DENIS LANGLOIS

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB

Canada, 2005.  Les productions Castor & Pollux Inc..  Screenplay by Bertrand Lachance, Denis Langlois.  Produced by Bertrand Lachance, Denis Langlois.  Music by Peter Xirogiannis.  Production Design by Genevieve Blais.  Costume Design by Corinne Montpetit.  Film Editing by Denis Langlois.  Cinematography by Larry Lynn.  

A young man wakes up naked in a Montreal parking lot with no memory of how he got there and only the vague recollection of a beating. The only thing he knows about himself for sure is that he is gay, and that he recalls the name James Brighton, which turns out to be the name of a British citizen living in America. Assuming it is his own, Brighton gains an increasing amount of attention and sympathy from the press and public, beginning to successfully re-enter society until the police come to his door and announce him to be a fraud.

This modern day Kasper Hauser is now accused of identity theft: apparently this is something he has done many times before. Whether or not this is true is for you to find out, for while this fact-based, low-budget film has its rickety moments, the performances are all solid and its premise intriguing. Its only major fail is a sequence in which the lead character goes home to his American town, at which point it is obvious that the filmmakers have hastily subbed a Canadian suburb for an U.S. one; budgetary concerns begin to hurt at this point, and while they keep the film from really lifting off the screen, it is still worth watching.