by KEVIN LAFOREST

Ricardo Trogi's 2002 directorial debut, Québec-Montréal, struck a chord with audiences, critics and the Jutra awards. Me? Hated it. I thought it was both pretentious and juvenile, promising great insights into relationships but delivering little more than the kind of inane battle-of-the-sexes observations that have made so many québécois stand-up comedians inexplicably successful.

Needless to say, I wasn't expecting much from Trogi's follow-up Horloge biologique, which has Trogi and co-writers Patrice Robitaille and Jean-Philippe Pearson further exploring what makes men and women tick. In their previous screenplay, the catalyst was driving from Québec to Montréal; this time, it's procreation. Sébastien (Pearson) and Justine (Julie Perreault) are raising a six-month-old. Paul (Pierre-François Legendre) and Isabelle (Catherine Proulx-Lemay) are expecting their first child. And while Fred (Robitaille) doesn't feel ready to be a father, his girlfriend Marie (Geneviève Alarie) wants to stop taking the pill and have kids sooner rather than later.

Right from the opening scene, which recalls the "Dawn of Man" prologue from 2001: A Space Odyssey, you can see that Trogi is feeling more confident and ambitious behind the camera. For instance, the fantasy sequences are handled much better here, adding to the storytelling instead of just being used as gimmicks like in Québec-Montréal. Paul's daydreams about other women are particularly amusing, and so are the infomercial spoofs Sébastien watches when he's up all night with the baby.

The movie also has a great '80s pop soundtrack. More than mere nostalgia, tunes from Foreigner, Tears for Fears and Talk Talk are consistent with the film's thematic content, reflecting the male characters' arrested development. All three men are clearly struggling with the idea of growing older, settling down and becoming parents. They desperately cling to their youth by overdrinking, hitting on young girls in bars (including the stunningly gorgeous Karen Elkin) and dancing to the same songs they did 15 years ago.

Horloge biologique is still not as clever as the filmmakers think it is, but Trogi shows enough improvement as a director with this sophomore effort that it will entertain both Québec-Montréal fans and detractors.

HORLOGE BIOLOGIQUE OPENS FRIDAY, AUG. 5

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