Anna (2015 Canadian film)

Anna is a Canadian drama film by Charles-Olivier Michaud, released in 2015.[1] The film stars Anna Mouglalis as Anna, a journalist working in Asia to expose a human trafficking ring who is herself abducted by the traffickers.[2]

Anna
Directed byCharles-Olivier Michaud
Produced byNicole Robert
Written byCharles-Olivier Michaud
StarringAnna Mouglalis
Pierre-Yves Cardinal
Pascale Bussières
Music byMichel Corriveau
CinematographyJean-François Lord
Edited byGlenn Berman
Charles-Olivier Michaud
Production
company
Go Films
Distributed byLes Films Séville
Release date
  • October 2, 2015 (2015-10-02) (Busan International Film Festival)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

The film garnered two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016, for Best Original Score (Michel Corriveau) and Best Make-Up (Catherine Beaudoin). At the 18th Quebec Cinema Awards, Corriveau and Beaudoin were both nominated in the equivalent categories, and Mouglalis was nominated for Best Actress.

Synopsis

Anna (Anna Mouglalis), a photojournalist, travels to Bangkok in order to pursue her investigations of a news story on human trafficking rings run by the city's triad gangs. While investigating, she herself is then kidnapped by Triad gangsters and subjected to the same abuse endured by the women she has interviewed and photographed. She awakens in a Montreal hospital where these brutal recollections are relayed to her, after a lengthy passing of time. Scarred for life and obsessed by her desire for revenge, Anna embarks on a dark journey where violence beckons at every turn, however; the impact provoked by her investigations will prove to be more important than the satisfaction of her own quest for vengeance.

Cast

Release

The film premiered at the 20th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea which was held from October 1 to October 10, 2015.[3]

The film had its local opening, in Montreal, Canada, at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema on the October 13, 2015.[1] It later opened commercially on October 23, 2015.[1]

Reception

Critical response

There were only a few published reviews for Anna at the time of release.

Charles-Henri Ramond, writer for Films du Québec, gave the film a mixed review with a rating of 2.5 stars out of 5 in a review written in French.[4] He comments on the chilling first half hour of the film, wherein he applauds the films attempt to bring awareness to the issue of human trafficking through the brutal and horrific representation of the accounts given by the trafficking victims.[4] However, he writes that the second half of the film begins to slow significantly in pace, and comments on how Anna's character is too easily able to find solutions within the plot.[4] The use of a revenge motive drives the plot away from its original intent to highlight the exploitation of Asian women in East Asia.[4] Writing on Anna Mouglalis' performance, Ramond explains that her rugged voice and use of violence befit the character, however she ultimately fails to convince in her performance.[4]

Won
  • Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards (2016) - Michel Corriveau - Best Original Music Score

Nominated

References
  1. "Director Michaud is proud of Anna's brutal realism". Montreal Gazette, October 16, 2015.
  2. "There's no escaping the brutality of Anna; Mouglalis's ferocious performance elevates look at human trafficking". Montreal Gazette, October 23, 2015.
  3. "Five Quebec Filmmakers". Montreal Gazette. ProQuest. Nov 21, 2015.
  4. Ramond, Charles-Henri. "[Critique] Anna: la justice du talion". Films Du Quebec (in French).
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