chandler Levack‘s semi autobiographical comedy delights in its early aughts period setting in a haven for film lovers and their lyrical waxing before they had the internet and toxic message boards to needlessly validate them.
Set in 2003 in Burlington, Ontario – a small city between Toronto and Niagara Falls – I Like Movies centres around aspiring director and, for lack of a better word, film bro Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen), an oft-insufferable and arrogant, and incredibly insecure, teen whose whole personality is designed around his love of film; so much so that it essentially alienates those around him.
Wanting better for himself than the secretarial career of his mother (Krista Bridges) and just Canada in general, he dreams of the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, so, naturally, knowing there’s a $90,000 intuition fee he’s on the hunt to save, and finds a hopeful answer in Sequels, a video store chain in his hometown. After an awkward interview with manager Alana (Romina D’Ugo, an absolute gem), Lawrence is quickly a member of the Sequels team, but when he’s roped with such tasks as having to recommend Shrek to x amount of people as a daily target he’s quite sullenly brought to reality – a plane he intends to remove himself from promptly.
A work-place comedy of sorts that continually blends its character study mentality into its narrative, I Like Movies faces an uphill battle in that its lead focus is a suitably unlikeable person, and his arrogance only grows over time. Yet somehow – a clear testament to Levack’s storytelling skills – Lawrence is a character that inspires empathy. His insecurities, and eventually-revealed home trauma, are what has driven his misplaced narcissism, and the film takes its time in letting him re-evaluate his persona; Alana assisting him in the process, delivering a monologue that shifts the film’s tone as she recounts a story in the hopes it’ll shake Lawrence out of his film-tracked psyche.
With a script that bathes itself in a nature that can’t help but feel entirely genuine, I Like Movies not only celebrates (and lightly berates) the “film bro”, but it speaks to the fleetingness of youth and friendship, ultimately revealing itself as a relationship picture between one’s own dreams and one’s reality.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
I Like Movies is screening as part of this year’s Sydney Film Festival, running between June 7th and 18th, 2023. For more information head to the official SFF page.
