One Week

Ben Tyler is a teacher and about to marry. He goes to a doctor and is diagnosed with cancer. It is advanced; his chances are poor if treatment starts and poorer if it does not. His fiancée wants him to begin at once. Ben sees a motorcycle and buys it. Then he rides west. He consults nobody. Starting from Toronto he crosses Canada from end to end; he stops and talks to people, visits the giant roadside statues in small towns, and makes no plan at all. His fiancée calls. Ben does not turn back. Michael McGowan writes and directs. Joshua Jackson plays Ben and Campbell Scott narrates. Liane Balaban is in the cast. It is a Canadian production. It was shot in real locations across many parts of Canada and the actual roadside attractions were used. Its form rests on narration; the narrator describes not only Ben but the future lives of the people he meets. The matter it treats is putting off treatment; the film shows it as a choice rather than an escape. Canadian music is used heavily inside the narrative. The film took nominations at Canada's national film awards. The narrative does not dwell on the course of the illness and there is almost no medical scene. Its limit is structure; the plot is thin and the narrative proceeds in pieces. Who it is for: viewers who like road films and Canadian cinema. Who it is not for: there is little event, the narration is too directing, and the ending uncertain.