11/24/2025
We're looking forward to our screenings of AULD LANG SYNE on Sunday, December 7 and Sunday, December 14 at 4:30PM.
We think AULD LANG SYNE has about the highest "Canadian" coefficient of any film we've screened this year.
Directed by a Canadian? Check (Joan Carr-Wiggin). Canadian stars? Double check (Linda Kash & Mimi Kuzyk). And a premise with a dash of canuck whimsy? You judge:
Nell and Millie, both into middle age, broke and struggling to make it in the film industry, have a lifelong rivalry forged by decades of mutual dislike and it comes to a head one Christmas, when they find themselves stuck on a film set in a rented house. Neither expected to find the other staying behind, and of course neither takes kindly to the other's presence. A full-blown war is underway when a gatecrasher complicates things: aspiring actor Donald, looking to take advantage of the crew's absence and "borrow" a nice camera for his demo reel. Nell and Millie, lifted out of their grievances by the appearance of the third player, begin to come around to the idea that they have some things in common - dreams, disappointments, and much in between.
Carr-Wiggin's work tends to centre on middle-aged women protagonists, with a definite dose of nose-thumbing at the traditional portrayals we are often shown of this demographic. Out is the calm, centred, matriarch figure, and in its place is the altogether more realistic woman of sixty(ish) who's lived, seen enough of the world to want a quiet Christmas away from it, and has actual enemies, actual scores to settle. In short, a real person.
The lead pairing of Kash and Kuzyk is dynamic and entertaining. It's clear they are having a blast leading this small, scrappy production, and they make the most of the script's many punches.
