CINEMA CAN • A D A

light of day on the theatrical circuit. The Braill is and she wails "We ha ve to find him' " "Whatdo Motion Pic. Equipment Rentalsl.p. Tom Bremahan, Cyndy Preston, David Gale, George Buza, Christine Kossack, Bret headed directly for the bottom of the bin in the you mean we have to 7", asks the best friend. "I Pearson, Bemice Quiggan , Susannah Hoffman, justine sleaziest section of your local video-cassette don't know ", is her idiotic response . It seems Campbell . Presented by Brightstar Films. outlet reserved especiall y for this sort of sad that the makers of The Bra ill also apparently pre-pubescent schlocklhorror flick. don't know what theyare doing. Ican only hope The Braill, which borrows liberally from David they got paid well fo r their efforts and that the Cronenberg's Videodrollle and Iliva sioll O/Tlle ta lent was ted here will get on with the better Body Silatchers, without a whit of justice done to films they all are capable of making. 5 either of these far superior films, concerns the Paul Townend • George Erschbamer' doings of an evil, alien psychiatrist (Da vid Gale) THE BRAIN exec. p. Don Haig p. Tony Kramreither d. Snake Eater who controls the minds of th ose who wa tch his Edward Hunt se. Barry Pearson ed. David Nicholsond. 0. p. TV show by means of a living brain. The brain, GiUes Corbeil creallire alJd makellp fx. Mark Williams m1l 5. which at first looks like an oversized piece of Paul lazaco . p.lp. mgr. Ken Gord assoc. p. Phillip M. Good K. It plays like thi s. Vietnam vet p. erecllVE! Victor "jake " Dalochp.exec. (SG E!Gary turd wi th a tail, is hooked-up to all sorts of Druckerassl. 10 p. Teresa A. Wain arl d. Byron Patchett "Soldier " is back home after electrodes and TV monitors from which it rela ys slllilis coord. Gary Brown sp. fr Danny White, Craig Williams serving in the crack search-and­ commands to its master. casl. Lucinda Sill, CDC 151a.d . Robert Petol'icz 2nd a.d. destroy squad the "Snake No t content with merely controlling human Randi Richmond 151. ass/.ed. Robin RusseU 2nd assl. cd. Rae Eaters." Back in civvies there's Crombie, Cyndy Fret sd. ed. Ka rl Konruy loc. mgr. jeremy I minds with hallucinations, the brain un­ Gauthier, Tony Morrone, Mark Mowadgaffa I.P . Locherer notO much ca ll on the streets of "big cit)' U. S. A. " explainedly develops a carnivorous appetite for besl boy Alan Pill eleclricim,s Yuri Yakubiw, Dean Emerickkcy for ea ting snakes or searching & destroying, so the mad doctor's female assistant. "That's food grip Bill Heintz 2nd grip john Boan-MitcheUbc sl ooy grip our boy lines up undercover work as a narc Richard Emerson grips Bruce Chadllock, Mark Mavrinacsd. for thought! ", exclaims the wide-eyed Tee. jin Hong, Rae Crombie boom Doug Dixon cosl. des. Eva stinging dope dealer. Benefits include a sex\, psychiatrist as the unfortunate assistant Gord ,,.rd. jocelyn Senior ,,.,d. assl. Sara Schilt sci drcsser black pusher with a scar from neck to na vel who disappears inside the squirming lump of turd. Nick White 151. assl . cam . john joffin 2nd as sl. cam. jane likes to play strip poker without the poker. Da\os cam. assls. David Plank, josh Melamed, Ben Sharp, A tribute to corporate raiders? After a satisfying burp the creature develops the Anyway the boy plays by his own ru les and Gisele Turpin, Mark Willis hoy props Danny White props assl. Only the braintrust behind this funniest set of fangs and bulging eyes Craig Williams Dinl. ed. David Nicholson 51'. froas sls. Ray when the junkies come by he na ils their feet to knows for sure imaginable. Greer, Cathy Mullamphy, Gabe FaUus, Rae Crombie, Kevin the floor to make sure they don't split. His Into this ludicrous state of affairs comes our Danzey, Thomas M. Bellisario bmill op. Chris superiors at the P. D. don't like his ap proach and all-American hero (the suburbs of Toronto and Thiesen hausen, Phillip M. Good video COilS . Bruce Parlette turf him from th e force. Edward Hunt's p. coord. Sandi Henri, Sandra Dezie13rd. a.d. CariosCaneca Mississauga are thinly disguised to be a.d.lminccChristine Dore o/fice p.a. Tom Willey conI. Karen Meanwhile, down some desolate backwoods The Brain somewhere in New York, although the art Paterson sci dl~. Roderick Mayne assl. arl d. Michael ba yo u, Soldier's famil y are vacationing on their director forgot or couldn't afford to lose the Bo rth~ock 2nd . a.d. Andrea Stokes arl depl. ImincrTamara houseboa t whe n set upon by a group of snarling, Toronto transit stops and other assorted bits of Boan-MitcheU consl. foreman Andrew Colpitts hd. carpmla he Brain reunites the team of Edward jim Panry carp. Chris Radley Walters, Da\od Hoekstra paililer sadistic hillbillies who've been festering in the Hunt, director, and Barry Pearson, Canadiana), played by Tom Breznahan with a Hanry Patchett p. a. Thomas M. Bellisaro craft Anne Ozarks since Delil'crmlCc. Mom & Dad sink into writer. In 1977 the two produced a perpetual smirk. Of course he is cute and Fotheringham hair/makeupOd elya Iwir/makellp assl. Donna the black cess pool in a burning blaze of glor\' virtually unknown tax-shelter film, contemptuous of authori ty. He resists the Kera vica drivcrcapl. Noella Nesdoly dri,,,s Mark Currie, while lithe, nubile Sis goes off to be a sex slave, psychiatrist's atte mpts at brai nwashing and Andrew Sparkes, Andrew Ward, Andrew Vincent co mpo Plaglle, starring Daniel Pilon, Kate Reid allimalion Lanry Chase slills phOIOSophie Hogan trims casl. locked up in a fetid shack. Soldier finds out that subsequently he is chased all over the lab and Tand Celine Lomez, that was eventually released jW Casting folry arl~1 Reid j. Atherton folry assl. Maureen his folks are dead from a sheriff after he's laid out on the Texas drive-in circuit in 1979. town by the mad doctor's remaining assistant, a Wetteland neg culler Catherine Rankin piliI'D lransfers Alndon acou ple of particular'" nas t\' bikers at a roadside Hunt had previously wri tten, produced and certain overweight, lunatic-looking Nurse Grp . Prods. re-ree. mix Mike Hoogenboomo>sl. mix Peter pit stop ca lled "The Cage " where he landed after Varna, played unintentionally for laughs by Kellyadrsd. ree. Rae Crombie Inserls crew : p. mgr. Rae directed Starship Ilivasion with Robert Vaughn in Crombie gaffer Phillip M. Good kry gril' Mike Brown grip his chopper went ou t of control after he veered 1976, and Pearson had written the screenplay for George Buza. Every once-in-a-wh ile the rapidly Harold Delisle p. assl. Mike Toke slllnlS Gary Brown, Ed to avoid hi tting a child chasing a ball . The man 's Paperback Hero in 1972. You growing brain will appear out of nowhere to Hellier, Steve Pemie, Cind y Gold hawk equipmenl Cd n has a heart of gold . would have thought that these two gentlemen of menace our hero and wrea k havoc on the good modest but promising ta lent would have learnt a folks of Meadowvale. thing or two abou t filmmaking over the years Our macho high school hero is helped bv his and perhaps gone on to do better things. virginal girlfriend, the pretty but incompetent However, time seems to be working in reverse Cyndy Preston, until she too comes under the with the theatrical release of The Braill. Amore brain's power. Once again he is chased all over inept, ama teurish piece of celluloid excrement the place by Nurse Varna. Again he escapes and cannot not be imagined even in the darkest days sneaks back into the TVstud io, intent on of tax-shelter filmmaking. destroying the brain . By now the organ has The fil m was produced by Tony Kramreither, become the size of a Mack truck, eating the man responsible for such Canadian ev~rybody in its path, including, thank cinematic gems as MOlldo NlIde (1978) , goodness, Nurse Varna. However, our hero, HlInlllllgoll5 (1981) and Thrillkill (1983). wi th his ex-virginal girlfriend at his side, comes However, recently Kramreither has been face-to-face with the IVorst case of bad breath moving away from his more lurid films and this side of King Kong. With an unbelievable getting behind quality projects like Leon Marr's sleight-of-hand, he blows up the saliva-drooling Dallcing III The Dark and the underrated COllcrete monster and happily all the good people of Allgeis. The Brain represents a major step Meadowvale are released from its spell. , backwards to the bad old days. In fact, all oops, I mean America, is once again saved from involved in this laughable piece of junk, alien domina tion. including special effects co-ordinator Mark In the middle of one of the endless boring Williams (The Fly, Alie/ls), should be thoroughly chases, our hero's best friend and girlfriend, embarrassed that this film has actua lly seen the who are looking for him in the TV studio, stop,

SEPTIMaE. 1989 CINEMA CANADA PAGE 35 PAT THOMPSON

Anyway he smells something fish y (not Afew short filmsand videos in two of the programs, competition in such exotic sports as mouthpul­ version of the one depicted in the come-on surprising considering all the depraved things Childhood's End : Working on the Family and ling (complicated to describe precisely .. . ). catalogue. But, in this electronic age, it results in the locals do with fi sh) and with an AK-47 Family Secrets, ill the ol'erfiolVillg (orlli/copia at the Qaggiq is in a direct line from Flaherty and, the family name and address being added to assault rifle and his bike retrofitted to cruise the Images '89 Festiml of IlldepelldCllt Film &Video ill assuming its authenticity, is a rivetting glance endless mailing lists, and so the glossy, waves, he heads off to seek ve ngeance .. . Torollto , May 3-7/89. over the shoulder into the past. Director seductive material rolls in to tempt and to upset Sllake Eater - a new action/adventure shot in Zacharias Kunuk was unable to attend the the family balance. New Brunswick and co-produced by Cinepix QAGGIQ screening, but sparse information gleaned Though lighthearted in style, with cut-out ads and Carota Films. Allow me to ask a rhetorical his impressive work is the one against indicated that he has made about eight films, worked into a number of collages, the questi on? Why does anyone bother to write or which all others viewed at the Festival and Qaggiq will be shown on the underlying message is a dark condemnation of produce such nonsense? Why does anyone were judged! Zacharias Kunuk wrote a Broadcasting Channel this year. Would that a the divisive nature of advertising. (does anyone) go to see such schlock? I know, I script, and then members of the wider audience could see more of of his work. Avideo by Ardele Lister. (1986) B. C. 8 mins. Distributor : know - it's escapist entertainment written to community improvised the docudrama Video Out (604) 688-4336 appeal directly to the adolescent midbrain . The Tunder his direction. This story of home life in the Avideo by Zacharias Kunuk. (1989) N. W.T . 58 mins infantile jokes, references to mas turbation, beer in the 1930s centres on a young man who FARM FANTASY BORN TO BE SOLD: Martha Rosier bottles in the groin, gimmicks with condoms, wa nts to marry a local girl. Herfather won't give Elizabeth shows us her family at work on their Reads the Strange Case of Baby SM etc. appeal to the adolescent sense of humour. his consent, his wife favours the match, but to no potato farm in southern Ontario - but with a The video artist relates the details of the famo us All the knives, guns, blood, gore, fights, avail . hIIist. This short video charmingly portrays surrogate mother case in the U. S. and, in the shootouts, imaginative wa ys of killing people, The community prepares for the annual famil y members animated and larger than life, process, manages to analyse, dissect, and have a etc. appeal to the sense of action and adventure. Qaggiq ga mes, and builds a large igloo to house working steadily, and loomingover the horizons certain amount of highlyentertaining fun with a Gets the adrenalin flowing. And the barely"clad , the gathering. People come by dog team for the of their acreage as the seasons follow each other. serious issue that turned into somewhat of a semi-clad , and un-clad female bodies, wet singing, the telling of stories, and the games. Apleasant little piece with a specially composed circus. T-shirts, and bestial sexual attitudes of the The young man hopes to win over the girl's and agreeable C&W soundtrack. With the aid of written material and TV clips, uncouth hillbillies- well Idon 't know what lurid father by displaying his courage and strength. Av ideo by Elizabeth Van der Zaag. (1989) B. C. 4 mins. plus added pseudo-dramatizations, Rosier fantasies they' re supposed to appeal to. Right from the large-screen video opening Distributor : Video Out zeroes in on family rights and class attitudes and And they make them in the U. S. and if we shots, one's interest is caught and then held cleverly turns them on their collective ears. A want to show we're every bit as good (orbad)as throughout the unfolding of the story . The sheer MATEUS - FIFTY YEARS mite too long, but gruesomely amusing the Americans then ... And they have them on "foreignness " of it all is overwhelming - the ACOALMINER nevertheless. the back racks of the video section of the unending open spaces of ice and snow; the The filmmaker's grandfather, Mateus convenience store where they re nt for a couple unfamiliar language (accompanied by adequate Pieszchala, ca me to Canada in the 1920s from Avideo by Martha RosIer. (1988) U.5: A. 28 mins. Distributor : Vrrape (416 ) 863-9897 of bucks and make money for someone but, but, English sub-titles) ; the Inuit seen not as we Poland looking for a better life. Through his ch ildren's memories and his painfully sparse but. .. seriously, why bother? Is it too idealistic know them today, but as they were in the '30s PRETENDING WE WERE INDIANS to believe that one can make other hip stuff with authentic clothing and large and beautiful disclosures, Mateus's hard life and battle against poverty, hardship, and discrimination emerges. As mall video speculation by a wallcing woman which will appeal to teenagers without the dog teams. The slight storyline is fleshed out by as to a perceived, but not confirmed, family veneer of violence? That turning this material the daily round of living in a male-oriented, An interesting record of an immigrant family's secret. Aw hiff of native ancestors, hushed up out into the community just reinforces sexist harsh environment. struggle during the Depression years, long ago; pieces of a puzzle worked upon during 7 contrasting vividly with today. The children are stereotypes and exploits the female body That Avis itor brings a new pipe for his friend - the the walk; scraps of information sifted through all the moneya nd time and effort and talent that father of the girl who's desired by the young outgoing, comfortably settled and fluent in her mind - what really happened? go into making allY feature film could be man - and there's much talk about its merits as it English, while Mateus appears lost and employed in better ways? is passed around. When the sun shines, the uncertain and, at times, unintelligible in his A1 6mm film by Katherine Assals. (1988) Quebec. 3 mins. The only thing, in fact, that can be said for children play outside and good humour adopted tongue. One is acutely aware of the Silake Eater is that it avoids the very worst abounds with everyone saying that it's a fine day large gulf between children and father in this MOLD GROWS ON BABY excesses of the genre. There is some humour, - when the temperature must be way below family. The viewer is in the driver's seat looking through the plot, while not actually credible, at least zero. the windshield as the car moves along in a frosty hangs together. The climactic shootout is sparse The staging of the games event starts with the A16mm film by Rock Whitney. (1987) B.C. 25 mins. suburban winter landscape. The car radio spews Distributor : Canadian Filmmakers' Distribution West (604) out the story of a widow, and her daughter who, on anything other than rounds of ammo and the ' building of the large igloo, and here the camera 684·3014 film dribbles to a conclusion wi th an after-the­ is right inside the edifice with flakes of ice as a teenager 20 years earlier, gave birth to an fact filmic aside in a warehouse involving an raining down on the lens as the work ZOE'S CAR illegitimate child. The baby died - perhaps arsonist-cum-bug exterminator and a condom progresses. When the igloo is filled with people, The avalanche of advertising gets a drubbing in murdered? The unresolved family mystery is full of lighter fluid . Try and figure that one out. the storytelling and singing and drumming this somewhat entertaining send-up. Zoe's rehashed, with recrimination and speculation The cinematogI'aphy is passa ble and the art starts, and is soon followed by the young bucks parents enjoy looking at ads and dreaming about tossed behlleen the mother and daughter. The direction creates a certain appropriate displaying their skills and staying power. a life far from their own humdrum existence. landscape slips and slides past the window, but ambience. Lead Lorenzo Lamas of Falcoll Crest Wriggling out of their large jackets, stripped to Giving into her pleas, they order a farm set for , all the unhappy talk fails to provide an answer to fame manages to cultivate some character and the waist, the youths indulge in good-natured Zoe, which turns out to be a teeny-tiny tackey the unsolved secret: who killed the unwanted Ronnie Ha wki ns and Josie Bell ha ve a moment child? or hllo. Sllake Eater is only sligh tly less From Quaggiq, by Zacharias Kunuk: in a direct line from Flaherty's Nanook. A" radio " video! The viewer is trapped inside appetizing cuisine than its name mi ght suggest. a moving automobile and, with no visually Avoid it like a pit full of vipers. dramatic high points, is forced to concentrate on Christopher Majka. the dialogue. After a while, the movement ofthe car and the blandness of the passing scenery combine to induce a hypnotic effect, to the SHAKE EATER ex 1'. Andre Link p. john Dunning detriment of the subject matter. But this is an d. George Erschbamer wr. Michael Paseornek & intense, uneasy video which does not reach a john Dunning d. o. p. Glen MacPherso n 11111,;( john Ma ssar safe, orderly conclusion. 1, 1', Lorenzo Lamas, jos ie Bell, Robert Scott, Ronnie Hawkins, Ch eryl jeans, Larry Csonka, Ben DiGregorio, Avideo by Shalhevet Goldhar. (1988) Ontario. 50 mins. Mowava Pryor. ACinepL xlCarota Films co-production. Distributor:Vrrape(416)863-9897 .

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