FILm REYIEWf

T.e. McLuhan's THE THIRD WALKER d: T.C. McLuhan, sc: Robert Thorn, ph: Robert Fiore, ed: Ulla Ryghe, sd: Richard Lightstone, sd. ed. Ken Heely­ Ray, a.d.: William McCrow, m: Paul Hoffert, l.p.: Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner, Frank Moore, Monique Mer­ cure, Tony Meyer, David Meyer, Andr~e Pelletier, Diana LeBlanc, exec. p: Melvin Simon and Quadrant Films, p: T.C. McLuhan, Brian Winston, p.c. Wych­ wood Productions (1977), col: 35rnrn, running time: 93 minutes.

The Third Walker may fmd a few enthusiastic defenders. More likely it will get the bloody bludgeon; savage wit rather than fUm criticism. The movie is an easy target for all those middlebrow reviewers who have no tolerance for any fUm outside the mid­ dleground and who customarily treat the work of Resnais, Pasolini, Warhol (to say nothing of more radical direc­ tors) as if it were an illegitimate use of celluloid. In this case the close spi­ ritual relatives of The Third Walker are those eccentric Canadian movies - Gordon Shepherd's Eliza's Horo­ Waiting for the operation to establish which of the three boys are the twins... scope, Paul Almond's Journey, Don (Colleen Dewhurst and Monique Mercure) Owen's The Ernie Game, Joyce Wei· ture weighing in between $600,000 mass culture originating in New York land's The Far Shore, among others - and $1 million, requiring the atten­ and Los Angeles. in which it seems the material is far tion and support of millions of fIlm­ By now, after so many Canadian more meaningful to the director than goers to break even. The other (or film underdevelopment flops, one would it is to anyone else. additional) explanation for our long expect any director to realize a few There are two explanations for this list of idiosyncratic fIlms is that there basic rules of the business: (a) the odd form of fIlmmaking; one prosaic - is so little sense of artistic community general public doesn't like elliptical, they are often the handiwork of some­ in Canada we don't know what the non-linear forms of film story-telling one who wrote , produced and directed common language, or the meeting and no such fIlm is ever as popular as the whole thing, so that there is little grounds, of our culture should be. In those with a straightforward narrative. opportunity for internal criticism. By this view, the directors of these fUms Moreoever, few stories benefit from a the time the movie is finished , it's had no inkling that their mms would fragmented structure. For every Blow way off the deep-end, as subjective strike many as being unintelligible. Up, If... or The Servant that can jus· as an Elizabeth Smart novel or a Sylvia They want to establish a distinctive tify their obliqueness, and which did Plath poem. It takes a monumental film culture. They want to break with become major hits, there are dozens obtuseness not to recognize the dif­ American mass-tastes. But they have of obscurantist muddles - confusing ferent latitudes permitted a literary great difficulty creating something that mms about nothing vital - that reo work with its far less-costly economic is distinctively Canadian and passion­ gularly die at the box office and cer· base , and a supposedly-commercial fea- ately interesting to replace the dynamic tainly are no model to follow. (b) Any

38/Cinema Canada FILm REYIEWf film that doesn't have much to offer sometime in the 1950s, twin brothers jealous, insecure and possessive . He in the way of interesting characters or were born to a Scottish family and asks her to decide what he should do compelling observations had better were accidentally separated at birth with his life and gives her all the money lay on the sensationalism (witness through an error by a maternity-ward he has saved over the years (about Brian de Palma's current success with nuse. One is sent home to a French­ $6,000). He tells her to place all of it The Fury) so that fJ.1mgoers get some­ speaking family, the other to his real on a racetrack bet (Andrew is a jockey) thing for their time and money. A family along with a "twin" who is not so that he can double it by winning common error in Canadian movies is a blood-relation. Monique Mercure the next race and buy the boat he that, not being Bergman, Antonioni portrays the mother of the misplaced wants - if she thinks that granting him or Fellini, our fantasist directors start twin, Etienne; Colleen Dewhurst, the freedom is a wise course. Otherwise out aiming at Art and end up looking true mother of the twins, raised his she is to keep the money and they'll silly, having given their shallow ima­ brother, Andrew. The brothers (de­ get married. She keeps the money, he ginations free reign to putter about in picted by real twins, Tony and David wins the race. Then she realizes he a cinematic sandbox. Surrealists have Meyer, from the Royal Shakespearean will resent her for the rest of his life. to be willing to probe their psyches Players in England) are in their early Whereupon parting-brother James, in a deeply - boldly and crudely, at the 20s when the fIlm opens, and haven't gesture of largesse unmatched since the very least, like Alexandro Jodorowsky, seen one another for about 15 years. all-for-love sacrifIces of Greta Garbo or with the consummate skill of Bunuel; We later learn that Dewhurst became movies, gives her all the money he otherwise it is a mode of filmmaking suspicious of a possible error in the has, so that Andrew will think that she best left to the realms of 16mm where hospital when the boys go to school did trust him and placed the bet after­ high-risk experiments don't lead to and are frequently mistaken for one all. Then James goes to Andrew and financial disaster. With a few excep­ another. She undertakes legal action apologizes for having nothing to give tions - David Cronenberg, Richard and a court order for all three boys to him for his wedding, and leaves with Benner, Murray Markowitz come imme­ have skin-graft tests to determine their stoic heartburn. diately to mind - the redeeming impor­ parentage. The results prove, we are If a man had made thIs movie he tance of sensationalism is not much told (the court judgment is rendered would probably be accused of being appreciated by Canadian fIlmmakers . by the voice of Marshall McLuhan) anti-feminist - at least - if not fur­ Maybe, as I have argued elsewhere that Etienne and Andrew are truly tively homosexual. None of the female in "Inner Views", there are too many twins while pseudo-brother James (Frank characters ar~ humanly appealing - conservative areas in Canadian society Moore) is of no fIxed genetic address. Dewhurst is ruthless, reducing her hus­ to create and support a vigorous fJ.1m­ The court further orders that Etienne band to alcoholism, and rebuffmg culture; if true, that lllaves us in the and James should be swapped but the affection of James while pursuing paradoxical position of trying to sell Etienne's mother apparently runs away her obsession of getting Etienne; Pel­ naive fIlms to sophisticated markets. with him to prevent this from hap­ letier portrays a possessive cow to Two provinces have recently banned pening. "Apparently," because when whom "love" means total ownership; Louis Malle's Pretty Baby - you have the fIlm opens, she lives in the same Mercure is required to do a shrewish to be a cultural backwater (like Ire­ small community as everyone else, and number at the top of her voice. The land, South Africa, Australia) to sup­ (there's no explanation why the bro­ boys alone are shown to be warm, port the censorship practices of English­ thers have never run into one another generous, affectionate - and fascinated Canada. The question is, if we live in over the years) and the father of the by one another. a place that prides itself on its conser­ twins (William Shatner) has no diffi­ On the psychological level, the mm vative control of passion and imagina­ culty locating them both, just before doesn't wash. On the political-symbo­ tion, what is there that the outside he dies. It's at his funeral that the twins lism level, it doesn't make sense (as­ world should take an interest in? What meet again, and The Third Walker suming that the French-English divi­ is there to celebrate? More basically, is ready to begin. Phew. sion in the movie is supposed to make what is there to sell? What we have next is a second wave any comment at all). In The Third Walker writer-direc­ of psychological complications set in Yet, . occasionally, more in the re­ tor Teri McLuhan seems only to have the present. Etienne returns to his true sonance of the acting than anything considered intermittently that movies mother's household (the twins, in twin that is said, The Third Walker acquires are something that have to be marketed. beds, have long talks at night. They a haunting quality. In the main, how­ It has a saleable cast - Colleen Dew­ do a lot of deep staring at one an­ ever, the fJ.1m is a wistful mystery about hurst is especially good, William Shat­ other.) Step-brother James (who looks imaginary lives that ultimately has no­ ner and Monique Mercure are frne in to be about 30) decides it's time to thing to say. McLuhan is either faking smaller roles - but the screenplay never leave home. Andrew is tom between her real concerns, or else, perhaps, develops the real issues at stake in the proceeding with plans to get married or she hasn't any. story. Mood alone (Cape Breton scenery, investing all his money in a yacht and It's astonishing, given the world Paul Hoffert music) can't sustain the "cruising around the world" with his we live in currently, that someone film. Any ideas it has disSipate into long-lost brother. As his relationship could come up with this sheltered­ whimsy. The story unravels like a knot­ with Etienne deepens, his girl-friend life fantasy. ted ball of yarn but this much is clear: (played by Andree Pelletier) becomes John Hofsess

June 1978/39 FILm REYIEWf Richard Loncraine's FULL CIRCLE

d. Richard Loncraine, sc. Dave Hum­ phries, ph. Peter Hannan, ph. op. Terry Permane, still. Anthony B~s, ed. Catherine Lane, sup. ed. Ron WIsman, sd. Jim Hopkins, sd. ed. Tony Jackson, a.d. Brian Morris, set dec. Chris Burke, cost. Shuna Harwood, l.p. Mia Farrow, Keir Dullea, Tom Conti, Jill Bennett, Robin Gammell, Cathleen Nesbitt, Anna Wing, Pauline Jameson, Peter Sallis, Sophie Ward, Samantha Gates, exec. p. Julian Melzack, p. Peter Fetterman, Alfred Pariser, p. sup. Hugh Harlow, p. manager. Peter Bennett, Tony That­ cher, p.c. Fetter Productions (London), Classic Film Industries (Montreal) 1976 col 3Smm. running time 108 min., dist. Astral.

1~ _'<. Within the last year or so, the Cana­ ' \"~ ~ ~ . :. - -...... dian film industry has made severa! contributions to the growing number Mia Farrow, sinking into depression, with photos of her dead daughter. of "Bad Seed" motion pictures - mms in which a spiritually or psycho­ that Hamman overdoes his backlight­ over thirty years before, having been logically twisted child, almost invariab· ing, it at least creates a thoroughly the instigator of the murder and muti· ly female, is used as an agent of may­ gloomy atmosphere that permeates the lation of a playmate. It is just possible hem and destruction. These have in· film. This is probably all to the good that Julia is insane , and has conjured cluded Nicholas Gessner's The Little when the problems of the script are Olivia's ghost out of a series of coinci· Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, Eddy considered. dences and her guilt over her daughter. Matalon's Cathy's Curse, (both of Writers Harry Bromley Davenport Using this basic story, in itself deriva· which were coproductions with France) (adaption) and Dave Humphries (screen­ tive, Loncraine shows threadbare imagi· and the Quebec episode of Denis play) have streamlined Straub's con­ nation by making passing allusions to Heroux's The Uncanny (a coproduc­ voluted plot - wisely, though uncharac­ a whole raft of psychological fIlms, tion with Great Britain). Except for teristically discarding much of the among them Rosemary's Baby and Gessner's film, which had the advan­ supernatural and almost all of the sexual Secret Ceremony, Bunny Lake is Miss­ tage of Jodie Foster in the title role aspects of the story. The resulting ing and Wait Until Dark and even uses and U.S. distribution by American­ material could have' made a good some Vertigo-like staircase shots. In International, none of these works were suspenseful thriller in the Hitchcock the midst of this, the plot gets so mired distinguished by their plotting, execu­ mold, had the director had the wit to that Loncraine kills off three members tion, or by their box office reception. do so. of the cast - Dullea, Tom Conti as Thus, Richard Loncraine's Full Circle, Richard Loncraine , however, chose Julia's boyfriend, and Robin Gammell based on Peter Straub's rather grisly instead to indulge in some fancy games as one of Olivia's former gang - with· novel Julia is not in very good com­ with the viewers, beginning with some out any other reason than to get them pany. All the more wonder, then, rather obvious casting. Mia Farrow, ou t of the way. The deaths do not that it is really not as bad as one might looking as clipped and gaunt as she did affect Farrow's character at all. This expect. ten years ago, plays Julia Lofting, a kind of arbitrary twist is not a means It is perhaps to the credit of the depressive young woman who buys of compelling suspense ; it is an arti· backers of this film (including book­ an atmospheric period house off Lon­ ficial outlet from a sloppy plot. store chain scion Julian Melzack whose don's Holland Park. There, she shuts The main problem with Full Circle Classic Film Industries is the Canadian herself away from her domineering seems to lie in the contradictions which production company), that they did husband Magnus (stolidly played by are inherent in Loncraine's approach not scrimp on production values. Keir Dullea) to mourn over the vio­ to the film. He was obviously aiming Cinematographer Peter Hamman shot lent death of her eight year old daughter. for a higher artistic plane than the , Full Circle in a sumptuous, if rather Soon she feels herself haunted by the blood-drenched fantasies of a Corman dark style, using wide-screen Techno­ vengeful spirit of another child, Olivia disciple like David Cronen berg. The vision equipment. While one may feel Rudge, who had also died violently fact that he never shows the phantom

40jCinema Canada FILm REYIEWf

Olivia (enigmatically and silently play­ Circle, partly because there was the fmal release which I can only describe ed, when she does appear, by a hollow­ promise of much better things . When as a sense of flying. Material confmes eyed and pretty girl named Samantha the visual effects come together - Far­ seem to have been dissolved and gravity Gates) makes actually killing anybody row's waifish vulnerability, Harrunan's itself defied, as though one had stepped a mark in his favor_ Yet, he remains photography - the results are more into the fourth-dimension of relativeity faithful to . some of the most hoary often than not frustrated by the incon­ theory or the higher plane of Eastern conventions of the horror genre . One sistent plot. When Loncraine moves mystics. There is a fmal, fragile coming of these is the use of a mad old wo­ away from atmosphere to attempt to to a point of rest, almost a bitter­ man who speaks truths that are un­ tell the story, the film seems to jerk in sweet recognition of the necessity of recognized, except by the hysteri­ several disconcerting ways. being grounded once again in materiali­ cal heroine. Here, these roles are filled The problem may, in the end, lie ty. Unremitting Tenderness is a re­ by Mary Morris, made up to look like in the genre itself. Almost all attempts markable achievement as both a film Mia Farrow might at the age of se­ to bring situations and characters that "about" dance and a film "about" venty, and by Cathleen Nesbitt, who are proper to the Gothic tradition into film because its creator so well under­ rather overdoes a classic death scene_ a modem setting succeed only because stands both. Yet another convention is the whin­ a suspension of disbelief is achieved, Even so, in comparison, Look! ing piano and synthesizer score com­ especially if a child is depicted as an We Have Come Through is the more posed by Colin Towns. At least it evil force. Because characters are so accomplished and intense work. Elder does not resort to direct quotations ill-defmed in Full Circle, Richard Lon­ here set himself the difficult task of from the works of Bernard Herrmann. craine is not able to achieve anything creating a seamless whole from approxi­ In the end, one is unsatsified with like this, and so the effect is dissipated. mately 385 separate shots, again of a Richard Loncraine's work in Full J _ Paul Costabile dancer in motion. Unlike Unremitting Tenderness, this fIlm does not rely on optical printing or loops to achieve its transformations. Instead, it is a re­ velation of the editing process, in this case done with remarkable care and precision. The intensity is in the cutting J1-10RT FILm REYIEWf - almost an attempt to see simulta­ neously from all perspectives, but it is also in the use of extremes of dark- ness and light in tension within the ways of separation and arbitrary divi­ frame. In comparison to Unremitting sions are left behind. I thought of this UNREMITTING Tenderness, the camera distance from invitation while watching these two the dancer is lessened here by a quan­ TENDERNESS films by Bruce Elder, a filmmaker tum leap , and the interrelationship Filmmaker: R. Bruce Elder, who, like Brakhage, is caught up in the between moving body and moving Length: 9 minutes, color, synaesthetic and kinaesthetic flow of camera is thereby heightened to the Lightworks Production, 1977, color, forms and motion, especially Distributor: Lightworks Productions. intensity of a struggle . In this piece, in their transformations. Unremitting there is a terrible urgency, and an Tenderness is the more gentle of the agony unlike anything I've seen visual­ two films, gentle in the sense that ized elsewhere, unless it be in the ex­ LOOK! its structure takes us more easily through pressionist woodcuts of Edvaard Munch_ its own process. The opening section, Yet, such a comparison ignores the WEHAVECOME approximately 12 different shots of the dancer Sarah Lockett, functions like extraordinary fluidity achieved in the THROUGH a threat to lead us through the laby­ editing, the exploration of dunamic Filmmaker: R. Bruce Elder, rin thian transformations which follow, motion which this fllinmaker pursues relentlessly. Length: 12 minutes, b&w, done through optical printing and rear­ Lightworks Production, 1978, The work of Bruce Elder should Distributor: Lightworks Productions. rangements of the initial sequence. The affect, for me, is of scales falling be familiar to a Canadian audience. away from the eyes, layer by layer, In 1976 his film Barbara Is a Vision of as if progressing unremittingly closer Loveliness won a Canadian Film Award to the optic nerve. Yet, the combina­ in the category of experimental film . Stan Brakhage once asked us to tion of sitar music, fluid cutting on The very elimination of that category "imagine a world before the beginning movement, and the color progressions from the Awards this year does not was the word." It is an invitation to make the process a painless one , as in bode well for Canadian film artists another plane of perception, a more meditation. There is a gradual working­ attempting to challenge the confmes of filmmaking and our perceptions_ holistic plane where the subtle chains through, both of the materials of film that bind and fix us into narrow path- itself and of one's perceptions, into a Joyce Nelson

June 1978/41 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY FILM STUDIES AND FILM PRODUC­ TION POSITIONS (PART-TIME): There may be a number of positions for part-time indstructors in ftlm studies and ftlm production. We are interested in receiving applications for these possible openings in such areas as documentary (history and theory), animation, and scriptwriting. The Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre Please address all inquiries and/or applications to: - will open its Associate Professor Judith Kelly, U.S. office Director, Division of Visual Arts, July, 1978 in Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University, Boston Massachusetts Room H-543-1 , 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montreal, Quebec H3G IM8, Canada Jerry McNabb Execu tive Director

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