''2 Frogs in the West'' (french: 2 frogs dans l'ouest) is a Canadian

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film, released in 2010."Cross-country adventure leaves much behind". ''

The Gazette The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...

'', October 8, 2010. The directorial debut of filmmaker and actor Dany Papineau, the film premiered in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

on October 8, 2010. It stars Mirianne Brulé, Dany Papineau, Jessica Malka,

Germain Houde Germain Houde (born December 14, 1952) is a Quebec Genie Award-winning actor. He is predisposed by his physique to playing tough-guy parts; his screen characters have ranged from cruel criminals to corrupt policemen. A graduate of the Conservatoi ...

, and

Charlie David Charles David Lubiniecki (born August 9, 1980), better known as Charlie David, is a Canadian actor, writer, director and producer, best known for the male lead in the LGBT horror series ''Dante's Cove''. He has also worked as a TV host on a numb ...

Plot

The film stars Mirianne Brulé as Marie, a restless young woman from Quebec who decides to drop out of university and hitchhike west to Whistler,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

on a voyage of self-discovery, much to her parents' dismay. The journey to British Columbia is not an easy one, as along the way Marie experiences a myriad of bumps and mishaps, with her finally arriving in Whistler only to have her luggage stolen. After this exasperating ordeal a man by the name of Jean-François (Papineau), who is also from Québec, takes Marie in to stay with him and his two roommates, his ex-girlfriend Gaby (Malka) and their gay friend Brad (Barton). During her time there Marie experiments sexually with Gaby and through this is drawn into an unexpected love triangle with both J-F and Gaby. The film's cast also includes Brandon Barton,

Juan Riedinger Juan Riedinger is a Canadian actor. On television, he portrayed Rufus in the CBC television series ''The Romeo Section'' and Carlos Lehder in the Netflix series '' Narcos''. Other roles he played in television include Dodger in The CW series '' ...

, Anik Vermette,

, Diane Lavallée, Valérie Chevalier,

, Bruno Baronet, Adam Bergquist, Rick Tae,

Niels Schneider Niels Schneider (; born 18 June 1987) is a Franco-Canadian actor who has appeared in more than thirty films since 2007. Born in Paris, naturalized Canadian, Schneider moved to Montreal at the age of 9 to start his career doing voice-over jobs. ...

, Bill Marchant and Linda Darlow.

Inspiration for the film

The film is directly inspired by director Papineau's own experience travelling from his home province of Québec to Alberta during his undergraduate degree. While in Québec he had been studying engineering at Sherbrooke, but after spending a summer on a ranch in Banff, Alberta, decided to stay there instead of returning to Sherbrooke. After having such a successful time in the western part of Canada he decided to enroll at the

Vancouver Film School Vancouver Film School (VFS) is a private entertainment arts school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1987, it has achieved international recognition. The Vancouver Film School has campus locations around Downtown Vancouver ...

for a yearlong program and ended up living in Vancouver for six years. Papineau first wrote ''2 Frogs'' as a 21-minute short film in 2004, and after receiving much acting success as a result, was able to turn the short film into the feature-length film it is today. During an interview with Papineau at the 2010 Whistler Film Festival, Papineau highlighted how the inspiration for the movie came from how the young adults who come to Whistler from all around the world go there for a couple of months to help determine what they want to do with their lives. He expressed how he felt a lot of people would recognize themselves in the film because of this.

Reception

After its debut in Montreal, the movie received excellent reviews from film critics. The film was showcased at film festivals around the world, receiving many accolades for its involvement in the LGBT film community. In 2012, it was highlighted as one of the best films at the Durban Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and was also featured in many film events devoted to the LGBT community, including QFest: the Annual Houston International LGBTQ Film Festival. Although recognized abroad, the film also received recognition in Canada, in publications like the Globe and Mail and was presented in multiple Canadian film festivals. The film not only received accolades for its portrayal of the LGBT community but also for its portrayal of Canadian culture. As the film illustrates the typical adolescent Canadian experience, of a young adult leaving their long-time home in the Eastern provinces to find work in the West of Canada, the film also received awards reflecting its Canadian influences. As a highlight, the film was chosen to close the 2010 Whistler Film Festival, after the short film, "Two Frogs in the West", that it was based on had been previously featured at the festival in 2004. At the festival, the film won the festival's Best Mountain Culture Film award, an award which directly reflected the spirit of the film and the area in which the festival was held. Although it received positive feedback at film festivals for its portrayal of both Canadian culture and the LGBT community, it received mixed reviews from its general audience for its "predictable" plotline. Some online reviews of the film described it as being unimaginative and the acting to be underwhelming while another reviewer claimed that "the problems with ''2 Frogs'' are based pretty much entirely in the screenplay". No matter how negative or positive the reviews it received were, one thing remained consistent: that Papineau has great potential as a director. No matter the downfalls described by the film's critics, ''2 Frogs'' "demonstrates that it's possible for a film to be bad, while still showcasing the positive potential of its writer/director".

Awards

* Best Feature- Yosemite International Film Festival * Best Film Mountain Culture- Whistler Film Festival 2010 * Best Film Mountain Culture- Revelstoke 2011 * Official Selection- Fairytales Calgary 2011 * Selection- Llambis England 2011 * Double nomination- RVCQ Montreal 2011

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1673459 2010 films 2010 comedy-drama films 2010 LGBT-related films Quebec films LGBT-related comedy-drama films Canadian comedy-drama films Canadian LGBT-related films 2010s English-language films 2010s French-language films Female bisexuality in film Films set in British Columbia 2010 directorial debut films 2010 multilingual films Canadian multilingual films 2010s Canadian films English-language Canadian films French-language Canadian films