It’s Not Me, I Swear! (Philippe Falardeau, 2008): Canada

Reviewed by Kevin Tran. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

The quirky, out of control family is somewhat a staple to the independent film. How many times have we seen a misunderstood kid, trapped in a weird family, trying to make sense of the world?  It’s Not Me, I Swear! is a film that includes all these elements we’ve seen before, but does so in refreshingly new ways that is not only hilarious, but heartwarming and thoughtful.

Léon Doré is a ten year-old apart of a family that is not like the others in their small, sixties, suburban neighborhood. Léon is a cross between Dennis the Menace and a 2008 reincarnation of Harold from the 1971 Hal Ashby film Harold and Maude, who terrorizes his own family by committing acts of suicide and raises hell in his neighborhood by vandalizing and breaking into homes. When Léon’s mother leaves the family to begin a new life in Greece, he is willing to do anything to defeat the pain of her absence.

Antoine L’Écuyer carries the film through and through, playing the incredibly complicated character of Léon, who he is funny and charismatic, but can also be a punk and a bully. L’Écuyer is so believable that we never doubt his eccentricities, unlike many other absurd independent film where characters are awkward and strange just for the sake of being awkward and strange. In this film, we fall in love with the characters – every one of them. Each is uniquely characterized, but also fully realized.

In a festival where bleakness and sadness is the norm, It’s Not Me, I Swear! is a breath of fresh air, a great film that is a departure to the intense dramas and to the emotional documentaries that you will see at the 2009 SBIFF.