Leolo
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Jean-claude Lauzon
Maxime Collin
Ginette Reno
Julien Guiomar
Pierre Bourgault
Giudetta Del Vecchio
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
The story of an imaginative boy who pretends he is the child of a sperm-laden Sicilian tomato upon which his mother accidentally fell.
Director
Jean-claude Lauzon
Cast
Maxime Collin
Ginette Reno
Julien Guiomar
Pierre Bourgault
Giudetta Del Vecchio
Andree Lachapelle
Denys Arcand
Yves Montmarquette
Lorne Brass
Roland Blouin
Genevieve Samson
Marie-helene Montpetit
Francis Saint-onge
Alex Nadeau
Louis Grenier
Richard Guevremont
Eric Cadorette
Aron Tager
Luc Seguin
Simon Gosselin
Luc Proulx
Catherine Lemieux
Nick Fasano
Jade Landry Cuerrier
Magalie Beauregard
Simon Lavigne
Amedeo Carlo Mangiu
Maria Petraglia
Salvator Giuffrida
Mikael Baillarge-lafontaine
Germain Houde
Gilbert Sicotte
Crew
Roberto Alberghini
Umberto Angelucci
Alberto Anzellotti
Michel Arcand
Antranik Askarian
Francois Barbeau
Mathieu Beaudin
Gilbert Becaud
Gilbert Becaud
Gilbert Becaud
Jacques W Benoit
Yvon Benoit
Lucie Bouliane
Rejean Brochu
Frances Calder
Tommaso Calevi
Jo Caron
Marie-france Caron
Marie-france Caron
Marianne Carter
Andre Chamberland
Jimmy Chin
Michael Cleary
Carla Colaci
Lucie D'amour
Rama D'oro
Aimee Danis
Aimee Danis
Jean-maurice Deernsted
Pierre Delanoe
Guy Dufaux
Roger Dufresne
Isabelle Fauvel
Flaviana Ferri
Kirk Finken
Marielle Frenette
Doris Girard
Mick Jagger
Bettina Keller
Marie Keyrouz
Khatchadour Khatchaturian
Gudrun Klawe
Pierre Laberge
Lyse Lafontaine
Jean-claude Lauzon
Jean-pierre Lelong
Denise Lemieux
Jean-francois Lepetit
Livia Leto
Richard Martin
Annie Maurette
Loreenna Mckennit
Serge Menard
Josiane Morand
Carla Pettini
Peter Phillips
Jacques Plante
Marcel Pothier
Marcel Pothier
Marcel Pothier
Pierre Provost
Francesco Quattrone
Ariel Ramirez
Jackie Reynal
Keith Richard
Lucie Robitaille
Philippe Samson
Francois Seguin
Hans Peter Strobl
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis
Val Teodori
Claudette Viau
Normand Viau
Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh
Film Details
Technical Specs
Articles
Leolo - Jean-Claude Lauzon's LEOLO on DVD
"He was believed to be the most gifted young filmmaker in Canada, but when the elder statesman Norman Jewison offered him a job directing Gene Hackman in a thriller, he turned it down, rudely. Ken Turan of the Los Angeles Times believes Leolo might have won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1992 if Lauzon hadn't made an obscene suggestion to Jamie Lee Curtis, one of the jurors. Turan tells me he heard the story from Lauzon himself: "He found himself next to Jamie Lee at the buffet at the Hotel du Cap. He introduced himself and said, as I remember it, 'What the boy in the film does to the piece of liver, I want to do to you.' " The only caveat raised by this story is that Jamie Lee Curtis is not a shrinking violet and might as plausibly laughed as taken offense. (Excerpt from: "Leolo, A boy who's saved by his dreams," by Roger Ebert, July 31, 2005)
Unsurprisingly, an unabashed sexuality weaves itself throughout Leolo with frank determination and visual zeal. The protagonist is a French-Canadian boy stuck in a dreary section of Montreal sometime in the mid 1900's whose birth name is Leo Lauzon (and, yes, the director claims his own childhood informed the film), but the name he feels is really his is Leolo Lozone. In his mind, he is the product of Sicily, a land of romantic and glowing hills populated by at least one randy farmer whose midday masturbation session leaves its mark on a crate of tomatoes that will eventually intersect with a large woman in such a way as to allow Leolo to be born. It's a bit of a stretch, but when you meet Leolo's family it's easy to understand why he might want some genetic distance. His mom and dad are obsessed with bowel movements, and they tyrannically oversee the distribution of laxatives as well as the desired daily results thereof. In my college days my friends used to euphemistically refer to bowel movements as "dropping the kids off at the pool," a phrase that seems apt when discussing Leolo because in pivotal moments he is plunged into a kiddie pool or is tossed into a river. But even in the case of the former, when his grandfather is trying to drown him in a kiddy pool, Leolo makes the most of it as he imagines himself finding a glittering treasure at ocean's bottom.
Lauzon drifts from gritty scenes that presumably represent the autobiographical elements showing family insanity to more fantastic elements that take poetic license, but the transitions are deft and seamless and feel organic to the whole. Other elements are added, such as Leolo's sexual awakening, confrontations with a bully and with fear, a meeting with a Word Tamer who collects and archives Leolo's journal-like entries from the trash, an elaborate assassination attempt on the grandfather, a disturbing scene with a cat, and much more. Even the point of view is in question, since an omniscient camera might be born of Leolo's journal, or the words of the Word Tamer, or directly from Leolo. But rather than collapse under its own weight the film feels like the proper sum to all is remarkable parts. In some ways it makes a good companion piece to another film recently reviewed for this site; the Australian film by Rolf de Heer, Bad Boy Bubby (1993). Not just because both films came out at a similar time to traumatize cat lovers and UK censors alike, but because both films offer uncompromising visions that dance madly amidst a disturbing and beautiful terrain of twisted and colorful characters that push the boundaries of the dysfunctional family unit with hallucinatory vigor.
For more information about Leolo, visit Image Entertainment. To order Leolo, go to TCM Shopping.
by Pablo Kjolseth
Leolo - Jean-Claude Lauzon's LEOLO on DVD
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Spring April 2, 1993
Released in United States April 28, 1993
Released in United States on Video March 23, 1994
Released in United States 1992
Released in United States September 1992
Released in United States October 1992
Released in United States January 1993
Shown at New York Film Festival September 25 - October 11, 1992.
Shown at Toronto Festival of Festivals (opening night) September 10-19, 1992.
Shown at Valladolid International Film Festival (in competition) October 23-31, 1992.
Shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival January 7-17, 1993.
Director Jean-Claude Lauzon was killed in a plane crash in northern Quebec August 1997.
Received 3 Canadian Genie (1992) awards, including best original screenplay, film editing and costumes.
Released in United States Spring April 2, 1993
Released in United States April 28, 1993 (Los Angeles)
Released in United States on Video March 23, 1994
Released in United States 1992 (Shown at New York Film Festival September 25 - October 11, 1992.)
Released in United States September 1992 (Shown at Toronto Festival of Festivals (opening night) September 10-19, 1992.)
Released in United States January 1993 (Shown at Palm Springs International Film Festival January 7-17, 1993.)
Released in United States October 1992 (Shown at Valladolid International Film Festival (in competition) October 23-31, 1992.)