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| DIRECTED BY |
| Jean-Claude Lauzon
|
| STARRING |
| Gilbert Sicotte |
| Maxime Collin |
| Ginette Reno |
| Giuditta Del Vecchio |
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Warning: Spoiler in Third Paragraph
Lauzon tried to make the film more complicated than it actually had to be � that connective storyline with the old man just never had to be there � Leolo�s storyline, however � with all of its sordid little details � is difficult to fault in any way. I would not advise anyone to watch this film while eating � especially the first few minutes, which consist of an account of the importance of excretion in Leolo�s family. There�s no doubt in my mind that Lauzon exaggerated much of whatever factual value that these occurrences may have � even the family doctor is given the obligatory thick-lensed glasses. But these exaggerations are what allow �Leolo� to achieve its great sense of black humor.
Some of the narration gets repetitive: Leolo�s love interest, for instance, is introduced one-too-many times. But it�s difficult to forget many images from this film: the masturbatory exhalation upon Leolo�s diving goggles, Leolo�s muscleman brother trembling with fear, the underwater scenes with Leolo snipping an unwitting fisherman�s line, the elaborate attempted homicide-by-hanging sequence, and the dream/imagination scenes are all excellently accomplished.
�Leolo� is a great film if it�s interpreted as an imaginative, surreal, bold, and appropriately hyperbolic account of one boy�s mind and all of the relentless perversity and obsessiveness that comes with it. And although I didn�t quite buy into the tragic, downbeat note that the film concludes with - this is a credit to Canadian cinema, and Lauzon's extremely premature death was a major tragedy in itself.
