Love is Work

Think love is easy? Ask anyone who has contributed to the divorce rate statistics. Love is Work takes a close look at some of the intense moments in the lives of ten people, five couples, as it explores the universal themes of love, money, sex, death, birth and fame. Shot without retakes by two cinematographers in about five hours, the cast is a combination of actors and non-actors, all of them friends of director-actor, John Kalangis. They worked without a script and the final result is an edited version of their improvisation as to how their characters would react to events and situations as they arose from a general story outline. Set in a restaurant, the couples, at different tables, begin slowly but quickly move into deeper emotional territory. We eavesdrop on an author’s (Ryan McVittie) suspicions about his lover’s (Kathryn Zenna) faithfulness, and a man’s (Kalangis) concern for an (off-screen) special needs boy that seems to outweigh his need for his fiancee (Joa Gamelin). At another table things go from bad to worse when the woman (Shauna MacDonald) clearly up for a wild night of sex realizes her younger lover (Fabrizio Fillippo) isn’t so sure. Love is Work was the winner of a the People`s Choice Award at the 2005 Whistler International Film Festival and spent much of 2006 making the rounds of various film festivals including Calgary, Edmonton and Kingston. It received a Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast at the 2006 Canadian Filmmakers Festival. It was finally released in 2007.