Contact Lisa: lisa@crackednotbroken.com Contact Paul: paul@crackednotbroken.com

Postings of interesting comments from people who have experienced the film.

Feedback from the April 29th, 2006 screening at the Regent Theatre in Toronto.

Hi Paul and Nicol,

Wow!  What a powerful, heart wrenching and touching film.  Actually, it felt more like an 'experience' than a film.

I think you did an outstanding job in capturing so many dynamics - the obvious being Lisa's challenge and the hard to watch 'shooting up' scenes. Yet, there were the not so in your face but just as powerful scenes that brought tears to my eyes - when Nicol was talking from her heart about her friend, the Mother who felt she was losing her daughter, the daughter who, by her own tears, showed that she felt her mother's pain and love.

I really hope that Lisa makes it through this in order to help others.  For every Lisa there are so many others out there that do not have the help or do not admit they need it.

Perhaps we will look back and think this was somewhat of a serendipitous situation with you being able to bring this story to others, helping Lisa and at the same time helping the youth of today.

I wish you all the best!

Amanda

Paul,

Wow....that is a powerful story and you have done a wonderful job in capturing the raw- yet very real emotion of it all. I am deeply touched. Very well done.

It must be excruciatingly difficult to see someone so dear to your heart struggle with such a terrible illness but if your efforts prove remotely cathartic for Lisa, it must make the pain of your journey somewhat more bearable.

I really "enjoyed" the ride. Please keep me on your bulk e-mail list as I would love to see any additions to the story.

Go Lisa go.....good luck girl!!

All the best.

John

Feedback from the second screening - October 11, 2005

Paul,

A quick note to congratulate you, and to let you know how much I enjoyed Cracked... Not Broken. Scratch that. 'Enjoyed' is inappropriate. I didn't enjoy your film; at least not in the way one enjoys "It's a Wonderful Life or "Zorro, the Gay Blade". In fact, I suffered through "Cracked...", grappling with two sides of myself - one that is compassionate for the human condition, and a darker more selfish side, curious and exhilarated by Voyeurism.

Cinephiles are the consummate voyeur. We enjoy watching other people from a distance, be they suffering or not. The closer the watcher finds himself to the subject, the more thrilling the encounter becomes.

Watching Cracked, I suspect, one experiences a lesser degree of the thrill a junkie experiences - some measure of curious euphoria, that quickly evaporates into guilty, shameful self-examination. The occasional nervous flitter of audience laughter, borne not out of comedy, but rather discomfort, testifies to this and credits your instincts as a filmmaker.

Let me bookend with another quote from Alfred Hitchcock: "In fictional films, the director is God. In documentary, God is the director".

I'm not a religious man sir, but God was with you that day in that hotel room. I don't question that.

Congratulations and good luck with the rest of the journey.

Jason Gileno
East Hill Productions

Paul:

Many thanks for following up with me and inviting me to the second screening. I had to dash after the last question to Lisa, but I wanted to tell you how incredibly moving the film was. I could not help but feel great affection, but also incredible sadness for Lisa -- a highly likable yet tragic figure. Her introspective observations about her way of coping with life, how being high had actually become her "normal state" and how soberness is indeed a scary place for her to be -- full of self-doubt and anxiety, etc. It uncompromisingly put a human face on drug addiction, but reminds us all how the insecurities we all share as human beings can become so acute for some that they need to seek out oblivion just to manage. What is perhaps so unsettling about the film is how she (through you the film-maker) seems to become a friend to all of us in the audience and this brings the whole spectre of drug addiction much, much closer to home.
Congratulations on the film and best of luck with it.

Best wishes,

Jeff

September 14, 2005

Paul..........

I wanted to write you immediately and give you my impressions of tonight's documentary. I was there with my cousin who has a daughter aged 19 who is an addict. She was moved deeply by your film and as we discussed later....we know it helped many of us. Myself, I am trying to support my cousin and it is sooooooooo difficult as I have not walked in her shoes. I wanted to attend tonight as I knew it would give me a better understanding of "their world"..

I hope you do well with this film wherever it goes..........I hope it is used to further educate people like me who have been blessed with a life without addiction.....let us know if we can help you in any way.

Good Luck!!

Heather

Paul,

The story was great but a little upsetting being a mother of children. I have led a sheltered life and fortunately my children were not afflicted with this illness and it is an illness. My heart goes out not only to Lisa, but to her whole family. I take it that they did stand behind her with all the help money or love could purchase. I found that it mainly to me dealt a lot with prostitution and how her life unfolded in order to keep her habit going. I myself would have liked to know more about the drugs, possibly where she got them from the first time of usage without putting her life in danger. She is a very bright person with so much knowledge and things to offer. Like most parents in my generation, I knew little about drugs, it just was not talked about in our home therefore I feel that kids from the age of 12 should see this and be able to asks many questions. If I could possible let me know. She obviously is crying out for help and trust but I feel does not wish to get friends involved. She is also looking to help others before they get to deep into this.

Great Job.
Ann

Paul,

Thanks for the opportunity to view the film. Had to run after the film but wanted to touch base.

As you may know my favourite type of films are human edge documentaries. This one had the interesting twist that Lisa, an attractive together woman, could be the mother living next door or the girl we all knew in high school. Unexpected. I found the scene when she¹s trying to take a hit to be pretty intense; it looked like you were feeling it too with the heavy sighs and panning up. I¹m sure that was not an easy scene to shoot because of the personal attachment you have to Lisa. It¹s interesting that she seems to know the answer to her problem and the reason why she behaves the way she does, but yet can¹t pull the trigger. If only she could develop a method to control the volume of the noise in her head. Fascinating and yet totally complicated. Tonight we all pray for Lisa.

Quite simply I was totally taken away on your journey. It took some time to readjust afterwards; the sign of capturing attention and then allowing the human spirit to be exposed; a filmmaking accomplishment. Well done.

I found it interesting that her room was painted "Shades of Pink."

Paul

Dear Paul:

I was captivated by the screening of your film 'Cracked Not Broken' at the Regent Cinema last week. However, it raises some disturbing questions for me.

Why is it that we humans are drawn to depictions of pain and misfortune? Is there some kind of unhealthy voyeurism at work in the human psyche - a kind of titillation from seeing the extraordinary suffering in other peoples'

lives, when ours are so ordinary? The Jerrry Springer phenomenon, perhaps?

As a documentary film-maker, do you go in search of such subjects because you know they have magnetic appeal, or as a truly empathetic attempt to explain the frailties we all share by being human? Are you an agent of change, or just the impresario of a gruesome sideshow?

I have always been somewhat bothered by the North American voraciousness for news, and the fact that it is bad news that sells. I suggest that many people confuse the matter of being fully informed with actually doing something about it. When they can roll over in bed after the evening news, confident that they know exactly what's happening... right down to the latest body count... maybe it helps them sleep. But does it help the victims? I wonder if the same gap exists after we leave the theatre for a pleasant evening of socializing following the latest Paul Perrier film.

Disturbing questions. Something to think about.

Yours,,, from the art.

Andrew

Paul:

The film was indeed shocking, but not in the way I'd expected. It was shocking in its normalcy -- the way Lisa talked and acted was nothing like the crack addicts I'd heard about or seen before (and having lived at Shuter and Sackville for 5 years, I've seen a lot). I was fairly sure I was unshockable but I was totally wrong.

To me one of the saddest points of the film was when Lisa talked about having to grab all her stuff and go if she didn't have money for rent. "All her stuff" was basically a bag. That's her whole life sitting within those tiny, paint-peeled walls. (That's not to suggest that possessions make you happy; they are just one of the many losses Lisa has suffered).

Technically I thought it was brilliant, with the flashes at phone rings etc and the colour over saturation post-hit.

Overall, I couldn't say I "enjoyed" the film, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, which to me is a much higher compliment and sign of your tremendous achievement with it.

Liam Scott
Sugarvision

Mr. Perrier,

I am just emailing you to let you know what I thought of your movie, "Cracked Not Broken".

Although I found the movie slightly disturbing at parts I learned a lot of things about crack addictions that I had no idea about before. I realized that a crack addiction is not something you have much control over. It never occurred to me that it could be an illness. I also realized the emotional roller coaster that crack addicts go through. The highs they experience and then the extreme lows. I also realized, even though this is stereotypical, that it's not just homeless people who get exposed to this problem but it can be people from all backgrounds. At first I was nervous to see the movie because I wasn't sure how disturbing I would find it, but I'm glad that I saw it because it taught me a lot of things that one wouldn't likely otherwise experience. The rawness of the film was really amazing because I wasn't seeing the Hollywood "preconceived" idea of drug addicts, but I saw it for what it really is.

Thanks

Shaine Currie
15 Year old High School Student

Paul:

CONGRATULATIONS Paul & Lisa on creating one of Canada's GREATEST videos / films.

Cracked Not Broken - (a GREAT title) - is one of the best video / films I have seen in a long time. It is important on so many levels - to see how the medium can cause GREAT changes not only for Lisa but for others - this is REALITY - this is documentary at it's finest. Great work Paul - you're a master of REAL TIME - and letting a story be told!

Please pass onto Lisa, all our heart-felt CONGRATULATIONS on her road to recovery. Great to meet such a powerful, smart and beautiful woman come to terms with her demons and try to use her power in creative & positive ways as she is certainly are a gifted woman.

Thank you both for a rich / rewarding evening.

John Watt
President/Creative Director

Hi Paul,

Thanks so much for inviting me to the screening of your wonderful film.

While I thought that the footage you showed me last winter was powerful, the film in its current form has much greater impact and is a piece that is truly worthy of the subject and the tremendous courage of Lisa.  Obviously a woman who deserves our respect and admiration.  

I sincerely hope that this will be a break-through production for you as you richly deserve it.

Angus Robbie
Designer/Developer
Snuffbox Inc.

Paul,

That was an amazing experience. Thank you for including us. I honestly don't know how you were able to do it emotionally.

Lisa is quite a remarkable woman. I can't believe that she had the courage to be there and to deal with some of the comments that were fielded to her, I was intrigued by her and had my eyes opened and brain to the way that her brain works and the horrible head games that she lives with. Where does your movie go from here?

I told Gord and Alexandra (off at University) about it and if the opportunity were to arise they would both love to see it.

Thanks again :
Robin Heintzman

Paul,

I just wanted to say that I found your film very powerful. I think your approach was perfectly suited to the subject matter and added up to a moving experience. It was cinematic "thinking on your feet" and you pulled it off. Congratulations.

Now where the fuck are those TIFF photos? (And no more sneaking in the green room...)

Cheers.  

Mark Dillon
Editor, Playback

Paul:

A truly courageous story that is to me as much your journey in filmmaking in this genre and topic area as Lisa's story and her brave telling of her journey and her HOPE ...I also admire Nicol for her part and her role in the film.

Don't change a thing...a documentary film maker's filming in real time "is what it is"  and is integrally joined to the film content.  

It took a lot of courage to screen this film and more courage to hold a Q&A..But again, fitting with the film as you "let the story unfold".

I was so glad I experienced this..as a friend and health professional.

Thanks for letting us share in this experience.

Wynne