''Hello Destroyer'' is a 2016 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 ...

written and directed by Kevan Funk. It had its world premiere in the Discovery section at the

2016 Toronto International Film Festival The 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 September 2016. The first announcement of films to be screened at the festival took place on 26 July. Almost 400 films were shown. Awards The festival's final awards were ...

. The film stars

Jared Abrahamson Jared Abrahamson is a Canadian actor. He is known for his performance in the 2016 film '' Hello Destroyer'', for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor and won the award for Best Actor in a Canadian Film at the Vancouve ...

as an

enforcer Enforcer or enforcers may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Comics * Enforcer (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Enforcers (comics), a Marvel Comics team * New Enforcers, another Marvel Comics team Film and television * ''The Enforcer ...

on a

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

team who faces difficult consequences when a hit on an opposing player during a game turns more violent than intended. It was nominated for four

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

, including Best Motion Picture.

Cast

as Tyson Burr * Kurt Max Runte as Coach Dale Milbury * Joe Buffalo as Eric *

Paul McGillion Paul McGillion is a Scottish actor, who has worked in television, film and theatre. He is best known for his role on the television series ''Stargate Atlantis'' as Dr. Carson Beckett. Early life McGillion was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Sco ...

as Ron Burr * Sara Canning as Wendy Davis

Production

The film was an expansion of his 2013 short film ''Destroyer''. According to Funk, his intention was to make a film that explored institutional and systemic violence rather than a sports film per se; he chose a hockey-related setting as it represented an "aggressively Canadian" cultural institution which has a complex relationship with violence and

toxic masculinity Toxic masculinity is a set of certain male behaviors associated with harm to society and men themselves. Traditional stereotypes of men as socially dominant, along with related traits such as misogyny and homophobia, can be considered "toxic" d ...

, and has stated that if he were making the same film in the United States he would likely have chosen a military setting. The film was shot primarily in Prince George,

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, ...

, including at the

CN Centre The CN Centre is a 5,971-seat multi-purpose arena, in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. It was designed by PBK Architects, opened in 1995 and is owned by the City of Prince George. There are 14 luxury suites. In 2005, Canadian National ...

Reception

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 11 reviews. ''

Vice Sports Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...

'' describes the film as "about how violence is cultivated, showcased and then punished within a set of institutions that require its presence to be profitable", and Alex Rose of the magazine '' Cult MTL'' called the film "as Canadian as a Weakerthans song and as depressing as that second

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

record." On 7 December 2016, the film was named to 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 perman ...

's annual Canada's Top 10 list.

Accolades

The film received four

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...

nominations at the

5th Canadian Screen Awards The 5th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 12, 2017, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2016. Nominations were announced on January 17, 2017. Awards in many of the technical catego ...

in 2017, including Best Motion Picture and Best Actor (Abrahamson).

References

External links

Official website
(archive) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hello Destroyer 2016 films 2016 drama films Canadian drama films Canadian ice hockey films English-language Canadian films Films set in British Columbia Films shot in British Columbia Films directed by Kevan Funk 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films