I Like Movies – TIFF 2022

September 8 to September 18, 2022

Film Info

Content Advisory: Suicide

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A teenage cinephile works at his local video store to try and earn money to attend film school in I Like Movies. Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen) is a 17-year-old high school senior in Burlington who is steadfast about attending the NYU Tisch School of the Arts to learn filmmaking. Lawrence takes a part-time job at his local video store, Sequels, to earn money for tuition, where he forms a complicated rapport with his manager Alana (Romina D’Ugo).

I Like Movies is a coming-of-age film written and directed by Chandler Levack set in the early 2000s when local video stores were still standard. The film’s protagonist is Lawrence Kweller, an obnoxious and possibly autistic teenage cinephile. The latter is introduced, having made a film with his best friend, Matt Macarchuk (Percy Hynes White), which did not follow the guidelines for his high school film class. Adamant about attending NYU, Lawrence grows apart from Matt as he gains the singular focus of earning the thousands of dollars needed for tuition.

There is a scene in I Like Movies where protagonist Lawrence Kweller has a massive panic attack at work as he begins to fear for his future. This struck close to home since, like Lawrence, I, too, am a massive cinephile suffering from anxiety. I don’t know if director Chandler Levack intended for Lawrence to be a character on the autistic spectrum. Still, I related to Lawrence’s habit of acting like a jerk around people, particularly his best friend, Matt. You don’t have to be a cinephile to like I Like Movies, as it is a solid coming-of-age story set in a bygone era.

Trailer for I Like Movies – TIFF 2022