''American Venus'' is a 2007 Canadian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Bruce Sweeney and starring

Rebecca De Mornay Rebecca De Mornay (born Rebecca Jane Pearch; August 29, 1959) is an American actress and producer. Her breakthrough film role came in 1983, when she starred as Lana in ''Risky Business''. She is known for her role as Debby Huston in the Neil S ...

Jane McGregor Jane McGregor (born 1983) is a Canadian actress, known for her roles in '' Slap Her... She's French'' (2002), '' Flower & Garnet'' (2002), and '' That Beautiful Somewhere'' (2006), as well as her recurring role on the television series ''Robson ...

, and

Matt Craven Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

Plot

Jenna is a teenaged competitive skater who has been coached by her overprotective, high-strung, gun-obsessed mother Celia. When she quits competing and decides to go to college in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, her mother becomes very upset and tries to prevent her from leaving home; eventually locking her in a hot sauna until Jenna agrees to stay. Her father gives Jenna money behind her mother's back in order to help Jenna leave home. Her mother goes to Canada to force her to come back home. Once there, the mother becomes increasing unstable as she first tries to bring a handgun into Canada, tries to procure one from a drug dealer, and finally has sex with a policeman who gets a gun for her. After Jenna brings her father to Vancouver to fly her mother home that day, the mother instead insists, against Jenna's protests, that she will drive herself back. The father leaves and that night the mother breaks into Jenna's apartment and forces her to pack and drive home by gun point. Before they get out of Canada, the mother fires a warning shot at an overly-persistent

squeegee man A squeegee man or squeegee woman, squeegee kid (Canada), squeegee boy (Baltimore), squeegee punk (Montreal), squeegee merchant (London), squeegee guy or squeegee bandit is a person who, using a washcloth and squeegee, wipes windshields of cars sto ...

who, after cleaning the car windshield, is looking for some form of payment. Shaking, she orders Jenna to stop driving and runs into a tunnel in a park where she pulls the gun out and begs Jenna to shoot her. A struggle ensues over the gun with the mother getting a grazed in the head, knocking her off of her feet. As Jenna cradles her, Celia acknowledges to Jenna that she must let her go. The movie ends with the mother returning to the United States the next morning with a bandage on her head.

Cast

as Celia *

as Jenna *

as Bob *Anna Amoroso as Michelle * Ryan McDonald as Ty * Nicholas Lea as Dougie *Paul Skrudland as Matty *

Agam Darshi Agamdeep Darshi is an English-Canadian actress, now based in Los Angeles. Early life Born as Agamdeep Darshi in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, to parents of South Asian Punjabi (Indian) descent. At a very young age she and her family moved t ...

as Ki *Vanessa Tomasino as Tracy *Eric Hempsall as Cam * Kevin McNulty as Dick *

Babz Chula Babz Chula (born Barbara Ellen Zuckerman; circa 1946 – May 7, 2010) was an American-born Canadian actress. Chula spent her early childhood in the working-class neighbourhood of Jamaica, N.Y., but her widowed mother, Abby Zuckerman, a bookin ...

as Peggy

Production

''American Venus'' was directed by Bruce Sweeney, a Canadian. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, it was originally released on September 8, 2007 at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

Reception

Dennis Harvey of '' Variety'' wrote "Writer-helmer Bruce Sweeney can't decide if the lead figure is a comic caricature or pathetic mental case; his resolution is so desultory it feels like he ceased caring". Geoff Pevere of ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' criticized film for a "Never settling on a consistent tone or establishing a convincing context" when it comes to for "its central character", adding that "the movie ultimately seems to grow bored even with itself".

References

External links

* *
The Movie NetworkTribute
{{Bruce Sweeney 2007 drama films 2007 films Canadian drama films English-language Canadian films 2000s English-language films Films shot in Vancouver Films directed by Bruce Sweeney Brightlight Pictures films 2000s Canadian films