
Lawrence (Isaiah Lehtinen), a teenage cinephile, is convinced that he’s destined for bigger things than Burlington, Ontario can offer. Obsessed with Paul Thomas Anderson and Todd Solondz, he’s intent on attending film school at NYU before unleashing his directorial vision on an unsuspecting world. This despite the fact his artistic output is, well, underwhelming. Faced with the prospect of daunting tuition fees, he lands a job at a local video store where he promptly sets about condescending to customers, fixating on what his free rentals will be, and confounding his manager, Alana (Romina D’Ugo), and mother, Terri (Krista Bridges).
Well-appointed with both film references and endearing Canadiana, Chandler Levack’s humane comedy traces this pretentious curmudgeon’s path from practically sociopathic self-involvement to his first fraught encounters with self-awareness. Demonstrating tremendous understanding and affection for obsessives, Levack thoughtfully details the circumstances behind Lawrence’s fanaticism and anxiety. Through her impeccable scripting, we witness this film bro come of age thanks to the women in his life.
Presented by
Media Partner
Isaiah Lehtinen, Percy Hynes White, Anand Rajaram, Eden Cupid, Krista Bridges, Alex Ateah, Romina D’Ugo
Canada
2021
English
At VIFF Centre — Vancity Theatre
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."
Shall We Dance?
Masayuki Suô's delightful and charming 1996 film was a box office smash and won 14 Japanese Academy Awards including Best Film. It's the story of a married salaryman who falls in love with... dance.
Drop Dead City
New York, 1975. The city is minutes away from bankruptcy and President Gerald Ford wants no part of it. Sanitation workers are on strike and cops are telling tourists it's not safe to visit. The town is going up in flames and they can't pay the firemen.
Inedia
Liz Cairns makes a mesmerizing feature debut that sees a young woman suffering from mysterious food allergies join a remote island community practicing alternative healing methods. She soon realizes that not everything is as it seems.
The Fugitive Kind
Sidney Lumet's movie brings together two of the greatest actors of the period, Brando and Anna Magnani, reason enough to check out this underrated poetical drama about a handsome musician who washes up in a small southern town.
Credits
Producer
Lindsay Blair Goeldner
Screenwriter
Chandler Levack
Cinematography
Rico Moran
Editor
Simone Smith
Production Design
Claudia Dall’orso
Original Music
Murray A. Lightburn
Director

Chandler Levack
Chandler Levack grew up in Burlington, Ontario, and lives in Toronto where she studied cinema at the University of Toronto and screenwriting at the Canadian Film Centre. She has directed numerous music videos, earning two JUNO nominations, and is a veteran journalist and critic who has earned several National Magazine Awards for publications that include The Globe & Mail, The Village Voice, and Maisonneuve. I Like Movies is her feature debut.