The Bay of Love and Sorrows

It is sad to see a film like this; that has had so much heart and soul so obviously put into it, but have it not really work in the end. I really wanted it to work, but it just didn't come through. The biggest problem was the script's tendency to rely on convenient (but highly improbable) circumstance...like characters just "happening" to run into each other at just the right time to force the plot to work. In the end, it just didn't all hang together. Some good performances still did not make it believable, but it was still enjoyable to watch.

Regrettably, this is the kind of film that taints the perception of other Canadian films as being "so-o Canadian". Dull, myopic and introspective. While some of the performances are strong -- Peter Outerbridge creates chills as a nasty ex-con and Jonathan Scarfe exhibits a competent and natural charm as Michael -- the actors are hamstrung with a lethargic script that starts slow and sputters to a standstill. The writers seem to believe that you create character complexity by reducing their IQs and having them smoke a lot of cigarettes... And I mean A LOT of cigarettes! To make matters worse, there's nary a likable character in the story. With the exception of Michael, they come across as dimwitted, backwoods losers, flawed and with no hope of redemption -- leaving us to wonder what draws the globe-trotting Michael to them in the first place. If the script wasn't slow enough, the lack of any significant score only serves to emphasize and elongate the tedium. I can't understand why the CBC and Telefilm continues to commit $$ to this type of drivel.

I've just seen this film on dvd I was pleasantly impressed,given low budget I assume the storyline was simple,acting good boosted by lovely scenery.you don't need cgi big names etc to make a good film,I will keep lookout for other films by this directorl.

Canada exports a lot of talent to Hollywood because it's well known that we don't make many great films here, but this is one of the exceptions.

The Bay of Love and Sorrows is an incredibly finely crafted film that I had an extreme pleasure to watch. It's exactly the kind of quality drama that Canadian producers and film makers should make more of.

The characters are vividly portrayed by the actors, the cinematography is superb, the music is fitting, the locations set a perfect tone for the story and the story is incredibly engaging.

Cliché doesn't live here. This is the home of quality.

Tim Southam has managed to do something remarkable : make something captivating and watchable out of a very unpleasant book. Having read Richard`s book I was really expecting a very messy movie experience. Indeed I was only really interested in seeing the movie because I had once briefly met one of the actors in it - Elaine Cassidy - and have watched out for anything she has been in.

A lot of the grittier elements of the book have been left out - the mother isn`t a tramp , the landscape isn`t litter strewn , a semi-rape scene etc. - and the film is all the more powerfull for that. In concentrating on the bare bones of the narrative the story`s message comes across very effectively. Indeed a sort of fairy tale element is obvious . This is all helped by stunning photography .

In short this is a movie well worth seeing - preferably on a big screen . By the way , Elaine is as marvellous as ever.