We Canadians are a strange lot, at least in our cinema. That is not necessarily a bad thing, although it does push most English-language Canadian films into obscurity in the American marketplace.
I am here to right that wrong in some small way. This column is devoted to five marginalized Canadian films dating back several years but new to DVD only recently. This is a mixed bag, and I don’t even like all of them. Yet each film — even among ones I am iffy about — is unique, ambitious and unlike anything you see in the mainstream.
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (2002): Bite me! Bram Stoker’s Dracula legend has not tasted this odd, and delicious, since Murnau’s famed Nosferatu. In this version, Winnipegger Guy Maddin adapts Mark Godden’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet production into a retro-silent film that combines visuals and Mahler’s music. The results are daring, startling, provocative and sensual.
Maddin, working with Deco Dawson, has perfected his modern use of silent film techniques, including those from the German expressionism movement. He uses title cards instead of dialogue. He manipulates the camera’s eye. The film is in black and white, except for splashes of blood-red and tinting for certain sequences. Yet his bat-beautiful anti-hero is more modern than Murnau’s vampire. As played by Wei-Qiang Zhang, who targets Tara Birtwhistle’s Lucy, he is a ravishing cad and this film is a visionary spectacle.
Toronto Stories (2008): A nameless 9-year-old boy is the only link in the four vignettes here. As he wanders the mean streets, we meet special “ordinary” people who bring grace to the urban environment. The piece was written and directed by four filmmakers, each working on his or her own: Aaron Woodley, Sook-Yin Lee, Sudz Sutherland and David Weaver.
As with most anthologies, viewers will gravitate to one story more than another. My favourite was the kids-and-monster tale starring Samantha Weinstein, who continues to amaze. Another vignette, with Gil Bellows as a caring bum, works equally well, despite awkward extremes in the narrative. None of the four stories is a dud. That speaks well for the film as a whole, suggesting that even Canadians who hate Toronto — just because — might love a modest movie about the city.
Hank And Mike (2008): The original tagline for this wonky American-Canadian comedy was, “Pink, pissed and unemployed.” For the DVD, the title characters are merely “annoyed.” If that is a question of taste, that is hilarious because the movie itself mocks decency and conventional morality. And, for a transgressive comedy about grown men who work as Easter Bunnies until they are fired in a downsizing, that is just the right approach.
I don’t want to oversell this thing, because the photography is inferior, the production design sucks and director Matthiew Klinck clearly shot this on a low budget. But writers and actors Paolo Mancini and Thomas Michael are wickedly funny, in a dry way, and have the skills to elevate this crazy little movie out of the rut of merely being absurd.
Heaven On Earth (2008): I remain a devoted follower of Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s work, especially her elemental trilogy. But this surreal drama about spousal abuse fails, even though it is a serious attempt to chronicle a social ill. That said, Preity Zinta is impressive as the Indian bride who suffers in a Toronto suburb when her new husband mistreats her badly in an arranged marriage.
Mustard Bath (1993): I did not connect with writer-director Darrell Wasyk’s domestic drama on first release — and I still don’t. Yet there is something naggingly compelling about the saga. The sterling cast, led by Martha Henry as Wasyk, takes us on a cultural journey from Canada to Guyana.
bruce.kirkland@sunmedia.ca
