Destiny's Angel

/IHORT FILm R€yi€lU/ well-defined boundaries. Ifs a question of settings; in the studio, in the home, in go where there is work for him. Character style, a question of how you're going to the makeup chair in the morning, on the izing this scene, and their relationship as allow yourself to be seen." Yet this is not kitchen floor scrubbing at night May shown throughout the film, is his self- consistent with his subsequent comments waits with wine. There is an argument absorbtion, and her passivity. The passivity in connection with the film: "To celebrate between them, where we see how she appears at times as a kind of sacrificing your own life is important.. Ifs as impor keeps her thoughts inside: in this case fortitude, but is, in almost every case, a tant as presuming to know the rest of the concerning the use of language in their concession made to her husband's unfair worid." To "celebrate" one's life on film, home. She says to herself, "My tongue is emotional terms and her own emotional one must first acknowledge just what sort tired of speaking English." This is heard in insecurity. of life is involved, then commit oneself to voiceover, an indication that May does in The most glaring point to be made in getting the dynamics of that life onto the fact understand the nature of their rela Mother Tongue is that there is a politic in screen, "emotional goods" and all. Many tionship and its weak areas. Yet in spite the state, the home, and the person : what filmmakers make no claims to anything of any understanding we might have, we is imposed upon the individual, and what other than entertaining their audience; see in the next sequence that his actions is chosen by that individual, for the good attempting nothing but fantasy. May, are unaffected. May and Nolin have picked of each, or for all, is the omnipotence of however, is raising up audience expecta up the argument again. She asks him why politics — there is no avoiding it; there is tion, then selling us short in Mother he is not able to speak French yet so that only an avoidance of pointing it up for Tongue. she may sometimes use the language what it is. May has shirked the tradition of Mother Tongue, called "an honest with which she feels most comfortable. 'documentary' and the 'realism recon portrait" is a film in the category of He says he is putting it off until the sidered' genres in Mother Tongue. Both offshoots from, and reactions to The referendum. As though sensing the self genres aim to tell the truth ; May seems to Documentary Tradition, which might be ish implications of this answer, Nolin asks be avoiding it termed the genre of 'realism reconsid him what he will do if the referendum is ered.' Through a juxtaposition of events, won : will he leave her ? May says he will Katherine Dolgy May forces narrative elements in the editing to impose the idea of'theme' and 'continuity.' He inserts material, foreign to the time and place of the situation Destiny's Angel which Lies avoided.) Capp dies before portrayed — for example, the stock stu the film's end, but not before he succeeds dio footage used, which May's voiceover in raising Melissa's spirits. Her"angel" has p.c. Destiny Films (1980) exec.p. J. Francis leads us to believe is of his father, is simply Brinckman p./d. Craig Cottle sc. Richard Zcl- shown her her destiny, and his friendship an actor performing a stunt He uses niker, Craig Cottle d.o.p. Bill Casey asst.cam. has allowed her to embrace it voiceover for informative expediency, Dave Kerred. Patrick Vallelyassted. Danielle Montrealers will find an added attrac but also to ensure a dimension of subjec A Malka sd.ed. Roger Lemoyne art d. Pierre tion in Destiny's Angel because its set Gregoire mus. from the Nutcracker Suite by P. tivity, a dream sense, that kind of poetic Tchaikovsky mus.arrange./perf./rec. Andre ting is Westmounf s botanical garden and condensation of experience portrayed by Vincelli chorcog. Gabriel Orbach pre.p.co the adjoining grounds — a cinematogra- Duras in her films. May uses these mani ord. Bruce Paulauskis key grip Walter Klym- pher's delight The contrast of the snow- pulations of reality to create a represen kiw p.asst. Tiggie Black p.sec. Madge Owens covered grounds to the multicoloured l.p. Saba Sluytcr, Roy Witham, Oxanna Zanft, tative, rather than a formally 'realistic,' Rosa Squicciarini, Sascha Patera, Penelope floral interior of the greenhouse lends a vhole. When properly used, this sort of Maki col. 16 mm running time 25 min. jungle-like fertility to the latter; one which film style can often impart more of the is capable of nourishing the story's de feeling and substance of a situation, than Destiny's Angel is an independently- pressed heroine. a style which is rigidly bound to the produced, Canadian film for juveniles, Destiny's Angel is already in distribu stylistic conventions of the documentary whose exuberant music and magnificent tion in Toronto, New York, and London, genre — as Duras and others have shown. colour almost counterbalance the film's England. It has been bought by the CBC, However, in Mother Tongue, the tech deadly seriousness. The story revolves and the French version — which is being nique merely sloughs over the reality. around nine-year-old Melissa whose en produced by Les Productions de la Pretty images and poetics can obscure, tire world has been shattered by her Chouette — has been sold to Radio- instead of enhance reality if the film parents' recent divorce; school and ballet Canada. Despite this apparently fine re maker is not determined, above all else, lessons become dreary chores to be ception of the film, there is one major to inform. avoided. reservation about it concerning the pro Patricia Nolin is May's main subject Shortly before the Christmas ballet ducer's judgment of what constitutes According to him, it was extremely difficult recital, precisely when Melissa is suppos "juvenile" cinematic fare. to film her "naturally," so aware is she of ed to be rehearsing for the holiday per In the good old days, right and wrong the camera, due to her experience as an formance, she is seen wandering about a were so clearly perceived that the agoniz actress. This problem is not apparent in neighbourhood park. There she meets ing dilemmas of life, the inevitable para the film, since her manner is consistent Capp, the park's elderly custodian, who doxes of human existence, the issues that with the stylized film technique. It is not not only befriends her but becornes her were neither black nor white, were all that Nolin is difficult to film, but that May "angel," i,e. her source of encouragement decidedly absent from children's films. has difficulty seeing and listening to her to confront life's difficulries and conquer Instead, a God-like narrator or a saintly — he can't film her as she really is for this them. (The friendship between the child child 'preached' to the captive audience. reason. There is much evidence of this in and the grandfather type is reminiscent of But in a year when eleven-year-olds Mother Tongue, in their daily activities, Lies My Father Told Mc, but is unfortun are queued up to see Kramer vs. where Nolin is shown in a multitude of ately marred by the very sentimentalism Kramer, Destiny's Angel is anachronist- Cinema Canada/39 yiHORT FILm R€VI€UJ/ wise children, who have learnt to doubt all the easy pieties that nourished the last generation. Can children recognize moralizing? One eleven-year-old described Destiny's Angel as old-fashioned. Her twin brother said it was like saying "orange juice was good for you." The film misses the mark in its percep tion of children in one other area, that of speech patterns. Melissa often delivers her lines with an inflection that adults think children use in their normal speech patterns. For example, after meeting Capp, Melissa asks him "Do you come here all the time?" with the "all" pro nounced "aaaaall." Similarly, Melissa ex presses her fear of punishment by saying "She'll be 'fuuuurious' with me." In fact children's speech inflections are quite similar to those of adults speaking the same language; anyone with an ear for language will object to Melissa's exagger ated speech. Craig Cottle has produced a film which is rich in colour, sound, and mood, but he needs a script writer who is more familiar Following her parenf s divorce, Capp (Roy Witham) is Destiny's Angel to young Melissa with the sophistication of today's "juv eniles." Otherwise, he has cause to be ic in its sentimental morality. It delivers takes advantage of the viewer's youthful- proud of his first professional film. too many sermons. ness to sneak in a paid political an Ethical issues, of course, belong in films nouncement Explicit journalism and for every age group, but the viewer is not aduk fare on television, have helped raise comfortable with a juvenile film which a generation of very sophisticated, street- Gita Rotenberg Do You Know The Whole Story? flDV€RTI/in<i lODCH CineMagwith its business news is the necessary complement to Alpha Cine Servie 34 Cinenna Canada Barbizon Light 25 Subscribe today an(d begin to receive it Bellevue Pathe 16 Derek Smith Ltd 12 every two weeks Editing House 32 Editors Cut Ltd 9 Film Arts 32 Film Opticals of Canada Ltd 15 CineMag (24 issues yearly) n 2 years.

Load more