A poet gathers stories of the titular town through beautiful and moving art, fighting back against an ever encroaching industrial revolution that threatens to destroy everything they once loved.
Nostalgia is a beautiful thing. It’s even more beautiful when it’s visited through the gorgeous medium of film. Ville Jacques-Carton does this wonderfully. Blending nostalgia through flashbacks of time pieces and stories lost to years gone by with modernized storytelling, the film touches the heart with its attention to what makes film, and all other forms of art, so relatable. With a story that feels as much like a warm hug as it does a fresh breath of air, Ville Jacques-Carton paints a portrait of a town where any of us could call it home, and allows us the opportunity to explore it through the eyes of the residents in a way that doesn’t merely tell the story, but lives it vicariously.
Writer and director duo Jean Marc E. Roy and André Forcier craft a unique film that works like a documentary in how it depicts its residents through several vignette style windows into the past, while also being compounded with witty and enjoyable scripted sequences, and their love for the project is tangible in every scene. It isn’t just a film for them, it’s a love letter to the town and life they love, and we’re all along for the ride like we grew up there, too. It’s warm and inviting while also being quirky and fun, and it offers a look into life in a working class community that holds together tightly, even against its impending demise. It’s something that many of us, myself including, can find relatable, and the world they craft for us to visit is one of magnanimous beauty that’ll have you wanting to share it with the world.
While some of the characters are a bit flat, it’s more than made up for with the eccentricity of others, fully capturing the various lives and personalities in the titular town. The real standout amongst them, though, is Pierre Curzi, who gives a strong and moving performance as the “protagonist” of the film, even though that word feels a bit too strong. To me, the true protagonist is the real life stories brought to life here, and the feeling at the heart of the film that explores themes of nostalgia, memories, and life itself. Everyone else is literally just an embodiment of these stories, and it all feels inviting and nuanced, even if they can sometimes skew into being a tad overdone.
The blending of film styles works really well for the story being told, and François Messier-Rheault’s cinematography illustrates both the past and present in spectacular display. Compounded with the score composed by Jo Millette and François Pinet-Forcier, every emotion is delivered with force, from upbeat smiles to happy tears and everything in between.
While Ville Jacques-Carton might not be the type of film that everyone will enjoy, it is definitely one that’ll resonate and pluck at the heartstrings of those who love nostalgia, or who grew up in a town they loved.
Fantasia 2025 runs from July 16th to August 3rd 2025
can’t wait to see this ! too bad André Forcier’s movies are so hard to come by :-)