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Bang Bang Baby

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Bang Bang Baby
Film poster
Directed byJeffrey St. Jules
Written byJeffrey St. Jules
Produced byDon Allan
Daniel Bekerman
Jonathan Bronfman
Starring
CinematographyBobby Shore
Edited byMatt Lyon
Music byDarren Fung
Production
companies
Distributed bySearch Engine Films (Canada)
Release dates
  • September 8, 2014 (2014-09-08) (TIFF)
  • August 21, 2015 (2015-08-21) (Canada)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Bang Bang Baby is a Canadian musical science-fiction film written and directed by Jeffrey St. Jules, which premiered in 2014 at Toronto International Film Festival.[1]

Plot

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Stepphy, a teenager living in the small town of Lonely Arms, dreams of becoming a famous singer. Her alcoholic father, George, refuses to let her enter a singing competition in New York City. When she is sexually assaulted by a local man, she begins having dissociative delusions that lead her to believe that her fate may change when her idol, Bobby Shore, shows up in town after his car breaks down. Meanwhile, a dangerous leak at the local chemical plant is beginning to turn the local townsfolk into mutants. Which results in a quarantine of the entire town.

Her delusions persist which leads her to believe that her body is mutating when she falls pregnant with her assailant's baby, and she believes she is marrying her idol Bobby. All while experiencing periodic flashbacks to the night of her assault.

After the wedding when "Bobby" attempts to initiate their wedding night, she has a flashback to her assault, and strikes "Bobby" which prompts him to flee the small town, and her delusion of their relationship to shatter into the reality that she finds herself married to the man who assaulted her, and very pregnant with his child.

Soon after she goes into labour, and gives birth to a mutated baby that is able to speak from birth. The government begins making rounds offering the town's citizens bottles of poisonous liquid in order to take their own lives rather than live with the mutations being caused by the purple mist from the factory accident.

Stepphy awakes one morning to the sounds of her baby calling her, and decides to take her own life with the poisonous liquid. She takes the bottle, and goes to the room where her daughter is calling for her, and confronts the baby asking her why she can speak. The baby replies that she doesn't know why she hears her talking, but that she just doesn't want her mommy to leave her alone.

The babies words finally shatter the remainder of her delusions, and she is able to see her baby as the normal crying infant that she is, that is not capable of speech, and plans to take her daughter, and leave. Her husband intercepts her, and tries to take the baby, and feed her the contents of the poisonous bottle, prompting Stepphy to strike him in the head with a lamp. Causing him to collapse, bleeding from the head.

She goes downstairs leaving him to die presumably, and tells her father that they have to leave. Her father refuses to go with her, but tells her that she, and her daughter should go, and leave him there.

She leaves with her daughter, and starts a new life in New York. Next we see her a few years later, auditioning before a talent agent in the city, before picking up her now five year old daughter from the park.

Cast

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Production

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In March 2014, it was announced Jane Levy, Justin Chatwin and Peter Stormare will star in the film, with Jeffrey St. Jules directing from a screenplay he wrote.[2] Principal photography began on February 12, 2014 in Toronto.[3]

Awards

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The film won the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival,[4] and was named the winner of the 2014 Claude Jutra Award.[5] The TIFF jury remarked, "For its ingenious mixing of genres, sophisticated blend of tones and ability to create its own strange, tragicomic and original world without sacrificing any richness in regards to story, character and emotion, the jury recognizes as Best Canadian First Feature Film Bang Bang Baby by Jeffrey St. Jules." The award carries a cash prize of $15,000.[6]

The film garnered two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards, for Best Supporting Actor (Chatwin)[7] and Best Overall Sound (Christopher Guglick, Dave Mercel, Steve Moore, Justin Sawyer and Alex Turner).

Release

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Bang Bang Baby premiered in 2014 at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8. The film was also screened at Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 5, 2015[8] and Omaha Film Festival on March 11.[9] The film opened in select theaters in Canada on August 21, 2015[10] distributed by Search Engine Films.[11] On November 10, 2015 the film was released in U.S through video on demand by Random Media.[12]

Critical reception

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Bang Bang Baby received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 67%, based on 9 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[13] Bruce Demara of Toronto Star gave the film a negative review writing: "St. Jules clearly has talent. What he needs is a story that maintains its consistent level of zany wit from beginning to end.".[14] Glenn Sumi of Now Toronto, on the other hand, gave the film a positive review writing: "St. Jules's script takes too many detours, and many plot points aren't carried through. Sometimes the meta film jokes feel strained. But he gets strong performances from the cast, who all channel 60s archetypes while maintaining their individuality."[15]

References

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  1. ^ "Sci-fi musical 'Bang Bang Baby' to premiere at TIFF". CP24, September 1, 2014
  2. ^ Sneider, Jeff (March 14, 2014). "Jane Levy, Justin Chatwin, Peter Stormare to Star in 'Bang Bang Baby' (Exclusive)". The Wrap. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  3. ^ "ScythiaFilms on Twitter: "We're glad to announce that tomorrow will be the first production day for our newest feature : Jeffrey St Jules' BANG BANG BABY !."". Twitter. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  4. ^ "‘The Imitation Game’ Wins Toronto Audience Award". The Wrap, September 14, 2014.
  5. ^ "Academy Names Claude Jutra Award Winner" Archived 2015-02-04 at the Wayback Machine. Broadcaster, February 3, 2015.
  6. ^ "Toronto: 'The Imitation Game' Named Festival's People's Choice Winner – Oscar Harbinger?". Deadline Hollywood, September 14, 2014.
  7. ^ Kay2015-03-31T16:44:00+01:00, Jeremy. "Random Media acquires 'Bang Bang Baby'". Screen. Retrieved 2022-12-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "'Bang Bang Baby,' 'Hip Hop-eration' Win at Santa Barbara Film Festival". Variety.com. 2015-02-07. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  9. ^ "'Omaha Film Festival". Sched.org. 2015-03-10. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  10. ^ "'Bang Bang Baby". NowToronto.com. 2015-08-19. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  11. ^ "Search Engine takes Canadian rights to Bang Bang Baby". Playbackonline.ca. 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  12. ^ "Random Media Acquires Out-of-This-World Musical 'Bang Bang Baby'". IndieWire.com. 2015-03-30. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  13. ^ "Bang Bang Baby (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes.com. 2015-11-10. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  14. ^ "Reel Brief: Mini reviews of The Amina Profile, How to Make Love Like an Englishman, Bang Bang Baby, Fort Tilden and We Come as Friends". The Star.com. 2015-08-20. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  15. ^ "Bang Bang Baby". Now Toronto.com. 2015-08-19. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
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