François "The Boss" Brochu is 55, he has Parkinson's disease, he cares for his three sons, good youths who have their respective maturity problems, and he modestly earns a living by running a gas station, or "gas bar", of a species that is going the way of the dodo. That gas bar is where a few misfits spend their days, like the pillars in a tavern. Will the sons continue the business when their father is too ill to carry on? Every character's future is at the end of the present day, unless...
It could have been a bland film, a minor soap opera, but it is not. The actors' direction is superb, and the story is sensible. The misfits could have been caricatured, but they were not; they are all sympathetic and flawed human beings, which gives an interesting look into the mystery of humanity. People like that exist, they are real, I have met them in poor neighbourhoods. The Boss is a decent person for his sons and everyone else. He knows his end is coming, and that his sons are still unprepared. Having lost all illusions, what is he to do?
Review of Gaz Bar Blues
