Picture this. Quebec, 1966. A 12 year-old boy is content in the suburbs, playing street hockey, collecting hockey cards, and trying to find the great scheme that will bring him to the Montreal Forum to see the glorious Club de hockey Canadien and its star, Henri Richard, in action. Enter a series of events that force Martin to leave childhood (leggy brunettes, a pot-smoking English teacher, a dying favorite uncle). Based on a Quebecois novel, this coming-of-age story is better appreciated by those who are familiar with this period of the history of Quebec, but its themes (love, death and, yes, hockey) are universal.
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phambda8 March 1999
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MarioB16 March 2000I saw that movie in a movie house in early 1999. I saw it three times in a week! Now that's I can have it on video tape, I surely will watch it many more times, because I'm madly in love with this film! It's very charming, moving, funny. Also, it really captures what it was to be a kid in Quebec in 1966. I know it, because I was the same age of Martin, by this time! I was also a big hockey fan - now I hate that sport! - playing in the streets, buying hockey cards when it was just to see photographes of the players (and not to become a millionnaire collector, like today). I also relate to that film, because it is very similar to my books (I'm an author). By the way, the hockey cards that Martin are showing are exactly the same ones I was buying in 1966: four cards and a gum for five cents. Great time! See this movie, you will smile!
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starbuck_7318 February 2008I'm not a hockey lover. I was born in the 70's, however, this movie brought me back some childhood memories when children were playing hockey in the streets, buying hockey cards, playing games with them. Also, the is a great depiction of the education provided in schools at that time. The reconstitution of the 60's, in terms of costume and all the set is amazing!!!! The actors are kids and they are doing a really fine job. The movie is not necessarily about hockey, it about the evolution of a young boy and the evolution of the society in which he evolves and also about being alone in life. I recommend that movie in VHS or DVD, it's excellent.
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Mick J9 March 1999A very good film for all hockey lovers, especially those who used to collect hockey cards when they were young. Different from the book who inspired the movie, but good anyway. The actors are good (Denis Bouchard as uncle Maurice, Suzanne Champagne as the teacher, Luc Guérin as the father), the story is funny, the pictures are OK. A simple film, with a lot of tenderness, a celebration of friendship. Go to see it.
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user1089r21 November 2010A marvelous period piece set in a small town in 1966 Québec about an eighth-grade class and one boy's love of the game of hockey and his coming of age; remarkable cinematography; adapted from the novel by Eugène-Melchior Vogüé; in French.
The three lead roles are played by 14-year-old Joël Dalpé-Drapeau, 13-year-old Patrick Thomas (Counter Punch aka Fish out of Water aka Witness, English-language), and young Maude Gionet (Lassie, English-language TV series 1997).
At this point the only way to view the movie is by DVD, which comes in wide-screen in French language or, on the same disk, English-language dubbed version in 4:3 aspect ratio. The dubbing is of excellent quality -- no womens' voices for the boys, for example -- but since dubbing does have inherent limitations, viewing in French is preferred, if possible. Altho it is admittedly difficult to determine without doubt, at least Joël Dalpé-Drapeau and Patrick Thomas appear to dub their own parts for the English-language DVD version.
This film is in no way exclusively for Québecois audiences. On the contrary, it presents a universal attraction through an intimate familiarity with local color and family life in Québec in the sixties -- beguiling and amiable -- and through the faithful representation of the piquant local Gallic dialog of the time.