The Healer (2017)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The first thing that everyone missed is that this is an "auteur" movie, that is, the writer and director are one and the same.The significance of that is important.Canada, since the launch of its film sector in in the 1980s via tax credits, has built a solid and reliable industry by being essentially the "Walmart" of the sector. Constantly undercutting Hollywood prices (because of the cheaper Loonie) has kept the cash flowing.And the Canucks have also taken hostage obscure sectors of the business that no one else was paying attention to. For example, 90% of all the so-called "X-mas" films you have seen in the last 20 years were Canadian-made.Finally, Canada is where most once-successful franchises go to die. When you see a horror franchise or action franchise on its very last legs -- think Freddy Kruger IX or something like that -- chances are it is Canadian made.So, against this odd backdrop of entrepreneurial spirit, it is rare and refreshing to see an auteur express a vision that is not a knockoff of something else.And that is the key. This film is an original, it is like nothing you have seen. It takes place in one of Canada's most picturesque (showcase) small towns but it is not a small town piece like Doc Martin or Gilmore Girls or even Corner Gas. It has elements of faith but it is not a "faith-based" movie. It has elements of a rom-com yet without the "rom."Again, an original.And it is technically perfect. The script is solid. The acting from the leads is excellent, especially the often-overlooked Jonathan Pryce. (Secondary characters are hit and miss, which unfortunately is the curse of Canadian film making.) The story holds the attention. The questions raised are interesting. In many ways the film revisits issues from the blockbuster hit Resurrection (1980) but in a much subtler way.It is solid workmanlike entertainment and deserves a better rating than most members have given it.Recommended.

So a guy who is interested in nothing, suddenly gets healing powers in a small Canadian town. Spoiler: confusion, wining, aaaand he refuses to accept this gift. Then a dying girl who seems very much full of energy, comes to change his mind. Let me guess, the lesbian vet isn't lesbian at all and all ends well at the end of the movie? Let's find out.I bet those actors were disappointed when they watched the end cut. I just saw the imprisonment scene and it was so .... well let's say it was clear what it was supposed to be (a cheesy 90ties feel slapstick scene) but it just couldn't even cut that. The scene was embarrassingly unimaginative, as if it was leaning heavily on either an established funny atmosphere or movie mojo - which is simply not there. The "home alone" kind of punch line music was there, but the funny bits weren't. That kind of describes this movie. The actors are mediocre, but everything else is profoundly unable to deliver. Lice the directing which looks the part at first sight, but the director allowed for flat, dull performances without pushing the actors to do better. Perhaps in the mind of a 10 year old - a simple one, to be specific - this movie totally makes sense and is quite amusing. To me, sadly, the intended fun, and the entire movie, is like a cheap Chinese electronic gadget - a poor quality copy that can't hold a candle to the real thing, and makes you sorry for wasting your money.I can't wait - no, I actually I can wait to see the other half of the movie (watched an episode of Rick and Morty just now because I was at risk of boring out), and nothing remotely interesting has happened yet - aside from seeing the delightful Camilla Luddington on my screen, which is a bit of a treat.Then the revelation scene. Random shots of a beach, dragonfly and birds, and then the lead actor struggling to find some credibility while refusing the gift which was bestowed upon him (by God, no less). He has exactly one day to decide if he wants it or not. Sigh. The back story is razor thin, and the nice looking Camilla Luddington can't prevent the viewer from experiencing a massive downer, when the last hope for betterment is shattered now that it is clear this movie is only getting worse.This opens the door for a new sport: how bad will it get? Will it be in fact bad enough to be a "So Bad, It's Good" movie? So I put my hopes into that folly, and maybe Camilla Luddington will lose some clothes, or do something hot, if only to try to compensate for this idiot of a movie. Everything is badly underdeveloped. The story, the characters, even the animals. There was ample opportunity though, had there been brought some brightness, some creativity to the table. By timing the cuts just slightly witty, directing the actors for better expressions, it would have been a much better movie. But it isn't.The editing is so bad it makes me carsick.The film hits a new low when Amelia is having fun on a farm, and "Faith" from George Michael is playing. "Well I guess it would be nice, if I could touch your body" - suggesting the underage, dying girl should be touched or touching a body, at least introducing a sexual motive to this scene... it felt very wrong, the director must have forcibly rejected all of the warnings that kind people gave him, to let this one through. He probably intended to have the audience only hear the phrase "I gotta have faith" in a non-sexual way but hey, the song is what it is.I just looked at his profile and damn, this guy put a white line on the inside of his lower eyelids for dramatic effect. Also I see he has been doing mainly acting, then managing (all in Spanish), and now directing and writing this film. That explains. The movie ended as was anticipated, and then a mentioning of children's camps and Paul Newman kind of leaves me feeling like a dick for dishing this movie. But then again, it seems kind of cruel to raise hope in terminally ill children, like this film appears to target.End credits.The entire production crew has Spanish names. Okay, that was it, adios.

Indianapolis, October 26, 2016: From the opening shot of The Healer, you know your eyes will be in for a treat. Set mostly in Nova Scotia, the film reeks of depth and richness, with breathtaking scenery and Nathan Wang's full-orchestra score. Featuring a heavily Canadian cast with a couple known stars, the family film has just the right mix of intrigue, mystery, folksiness, humor, and spirituality to defy classification and emerge as an uplifting reason to go to the movies. Oliver Jackson-Cohen's character, Alec, gets in financial trouble with the wrong people in his native England, and an eccentric long-lost uncle bails him out, provided he spends a year in a different world, which happens to be Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Arriving with nothing (and no cell or Internet access) Alec is forced to land on his feet, a process aided by Cecilia, a beautiful but unavailable large-animal veterinarian, played by Camilla Luddington (Grey's Anatomy). Alec finds out he has inherited a gift of healing, a gift he must accept or reject by a certain deadline, and he rejects it, yearning for a quiet year to pass before he can go back to his gambling and his nightlife in London. Of course, circumstances intervene, especially in the person of the perfectly-cast 14-year-old Canadian actress Abigail (Kaitlyn Bernard), whose parents have heard of Alec's healing powers and drive "from seven hours away" to have their daughter cured of cancer. He refuses, but the girl takes him aside and explains that he needs to go through the motions with her for the weekend, for the sake of her parents. She knows he's not a healer, but her parents couldn't take it if he didn't at least pretend to try! The weekend is rife with touching sequences, embarrassing moments, mystery, a fat angry priest with a man bun and a tenuous hold on his faith Jorge Garcia), townspeople who believe (and don't), humor and an arrest for murder. We are enthralled by the clever dialogue, and our eyes, soon accustomed to the richness of the camera work, start looking for the sight gags that appear throughout. If you've watched for more than three minutes, and haven't seen or heard something that made you smile inside, you weren't paying attention. In fact, to an alert watcher, The Healer provides unending mirth, but director/writer/producer Paco Arango doesn't beat the audience over the head with his sense of humor – you'll see it if you're looking and it can be your private pleasure. Little circumstances around the film also make an interesting story. Abigail, the young girl with cancer, got her character's name from the daughter of a Canadian Film Commission administrator, who helped Arango navigate the processes and funding of the Canadian film industry. Paco's dog, Batman, couldn't be left back home in Spain during the filming, so he has a significant part in the script – and a credit. And at the end of the film, there is a closeup of young Abigail, riding in the back of a pickup truck on the way to rejoin her parents, as Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole's Somewhere Over the Rainbow plays in the background. The Canadian film lady cried uncontrollably at that scene, Arango told me. It turns out that her own little now-departed Abigail sang that song at her high school graduation. Arango told me he always wanted to be a healer, himself, and that the film fits so well in its setting because he went to Nova Scotia first, and then wrote the screenplay. "My dream was to have that gift," he said. And in his way, he's living it. Paco Arango has volunteered in hospitals for fifteen years; all his films support worthy causes. The Healer's profits – 100% of them – are going to Paul Newman's summer camp for kids who, because of sickness or disability, can't go to a regular summer camp. All the profits go to Serious Fun Network. That's not smoke and mirrors, either: earlier Arango movies financed the largest children's bone marrow transplant facility in Europe. His example has already borne fruit: Now-17-year-old Kaitlyn Bernard has started her own foundation for kids, Just Breathing, in her native Vancouver B.C. The Healer premiered at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis in October, 2016. Is it a little corny and predictable? Sure, like It's a Wonderful Life was. But that won't stop you from feeling good when you see it. And you will, if you do.

I went to see The Healer last night and I walked out of the movie theater with the biggest smile on my face. The movie is so inspiring. It tells the story of a man who has the gift of healing and who is battling with his own demons until he realizes what truly matters in life. This movie is a must-see. Paco Arango did a wonderful job! You cannot miss it.