By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Matt Johnson
Starring: Cary Elwes | Glenn Howerton | Jay Baruchel | Matt Johnson | Saul Rubinek
Year: 2023
Running time: 120
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21867434/reference/
Amanda says: “BLACKBERRY is a biographical comedy-drama film that chronicles the captivating journey of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie in Waterloo, Canada that starts in the late 1990’s. These two individuals played a pivotal role in shaping the extraordinary ascent of the world’s inaugural smartphone, the BlackBerry, and the eventual demise when the iPhone was introduced in 2007. Director Matt Johnson (who also plays the best friend/trusted advisor of Lazardis) has a lot of fun in displaying the culture clash that comes when technology is forced to make compromises with the unforgiving whims of capitalism. While I could argue the rise and fall of the company felt a bit rushed in the script, the film’s great ensemble cast led by Glenn Howerton, Jay Baruchel and Johnson really carried the film and made for a fun watch.
“Johnson is definitely a Canadian filmmaker to watch. His chaotic energy, which was prominently displayed at the IFFBoston screening, lends itself well to comedy and I look forward to what he does next. 4 cats
“(Screened at IFFBoston 2023 – now streaming)”
Julie says: “BLACKBERRY will keep you at the edge of your seat through the entire film! It has high energy, humor and tells an intriguing story of the rise and fall of BlackBerry (based on what I have gleaned was a somewhat dry non-fiction book).
“I see best ensemble cast and best actor noms (Glenn Howerton as Jim Balsille) of course I guess you can’t have both in the end? at least not both within Chlotrudis) There were so many memorable characters in this one including Jay Baruchel as Mike Lazaridis the brains behind the BlackBerry who put in an excellent performance and Matt Johnson as Douglas Fregi who was the heart, the fun (and co-founder). They worked off each other well. Also quite memorable were Michael Ironside, Sungwon Cho and Rich Sommer.
“Excellent music abounded representing different decades with the likes of Elastica ‘Connection’ and the Strokes ‘Someday’. There was another hard core / heavy metal ? song played by Doug whilst driving up to the office that I loved whose name I do not know but want to find out! The production design was well done and a lot of fun to see (and to hear about the making of).
“What I did not know till he came on stage was that Matt Johnson, (who had a large role in the movie as the Blackberry co-founder), was also the Director and co-screenplay writer! It was great to get a lot of insight from Matt (in his incredibly entertaining style-largely improvised in-the-moment standup with some incredibly informative q&a that eventually was attended to at the end). What is really interesting is that since the book did use interviews form Balsille and Lazaridis and not much was gleaned about their interaction, Matt decided to interview other employees of Blackberry to get their take on the major players which resulted in an incredibly believable and entertaining fictional retelling of true events that was most likely spot on!
In fact while Balsille denied the African Masks on his wall, another employee proclaimed they were definitely there. Matt explains why else would he have done this ? It was not an obvious choice one would make for this man unless it were true.
“5 BIG CATS for this one!
“Seen May 2 at the Boston Independent Film Festival (the eve before my birthday – what a great present!)”