One Week Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) has been diagnosed with cancer. With a grim chance of survival in the best case scenario even if he immediately begins treatment, he instead decides to take a motorcycle trip from Toronto through the Canadian prairies to British Columbia. Along the way, he makes new friends, reevaluates his relationship with his fiancée Samantha (played by Liane Balaban), his job, and his dream of becoming a writer, and, after suffering some near-death experiences, learns to appreciate life.
| Joshua Jackson | Ben |
| Liane Balaban | Samantha Pierce |
| Campbell Scott | Narrator |
| Ryan Allen | Orderly |
| Jim Annan | John |
| Chris Benson | Mayor |
| Jim Codrington | Pharmacist |
| Gord Downie | Biker |
| Kyle Fairlie | Oscar |
| Colin Fox | Father O'Neill |
| Leonard George | First Nations Singer |
| Gabriel Hogan | Derek Vincent |
| Gage Munroe | Young Ben |
| Chad Nobert | Badlands Tour Guide |
| Joel Plaskett | Busker |
| Michael McGowan |
7.00 out of 10 (472 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Simply Beautiful
posted on 01 Jul 2009One Week is the movie that I've been waiting for my whole life.Michael McGowan has created a beautiful piece of Canadian art. The style is very reminiscent of great artists like Bruce McDonald and Don McKellar. This film certainly pulled at my heart strings having been to most of the places in this film. As well, Joshua Jackson's performance was stellar.I feel so lucky that my wife and I had the pleasure of viewing this film on opening night which received quite a reception and was topped off with a standing ovation. I've never clapped at a movie before.Sincerely, Christopher Landry
An overall good film and a good act!
posted on 09 Jun 2009I've seen very few performances by Joshua Jackson, namely only a few of a partial episode of him in Dawson's Creek and him as a child/teenager in "The Mighty Ducks the movie(?)" But I thought the acting by all in the film was overall very good, if not excellent. The scenery and the shots were beautiful. Great shots of the Canadian landscape. And great little humors here and there about us Canadians! I thought the reference to Tim Horton's is very cool! I have seen many films with references to the Star Bucks franchise but not many to the Timmy's! All the characters were very well played, from the small parts like Gord Downie's biker and the guitar player on the street to the bigger parts like Lianne Balaban's and Joshua Jackson's. Overall, a good film, with good acting, very nice backdrops, and great background music! I do agree with one reviewer though in its lack of coherence between the stock footage and the narrative at times. But how many has gone out to do a low-budget film like this across our country?! And yes, it did miss everything east of Toronto. But hey I'm sure they'd do better if they had a bigger budget! Overall definitely a film I would recommend!
Good little film that asks an interesting question
posted on 30 May 2009A well filmed and decently thought out little picture. No, it did not have a lot of the bells and whistles and geegaws of a lot of bigger productions and they could have done a better job with the whole "This Is Canada" thing, but what the hell, did anyone stick around to see the production company and studio information at the end of the end credits? This was not a big-budget Hollywood picture and it did quite well, in my opinion, in spite of all that. I spent a summer in White River and I have a picture somewhere of myself in front of that sign, and remember a good many of the places in the film from two cross country trips when I was a kid. As for all the commentary about the silliness an contrite-ness of Ben's actions throughout the film, we should remember that this is a man who has been given the worst case scenario- terminal illness. Who among us would react rationally? What would we do if we were told we had one week, one month, one year to live? Ben himself gave us his reasons in a nutshell he was, in his words, "over prepared, over insured" what the hell would I do in that exact same situation? Probably exactly what he did, although I wouldn't try to tackle the Rockies on a motorcycle. Maybe a real nice convertible!
Worth Seeing
posted on 18 May 2009I just arrived home from seeing this film and I am very glad I went. If you get a chance go see it, or rent it when it comes out on DVD, I highly recommend it. I feel that One Week manages to be a thoughtful yet crowd-pleasing examination of a somewhat cliché expression without being overbearing or preachy... there are also some very very funny moments. The film uses celebrations of Canada, ranging from quirky to touching, to help weave around and through the big question/quest. Is it uniquely Canadian? Well I think in many ways "Canadian" is a moving target, and the elements of Canadiana used in One Week are strongly tied into the traditional ideas of Canadiana - the defining role that the natural environment has played in the personal and collective development of the nation. The vastness, beauty and wildness, and the beckoning of the unknown. Scenery aside, no matter who you are the story is one of an emotional journey one that some may recognize more than others and that all can understand and appreciate. Having said that I think the internal reflections and questions the film poses will make it resonates especially well with those who have experienced solo travel.
A love poem gone wrong
posted on 06 May 2009At a special screening in Toronto, director Mike McGowan claimed that this movie was meant, at least in part, to be "a love poem to Canada." It's a noble idea, and one which has not received that much treatment in film. Certainly the trailer promised everything one could want in a film about this great country; majestic landscapes, a killer soundtrack, giant tacky roadside attractions, Gord Downie, Joel Plaskett, even the Stanley Cup! So it's truly a shame that One Week more or less fails to achieve coherence as a film.The main problem with this film the weak script. McGowan can't seem to decide whether he's making a lighthearted, fun movie about a romp across Canada or a serious drama about how people react to news of a terminal illness. In the end, he achieves neither, and we're left wondering what the point was. Moreover, several key episodes seem to drop out of nowhere, requiring a little too much suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience.I also had a great deal of difficulty sympathizing with the characters. The protagonist, dissatisfied with the life he has built for himself, heads out on a journey of discovery, but he doesn't seem to know exactly what he wants to find, and we're never really sure if he's found it. He's rebellious enough to treat those that love him with disdain, but not so much so that he ever seems to fully "embrace randomness" as he claims to want to do. Joshua Jackson spends almost the entire movie wearing the exact same expression of tepid annoyance, and while the ever-present narrator does his best to explain what's going on inside Ben's head, his actions don't seem to match.Even the trip itself is flawed, moving as it does from Toronto to Tofino and ignoring eastern Canada completely. Perhaps McGowan felt that the movie's credibility was stretched thin enough as it was, but he couldn't resist throwing in a couple of stereotypical Newfoundlanders and a Quebecois folk song to cover his bases. Somehow, I suspect that viewers in St. John's, Montreal, and Halifax will not take the bait.Canada is a country composed of many vibrant and unique communities separated by vast empty expanses. However, we share a common narrative that holds us together as a country. This common narrative is exactly what this movie is missing, and why, despite some enjoyable moments, it falls apart in the end.
Flawed but charming Canadian road movie meets relationship drama meets
posted on 02 May 2009"One Week" is a deeply flawed film, but still a charming one which I don't regret seeing. The film is a relationship drama meets disease of the week flick meets Canadian road movie. I went to see the latter and got what I wanted. "One Week" made me want to pack a bag, make perfect road trip playlists, and drive all the way from where I am in Calgary to the Atlantic. There is nothing overstated or over-romanticized about the road trip here. Canada really IS that lovely and that pretty and that charming, and there ARE that many lovely little places to stop at, that many cute diners, that many gorgeous women, that many oddball bikers.Unfortunately "One Week" employs disastrous omniscient narration and revealing exactly what it is would be a spoiler but it made it even more insufferable. Occasionally really witty but mostly suffering from Dave Eggers syndrome this device really lets down the movie in general. The relationship drama feels incredibly hollow (though not really shallow), but the disease of the week aspect is surprisingly effective. The lead character played by Joshua Jackson is relatively well-drawn, and Jackson is really, really good (didn't think I would be saying that really, even though I've always found him a charming actor), which on its own gives his journey emotional relevance.One of the things Canadian critics didn't like about the film (which received solid but not especially appreciative reviews, around what it deserved) was what they perceived to be a 'look how great Canada is' mentality. I don't see that in the movie. The movie rests on sentimentality. Occasionally it goes into really sappy territory and that's where its biggest failings lie, but I mean sentimentality in the purest sense: emotional idealism. Of course you'll get the bitter cynics who claim great moments in life don't exist but "One Week" captures that emotion, that mindset quite effectively at some points, then totally veers off track in others.The movie's dependency on the sentimental quality of the sort of trip Joshua Jackson's character in this film takes means that the trip is going to be presented as memorable and wonderful. My road trips in Canada have been. Sure, there's a couple of dumb TH jokes and one unbelievable line spoken by a German tourist near the end but overall it actually is surprisingly tasteful in this regard: a celebration of Canada but not in an overly ludicrous fashion, and not with quite the same fervor and schmaltz "Passchendaele", the last Canadian film to receive this sort of distribution, featured. The Gord Downie cameo, for instance, could have been a cheesy 'look how Canadian we are' moment but if you had never seen Gord before (which, if you're watching this movie, you probably have, but nevermind) you wouldn't know it was him because it's just another part in the film, one which is very relevant to the journey of the film. This is a charming film I'm really happy I saw, but its unfortunate flaws keep it from excellence, and some of it is really mediocre. Still recommended for a one-time viewing, and is fairly unique for doing Canada's scenery justice, and beautifully photographed.
A great movie that happens to be Canadian
posted on 16 Apr 2009Sure we like Slapshot, Mon Oncle Antoine and Duddy Kravitz because they are distinctly Canadian movies. We feel validated as Canadians because we happen to see Roll up the Rim, the Stanley Cup, and the Wawa Grey Goose on the screen. We do like that about this movie also.But the premise of 'One Week' is compelling regardless of setting: a young man learns he has terminal cancer, and suffers an existential crisis. He feels compelled to examine where he's going; suddenly he realizes that he's just drifting with the tide. This is not an unusual theme. To correct one fine point though, the protagonist, Ben Tyler, played by Joshua Jackson, doesn't have only one week to live, as some of the blurbs indicate. He's given around two years, but takes one week or so on a motorcycle journey across the country to try to sort things out. The dramatic tension in the movie develops as Tyler pushes further West on his bike, while the woman he is about to marry pleads for him to come home. This sets up a conflict between the unknown and a kind of certainty or finality, and the movie risks becoming one more cliché denouncement of middle class life. I felt it did admirably well in not falling into that trap. The tension continues to the very end with his wandering motorbike ride not really providing any ready answers.What makes the movie different from others of this ilk, and uniquely Canadian at that, is the importance of the Canadian landscape and how we seek to find meaning in our lives through our relationship with it. In fact, many Canadians go to extraordinary lengths to connect with what's around them. In the case of this movie that doesn't mean white water canoeing in Pukaskwa. And yet the ethos of this movie is similar to that other Canadian classic, Water Walker, which is devoted to that very subject. That movie was by and about Canadian legend, Bill Mason, who lived what some believe is the Canadian dream. Mason died, not very old, of cancer. In this movie, the Canadian landscape is represented through the world's biggest hockey stick, the coulees around Medicine Hat, Alberta and the hiking trails near Banff. The key word is 'randomness', but at the same time this movie displays something closer to the landscape most Canadians actually know: not quite wilderness but still untamed and certainly unruly.I've seen Water Walker at least ten times, and I'll probably see this one as many over the years. It sounds like a cliché, but at this point I have to say, "instant classic". The theater was sold out tonight in Waterloo, Ontario. I think this movie touched the audience very deeply.
Touching .....
posted on 29 Mar 2009When the audience started to applaud after the movie ended I was surprised, but shrank it off as a tribute to patriotic sentimentality. Poor guy, poor family, lucky nurse, lucky XXL prairie woman .... Film is not awful. Just almost ... nothing, I guess. It was not a waste of my "Golden" ticket price. Don't know how the "Adult" ticket payers felt. You do see parts of Canada. You do like the characters and sympathize with their misfortune. You do understand the reason for Ben to do it. You want to believe that he could stay all this week in denial and has experienced what he wanted to experience. But then again - you are not sure you do.
Neither Fish Nor Fowl
posted on 23 Feb 2009"One Week" tries to be so many things, that it never settles down to do one of those things very well. It's a disease-of-the-week flick/relationship drama/road movie.In a road movie, we've come to expect that the lead will meet an assorted cast of characters, mostly salt-of-the-earth types who impart wisdom on the hero and to the viewers. In "Into the Wild", there was genuine feeling in the sequences with the hippie couple and the old man, and when the kid decided not to make love to the girl, it rang true.But in "One Week", the characters we meet on the road are all sympathetic to the degree that we get to know them, but they aren't given anything to do in their scenes with Ben except mostly to exchange long meaningful glances. The sequence with the woman in the forest rings false. The lonely cowgirl is a character we want to get to know better, but the film once again drowns her out in it's self-pity.I don't like movies that are nudging me or begging me to like them every 2 minutes of the way, like a sad little puppy dog. "One Week" is like going on a date with someone who decides to talk more about how the date is going, than actually carrying on in the moment and experiencing the date, if you get what I mean.I appreciate the wonderful Canadian scenery, even if the cinematography wasn't so good at times, and liked all of the actors too, but felt they were trapped in a screenplay that never really allowed them to step up and just be who they were, and it has everything to do with the movie not really knowing what it wants to be, except that it sort of wants to be "EVERYTHING" without succeeding at anything in particular.I love movies that contain wisdom over "message" or "lessons", and for me, "Into the Wild" is a far richer journey, and "Wit" is a hundred times more wise and headstrong about terminal illnesses."One Week" is not a bad film, just an unfocused drama that drowns in self-pity.Oh yes, and Tim Horton's deserves a good send-up. The one in this movie simply falls flat.
timeless theme
posted on 26 Jan 2009This is a very Canadian movie, not only in the use of the gorgeous cross-country scenery that provides both a backdrop and a reflective commentary on the main character's personal search but also because of it is patently outside the realm of the "regular" Hollywood (i.e. American) fare. This is not to suggest that only Canucks can enjoy or appreciate this wonderful, warm-hearted, evocative, simple story because the plot line and embedded themes are universal and timeless.There is a leisurely quality to this narrative and a kind of inevitability to the whole story that makes it poignant yet full of strength at the same time. The voice-over done by a sonorously voiced Campbell Scott works so well that far from being intrusive as most add-ons are, it (he) becomes a character in his (its) own right.This is one of those "festival sleepers" that will never have wide distribution but which will delight and uplift any who see it.
Eh?
posted on 04 Jan 2009That's basically my Canadian response after watching "One Week", because I'm not sure what I'm suppose to feel. I don't want to give anything away, though. Maybe we're suppose to reflect on the value of life, just like Ben, the main character.The story begins with Ben discovering that he has terminal cancer. Even if he goes for surgery, he has a 10% rate of recovery, according to his doctor. The film shows us it has a sense of humour, as we get a quick fantasy sequence of Ben shooting himself in the head, while listening to the doctor. We're also introduced to a third person narrator, who occasionally likes to make witty remarks throughout the film.So, what's Ben to do? Well, he wants adventure. I would too, if I was told I had maybe a few years left to live. On the way home, he buys a motorcycle, and soon enough, he leaves his home in Toronto, along with his fiancée and family, to go west. Where west? He has no clue. It appears to me he's only going west because a Tim Hortons coffee cup told him to. But I guess it's the adventure that counts, right?As Ben travels, we get lots of nice Canadian scenery and music. Everyone he meets is nice to him, and always gives him some kind of meaning to his quest. Unlike Christopher from "Into the Wild", Ben at least stays in contact with someone from Toronto, and he doesn't live off the land. The narrator occasionally mentions him looking for Grumps, a character from a kids' book. It's suppose to be metaphorical, like Ben's looking for meaning in his life or something.I was liking this movie up to a point where it started to feel rather phony. I felt more like I was reading a script, with coincidental plot points simply to try and hold the viewer's interest. I can believe that Ben randomly finds the Stanley Cup in a hockey arena, but if you multiply a significant moment like that by six, I realize I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief. Sorry, I can do that for a wild action movie, but not for a down-to-Earth movie like this. Other scenes like the narration when Ben meets a nice person, stuff he randomly sees like a happy bride and groom, and the screen-fades-to-black-but-there's-more ending don't help, either. It's too bad because the scenery looks beautiful, the acting and dialogue are realistic, and I chuckled at the movie's humour. Ben is a likable person who just feels lost in his life, right now. Again, I'd sympathize if I had terminal cancer.In my review for "Toronto Stories", I mentioned one of the things I liked is that the characters' stories aren't sugarcoated. Unfortunately, that's what "One Week" feels like. It's a movie perfect for sale at a coffee shop, and that's not really my thing. To quote another IMDb reviewer, this movie is "Neither Fish Nor Fowl". It's merely an OK ride.
A Truly Great Canadian Movie - Yes... They Still Make Them!
posted on 05 Dec 2008"One Week" is not necessarily a revelation in Canadian film-making, but it is an honest-to-God crowd pleaser; a moving and well-crafted movie that should make any homegrown Canuck feel proud about their country, and feel great about the time spent catching this one.Joshua Jackson assigns a surprising, affecting and all-together terrific performance as a young guy running away from his obligations, demons and The Big C across Canada. The journey, the people he happens in to and the scenery he traverses is both memorable and inspiring. Jackson is absolutely first-rate, and it's a performance that should go to the top of his acting CV. Narrator Campbell Scott is the icing on the cake.Perhaps I have a soft spot for the locales the film chose to shoot in, but the Banff, Alberta and Tofino, BC sequences are both memorable and perfectly capture the ambiance and inherent magic of those places. Seeing the film you'll want to pack up the car and do the trip.Don't pass this casual, small-scale gem by. It's one that you'll be sure to recommend to friends.
No Saskatchewan???
posted on 30 Oct 2008I totally loved this movie. The only thing that bugged me was that all of the "Saskatchewan" scenes were not actually filmed in Saskatchewan, so that was a bummer.I love Joshua Jackson and love the fact that he is Canadian. I thought it was a beautifully done movie that made me very proud to be Canadian.I was expecting it to be intense and to a certain degree it was, but it was also funny, heart warming and inspiring.I highly recommend this film to any Canadian who wants to see more of our beautiful country on film. And for anyone else in the world who wants to see how amazing and vast out country is.
Is Canadian art really enough? Uniquely Canadian yes...entertaining...okay
posted on 26 Oct 2008Reviewers and critics that love One Week all say the same thing "a beautiful piece of art", "perfectly Canadian", "the best piece of Canadian film ever made." Some of these reviews are a little over the top in my opinion. The film is absolutely worth seeing, it is touching and emotional and a great adventure in the same vein as perhaps a coming of age movie only for a twenty something man with a terminal illness. Canadians have this habit of immediately embracing and heaping praise on anything that tries to be completely Canadian and if that was the only requirement, One Week would be one of the greatest films ever made, but I review my films based on entertainment, and direction, and the overall style of the movie and not just what it tries to do. One Week will touch you and the story is terrific in a very subtle way. It won't blow your mind or really truly floor you but it's just touching enough to entertain. The perfect movie to relax too that just about any adult can enjoy because of the character involved and if you're Canadian you will no doubt appreciate the Canadian touch.I have always liked Joshua Jackson, from his Dawson Creek days to some other terrific films he has done since (watch the Horror gem Shutter.) Jackson is absolutely perfect for this role as the suddenly thrust into a life turned upside down by news of his terminal illness. There is something very subtle, emotional and deeply contemplative about his character. He makes the story even more watchable. I hope he gets a really significant break through in his career. His fiancé is played by Liane Balaban. I really am not sure what her character is supposed to be like. From first glance she seems to be a whiny, self involved girl who wants nothing more than to control her suddenly wayward fiancé. You feel very little sympathy for her being that you will connect to Jackson's character so much more. Their chemistry is non existent and she is only there to give Jackson's character something to contemplate and leave. The narration for the story really does carry the plot very well and helps move the story along. The narrator is deep voiced Campbell Scott and does a great job. The supporting cast that he comes across all do a good job but matter very little in the grand scheme of things as no one gets enough screen time nor stands out in any way.Canadian director Michael McGowan is sure to get a lot of acclaim for his work on this film. The movie is just chock full of all things Canadian including the much talked about "cameo" by the Stanley Cup which Jackson gets to kiss which few ever do unless they win it. Beautiful Canadian landscape and a decent story. But the film gets most of it's weight from that Canadian content and that doesn't necessarily make it the perfect film for everyone. Certainly it will leave a lasting mark on Canadian film and I think any person will enjoy it but don't expect it to really blow you away. The ending is rather abrupt although it's not like you don't see it coming. I just looked for a more moving ending I suppose. Still worth a rent for certain. 7.5/10
TIFF Premiere
posted on 24 Oct 2008I had the privilege of being in the audience for the premiere screening of One Week last night in Toronto. As with many Canadian films, the lack of an appreciative audience was evident by many empty seats in Roy Thompson Hall. However, for those of us who were in attendance, we were treated to an incredibly funny (in a tragic way typical of many Canadian films) and touching film. Joshua Jackson (notably absent from the premiere), showed a great range and presented a complex, well-developed character. The scenery was beautiful and there were many Canadian touches to the film - the audience in particular seemed to enjoy the references to Tim Horton's and Canadian Tire. However, the story has a universal theme and will hopefully go on to be enjoyed by a wider audience from around the world.
False Canadiana, Poor Storyline
posted on 18 Oct 2008With clichés left and right, this movie fails to convey an inspired Canadiana by pandering to an old, and consequently, outdated conception of Canadian identity. Hockey (Stanley Cup)? Check. Sweeping ("untouched") landscapes? Check. The (random) use of an aboriginal person for authenticity? Check. Perhaps if the movie focused more on creating interest in its characters rather than trying to connect the audience through a shared (and in this case, unshared) sense of citizenship, it would have created more sympathy and concern from the viewer. The film leaves audiences unable to connect with its protagonist Ben--which seems to be crucial considering this is a story about his personal journey.The movie is also very heavily narrated which becomes overbearing when heard over a story that is desperately trying to find a connection with its audience. Further, the literal use of music every two minutes is not only distracting but off-putting. Is this what being Canadian is? Listening to every Canadian band out there that has a vocalist wailing to the strumming of an acoustic guitar? Really? A little subtlety in this case, would have gone a long way.If you need a reason to see this movie, then do so with the spirit of supporting Canadian cinema. If anything, they can only get better.
Pure Canadian Gem
posted on 24 Sep 2008In my opinion, One Week is one of the best Canadian films to date. I enjoyed it even more so, than Men with Brooms (which is saying a lot).I loved taking the journey with Ben. The beautiful scenery (which as a Canadian I take for granted) added so much to the trip. Along with a narrator, who adds it a bit more depth to the plot, as we find how Ben touches various lives along the way.Ben's story in itself is both sad and heart-warming. For those weary of a sad ending, don't be - You will leave the theatre happy and inspired.I will gladly recommend this movie to all my fellow Canucks and anyone else in the world.
lived up to reviews, felt good to feel a shared experience
posted on 16 Sep 2008I had some great feel good moments seeing this movie, I live in BC, and seeing Ben walking out into the surf in Tofino, where I have surfed myself, I felt so connected with his character, but then seeing him paddling way off shore, I was speaking out loud, "not a good idea", this really hit home his terminal condition, paddling way out like that is really dangerous and you could get swept out to sea and not be able to get back to shore, and you would very easily die, he knew he was already dying, and that really made that fact real to me about his character's situation. Overall this movie also stuck me as very sad, not just because he was dying of cancer, but because he had no faith in God, and that he was not able to continue his relationship with his fiancée.
Low Budget but Bearable
posted on 12 Sep 2008I was fortunate to get a free pass for this film. This definitely is a common theme but not "Canadian" as much as a typical "Torontonian" style indy. In other words the usual white upper middle class characters combined with clever and articulate dialogue/narration. I was half expecting to see a cameo with Don McKellar. Anyway, in spite of the anticlimactic ending Joshua"s performance was good enough to make the film bearable if not believable. Except for the obvious stock footage(and not in historical reference) the film also looked very good on screen, excellent cinematography. This may do well at film festivals especially those outside of Canada but I doubt it will be a huge success at the box office unless the marketing mainstream and online pays off.
An unabashedly purely 100% Canadian gem
posted on 30 Aug 2009Since this film is only playing in Canada, it only makes sense that Canadian critics have had a chance to review this. And what I find funny about their reviews is that I think they are afraid to like it. In their professional world, they want to remain un-jingoistic as possible.The problem with this is One Week is jingoistic and it is proud to be full of jingoism. As Canadians, unless it has to do with the Stanley Cup or the World Juniors or the Highway of Heroes in Trenton on the 401, jingoism and Canadian sadly are not synonymous with each other. One Week is proud of this country and just as some critics used to say that John Hughes must have worked for the Illinois tourism board, writer/director Michael McGown and Executive Producer/star Joshua Jackson must work for the Canadian tourism board. To be succinct as possible, this is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen and that beauty unabashedly stems from the fact that I love this country. I love the beauty of it and I love the fact that another Canadian(s)_ feel the same way and have gone out of their way to show it.To say the film was moving is an understatement. The story centers on Jackson's character Ben Tyler who has contracted a rare form of cancer and he is told he has maybe a year to live but must come in for treatment right away. He does the opposite and buys a motorcycle and decides that he needs to "find himself" before going in for treatment. The best way to do that, he surmises, is to drive across this beautiful country we live in and see all of it. And see it he does.The film takes great pride in showing us the vastness and the pulchritude of Canada and it shows so many great landmarks in our country. It also shows Toronto and Etobicoke and the DVP, the 401, The CN Tower, Kensington Market, Jarvis Street, Young Street, Centre Island and so many other local landmarks that you will swell with pride just seeing those. That is if you live in Toronto like I do.Along his quest, he travels to Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC and along the way he sees places like Banff National Park, he goes to the mountains, the woods, the quaint diners on the side of the road to the massive and regal hotels in the big cities. If this film does nothing else, it shows us that right in our own backyards we have a beautiful country waiting to be explored.Maybe it's just me, but because I see so many films, I get excited when I see Toronto or Montreal mentioned in a movie. Mention Nova Scotia or Alberta and I'm giddy for the day. One Week is proudly Canadian and even if you are not all that interested in the story about a guy with cancer, seeing the film will make you proud to live in the beautiful country that we do. See this film before it leaves theaters. It won't be here long, purely Canadian films never are. Most of us (me included unfortunately) would much rather watch a 150 million dollar Michael Bay film about giant robots attacking Earth, but once in a while, a fantastic film that shows us what we have here comes out. This is that film and if you have never seen the beauty of the Northern Lights or a mountainous stream in Alberta in the morning when the sun is just coming up, or the rain-soaked streets of Burnaby in June or any other number of beautiful sites in Canada, see this film. It is 2 hours of pure enjoyment and beauty.I'd love to meet Joshua Jackson and Michael McGowan one day and express my sincere thanks for making such a beautifully made film. For all of you Tragically Hip Loonies out there, Gord Downie also makes a very brief but memorable appearance playing a middle aged stoner guy who gives Ben some words of wisdom.One Week is perhaps the best film I have seen so far this year. I hope the rest of this country gives it a chance.9/10