The Far Side of the Moon

What Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said of the moon also holds for this movie: it's the perfect escape for those who lead a heavy life. Small surprise 40-something Philippe (Robert Lepage) idolizes Tsiolkovsky, mathematician and pioneer of space exploration. Philippe is a dwarf in life, but a giant in his dreams. In one scene, we actually see him looming over his Montréal neighborhood like Gulliver in the Land of Lilliput. There's a frozen goldfish named Beethoven, a self-righteous younger brother (also Robert Lepage), and a loving mother who never speaks a single word (Anne-Marie Cadieux). The way Robert Lepage treats fact, fiction, dream, memory, and fantasy as aspects of the same, seamless reality are reminiscent of Michel Gondry, but in a minor key. "La Face Cachée" is a quiet movie, moving through the darkness with the solemn gravity of a heavenly body, in tune with the celestial harmonies of Benoît Jutras' original score. It's for you if you liked "The Science of Sleep", "Igby Going Down", "The Life Aquatic", or "The Man Who Wasn't There".