Look at Me (2024 film)

Last updated
Look at Me
Look At Me Poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Taylor Olson
Written byTaylor Olson
Produced byTaylor Olson
Koumbie
Kirsten Luella Bruce
StarringTaylor Olson
Koumbie
CinematographyTim Mombourquette
Edited byShawn Beckwith
Production
company
Afro Viking Pictures
Release date
Running time
87 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Look at Me is a 2024 Canadian comedy-drama film, written, produced, and directed by Taylor Olson. [1] Adapted from his own semi-autobiographical stage play of the same name, the film stars Olson as a fictionalized version of himself, a bisexual actor who goes on a difficult emotional journey toward self-acceptance after suffering a relapse in his prior struggle with an eating disorder. [2]

Contents

The cast also includes Koumbie, Sam Vigneault, Josh MacDonald, Oliver Boyle, Jessica Barry, Thom Payne, Jeremy Smith, Matthew Lumley, Frietzen Kenter, Varun Guru, Emily Jewer, Beth Amiro, David Light, Kathleen Dorian, Peter Sarty, Richie Wilcox and Stephanie MacDonald in supporting roles.

Olson has called the film a "fictional autobiography", clarifying that while the film is based on his own personal experiences, some parts of it were fictionalized for the purposes of making the story more dramatically compelling. [2] His original play was a one-man show, with the other characters added for the film. [2]

The film premiered in the Unstoppable Features section of the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival. [3] It had its Canadian premiere at the Canadian Film Festival, where Olson won the award for Best Performance. [4]

Production

Look at me was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, and the province of Nova Scotia. [3]

Critical Response

Reviews for the film are generally positive.

In Film Threat, Ryan Devir wrote: "Look At Me effectively creates anxiety in the audience. It's uncomfortable, jarring in its editing, charming, hopeful, bleak, and succeeds in putting the viewer in Taylor's emotional state." [5]

Writing in ScreenFish, Steve Norton said: "It's this emphasis on men's mental health that makes the film feel like an anomaly. While other film's breach the topic, Look at Me courageously sits within it. Olson is shown to be a man who appears to have deeper humility than many other men. Even so, he still struggles to acknowledge his own feelings out loud. As such, Look seems to dive into the waters of masculinity in ways that other film's only tiptoe. With his battle with bulimia and self-image, we are shown the damage of male toxicity when it is turned inwards as opposed to against others. This can make the film a difficult watch, but still utterly essential." [6]

References

  1. ↑ Ryan Devir, "Look at Me". Film Threat , March 1, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Mark Robins, "Halifax filmmaker Taylor Olson turns the lens on himself with Look At Me". Halifax Presents, December 14, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Taimur Sikander Mirza (December 5, 2023). "Taylor Olson's Look At Me to world premiere at Slamdance". Playback. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
  4. ↑ Kelly Townsend, "Doubles leads 2024 Canadian Film Fest winners". Playback , March 25, 2024.
  5. ↑ Ryan Devir (March 1, 2024). "Look at Me". Film Threat. Retrieved 2025-02-21.
  6. ↑ Norton, Steve (2025-02-07). "Look at Me: Taylor Olson's brutally beautiful film takes us into his heart and mind". ScreenFish. Retrieved 2025-02-21.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.