For my last column of the year, a review of 2022, I will not tell you about Will Smith, Guillaume Lemay-Thiverge or the ostrogoths of the Sunwing flight. These are obvious.
I just want to share with you my favourites, these punchy works that have marked the year and made me love my job as a cultural columnist so much.
MOVIE THEATER
Yes, we made ordinary films, with weak scripts, in Quebec in 2022. But great things were also done. Confessions, by and with Luc Picard, is in the big leagues. Sylvain Guy’s screenplay, based on the book by my colleagues Félix Séguin and Éric Thibault, is finely woven, like a spider’s web. And I was completely overwhelmed by Chien blanc by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, a jewel of finesse, which imposes a nuanced reflection on activism.
MUSEUMS
Yes, museums are “wokising” at high speed. But we must also emphasize the quality and scope of the exhibitions presented here. Admit that we are devilishly lucky to have had in Quebec, at the same time, an exhibition devoted to Basquiat and another to Diane Arbus. The Montreal MBA amazes me!
BOOKS
Yes, there are a lot of badly written, drafts, little or not revised books published. But, in the end, 2022 will also have been a year rich in fabulous publications. I loved every sentence, every page, every turn of Maple by the super-talented David Goudreault.
I devoured The White Shadows of Dominique Fortier (the sequel to Paper Towns), which tells with an economy of means how the family and entourage of Emily Dickinson managed the heritage of the American poetess.
As much as Goudreault does in fireworks, as much Dominique Fortier does in lace. But without these two, my year 2022 would not have been so beautiful.
TESTS
There is a whole group of young intellectuals in Quebec, very critical of the times: Étienne-Alexandre Beauregard, Philippe Lorange, Alexis Tétreault and David Santarossa. I devoured the book of the latter, The Woke Thought, published by Liber. This brilliant essay does exactly what it advertises: a “critical analysis of an ideology.” Without aggressiveness, without malice, but with a striking sense of observation. Ah yes, by the way, all of these young thinkers are in their twenties. It reassures me for the next generation.
TELEVISION
Some images from Xavier Dolan’s The Night When Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up (on Club Illico) marked my year: Magalie Lépine-Blondeau’s ponytail during her Celine Dion Karaoke, the half-smile worthy of the Mona Lisa by Anne Dorval, the disarticulated puppet body of Xavier Dolan in the rain. André Turpin’s cinematography is nothing short of exceptional. Can’t wait for the Americans (at Sundance) and the French (at Canal) to discover this major work by the gifted Dolan in 2023.
MUSIC
I know the song isn’t from this year, but I’ve spent 2022 listening to Fringing Cowboys on Over My Shoulder. I would like to end this column by offering Karl Tremblay, the singer of the Cowboys, who is fighting cancer, my best wishes for health in 2023.
“Put your head on my shoulder
For my love to brush against you
You who need it so much…
See you again on January 9.
