Review by Michael Epp:

The October screening of the Bowen Island Film Society is the comedy Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, who has something of a reputation as an enfant terrible in British film circles as a result of the eclecticism of his various projects, the movie is nominally based on the 18th century novel by Laurence Sterne. ‘He’s about to play the role of his life’ says the byline on the DVD cover, and this really is the point of departure for this project, as the original Tristram Shandy, which in some quarters is called the first post-modern novel [200 years before the concept post-modern had been invented], with its puzzling structure and overriding self-consciousness, is transposed onto a present-day movie set; the point appearing to be that egomania and insecurity are nothing new where artists are concerned.

Director Michael Winterbottom and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, perhaps the most creative team in British film today, produce a wickedly playful adaptation of Laurence Sterne's 1759 novel, "The Life and Opinions Tristram Shandy, Gentleman". Long deemed unfilmable, Stern'es story included apologies for "losing" chapters that later appeared in their entirety; stepping outside the narrative to address the reader; an all-black page to mourn the passing of one character and a blank page for the reader to fill in his own description of another character. The inspired screen version is a film about the making of a film based on a novel about the writing of a novel. A clever satire of movies, literature, and star egos, this engaging romp generates an almost delirious atmosphere of comedy.

More charming than morbid, more funny than sad, this film introduces Wilbur as a man dying to live.

Directed by Lone Scherfig, a Danish woman whose first film was "Italian for Beginners", this warm, human comedy is a modest slice of life about people who are very peculiar and yet lovable. Set in a strange, fantasy Glasgow, this Danish-Scottish-Swedish-French co-production is a truly European film that combines humour, character drama and terrific performances. In English. 109 mins.

“Here is a movie that appeals to the heart while not insulting the mind.