Nurse. Fighter. Boy = Love. Magic. Healing
An urban fable about casting spells and finding love, Nurse. Fighter. Boy centres on Jude (Karen LeBlanc), a nurse and single mother; Silence (Clark Johnson) a fighter of few words; and Ciel (Daniel J. Gordon), an adolescent with a wonderful imagination.
At 12, Ciel is an artist, musician and aspiring magician, and he's the light of his mother's life. Jude, the nurse, has raised Ciel by herself, and their bond is intense. She works as a caregiver, but struggles with sickle cell anemia and her own health issues, and Ciel does his best to help her cope.
Silence enters their world when he comes to the hospital one night to get his scalp sewn up. That's his first encounter with Jude, and there's something immediate between them. Silence is a boxer, but well past his prime; he now earns money by taking part in illegal fights. When Silence loses the one person he trusts, he's left adrift, emotionally. And soon afterward, he runs into Jude again.
Ciel's love for his mother leads him to say magic spells and little prayers for her, and he sends special energy her way. Slowly but surely, the circle around these three characters begins to draw them all closer and closer together.
Just like magic.
Nurse.Fighter.Boy is a tiny gem of a movie that was first screened here during the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is carried completely by the performances; the nurse and the fighter exchange few words, for example, but their mutual attraction is conveyed perfectly by the actors. Karen LeBlance won Best Actress at the Atlantic Film Festival for her performance in this film and Clark Johnson won Best Actor at Whistler.
Likewise, Daniel Gordon is unusually good as Ciel, but there isn't a false note anywhere in this movie, so all the secondary characters -- such as Samantha Somer Wilson as Ciel's best friend, Hannah -- are likewise beautifully brought to life.
One of the most important characters in Nurse.Fighter.Boy is the music. Ciel uses music in his life the same way he uses magic, and the soundtrack includes the work of The Maytones, Mikey Dread and Brightblack Morning Light, among other artists. The movie is as delightful to listen to as it is to look at.
Nurse.Fighter.Boy, which was filmed in Toronto, is the feature debut of Genie-nominated filmmaker Charles Officer. Tonight and tomorrow night, he will take part in Q&A sessions with the movie audience after the 7:15 p.m. screening of Nurse.Fighter.Boy at the Yonge and Dundas AMC Theatre, and after the 9:30 screening of his movie at the Royal Theatre, 608 College Street.
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