The Cinematheque

Nationalism gets a reality check in Vancouver Métis filmmaker Wayne Wapeemukwa’s uncompromising debut feature, which follows five Vancouverites living on society’s fringes during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Many of the actors play characters based on themselves: a mother and part-time sex worker; a father juggling parenting, a job, and heroin addiction; a roller-skating street celebrity; an addict who has visions of being taken away to another world; and a man with disabilities just trying to get to the hockey finals. These vulnerable five form a community that stands in stark contrast to the glittering backdrop of the Games. Perched somewhere between fiction we must see and documentary we wish didn’t exist, Luk’Luk’I is a cinematic punch in the gut and one of the most interestingly-constructed films of the year. Best Canadian First Feature, TIFF. Best B.C. Film, VIFF. —Magali Simard, TIFF