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One thing that I always try to do at film festivals is have the last film that I see be a film that I really like. This year I was lucky and finished off my viewing of festival films with Andrea Dorfman‘s Love That Boy along with a large and enthusiastic crowd. It tells the story of the somewhat uptight Phoebe (Nadia Litz) who makes lists of things she wants to do before she graduates from University. The film is anchored by Litz’ strong performance (who I just realized was in the short “Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl” from last year’s Atlantic Film Festival).
Love That Boy is a gorgeous film with colourful, 50s-style production design by Marcia Connolly and cinematography by Tom Harting. The film was cowritten by Andrea and Jennifer Deyell and it builds up a cast of quirky characters and then puts them into situations that could seem improbably at the beginning, but become more logical as you are drawn into the film. It was funny and warm, which is what a romantic comedy should be. It also didn’t have a completely conventional structure as I wasn’t sure what direction things were going to go in and what romantic avenues would be travelled down… that was fun. Andrea Dorfman has a distinctive voice (cinematically as well as in person, but I’m thinking more cinematically right now) that I love to listen to and I’m looking forward to her next adventure.
