Lies My Father Told Me

Great sets and costumes from the '20s, wonderful tender story about a young Jewish boy in Canada and his old-world Grandpa and more modern parents, and some really good acting--except from the one actor who needed to deliver an awesome performance. Jeff Lynas, the kid playing the central character, David, is so bad he brings down the whole production. He can't seem to offer any emotion at all when he speaks; he's monotonally reading his lines as he delivers them. Just hellaciously, frighteningly bad acting. I gave this a 6 because everything else was so good, particularly the sets and Len Birman's performance as David's pie-in-the-sky up-to-date father, but it'd take an act of God for me to sit through anything else Lynas is in.

I will bring tears to your eyes. It reminds me of my own Zaida, whom I love so much. I love the way it portrays the Hebrew way of life in 1920's Montreal. Suberb acting and directing. I want to see it again and again and again.

Lies My Father Told Me.... I may have renamed it Stories My Grandfather Told Me, is a wondrous, delightful movie because it has the simple elegance to state exactly the world as seen through a child's eyes. A child's recognition of what counts in life.....and yet in a few hilarious moments, a child's innocence at repeating grownups' sharp criticism in exactly the way it was meant without the social detours meant for adults. But it is the little boy's feeling for his grandfather and a wise grandfather who in his quiet way... just stays and stays with you.

Thoroughly agree with the previous reviewer. Indeed, Jeffrey Lynas' acting was so awful that I was exultant when his dad gave him a whuppin and outraged when Saintly Grandpa stopped it. And when you find yourself out of sympathy with the film's hero and identifying with the antagionist then it's time to pull the plug, which I did shortly thereafter. C minus.

It's easy to see why people say they hate Canadian movies when you see a film like Lies My Father Told Me. This goes back to the infancy of Canadian cinema, and there's been a huge improvement in Canadian film over the last two decades. It's actually not a bad film; the problem is, Lies My Father Told Me is not for every taste. No Indiana Jones, the family drama about Montreal Jews will turn away most of the audience. And, the audience that stays will notice the flaws and end up divided too.

Lies My Father Told Me starts off promisingly; it looks like an interesting coming-of-age story, though by the end when we realize the climactic battle is over moving a stable, the feeling of dullness sets in. Even before then, the performances are sorely lacking, particularly in the boy who can only shout out excitedly, the father who can't rage right, and the young prostitute ("Kiss my Royal Canadian ***!") The grandfather's song about the Messiah coming is excruciating and feels out of place (By this point of time, we weren't excepting a musical, and the end credit song is nails on a chalkboard as well). For the Montreal Jew story in 1970s cinema, it's no wonder critics preferred The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.