Secret Nation Apocalypse Now Days
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view. The celebrities, however, emerge the many security men and bodyguards. camera. The rest, which happens off from the elevator and stride quickly Blasioli and Coccimiglio have given the camera, is only recounted but even so is past, and he is unable to get the shots he audience the sense of how the celebrities one of the film's more memorable wants. "This is the worst!" Malafronte must feel. Bernadette Peters, putting on moments. Malafronte tells us how he ejaculates angrily. "Jeremy Irons won't a brave smile, is clearly terrified by the took a short cut and arrived at even stop for us!" swarms of paparazzi jostling each other Kennedy's house before he did. This was Malafronte's professional reflexes are and calling out her name. Jack too much for John Jr., who, in despera- always rapid, but no one galvanizes him Nicholson, enigmatic behind his trade- tion, confronts his pursuer. "Why are like Michael J. Fox. In one scene, after a mark dark glasses, is stony-faced and you doing this?" and urges Malafronte long stakeout, we see him sprint across phlegmatic. Jane Fonda and Ted Turner to "look into himself." the street after Fox has finally emerged grip each other's hands, smile wanly and That Malafronte is unable to do so is from his home for a run with his wife, walk away. ~perhaps~his~greatest failing. That the Tracy Pollan. Fox spots him and ducks The filmmakers give Malafronte a lot filmmakers cannot look into him either back into his apartment building. "It's of rope and, predictably, he hangs him- is, ultimately, their film's greatest failing. unprofessional," Malafronte whines. self. There is one moment when some- In a few masterstrokes, the filmmak- one off camera asks him why he feels he Rachel Rafelman is a Toronto freelance writer. ers show us at least one of the com- has the right to intrude on people's pri- pelling reasons why the celebrities avoid vate lives in this manner. The camera these photographers. An ordinary shot has him pinned down, and we watch of Jack Nicholson flanks the lurid head- him squirm as he casts about for a quick line, "Jack Nicholson had a gay affair answer. Finally he says, "I don't even Reviewed by Christopher Harris with Marlon Brando," along with a pic- think about questions like that." ture of Brando that dates from his Malafronte is a sociopath with a Nikon. Secret Nation Apocalypse Now days. Another equally But there is something perfectly cine- Directed by Michael Jones, written generic photo of Mary Tylor Moore in a matic in his feral on-screen presence, by Edward Riche, produced by Paul low-cut gown illustrates "Mary Tyler and for the first hour of Blast 'Em his Pope, with Cathy Jones, Mary Walsh, Moore in breast surgery disaster." Not hyped-up hustle is fascinating to watch. Michael Wade, Rick Mercer and Ron nearly as amusing (but probably intend- However, Blasioli and Coccimiglio Hynes. A Black Spot Inc./Newfound- ed to be) are the candid comments of neglect to provide their subject with land Independent Filmmakers Co- second-tier actress Sally Kirkland who either a professional or personal context. operative production. makes four appearances, which is about A few magazine editors (or we assume three too many. She loves the camera, that's what they are) are interviewed on M If you're one of those people who but it does not love her and the footage camera but not identified and this hap- always thought Newfoundland was just of her histrionic self-promoting is pens throughout. Talking heads appear another province, see Secret Nation. embarrassing, almost cruel. and re-appear without any mention of You'll probably never look at the place There are a few wonderful moments who they are. It is impossible to evaluate in the same light again. With his second with one of the original Italian paparazzi the information or the speaker and feature, Newfoundland director Michael in I960 who was shot with a bow and issues are not being addressed. Jones has added 110 minutes to the arrow and kicked in the groin by Anita Malafronte is never placed in any critical body of Canadian film culture and in Ekberg when he tried to take a picture or sociological context, so we are never doing so has made a unique contribu- of her with her married lover. A real pro, quite sure how to evaluate him. He tion to that culture. he kept shooting throughout, and the believes he has talent but the few photos Secret Nation has been compared, photos of Ekberg taking aim with the of his we see are undistinguished, the on numerous occasions, to Oliver bow appeared in magazines around the result of his crafty opportunism rather Stone's JFK. But it's hard to compare world. The sobriquet "paparazzi," as he than artistic ability. With his characteris- Secret Nation to anything. Like JFK, tells us, was picked up by the press after tic candour, he admits to distancing this accomplished 1992 production is Federico Fellini included a photographer himself from his peers. "People are driven by revelations of a well-covered- named Paparezzo in La Dolce Vita. afraid of me. They're afraid of my up conspiracy of immense proportions. potential," he says. No doubt. But his The paparazzi seem to lead a life of And it blends real and fictional charac- potential for what? perpetual discomfort and frustration. ters. But that's about as far as the simi- Why do they do it? The only answer is At one point there is a shift in our larities go. Jones' creation is far less self- implicit in the action of the film. There perspective on him. It comes with the important than Stone's and far more is that split-secondness to it all. It seems recounting of an incident involving JFK funny. More to the point, Secret Nation to charge them up, the thrill of the Jr. Malafronte has already captured him seems somehow free of the taint of para- chase. Celebrities become visible for a on rollerblades on a New York city side- noia that clings to JFK and most other beat only as they emerge from doorways walk but he wants more. In one scene, conspiracy dramas. Sure, there's abun- or taxis. There is another beat, and they Kennedy spots Malafronte outside and dant paranoia within the bounds of its are enveloped by rhe crowds of fans and takes off across the street to avoid the storyline, but the film itself (in its own 30 trtke OMC WINTER 1993 eccentric way) is one of the sanest movies to come out of Canada in a long time. What really separates Secret Nation from JFK—and practically everything else on film—is its ringing statement of Newfoundland national- ism, albeit wrapped in a highly enter- taining package. For his subject, scriptwriter Edward Riche has told a contemporary story that turns on the axis of Newfoundland's grinding journey into the Canadian con- federation in 1949. Our heroine, Frieda Vokey (Codco's Cathy Jones, the direc- tor's sister), is a Montreal graduate stu- dent labouring over a thesis on Newfoundland nationalism. After a humiliating oral exam, she returns to St. John's, giving herself six months to fin- ish her paper. She moves in with her family: moth- er Oona (Mary Walsh, another Codco regular) and father Lester (Michael Wade) who, in his younger days, was a delegate to the National Convention, which, from 1946 to 1948, debated the future of what was then "Britain's oldest colony." Frieda's arrival coincides with the death of a mysterious figure from the days of the Confederation battle. Leo Cryptus, the sole scrutineer on the night of the fateful 1949 referendum, remained a cipher while alive. Now his personal papers, delivered to the provin- cial archives, have the fingers of all sons of people twitching. While Frieda grows increasingly frustrated with her father's refusal to say a word about his involve- ment in the great debates, she has a fleeting yet significant affair with a rival academic (Ron Hvnes). As matters quicken, Frieda begins to close in on her elusive quarry, which is nothing less than the shocking discovery that the ref- erendum vote was rigged from start to finish. She also comes to realize that treachery is often found where you least expect it and nothing is as simple as it looks. On one level, Secret Nation is a comedy, rich with deadpan humour (a brief vignette with Frieda's taxi-dis- patcher brother—played by playwright Rick Mercer—sorting out the tangled knots of his cabbies' love lives via two- Blast 'Em: (top) Rebecca Broussard and Jack Nicholson; (middle) Iman and David Bowie; (bottom) paparazzo Victor Malafronte WIN 1 I R 1993 OMt 31 which includes some of Newfoundland's most talented performers, is equally strong. Secret Nation is not a flawless film, but the flaws are minor. Walsh, for instance, looks suitably middle-aged in her first scene, but ever after looks young enough to be Frieda's sister. Mike Jones' first feature was The ,4s Adventure of Faustus Bidgood (1986). i It was a loosely structured, off-the-wall ikeable but technically rough. The production values of Secret Nation are of a higher order, and the editing, by Jones and Derek Norman, is bril- liant. And Jones and Riche have a refreshingly original narrative style that interweaves fact and fiction until it's hard to know where the boundary lies.