One Week - Das Abenteuer seines Lebens

One Week is the movie that I've been waiting for my whole life.

Michael McGowan has created a beautiful piece of Canadian art. The style is very reminiscent of great artists like Bruce McDonald and Don McKellar. This film certainly pulled at my heart strings having been to most of the places in this film. As well, Joshua Jackson's performance was stellar.

I feel so lucky that my wife and I had the pleasure of viewing this film on opening night which received quite a reception and was topped off with a standing ovation. I've never clapped at a movie before.

Sincerely, Christopher Landry

In my opinion, One Week is one of the best Canadian films to date. I enjoyed it even more than Men with Brooms (which is saying a lot).

I loved taking the journey with Ben. The narrator adds a bit more depth to the plot, as we find how Ben touches various lives along the way. The beautiful scenery (which as a Canadian I take for granted) is visually stunning.

Ben's story in itself is both sad and heart-warming. For those weary of a sad ending, don't be - You will leave the theatre happy and inspired.

I will gladly recommend this movie to all my fellow Canucks and anyone else in the world.

A well filmed and decently thought out little picture. No, it did not have a lot of the bells and whistles and geegaws of a lot of bigger productions and they could have done a better job with the whole "This Is Canada" thing, but what the hell, did anyone stick around to see the production company and studio information at the end of the end credits? This was not a big-budget Hollywood picture and it did quite well, in my opinion, in spite of all that. I spent a summer in White River and I have a picture somewhere of myself in front of that sign, and remember a good many of the places in the film from two cross country trips when I was a kid. As for all the commentary about the silliness an contrite-ness of Ben's actions throughout the film, we should remember that this is a man who has been given the worst case scenario- terminal illness. Who among us would react rationally? What would we do if we were told we had one week, one month, one year to live? Ben himself gave us his reasons in a nutshell he was, in his words, "over prepared, over insured" what the hell would I do in that exact same situation? Probably exactly what he did, although I wouldn't try to tackle the Rockies on a motorcycle. Maybe a real nice convertible!

I think that director Michael McGowan really loves his main character, Ben. Ben is beautifully played by Joshua Jackson, a part which requires him to react to a lot of things. Ben seems quiet about most things, but not necessarily content. When told that he has cancer and only a short time to live, he's suddenly a man on the cusp of something. It takes only a silly message under the rim of a Tim Horton's coffee cup - "Go west" - to set him in motion. For the first time in his life, he doesn't just fall back into something familiar and comfortable - he takes action. He rejects, at least for the time being, the virtual death of invasive cancer treatment, and goes on a quest for the life he's never really experienced. And when he runs out of "west", as he's afraid he'll do, he goes even further. The road trip in this movie is the road trip, ever further west, to a destination of the spirit. To others, it seems as if he's running away. But he's not. He's running toward something. When his girlfriend and family try to reel him in to safety, to "us", he resists. In a moment I silently cheered he cries out, in frustration, to his girlfriend: "It's not about us! It's about ME!" That may sound selfish, but it's not. It simply means that there are places where other people cannot go. One thing I liked about this film is its adult take on its subject matter. Although frequently funny, it is also contemplative and suggests that, without being ostentatiously heroic, our actions can inspire others. While I was watching the film I was thinking that if it was about only this and nothing else I would have been satisfied. But a film about a man who doesn't stop while it's still safe - but who goes all the way. That appeals to me on a personal level.

This is a very Canadian movie, not only in the use of the gorgeous cross-country scenery that provides both a backdrop and a reflective commentary on the main character's personal search but also because of it is patently outside the realm of the "regular" Hollywood (i.e. American) fare. This is not to suggest that only Canucks can enjoy or appreciate this wonderful, warm-hearted, evocative, simple story because the plot line and embedded themes are universal and timeless.

There is a leisurely quality to this narrative and a kind of inevitability to the whole story that makes it poignant yet full of strength at the same time. The voice-over done by a sonorously voiced Campbell Scott works so well that far from being intrusive as most add-ons are, it (he) becomes a character in his (its) own right.

This is one of those "festival sleepers" that will never have wide distribution but which will delight and uplift any who see it.