Last weekend was the 2006 Kingston Canadian Film Festival (KCFF), showcasing some of the best cinema that the country has to offer. Here are reviews of a few of the films.
These Girls
These Girls was one of the 2006 KCFF’s opening films, and it got the festival off to a good start. It’s a coming of age sex-comedy that centres around three teenage girls on the East Coast. When one of the girls is caught having an affair with a married man (played by David Boreanaz of Angel and Buffy The Vampire Slayer fame), the other two attempt to seduce him as well, eventually blackmailing the man into having a sexual relationship with all three of them.
The sexually aggressive female protagonists offer a refreshing spin on the genre and the taboo material (including a hilarious deflowering scene featuring Queen’s alumna Holly Lewis) is handled surprisingly well. Teenage sex comedies are not exactly high art, but These Girls is a well-crafted and reasonably intelligent example of the genre.
Despite an over-reliance on shaky hand-held camera, the directing style of John Hazlett is efficient and visually impressive. He also seems to work quite well with the actors, getting solid comic performances out of Boreanaz and the three leads played by Caroline Dhavernas, Holly Lewis and former Much Music VJ, Amanda Walsh, whom frankly I did not expect would be able to act.
Unfortunately, the film is marred by a few problems. It features one supporting character with a mental disability that appears to be in the film simply to elicit a sentimental reaction from the audience. The film also has some very unnecessary and purely expositional voice-over from the main character that can be distracting, especially during the disappointingly predictable feel-good ending.
However, tight plot development and ingenious storytelling are not requirements of the genre. All a good sex-comedy needs are clever jokes and interesting characters; and on that level, the movie delivers. Despite its faults, These Girls is a fine example of popcorn-movie entertainment, offering just as many laughs as an average Hollywood teen-sex romp.
The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico
Winner of Best First Feature at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico is a documentary about the infamous Canadian country music star of the 1970s. Known more for his substance abuse problems and wild stage behavior than his considerable musical talents, Guy Terrifico never released an album, but has a devoted following in the country music community.
First-time filmmaker Michael Mabbott does a wonderful job exposing the fascinating and often hilarious life of this little-known but highly influential figure.
The trouble is that Guy Terrifico never existed. Mabbott’s debut is a mockumentary in the classic Spinal Tap tradition. No one would ever be fooled into thinking that the events depicted in this movie are real—there are far too many surreal fart and midget jokes for that to happen,—but the movie is shot and designed to appear as though it is a genuine retrospective documentary, with the only exaggeration coming from the comic depiction of the events. A strong cast of unknown actors (Matt Murphy of East Coast bands, Super Friendz and the Flashing Lights fame, makes his big-screen debut) bring the fictional characters to life, while genuine country music stars such as Kris Kristofferson provide deadpan interviews encouraging the hoax. It’s a funny, clever little movie that manages to tread on the same ground as the 1984 Christopher Guest/Rob Reiner classic, without ever feeling redundant. That being said, Michael Mabbott is clearly a fan of 1970s progressive country music and filled his movie with many in-jokes and references to that era that will be lost on most viewers, including myself. There is plenty about the film to be enjoyed by casual cinemagoers, but for anyone who is a fan of that particular musical genre, The Life and Times of Guy Terrifico is a movie that cannot be missed. The film was also named the winner for the first annual zip.ca People’s Choice Award at the conclusion of the festival. The winner was selected based on post-show audience polls.
Lucid
At a film festival workshop on genre filmmaking, director Sean Garrity said that he wrote and directed his sophomore effort, Lucid, with the trailer in mind, claiming that his first feature was far too difficult to market. This certainly shows, as Lucid has a fantastic trailer, but ultimately disappoints as a movie.
Garrity was attempting to create a moody, mysterious, psychological thriller with a kick-you-in-the-ass surprise ending. He gets the look and pacing exactly right. It certainly feels like a thriller and the acting is quite strong as well (especially Callum Keith Rennie, best known as Billy Talent in Hard Core Logo).
Unfortunately, the movie is marred by a serious case of M. Night Shyamalan-itis: bad, “creepy” child acting and a brutal, twist ending. There are two stock thriller surprise endings that have become clichés: one in which two characters are revealed to be the same person, and another where one or more characters turn out to be ghosts.
I will not mention which one of these endings Lucid has, but suffice to say it is a frustrating denouement. This really is a shame, because for the first forty minutes or so, Lucid comes off as a complex, intriguing thriller. The finale leaves a taste so sour, it ruins the movie. Great trailer, though. Download it and skip the feature-length version.
Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey
Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey was the 2006 KCFF’s midnight movie. While it might seem strange to give a slot normally dedicated to cult genre movies or gross-out comedies to a documentary, Metal did not disappoint.
The movie starred and was co-directed by Sam Dunn, a life-long fan of heavy metal music, as well as a trained anthropologist. Dunn uses his academic background to critically examine the entire heavy metal subculture, addressing everything from fan loyalty to censorship.
The movie does not shy away from the stereotypical attitudes towards heavy metal, acknowledging all of the drunken, violent excess the lifestyle encourages (the most shocking example being a Norwegian death metal guitarist who was convicted of both burning down a church and murdering a member of a competing band).
However, Dunn also interviews many key musicians including Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickenson and Rob Zombie, revealing them all to be intelligent, sensitive artists who use the music as a means of exploring dark subject matter that would not be acceptable in any other musical genre. Running at a tight 93 minutes, Metal offers an insightful look at the heavy metal community that is so effective it should appeal to all audiences, not just metal bands.
Escape to Canada
In the summer of 2003, the Canadian government simultaneously legalized gay marriage and initiated the process of legalizing marijuana. Suddenly, a country that has a tendency to be, well, a little old fashioned and boring became an exciting and trendy place.
Documentary filmmaker Albert Nerenburg created Escape to Canada as a means of examining the country’s new image. It is an irreverent, politically charged and frequently hilarious look at contemporary Canada, presented with breakneck pacing and a discerning filmmaking style.
Introducing the film, Nerenburg admitted to having a liberal bias on the material, but his movie is surprisingly even-handed. While it is undeniably a work by a director with a point of view, Nerenburg does give opposing opinions a voice in the piece and never degenerates into Michael Moore-style propaganda.
Escape to Canada is an informative, entertaining and important look at the current state of our country and deserves a national theatrical release. If you didn’t catch it at the festival, be sure to track it down as soon as you can.
Low Budget
Made by former Queen’s students Jedrzej and Maciej Jonasz, Low Budget is an incredibly funny mockumentary about two would-be filmmakers struggling to realize their dream project. Relatively unknown Toronto actors Pat Thornton and Neil Green star as two unemployed childhood friends hired to produce a travel documentary about Canada for television broadcast. However, the fledging actor and director decide to use much of the budget for the TV series to shoot their own science fiction movie at the same time.
The largely improvised film is a brilliant satire of low-budget filmmaking. While Jedrzej Jonasz may be working in a well-established sub-genre, he manages to add enough of his own ideas to the material to prevent Low Budget from becoming a tired retread of a Christopher Guest movie.
Low Budget is a wonderful zero-budget Canadian comedy that you will probably never see. The national distribution of Canadian films is pathetic. Even Canadian movies with large budgets only play in major cities for a few weeks before disappearing to home video.
Festivals such as the KCFF are important because they give Canadians a chance to see movies produced in our own country rather than the latest zany romantic comedy from Hollywood. Unfortunately, these viewing opportunities tend to be few and far between.
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