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A scene from the movie Everyday.

Never a filmmaker to shy from risk and innovation, British director Michael Winterbottom (9 Songs, The Trip) responded to a request by Channel 4 to make a movie about the prison system by assembling a cast and shooting over the course of four years. Since the story is about the impact of a father's incarceration on his wife and four children – who must trek miles to see their dad – the sensation of time passing and the sheer tedium of holding things together is both powerful and strangely uplifting. While the deep dramatic centre of the movie is the relationship between the husband and wife (John Simm and Shirley Henderson), it's the sight of these kids growing, and their father's sense of loss every time the door closes once again, that loads the movie with a potent emotional wallop.

Sept. 10, 3:00 p.m., Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 7; Sept. 16, 12:30 p.m., Tiff Bell Lightbox 2.

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