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Gaz Bar Blues
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Wikipedia article
'Gaz Bar Blues' is a 2003 Qubcois comedy-drama film written and directed by Louis Blanger. The film is set in 1989 in the outskirts of an unspecified Qubcois city.
Plot
Franois Brochu (Serge Thriault), named "the boss", is the owner of a gas station. He manages his relationships with his sons Rjean, Guy, the 13-year-old Alain, with which manages the station; and his daughter Nathalie (Fanny Mallette). The Gas Bar is also regularly attended by his friends as Gaston Savard (Gilles Renaud), Jos, Normand Party, Yves Michaud, Claude, Nelson and Ti-Pit.
Mr. Brochu, widower and suffering an initial parkinson's disease, would like to keep his family united by the work at the station; but the dissatisfaction of the boys with the routine seems to send them away. Guy (Danny Gilmore) is a harmonica player that plays with a band and is often lacking during the turns, Rjean (Sbastien Delorme) is the most responsible but angry by rising crime and unhappy with his father's way to manage the station. He is an amateur photographer and decides to reach Berlin to see the imminent fall of the wall. The film shows the incoming Revolutions of 1989 in background but life goes on normally around the 'Gaz Bar', which problems are the transition from gallons to litres, the construction of new self-service stations and the arrival of Gobeil (Daniel Brire), inspector of the company 'Champlain' that owns the station.
During the absence of Rjean, Alain starts working alone at the station, helped by Mr. Savard. Guy disappears for 3 days because of a car accident. When he come back, he has a quarrel with his father and leaves the home. Rjean writes quite often at home, telling of his experience and disillusion about the German reunification process. He sees the way in which the transition is managed as a kind of forced modernization, which suddenly clears the everyday life of East Germans, as well as the new self-services will replace filling stations.
Arrested in East Berlin while attempting to rebuild the Berlin Wall (a symbolic gesture), and repatriated to Canada, Rjean starts again working. One day he faces the inspector Gobeil, telling him he's a madmen and threatening him if he continues to torment his father. During the nth robbery, Alain is taken hostage and then exchanged with his father. Mr. Brochu, saved by police, begins to reflect on the fact that his desire to keep the family together with the work in the gas station is dismembering it. So he decides to start therapy against Parkinson in the hospital and to attend a concert of his son Guy in a pub. One day he decides to close the activity of the gas station and retires to be closer to his 4 kids. The day after Jos and Ti-Pit read the "End of Business" message of "The Boss": first perplexed, immediately go in search of the other friends of the group, sure to find them at 'the convenience store'.
Cast
Awards
*2003 Special Grand Prix of the Jury of the Montreal World Film Festival[http://www.ffm-montreal.org/palmares/en_2003.html Awards of the 2003 Montreal World Film Festival]
*2004 Jutra Award for the Best Actor to Serge Thriault[https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000381/2004 2004 Jutra Awards] at the Internet Movie Database
*2004 Jutra Award for the Best Music to Guy Blanger and Claude Fradette
See also
*List of Canadian films of 2003
References
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