{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = It Was You Charlie | image = It Was You Charlie poster.jpg | caption = Film poster | director = Emmanuel Shirinian | producer = David Miller<br />Darren Portelli | writer = Emmanuel Shirinian | starring = Michael D. Cohen<br />Emma Fleury<br />Aaron Abrams | music = Ryan Latham | cinematography = Luc Montpellier | editing = Aren Hansen | studio = Alone Together Productions<br />Spiral Entertainment<br />A71 Productions | distributor = 108 Media<ref name=Telefilm>{{cite web | url=http://www.telefilm.ca/en/catalogues/production/it-was-you-charlie | title=It Was You Charlie | publisher=Telefilm Canada | accessdate=4 September 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140807235602/http://www.telefilm.ca/en/catalogues/production/it-was-you-charlie | archive-date=7 August 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref><br />A71 Entertainment | released = {{Film date|2013|10|6|BIFF|df=yes}} | runtime = 77 minutes | country = Canada | language = English | budget = }}
'''''It Was You Charlie''''' is a 2013 Canadian comedy-drama film. It is the first feature film of director Emmanuel Shirinian who wrote its screenplay.<ref name=TS>{{cite news | url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2014/08/14/not_quite_whimsical_enough.html | title=It Was You Charlie not quite whimsical enough: review | first=Bruce | last=DeMara | date=14 August 2014 | newspaper=Toronto Star | accessdate=4 September 2014}} {{rating|1.5|4}}</ref> The movie tells the story of a lonely graveyard shift doorman named ''Abner'', a once-accomplished sculptor and former college art teacher, but now sadly, a mere shadow of his former self. He is heartbroken because of an unresolved conflict with his brother over a woman he once loved, and is at the same time consumed with guilt and suicidal thoughts as he remains profoundly haunted a year after a terrible car accident that took the life of the young woman in the other vehicle.
==Plot== '''''It Was You Charlie''''' (the title refers to On the Waterfront)<ref>{{Citation|title=TORONTO ONLINE FILM MAGAZINE INTERVIEW: EMMANUEL SHIRINIAN, DIRECTOR OF IT WAS YOU CHARLIE|url=http://thetfs.ca/article/interview-emmanuel-shirinian-director-charlie/|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-31|archive-date=1 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401075355/http://thetfs.ca/article/interview-emmanuel-shirinian-director-charlie/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=It's worth leaping through a small window for It Was You Charlie|date=28 October 2014 |url=https://www.straight.com/movies/758261/its-worth-leaping-through-small-window-it-was-you-charlie|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-26}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=SCENE CREEK:The latest news in film and entertainment across Canada-Interview: Director Emmanuel Shirinian talks It Was You Charlie|date=12 August 2014 |url=http://scenecreek.com/director-emmanuel-shirinian-talks-it-was-you-charlie/|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-31}}</ref> explores the lonely life of ''Abner'' (Michael D. Cohen) a short, schluby, suicidally-depressed former teacher-artist turned graveyard shift doorman and the fierce sibling rivalry he endures (if not imagines) with ''Tom'' (Aaron Abrams), his tall, handsome, lady-killing brother. ''Abner'' also harbours a tragic secret that has debilitated his professional and personal life while ''Tom'' not only seems to have everything going for him, but also scores with ''Madeleine'' (Anna Hopkins), the babe our haplessly loveable schlemiel has long held a torch for.<ref>{{Citation|title= IT WAS YOU CHARLIE - Review By Greg Klymkiw - Sad & Funny First Feature By Indie English-Canuck Shirinian|date=14 August 2014 |url=https://klymkiwfilmcorner.blogspot.ca/2014/08/it-was-you-charlie-review-by-greg.html|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-26}}</ref> ''Zoe'', a mysterious young blonde cab driver in a bright yellow beret, appears in ''Abner''’s life, but for reasons he cannot understand. Nor does he understand the repeated appearance of strange men in trench coats who seem to follow him wherever he goes. There is also something about a painting in his local diner that mesmerizes him. Estranged from his family and even further estranged from a normal life, ''Abner'' must make sense of the things around him and come to terms with what has haunted him these years.<ref name="It Was You Charlie Movie Review">{{Citation|title=It Was You Charlie Movie Review|date=10 October 2014 |url=http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/it-was-you-charlie/|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-24}}</ref> After meeting ''Zoe'', something magical happens to ''Abner'' as he begins a quest to seek redemption, and reconcile his conflicted past.
==Cast== * Michael D. Cohen as Abner * Emma Fleury as Zoe * Aaron Abrams as Tom * Anna Hopkins as Madeleine * Alon Nashman as Travis * Phyllis Ellis as Ethel * Mike Wilmot as Detective Powell * Theresa Tova as Sandra * Tony Rosato as Gus * Henry Allesandroni as Manager * Gillian Bennett as Make Out Woman * Russell Bennett as Make Out Man * Curtis Hibbert as Cop #1 * Alain Chanoine as Cop #2 * Wayne Carnew as Mystery Man * Krysta Lee as Waitress * Aaron Hale as Young Kid * Jimi Shlag as Evening Doorman
==Release== ''It Was You Charlie'' was filmed in Toronto<ref>{{Citation|title=Film sleepwalks past the night doorman; Dodgy timelines blur professor's mysterious story-ProQuest |language=en }}</ref> and premiered at the Busan International Film Festival on 6 October 2013.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://playbackonline.ca/2013/10/02/108-media-acquires-world-rights-to-it-was-you-charlie/ | title=108 Media acquires world rights to It Was You Charlie | date=2 October 2013 | first=Etan | last=Vlessing | work=Playback | accessdate=4 September 2014 }}</ref>
'''The order is followed by Release date''' * South Korea, Busan International Film Festival on 6 October 2013 * Canada, ''Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival'' on 8 February 2014 * USA, Cinequest Film Festival on 7 March 2014 * China, Shanghai International Film Festival on 14 June 2014 * Canada, Toronto on 15 August 2014 * USA, New York City, New York on 26 September 2014
==Reception== The film's negative reviews were critical of how it mixed the humorous and serious content. The Toronto Star noted its "uneven blend of drama and comedy" while ''The Globe and Mail'' noted the "shifts between dark and comic never quite jive" while ''Now'' deemed the film a "mopey, sluggish study" of its protagonist.<ref name=TS /><ref name=GM>{{cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/film-reviews/shifts-between-dark-and-comic-mar-it-was-you-charlie/article20077999/ | title=It Was You Charlie: Uncomfortable shifts between dark and comic | first=John | last=Semley | date=15 August 2014 | newspaper=The Globe and Mail | accessdate=4 September 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/listings/movie_details.cfm?movie_id=19445 | title=It Was You Charlie | work=Now | location=Toronto | date=2014 | first=Norm | last=Wilner | accessdate=4 September 2014 }} {{rating|2|5}}</ref> It received a neutral rating from Victoria's ''Times Colonist''.<ref name=TimesCol>{{cite news | url=http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/reviewed-down-river-it-was-you-charlie-1.845215 | title=Reviewed: Down River; It Was You Charlie | first=Michael D. | last=Reid | newspaper=Times Colonist | location=Victoria, British Columbia | date=10 February 2014 | accessdate=4 September 2014 }} {{rating|3|5}}</ref> one reviewer From Rotten Tomatoes says the movie overly eccentric and underdeveloped<ref>{{Citation|title=It Was You Charlie|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/it_was_you_charlie/|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-21}}</ref> Another review from Way Too Inside noted the film that knows what it wants to do but struggles to pull it off, "Throughout ''It Was You Charlie'' there is a sense that Shirinian has a firm grasp of the complete film in his head, but he struggles to make a clear presentation of it on-screen. Most of the humorous moments try too hard to be funny and only manage to feel forced and fall flat."<ref name="It Was You Charlie Movie Review"/>The New York Times noted the writer and director Emmanuel Shirinian’s has "taste for quirky detail" and the movie starts as an exercise in bleak absurdism and ends as a Frank Capra Christmas special, with little originality in between.<ref>{{Citation|title=A Brother's Betrayal, in Darkly Comic Tones|work=The New York Times |date=25 September 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/movies/it-was-you-charlie-a-feature-debut-about-dashed-hopes.html|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-23 |last1=Kenigsberg |first1=Ben }}</ref> ''The Arts Guild'' has positive review about this film, it noted the film has"The balanced cinematography, well-selected music, and simple direction allow us to dig into the film, truly experience every moment."<ref>{{Citation|title=It Was You Charlie (2014) – Film Review|date=15 August 2014 |url=https://www.theartsguild.com/2014/08/15/it-was-you-charlie-2014-film-review/|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-26}}</ref>The Village Voice noted that director Shirinian has made a swift, moody film, with impeccable art design.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Bleakly Funny It Was You Charlie Boasts a Great Central Performance|date=24 September 2014 |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2014/09/24/the-bleakly-funny-it-was-you-charlie-boasts-a-great-central-performance/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054359/https://www.villagevoice.com/2014/09/24/the-bleakly-funny-it-was-you-charlie-boasts-a-great-central-performance/|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 March 2018|language=en|access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref> Abner is a miserable creature and yet, under Shirinian’s sure hand, we end up caring very deeply about his strange, surreal plight and want nothing more than to see him climb out of his self-made quagmire.[http://www.metronews.ca/entertainment/2014/08/14/it-was-you-charlie-canadian-filmmaker-emmanuel-shirinian-talks-feature-length-debut.html Toronto Metro Entertainment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401075546/http://www.metronews.ca/entertainment/2014/08/14/it-was-you-charlie-canadian-filmmaker-emmanuel-shirinian-talks-feature-length-debut.html |date=1 April 2018 }}<ref>{{Citation|title=TORONTO METRO ENTERTAINMENT:It Was You Charlie: Canadian filmmaker Emmanuel Shirinian talks feature length debut|url=http://www.metronews.ca/entertainment/2014/08/14/it-was-you-charlie-canadian-filmmaker-emmanuel-shirinian-talks-feature-length-debut.html|language=en|accessdate=2018-03-31|archive-date=1 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401075546/http://www.metronews.ca/entertainment/2014/08/14/it-was-you-charlie-canadian-filmmaker-emmanuel-shirinian-talks-feature-length-debut.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Awards== * ACTRA Toronto Awards Nominee for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor - Michael D. Cohen * Canadian Screen Awards Nominee for Achievement in Cinematography - Luc Montpellier
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website}} * {{IMDb title|2912522}}
Category:2013 films Category:2013 comedy-drama films Category:Canadian comedy-drama films Category:English-language Canadian films Category:2013 English-language films Category:2013 Canadian films Category:English-language comedy-drama films