By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Blaine Thurier
Starring: Bonnie Catterson | Kim Cote | Robert Dayton
Country: canada
Year: 2004
Running time: 78
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407972/combined
Bruce says: “Andrew (Robert Dayton) is the type of man that would make anyone want to leave the room once he walked in. He is a self-involved, insensitive nerd. His wife (Bonnie Catterson) has kicked him out and he hasn’t a clue as to why she could do such a thing. Sometimes at night he uses his old key to get in her apartment; he frequently interrupts her in bed with another man. He is competitive and unyielding when playing games with his son. Andrew can’t seem to score with the women. As the film opens he is on his balcony chanting ‘I am a god. I create this reality.’ Who is this man kidding?
“Andrew roams through the streets of Vancouver using every horrible pick-up line one could possibly imagine. ‘My name’s Andrew, got a smoke?’ ‘Hi there, could I buy you a coffee?’ ‘Are those Mary Janes you’re wearing?’ The women are sidestepping,
snapping back and fleeing as fast as they can.
“Sensing that he doesn’t have the right touch with the ladies, Andrew seeks out advice from his friend Trevor (Levon Culbertson). Trevor tells Andrew to seek out women who are alone and look insecure, suggesting they are the only ones who are desperate enough to respond to someone like Andrew. Off sails Andrew to the park where he finds Lucy (Kim Cote) alone on a park bench reading a book. Within no time they are at her place, in bed. Thinking his luck has turned Andrew talks his friend Ian
(Steve Wolfe) into getting involved in his home video porno project. When the hired ‘models’ refuse to have sex with Andrew, he
becomes despondent again. Not as despondent, however, as when he catches Trevor in bed with his wife.
“MALE FANTASY is in no way mean-spirited or condescending. Blaine Thurier puts it this way, ‘MALE FANTASY is a tale of loneliness and desire, the story of a man who represents the rock bottom in all of us and what we have to do to get out of it.’ This very funny film succeeds because most of us can probably identify with at least one or more characters. Robert Dayton is hysterical as the hapless Andrew, hysterical because he makes us feel something between awe and horror, a place we never expected to be. 4 cats
“This film was shown at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival”