FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL
My first day at Fantasia Film Festival and already I’ve fallen in love with a small masterpiece which I would like to share with you.… this little sci-fi independent captivated the room with his tale of weird humor and love between the twisted scientist Max von Max and his beloved assistant, Tatiana...Quite to the expectations fueled by, among others, the mention of the best Canadian feature at the International Film Festival of Canada, this film is not to be missed during his presentation next , July 16th at 13h in the theater JA de Sève (1400 de Maisonneuve W., Montreal Metro Guy-Concordia).
Bon visionnement! Happy viewing! -  Renee Savoy, Cruxco.tv (read original review in french)

…A movie that I’m glad I decided to pick at the last minute. It’s funny and sweet without being too ridiculous.
-Martin Rioux, The Hour

Starring a talented cast of actors from the Montreal independent film scene, the charming I HEART DOOMSDAY skilfully blends romantic comedy and science fiction. The result is a tender tale that alternates between two extremes, playing with the contrasts between real-world humour and a type of fantasy much inspired by the films of Roger Corman. Each time the narrative seems to be heading towards a typical guy-meets-girl formula, director and screenwriter Patrick Downing astonishes by suddenly dragging the audience into a universe of mad scientists, superheroes and robots. For these hilarious scenes, the filmmaker has decided to forego suspension of disbelief by using noticeably fake special effects. This judicious artistic choice accentuates the script’s fantasy slope, inventively defining two parallel environments in which the characters evolve. The capable cast includes Dan Beirne (THE TROTSKY), excellent as Von Max and his double, and Etan Muskat (WHO IS K.K. DOWNEY?), a riot as Captain Ovation, the justice-obsessed vigilante. Funny and romantic, I HEART DOOMSDAY proves that when it comes to seducing the woman of your dreams, laser rays can be as effective as a bouquet of pretty flowers!
—Simon Laperrière – Fantasia Film Festival, Montreal, QC, Canada (Read original review in french)

…the film remains so delicious and tasty from beginning to end through the entire performance sometimes sleazy, sometimes frankly stunning to deliver spontaneous dialogues and hilarious situations for most voluntarily laughable.   In short, a good entertainment that we rarely get to see elsewhere in this kind of festival, the better!  The public has also responded very well which pleased the director who was just like his film: horny, semi-deep and hyperactive clown desperate to laugh and make people laugh.  - Jimmy Chartrand, Coteblogue.com (read the original review in french here.)

CALGARY INT’L FILM FESTIVAL
The debut feature from former Calgarian Patrick Downing (of The Dudes and A-Team fame), I (HEART) DOOMSDAY is an absurdist take on sci-fi and romance conventions. Downing’s world is crammed with wolf brains, intelligent supercomputers, love-struck androids and, most importantly, doomsday devices capable of annihilating the Earth, all affectionately rendered in a freewheeling, ultra-low-budget style. It may be deliberately devoid of polish, but it more than makes up for it with humor, creativity and a whole lot of heart.
-Peter Hemminger, Calgary International Film Festival

FILM INK MAGAZINE – AUSTRALIA : Crazy Love
Idiosyncratic Canadian writer-director Patrick Downing draws on various long-held interests in his first feature, I Heart Doomsday. A comic mix of sci-fi and romance, the film charts the efforts of a mad scientist, Maximillian Von Max (Dan Beirne), to win back his lost love (Christine Ghawi) with the aid of a specially constructed android (also played by Beirne).

“The scenario came about through a crossing of a couple of avenues,” Downing explains.  “One was the idea of using an actor to play two parts to try and make the movie seem larger with less… which is not such a new notion, but still I felt that it could be used to explore interesting relationships.” The other catalyst for the story was the ‘mad scientist’ stereotype, described by Downing as, “one of those awesome archetypes that, due to audience familiarity could be used to great effect. Especially in relation to his potentially absurd and twisted ideas about love.”

Downing has a life-long love of science-fiction, with authors Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick and the inimitable Kurt Vonnegut dominating his formative reading. All three writers explored to some extent the nature of human relationships within a science-fiction context, an idea touched on in Downing’s admittedly much frothier film. “The first movie my brother and I ever rented on video was Flash Gordon, and we must have watched it a hundred times that week.”

Though always a film enthusiast, Downing spent several years as a rock musician, touring and recording with a couple of bands, before attending the Vancouver Film School at his mother’s suggestion. “As I had always loved movies and had been a member of the local film collective [in Calgary] for a few years, it just seemed to make sense.”

Though he managed to draft two feature-length screenplays after graduation, the continuation of his music career left little time for actual film production, and Downing ultimately made the decision to leave the rock industry. Moving from Calgary to Montreal, he worked as a technical director at Theatre Ste. Catherine, a performance venue in the heart of Montreal’s theatre district. The owner of the venue, Eric Amber, became a good friend and the two decided to make films together. I Heart Doomsday is the duo’s first venture, with Amber producing and co-editing. The film’s cast, including the leads, were all members of improvisation classes taught by Amber at the Theatre Ste. Catherine.

I Heart Doomsday pays homage to B-grade cinema, and revels unabashedly in its DIY approach. Actor Dan Beirne manically wraps his head in tin foil; the electronic paraphernalia of Von Max’s lab seem to have been sourced from various household appliances; and graphics used in the film are fuzzily low-tech. “The DIY aesthetic is something that comes out of both necessity and just trying to evoke a playful sense of the imagination at work,” Downing explains. “I enjoy that kind of childish, hand-made style; it seems human to me. Of course, that’s not to say I wouldn’t ever experiment with slick realism – if I had the budget.”

The DIY philosophy was extended to the film’s minimal but effective soundtrack. As might be expected, Downing is responsible for much of the film’s music with his band A Team.

Downing and his team have found success on the film festival circuit, with I Heart Doomsday garnering awards as diverse as Best Canadian Feature at the Canada International Film Festival and Most Kick-Ass Film and Best Sci-Fi Comedy at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival. The film has also been selected for the 2010 Cairo and Tipperary (Ireland) International Film Festivals. In what sounds like a continuation of Doomsday’s style, the feature Downing currently has in production is, “a sort of punk rockAnnie Hall-esque comedy which has also been developed and cast from many of the students of the improv class at TSC.” Of his choice to make another boy-meets-girl picture, Downing says, “there is nothing more classic and human than a love story. Call me sentimental,” he adds with a wry grin.

I Heart Doomsday is playing at the Fantastic Planet Sydney Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Festival which is being held October 29 – November 5 at Dendy Newtown.

by Katerina Sakkas www.filmink.com.au/news/crazy-love/
October 12, 2010 10:48 | Edited October 13, 2010 16:30