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Claude Fournier's widow who spends her life sneaking drinks; Juliette Huo t portrays a bossy nun; and Anne Les Tisserands du Letourneau shows up in Tisseral1ds as an angular lesbian dressed in men's suits. pouvoir Part I, II Finally, whatever the streng ths and weaknesses of Les Tisserands dll pOll voir, th e (La Revolte) picture's history lesson is clear, and the issues are spelled out. The mill workers didn't just lose their identity; some of them, including children s Part I of Claude Fournier's Les who worked brutally long hours in dangerous Tisserands dll pOIwoir begins, Baptiste conditions, lost their limbs, and even their lives. Lambert (Gratien Gelinas) , an old It would not be unfair to argue that Tisserands man who ca me to Woonsocket, Rhode is se ntimental, melodramatic, and convention Island as a child, is exploding with ally staged and shot, but Fournier is a pop~li s t angerA because the local TV station plans to cancel who wants to make movies about the people he its French-language broadcasts. Baptiste genuinely ca res about in a fo rm that large complains to the TV people and to municipal numbers of those people will actually watch . politicians, but they all dismiss him as a senile He's not going for cool, post music-video crank. anxiety; he aims at the tear-ducts, the gut, and After all, times have changed. The textile mill the groin And he gets his shit-disturbing Baptiste worked in when he was young is about Remy Girard, Pierre Hebert and Pierre Chagnon in t he height of fashion messages across to audiences that enjoy to be torn down so that the Japanese can build a receiving them. motorcycle parts factory. French is virtually a Claude Fournier calls it " a big, complex story" outli ned, central figures like Va lmore Lambert, Maurie Aliof! • dead language in Woonsocket, and hardly and " a mosaic of impressions" tha t add up to a or Emile Fontaine (Pierre Chagnon), the young anybody thinks abou t the old days. For the total picture of the people whose lives revolved doctor who goes on a crusade for the fac tory LES TISSERA NDS DU POUVOJR PART 1 &2 (LA REVOLTE) p. Marie·Jose Ra ymond, Rene Malo town's Franco-American mayor (Donald Pilon) around Woonsocket's mills of power. workers. Emil e's fathe r (Clement Richard, a d. Ise. Ifi/liled "y CiaudeFournier IV. Michel Coumot, froman and the young generation, embodied by a rookie Unfortunately, some of the pieces of this mosaic fo rmer Quebec cabinet minis ter) appears and idea by Marie-Jose Raymond. d.o.p. John Berrie p. IIIgrs. TV reporter (Francis Reddy), the Quebecois are not especially ca ptivating. drops dead in the same scene (Fournier jokes, Sylviede Grandre, Catheri ne de Guirtchitch( France), heritage of the town is "ancient history. " Part I of Les Tisserands, much more so th an Part "We don't deal with his fu neral- so that's one Jean·C1 aude Cattelle (France) 1st . a.d. MireilleGo uletcont. Monique Champagne 11 1115. Martin Fournier, Normand Desperate, Baptiste puts up a one-man protest II, tilts toward the Roussels (th e picture is a fu neral out of Canadian fi lms. ") Corbeil cost. des . Michele Hamel. Christian Cost (France) by barricading himself in a little out-building of Canada-France co-production). When we are Despite these problems, Les Tissera1/ds dll cliief lIIilktllp ivlichele Dion casti llg Lissa Pillu( France ) ed. the abandoned mill with a home-made bomb. with th em in France as they engage in family pOll voir consisten tly holds your atten tion partly Yurij Luhovy, Claude Fournier 1st. asst. mill. Paul Gravel. Surrounded by a crowd of rurious onl ookers, disputes and extravagan t beach parties, we are beca use Fournier knows how to build Isabel Ferrandis (France ) 211d assl. en",. SylvieRosen thal, Catherine Sebag (France) k
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with wads of toilet paper. "Maman," the two Marc-Andre Forcier's men shout at the climactic moment ; then the boat sinks as the mermaid's fin disappears into Kalamazoo the moonlit wa ter. "You're innocent when you dream." Kalalllazoo's striking images (the d. o. p. was - Tom Waits And re Gagnon) and goofy humor make the movie pleasurable to watch. Forcier builds a ndre Forcier works in a long tradition dreamscape out of oddball locations, strongly of film artists who see beauty in the contrasting colors, and a peculiar clutter of props anarchy of unleashed human and details. Sometimes, he evokes an emotions, no matter how ludicrous, atmosphere that Hashes back to the poetic grotesque, pathetic, or even debased realism of '30s French movies and to silent Athey may be. In L'Eau Cliaude i'eml frette (1976) , comed y. In one sight gag, filmed in an artful the post-pubescent Francine and Ti-Guy (Louise long shot, Pasquale proclaims his love to Gagnon and Rejean Audet) make love on a Helena, on 51. Miquelon's moody harbor, the potato sack, not far from the somewhat older camera turns, and we notice that his ass is Julien (jean-Pierre Bergeron). While the lovers sticking out of a white hospital gown. stir and sigh offscreen, we watch a very long take However, when Kalalllazoo's enjoyable of Julien's morose face, a shifting landscape absurdities and luminous moments are over, shadowed by fear, confusion, and finally ecstasy Remy Girard (Felix Cotnoir) bumps into Tony Nardi (Pascal Globenski) you end up feeling that the film's best material is . as he masturbates himseli out of his loneliness like icing that has been spread too thinly on a and into his friends' hot little moment. changing winds in Quebec's film industry made favorite motifs - the crossed-wire romantic; the half-baked cake. The picture needs more Simultaneously secretive and gregariOUS, Kalamazoo's history a turbulent one. The chance meeting between hvo men, one of whom invention, more surprises, more convolutions in Forcier insists in interviews that his sardonic, province's cinema, once known for its quirky, has exotic origins - we discover that Pasquale is its mock-mythic plot. Asynopsis of Kzllmnazoo abrasive, sometimes darkly funny movies are restless, sometimes unsettling personality, had crazy about Helena Mentana (Marie Tifo ), a published in 1984 suggests a richer, more essentially about the tender sacredness of begun to yearn for show-biz respectability and writer recovering from the failure of her novel expansive (and expensive) film that gives the human love, and that the stumblebums, international marketability . One can easily Kalamazoo on the French islands of Saint Pierre et adventures of the mermaidlHelena Mentana lunatics, and other terrninallosers who rant, invent scenarios about the picture's co-produc Miquelon. character far more prominence. In the picture rave, and drink their way through the films are ers (the Film Board anda private house) reacting Like one of Truffaut's possessed lovers or that he's made, Forcier tends to become lovable creatures, especially when they are to a movie in which a lusty mermaid hobbles into Bunuel's obsessives, Felix immediately falls for mesmerized by his innocent male dreamers in nurturing their crazy dreams. a cheap hotel on crutches, swishing her fin Helena, reads her book, and memorizes every excessively long takes and scenes that threaten In Au CInir de la lune (1982), Albert (Guy across the carpet: word of it. Exalted by the romance of romance, to grind to a halt. L'Ecuyer), a chubby little guy who longs to " A mermaid on crutches 1" the aging bachelor lurches into the picture's next Marie Tifo gives a witty, ironic performance as regain his past glory as the champion of a local That's rlOthing. He seems to think the picture act, operatically proclaiming his absurd passion the film's only woman, while Remy Girard and bowling alley, has a close encounter with should have the rhythm of asix-ton whale lumbering for a woman he has never met. His skeptical Tony Nardi are deft as Felix and Pasquale. But Fran~ois (Michel Cote), an albino street freak through Arct ic waters. " friends at the small hotel where he lives smirk compared to All Clair de la lillie's haunted who might be an angel from outer space. Atthe "Jesus Christ! " and cackle, but soon they too catch the fever. creatures, Kalamazoo's buffoons look quaint and garish heart of this movie is a moment when "Don't say that; it makes me nervous. " The hotel's desk clerk, Jacques de la Durantaye whimsical. The feeling for people trying to "Bert, " smiling radiantly while a tear slides "Why can't he do afast, sexy comedy?" (co-writer Jacques Marcotte), dyes his hair a dream themselves out of loneliness and down his cheek, gazes at Fran~ois walking in the "/ don't think he's in touch with post-refemldum blatantly tasteless reddish-blonde hue, deprivation doesn't run as deep. sky over the rooftops of a working-class Quebec. " signifying he has also been reborn by love. Aromantic whosees the sacred in the profane, neighborhood. "He certainly doesn't understand blldgetary In KIllamazoo, Forcier has a casual, offhand a practical joker who wants to provoke his Full of wild energy, Forcier's characters get exigencies. approach to the miraculous. When the mermaid audiences as he makes them laugh, Forcier in his caught up in obsessive talk, irrational yearnings, People lip there are breathing down my neck. " (also Marie Tifo) appears, she does so wi thout new film tends to straddle the line between and crackpot schemes. Living in ragtag rooming "Wehaveonlyolle solution: fight forcolltrol, drive any special fanfare or effects. Felix discovers her intentional and unintentional cutes. houses or in a "beau Chevrolet vert " half-buried him Illlts, drag it out as long as possible and then -" one night, lying in autumn leaves near a Maurie Alioff • by snow; hanging around laundromats and -Blame.him for all the delays I" riverbank, the double of the enigmatic Helena. Soon the mermaid is stretched out on Felix's KALAMAZOO exec p. Jean Danse reau, Louise Gendron cheap bars, their lives are deprived, pathetic, Six years after Forcier and his long time line p. Nicole Robert, Suzanne Dussault d. Marc-Andre and yet animated by nutty passions. Their collaborator Jacques Marcotte (a man who looks hotel room bed in a sensuous fin -de-siecle pose, Forcier sc, Marc-Andre Forcier. Jacques MarcotteaS5oc. p. universe is a million light years from Denys like he just finished sipping jasmine tea with awaiting his reverential kiss. "I made love to a Yvon Provost d.o . p. Alain Dostie lsi . n.d. Pierre Plante al'l Arcand's smug, tastefully unhappy academics. surrealist poets) completed the first version of woman!" our Tatiesque hero announces the d. Michel Proulx ed . Fran(ois Gill makcllp dcs. Bob Laden next day, but of course, the fact that she isaU fish cosl. des . Fran(ois Laplante p. mgr. Jean-Marie Comeau 2nd. In Yves Belanger and Marc-Andre Berthiaume's the Kalamazoo script, the picture swam into view o. d. Carole Dubucconi : Johanne Boisvert IIlIit IIIgr. Michele documentary Forcier en attendant (1988), last November (and took the prestigious from the waist down, speaks with a man's voice SI. Arnaud ossl. IIlIil mgr. Michel Martin 151. 0551. enlll. someone says they show the" genius that can Ouimet-Molson award for best Quebec film of (Felix's own), and sometimes suggests an Nathalie Moliavko-Vizotski 211d asst. enOl. Syiloe Rosenthal exist in misery. " 1988 at the Rendez-volls dll cinema Qlleoecois in insouciant drag queen, might ha ve certain goffer Real Proulx kcy grip Serge Grenier props Ghyslaine Grenon, Denis Hamel aS51. props Simon Chamberland ,,,"rd. Prolific in the '70s (Bar Salon, Night Cap, L'Eau February, '89). implications. Pierre Perrault dft""r John Stowe Iwir Paul-Andre Claveau Chaude), Forcier finished post-production for All As Kalamazoo opens, Felix Cotnoir (Remy The picture grinds into its next gear when assl. makcllp Gillian Chandler clii(((/(c Pierre Provost 211d. Clair de la lune at the NFB, where he became a Girard), a retired bota nist who types rhapsodic Felix, in the white uniform of a comic book clre. Robert Mattigetzgril,G regoire Schmidt loc >d. Richard ramblings while driving his black Checker sedan admiral, and Pasquale, rapidly losing patience Besse boolll op. Oaude LaHaye slills pliotog. Jacques Tougas "pennanent" in 1982. Since then, during the assl. (d . Suzanne AUard . Carole Gagnon p.n. Maite years he has been a denizen of that institution's (which, like many of the picture's settings, is with his preposterous rival, are sailing toward Sarthou, Robert Courtemanche, Stephane Falardeau, long grey halls, he has completed one film: fes tooned with yellow wildflowers), crashes Saint Pierre et Miquelon in search of Helena. Christine Jasmin, Suzanne McQuarrie p. 5(c' Johane KIllamazoo. into a telephone booth and meets Pasquale The mermaid appears and disappears, and in Pelletier lid. corp. Guy Plourde orig IIII1S. Joel Bienvenue one of the film 's most effective sequences, stllllis Marcel Fournier I. p. Marie Tilo, Remy Girard , Tony People tell stories about script problems, Globensky (Tony Nardi), an excitable Nardi, Gaston Lepage, Jacques MarCONe, Daniel Briere, budget problems, personal problems, and Polish-Italian sign-painter. Pasquale makes love toher in the sea while Felix Terence Labrosse, Christia nVida , Jean Guildadl,1 Malofilm battles with producers for final cut. Perhaps the Once Forcier has established some of his desperately tries to plug up a hole in the sailboat Distribution.
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interviews with the principals. This keeps the Marcel Simard's film from being dry or tedious. In fact, one of the film's greatest strengths is its Le Grand Monde almos t universal appeal. Making Opera informs, but it also entertains. The approach to the eGrand Monde was born as a decision of material is without snobbery. Azzopardi goes the administration council of Action out of his way to etch a compelling portrait of 500 Sante, a group affiliated with the Point people collectively gathered together to crea te 5t. Charles Community Clinic in with love and passion - a work of unparalleled Southwestern Montreal. The idea was beau ty. There are clearly no stars in the making toL produce a film which could help sensitize the of this opera ; no one person is singled out for public to the issues faced by ex-psychiatric their overwhelming commitment over any other patients who are attempting reintegration into participant. Azzopardi addresses every aspect society - as well as simply demystify and of the production with incredible balance The encourage an understanding of them. carpenters, seamstresses, extras and stage The first interesting hvist is that the members managers are afforded as much attention as the of the administration council are, themselves, principal performers, directors, conductors and mostly ex-psychiatric patients; in the last three designers. years they have taken over control of the Perhaps the most interesting thing about IS-year-old alternative resources center. Making Opera is its reflection of the impact of Participation in the responsibilities becomes a music upon vis uals. As mentioned earlier, the part of their own self-administered therapy. opera seems to be one of the few, if not, The second interesting thing is that once they ultimately, the only theatrical art which can truly had found a director lor the project (Marcel survive cinematic adaptation. At one point, Simard), it was these same people who worked Azzopardi focuses upon the opera's stage on the script. Constructing roles based on director John Copley, who state s, "1respond to themselves, they wrote their own parts, their the music. .. [as opposed l to the rather ordinary own stories in collaboration with Simard - who text. " Later on, during an actual rehearsal, edited it all into a story, adding some scenes of where Copley is discussing character motivation his own. Finally, with the addition of three with his principal performers, one of his professional actors (who are subtle enough to fit colleagues remarks that "Copley motivates his into the picture and add to it, without standing work by making sense of the musical score . " out), it is the same group which forms the cast, What's particularly important here is that incarnating their stories and characters for the Azzopardi basically provides the main reason screen as only they could. The Canadian Opera Company rehearses Verdi's La Forza del Destino. why opera and film can be a perfect marriage. The result is an unqualified success. The Almost from the beginning, the musical score action revolves around Action-Sante itself where final product, Makil1g Opera is a fascinating and has influenced the art of film. Whether it be the we see a group of very isolated individuals who Anthony Azzopardi's thoroughly accessible look at the creation of a tinkling piano accompaniment for the silents, or work at bridging some enormous gaps in their massive artistic undertaking. Max Steiner's sweeping orchestral backdrops for social relationships to function with a degree of Making Opera Azzopardi trains his camera on numerous innumerable cinema spectacles; or Giorgio unity. Most of the themes touch on control- the aspects of the production - everything from the Moroder's grinding, pulsating Midnight Express real and perceived lack of it - and a constant mundane to the glorious. Appropriately, the techno-poppery, film has alwa ys relied upon inner debate on the futility or worth of trying. inematic adaptations of primarily film begins during the early stages of rehearsal music to add depth and fee ling to the visuals. At one point, Emile comments on the subject theatrical experiences have olten held and leads us chronologically to the final product. At another point, Azzopardi interviews the of authOrity, on the habitual expectation of allof the dubious distinction (no matter On the first day, we are treated to the chorus' opera's set designer Robin Don, who remarks them that a greater authority will always how well-intentioned) 01 being music rehearsal. Then, on the third day, tha t he is attempting to capture the quality of intervene to resolve their problems. He stodg)" stagey and downright Azzopardi focuses separately on th e principa ls' Goya's etchings" as if th e whole stage is convinces his friends that each of them must see tedious.C The opera, however, has ofte n music rehearsal. In both cases, the principals alld breathing and has a life of its own. "This is what th emselves as the sole authority in their lives, survived the traditionally intrusive translation the chorus are dressed casua llyin street clothes. Azzopardi has accomplished with Making Opera: and that this is the only way they can grow and through the camera eye.' The recent Franco As the days of rehearsal progress, the film then two worlds in one - each living and breathing feel a mea sure of freedom ... So they lock out Zefferelli film adaptations of Othello and La focuses upon such practica l, behind- the-scenes wi th the energy of life, commitment and Pierrette, the community worker in charge, and Trm1iata are perfect examples of this lact. Both aspects as costume-design, wig-making and fulfillment - all of this accompanied by a Verdi begin an adventure of solidarity and responsibil· score. films displa y a consummate blend of stage and fittings. At this point, we begin to see those ity - eventually getting recognition from the screen, exquisitely capturing the sweep and same actors and singers in various stages of Quite simply, Making Opera is breathtaking. community clinic as an autonomous body . grandeur 01 the original medium and translating attire, some in street clothes, others in a blend of Greg Klymkiw • This is the one big unifying story of the movie, it quite vividly onto celluloid. costumes and street clothes. This technique of and it is an important one; the film itself is in fact Acurrent addition to this fine tradition of ca refully detailing the behind-the-scenes growth MAKING OPERA p.ld. Anthony Azzopardi as5Of. p. an exte.nsion of that story into our lives - a Jack Morbin sc. Anlhony Azzopardid.o.p. RonStannetted. blending stage and screen can be lound in of the production not only adds a human concrete manifestation of the true course of Anthony Azzopardi's feature-length docu en element to the proceedings (wigs not fitting, Jack Morbin 111115. Guiseppe Verdi sd. Stuart French, John l11 Thompson, Patrick Rowan 5d. ed. Gary Oppenheimer, Jack development which stands behind the fiction. tary, Making Opera. Wi th grace, keen senslhvlty costumes too big or small, actors and seamstres Morbin I. p. John Copley, Maurizio Arena, Stefka But just as important are all the separate ses joking about it), but contributes to the film's Ebslatieva, Allan Monk, Judilh Forsl, Emeslo Veronelli, and a great deal of economy, Azzopardi moments which flow together so well and reveal duality. There are, after all, two stories being Peter Strummer, John Cheek, Yuri Marusin. Produced and painstakingly details the Canadian Opera so much. Emile, who turns away Marie.Josee's told here : the making of an opera and the opera distributed by Cineroutes Productions Inc. With the Company's production of Giuseppe Verdi's" La financial participation ofTelefilrn Canada, CBe, TVOntario, sexual advances because he can't make love itself. As well, all of this "technical " detail is Forza Del Destino ". Taking us behmd the grand Ontario Arts Council, Onlario Ministry of Culture and when he's on drugs ... Marie·Josee, sub underscored with music and occasional Communications. 16mm, COIOil', 88 minutes. image, with occasional flash-fonvards to the sequently talking to Pierrette about being "easy "
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more facts, but less truth , The people of Peter Gerretsen presents all this with utmost Fitzgerald, Ja yne Eastwood has the thankless Action-San te would have been ever-distanced seriousness and directs qui te straigh tforwardly, role of the mute bag lady who seems to serve no and reserved subjects, But here, they are With his background in advertising, this is purpose until the end, where she becomes a participants in making the film, Instead of the something of a surprise, since it is usually the literal deus ex machina, distance of documentary, we find ourselves in habit of directors from this milieu (Ridley and Heather Kjollesdal's portrayal of Lindsay complicity with a fiction we nevertheless know TonyScott, Alan Parker, Hugh Hudson et al. ) to should not be Judged too harshly, since it is her is very real. emphasize style at the expense of content. But first professional role, Her passing physical As we watch the participants play their roles unfortunately, Gerretsen misses an essential resemblance to Jodie Foster seems to have been we not only learn of their concerns, but we also poi nt necessary for the success of a docudrama, a factor in her casting, In making the pimp Myles see these people in full self-expression, often There has to be some drama, and the documenta a Superfly black, and the abusive father an dealing with deep emotional issues, and that is ry has to reflect the truth, Night Friend is deficient unshaven backroads slug, Peter Gerretsen what is so fascinating: we are getting to know in both these areas, perpetuates two unfortunate stereotypes, them-or, at least, towant to know them, Weare Since the producers go to great length in their For film wise viewers, there is one other getting to love them, And that is the mark and production notes to express their concern for th e howler in Nigh t Frielld, At one po,int, Jack takes the means of the film's success, After fitting plight of the young prostitutes in the city, the Lindsay to the movies, The film they see is itself into our everyday reality and getting us to greatest disappointment in Nigh t Friend is that Vagabond, Peter Gerretsen intends this to be care, how can we possibly take these people, they seem so squeamish in their approach, symbolic, but how many 14-year-old runaways and others in the same situation, for granted? Neither Lindsay nor any of the other girls are are Agnes Varda fans? Philippe Isler. ever seen doing anything beyond getting into J. Paul Costabile. and out of cars, Twenty or 25 years ago, such exec. p, Don Haigp, Patricia Gerretsen H delicacy" might ha ve been accepted, but in the NIGHT FRIEND wake of Hookers Davie and especially d.lse. PeterGerretsend.o,p Doug Koch COlli, op. Attila 011 Azalay, Brad Creasered, MichaelT odd asst. ed, Darryl Streetwise, candor is the only way to honestly Comford lsI. a,d, Roman Buchoklnda.d. Brian Dennis Peter Gerretsen's address this issue, Jrd. 0, d, Linda Pope p, ilion, Patricia Gerretsen p. coord, The film 's credibility is also further strained Barbara Bell p, occollnl. Madeleine Meredith COlli. troinee Akira Nishihata stills pllOtog, Leslie MacKeen conI. Benu Night Friend by, among other things, the complete absence of Bhandari gaffer D,,;d Owen /lest boy Edward Mikolic the police from the streets - in spite of the fact electricians john Bakker, Neil Saito key grip D,,;d here is no doubt that Peter Gerretsen that the location for the girls' hangout is less than Zimrnenman /lest boy grip Ron Paulauskas grip Ruth Lyons ( sd, op, Unmas john Rosin boolll Don Gnunsten sd , ed, made Night Friend with the best of a block from a stationhouse, Nor is the treatment Michael Todd, Darryl Comford, Anita 51. Dennis re-ree. intentions, His docudrama of the of the priest's role that realistic, although it was Tony Van Den Akker foley Reid James Atherton assl. foley attempts of a Catholic priest to help a supposedly inspired by Father Bruce Ritter, the Maureen Wetteland lilliS, HeatherConkie, Rory Commings young prostitute on the streets of founder of the Covenant House youth shelters, lilliS, ree. Steve lbelshauer 111 115. arr. Ralph De jonge Song Toronto was to be, as the original title stated, "A No religious technical advisor is to be seen in the "Walking the Streets" by Yohanna Vanderkley, Doug Buchanan, sung by Yohanna Vanderkley set dee. Alexa Cry From the Heart", He also must have hoped credits, Anthony props Alex Kutshera lIIakelip Marlene Aaronsas;ts. Emile, a character in Le Grand that it could stand with Drying Up The Streets and Chuck Shamata is properly earnest as Jack, but Pip Ayotte, judy Murdock word, Tina Livingston, jacqueline monde Ticket To Heaven as achievements in the style, has little depth , Art Carney is the " big" guest C. Barleyasst, Kim Kozolanka p,a, Anne Fotheringham, -anditnot being so easy, " Or when the camera Considering that teen prostitution in films has star, and handles his role as the crusty Marie Vapenikova craft sen'ire john Allen cotering Amazing Food Service casting Richard Conkie 1, 1', Chuck Shamata, picks out the aging man with the missing teeth, been used primarily as cheap exploitation Monsignor O'Brien with competence, although jayne Eastwood, Art Carney, Heather Kjollesdal. A Cry the greasy hair and the life-beaten face - the kind (Angel) , conventional melodrama (Little Ladies of the part is a clerical cliche that goes back to Barry From the Heart production, of man you would certainly avoid looking at on the Night), or just another example of urban the street - dancing with Pierrette at the sordidness (Taxi Driver ), it was a noble community supper wi th more grace and pride in aspiration, But such aspiration counts for his carriage, and joy in his eyes, than anyone nothing, if the execution fails to convince, you've ever seen, Father Jack Donnell (Chuck Shamata) is the These are moments of magic. It is movie recently appointed director of vocations for th e magic, but it is the magic of truth, And that is Arc hdiocese ofToronto, Returning home one wha t makes this movie work so well. A night from a fundrai ser, he stops at a do wn town documentary approach would have given us corner and honks his horn at the car ahead, Suddenly he finds a young girl beside him, LE GRAND MONDE p.lscld, Marcel Simard assoe. p, asking him what we'd like and how mu ch, ReneeGosselin se. consultants Michel Langlois, Luc Blanchet Although Jack is shocked, he determines to try a,d, Sylvie Roycontinllity Francoise Dugreed. Liette Aubin, and help the girl (Heather Kjollesdal) who calls Annie Jean sd, ed. Diane Boucher d, 0, p. Philippe Lavalette key grip Marcel Breton 111 115, Robert Leger lIIix, Hans-Peter herself Lindsay. Strobl sd. ree. Gilles Corbeil, Gilbert Lachapelle, Serge Jack takes to visiting Lindsay's corner each Beauchemin, Daniel Masse, Marcel Fraser I. p, Memb", of night, dressed in civvies, and offers to pay her Action-Sante: Ovila Ouellet, Andre Massicotte, Kenny Ryan, Jeanne Lalurniere, Michel Lu ssier, Michel Fyfe, Lea Dubois, $350-a-night quota for no services required, He Micheline Roy, Marie-Therese Dufres ne , Antal Hajdu , gradually discovers that Lindsay, whose real Joseph Jean, Lise Cartier, Micheline Fontaine, Andre name is Carol, is from Woodstock Ontario, Bechard w, participation of Pierrette Savard, Cynthia whence she fled her incestuous fa ther with her McLean, Philippe Collin, Produced by Les Productions Virage in collaboratin with SRC. With financial participation boyfriend Lenny (Daniel Maclvor), Lenny by: SOGIC, NFB, U, of M" Ministere de la sante et des wa nts to be a rock guitarist in Los Angeles, but is services sociaux du Quebec, la Confederation de syndicats hampered by the fact that he has neither money nationaux (CSN), Secretary of State, CEGEPS Andre nor talent. So both Lindsay and Lenny sell Laurendeau, Rosemont, !'Office des personnes handicappes du Quebec, the Douglas Hospital, themselves to Myles (Real An drews), a CSSST -Montreal. smooth-talking pimp, Chuck Shamata and Heather Kjollesdal in Night Friend
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skepticismabout the central plo t point, Crystal Roger Cardinal's and Alexa ndra exchanging lives . As well, their constant commentary on the action introduces a Malarek level of irony that would no t be present in a straight dramatic presentation. Gibson is very funn y, a sort of Mission Street MONTREAL - With this eight-letter placeline Flora MacDonald, in command of whatever banged in, Victor Malarek wrote a newspaper portfolio she is given. Gault too does a article in 1971 that ultimately closed down the wonderful job with the thankless task of playing bane of his existence in this city - a juvenile someone who yearns to move into a public detention centre. housing complex because it teems wit h life. But Malarek's investigative story of systemic rot the unpleasant realities reveal themselves only that spread through the police, through social too soon. workers, through the detention center Crystal's new Rosedale life, which now administration and guards, launched a includes her daughter complete wi th ballet ne wspaper career that has led to a senior classes, beaujolais and Torollto Life garden, also reporter's job with The Torollto Globe IIlid Mail. co mes up short of expectations. This paragon of reportorial doggedness did As the women move into th eir new identities, not attend journalism scho ol. No, Victor the film takes on a dreamier tone. The mid-shots Malarek wen t from the above mentioned are replaced by long shots and close ups. Crystal juvenile deten tion centre straight into The and Alexandra speak simultaneously quoting MOlltreal Star (now defunct ) newsroom where Oscar Wilde's famous saying: There are two he wrote the story that set his career. tragedies in life: not getting all you want and I am no t suggesting that persons enrolled in getting all you want. J-School are in the wrong institution and should What is intriguing is how Owen, with Gault apply for a transfer. Rather, you have here a and Gibson, convinces us that the characters are young man from a poor and broken family who motivated by the inevitability of desire and that is bullied by social workers and brutalized in this desire is the engine that drives all actions, homes and detention centres but who prevails even if those actions have no rational relation upon that same system with self-determination, ship to reality . The form of the film becomes a a sense of justice and a sensitivity that should, it Rich Alexandra ,.Judith Gault) and poor Crystal ,.Jane Gibson) meet and very strange kind of confessional that seems to would seem, have been beaten out of him years e"change lives in Turnabout imply much more than the narrative itself. earlier. were two women who once were friends and Nothing is anchored in any kind of certainty This is the premise of a complex story clearly Don Owen's now are very unhappy... (big goofy fr owns and except for the two women's flee ting friendship . brought to light by director Roger Cardinal. cut to THE STORY). Those moments are etched in a kind of Ma la rek : "A Street Kid Who Made It " is produced Turnabout The women's images merge back and forth emotional stone. by Robin Spry and Jamie Brown of Telescene indicating just what is going to happen in the The real joy of TUflinbo u/ is wa tching Crystal Production and adapted by Avrum Jacobson ere's a surprise, not a big one, but a narra tive. The time is now. Gault is Alexa ndra, and Alexandra discover each other. The real from Victor Malarek's autobiography, Hey f nice one nonetheless. Don Owen, the childless matron of a big Rosedale pain comes when they discover and covet each Malarek. whose wonderful NFBdoeu-drama brownstone and the unhappy lesser half of a other's li ves. The possibilities lie in their The story is told on several allegorical levels (before the term was coined and sterile yuppie marriage. Crystal (Gibson) is the friendship and not the materialist manifes tati ons that arecurrent and integral throughoutthe film subsequen tly debased) of the 1960s set archetypal female loser: her child taken from that surround that friendship. The women's and that ti e together neatly at the end. At once, thHe tone for a genera tion of English-Canadian her, a boyfriend she describes as afree- love r and open admission at the end amounts to a quiet you have the making of a successful reporter and filmmaking, has returned again to his past. With free-loader and the possessor of a Regent Street revelation, but a revelation nonetheless . a dramatic expose of a corrupt child welfare Ullfillished Blisiliess he updated Nobody Walled address that to her means that she never has to In theend, Turnabout is a playful essay in to the system. Goodbye, now with Tllrnabollt he's done a kind of visit the zoo as she lives in the middle of one. nature of desire. The refrain of a hit of last But at the heart of this universal success story, update of Notes 011 AFilm Abollt Donlin and Gail. Now this territory has been travelled before, summer went, "If you ha ve everything your Malarek scores a moral victory for himself and It's 20 years later, in Toronto this time, and particularly by Robert Al tm an in Three Women. heart desires, how can you want more ?" In our for "everym an " who ma y have at least sensed Jackie Burroughs has turned into Judith Gault, Bu t Altman's apocalyptic and hallucinatory culture of satiation and saturation, this could be the dim contours of a prjson cell closing in ' but Owen manages to keep things moving along vision and the remarkable overstylization of the secret agenda of most forthcoming North around him. so that we don't notice these changes that much. Shelly Duvall and Sissy Spacek are now here to Americanart. It is a tribute to Don Owen that he This $4rnillion film has not been dressed-up to It's more like an idea was updated as opposed to be seen in Turnabout. Owen subtitles the film, has succeeded in making such a warm film out of titillate paying customers; there are no great. characters or settings. A/I Improvisatio/I , and credits the cast with wha t c0uld have been an inhumane subject. heroics here, no fanfare. True, Malarek gets his TlifIlnbolit is an examination of friendship , dialogue. Hence there is a very easy feeling to Ronald Foley Macdonald • story but he does not ride off in a blaze of glory. desire and roleplaying disguised as a" sisters tell the narrative, itself punctuated by Gault's and Indeed, the story ends where Malarek's Gibson's frequent confessions to the camera. all " sociological expose. In fact, Owen ge ntly TURNABOUT, an improvisation by Don Owen/xee. p. newspaper fame begins - with the award-win parodies the stylistic excesses of the NFB's The actual scenes serve to flesh out the details of Don Haig p.ldir. Don Owen d.o.p. lohn Hertzog with ning headline spinning off the presses. the women's points of vie w. Often the y tell Douglas Koch sound Christopher Leech ed. Michael Todd Studio Dwhile coming off with what amounts to The gritty, sometimes vulgar, realism of dillerent ve rsions of the same incidents, setting Slid. ed. Anita SI. Denis Slid. IIII.Y George Novotny enm. a rich humanistic tract about women who wan t Malarek indicates that Robin Spry, adocumenta up a playful inquiry into the na ture of truth in assts. Glen Treilhard, Naomi Wise grip Michael Garstand to be someone( where) else. ciapperL aurel Pollack p. rngrs. Laura Battiston. Donna ry filmmaker and director of the award-winning the narrative. The playful tone is set right fro m the Dudinskydes. asst. Judith Pankelvitz collspimtor Ed slice-of-life drama Obsessed, had a firm hand in The camera is necessarily unobtrusive. The Fitzgerald gophers Jessica Cohen, Sharon Foster, Tom beginning with shots of Parliamen t Street in the production. The editing is unhalting, Toronto and then straight mid-shots of Gault filmmaker has deliberately withdrawn from Hochmann I. p. Jane Gibson, Judith Gault, Gordon Ra yner, Reg Bobard, Judith Pankewitz. AZebra Films production beginning with spectacular aerial shots of actively commen ting in the way he did in Notes foll owed by mid-shots of Jane Gibson talking produced with the assistance of the On tario Arts Council Montreal, continuing down through an open 011 ... The dual points of view works to defuse and the National Film Board of Canada. direc tly to the camera: once upon a time there window with the use of a Steadicam that
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stealthily establishes itself in the hub of Al Waxman, the leering and befanged socia l M
CINEMA CANADA PAGI :u MARCH' APRIL 1.8. CINEMA CAN A D A • PAT THOMPSON
legal and bureaucratic red tape. The result is Cowan, however, seems to have learned from A few goodies distributed by Atlantic Afilm full of good intentions, but badly something like an out-of-kilter detective movie. his past mistakes. Terry Ryan and Stan Gra yare Independent Media, P. O.Box 1647, Sm. M, organized - with interviews, archive footage, It is both sombre and suspenseful, but it is a film not personalities who have been overexposed by Halifax, N.S. B3J 221 (902) 422-5929- all of stills, music, voice-over, all thrown together without a solution - just a lot of clues which the media; for most 01 us, they are largely which whet the appetite for more, more! higgledy-piggledy. But the somng-out process point directly at the corrupt, incompetent and unknown . The events portrayed in the fi lm are is worthwhile in order to discover and ineffectual powers who maintain the status quo tragic, yet similar things occur almost daily - a appreciate this tiny part of the mosaic history of of unsafe conditions in th e country's work fact that makes the film all the more distressing. Canada. places. Cowan hasn't singled out the Terry Ryan case as "",.p. Craig McN.l11
MARCH· APRIL 1989