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CINEMA CAN A D A • structure, direction, and image enhance this humour, creativity, and freshness with which familiar story and its characters. the story is told merit the re-telling. If the term " fragmentation " can be used to Harriet Wichin , describe Esther's psychological state, it can also be seen as inherent in the montage and visual ONZIEME SPECIALE p. Roger Frappier d. Micheline style of Onzieme Speciale , a collection of images Lanctotsc. Marie Perreault, Louise Roy d. o. p. Pierre Mignot and experiences from Esther's life and art. This art d. Louise jobin ed. Michel Arcand orig . mil S. Lorraine Desmarais p. mgr. JeanMa rie Comeau sd. Yvon Benoit 151. is truly an episodic film (ah , television), and the a. d. jacques Laberge COlli. Therese Beru be lSI. ass/. cam. insights are sporadic, for Esther as well as the Chrisnarule Guernon IInil mgr. Michele St-Arnaud lid. eiec/. viewer. Lanctot's subtle images (she worked Daniel Chretien key grip Michel Periard set des. Blanche with cinematographer Pierre Mignot and art Boileau props lIIasler Pierre Fournier boolll Claude Laha ye nssl. props Louis Gascon assl. cost. josee Boisvert makcllp director Louise Jobin) capture Esther in her own Micheline Foisy-Trepanier Zlldcnlll. "55/ . Marnn Dubois 151. opacity; we see her in and through other eleel . ManalHassibgripJean-Mauricede Ernstedp. n. Maite materials: faceted and distorted in mirrors, Sarthou, Pierre jasmin sd. ed. Pa ul Dion mix. SheUey Craig ncci. Daniel Demers p. coord. Helene Ross nssi. 10 p. Lyne silhouetted through patterned glass, windows. Lemieux still photoPi erre Drury pub. Christianne Ducasse Esther is one against the world - her famil y, 1.1'. Sylvie-Catherine Beaudoin, Robert Toupin, Lorraine the organized art communi ty, her high school Pinta\, Jean Beaudry, Colin Caroit, Markita Boies, Andre alumni - and is often filmed in perspective with Melancon, Pierre Collin, Ma rie-Lou Dion, Ann Caron, julie Vincent. Lucie Saint-C)7, Roger Baulu, johanne Seymour, the physical space around her. Perhaps most Andree PeUetier, Suzanne Champagne, Louise funfret, importantly, we see her against a blank canvas, josee Cusson, Louise Bombardier, Clement Schreiber, unable to execute a self-portrait. The overall jean-Gabriel Lambert. Aco -production of Les Producteurs TV-Films Associes and the NFB, with the fin ancial visual approach emerges as a metaphor for parti cipation of SOGIC, Telefilm an d Radio Quebec Esther's confusion, questioning the notion of images and who creates them. Although unable to " see " herself, Esther paints images of other women, and renders them disrobed, disfigured, TOP SECRET non-human. The art work we see is pOignant, TO : Department of Puerile Entertainment full of the questions ,. what is woman) " and" of Surveillance (DOPES) FROM: Agent 008'12 what is her self-image made? " Acharacter film. Amise-en- scene film. Atheme Jon Hess' film. An editor's film. Surprising for" made-for Corey Haim and a nice doggie foil the nasties in Watchers television. " Not surprising considering the Watchers creative team. Al ook behind the camera reveals and present danger to our balance of terror and the person of a dean-cut teenager and his rather quite a constellation, so much so that it is isguised as a FREAK (Film Reviewer, threaten the cornerstone of U. S. policy in this cute Mom. difficult to say whether autellrist critique is Exploitation / Actioners / Kitsch) I hemisphere, namely the Marilyn Monroe As indicated at the beginning of this report, appropriate here. Equ ipe-ist ? observed ano ther Canadian attempt to Doctrine, according to which no other power is Wa tchers is a force to be reckoned with. It is What are the drawbacks of Onzieme Spiciale ? penetrate U. S. drive-in circuits and allowed to make American movie s. professionally scripted with a O. 9ibeat Lanct6t offers no answers for Esther's human video-networks camouflaged as a bO lla The danger comes from two sources: (a) the cliche-ratio, wi th full y computerized scenario drama - only windows . And surely the pdeD American operation. similarity of terrain permits the Canadians to and diesel-powered sequencing, featuring aS yd characters are stereotypical, and the criticism of If this observer is permitted an opinion, these substitute fraudulen tly their Northwest for ours, Field-tested structure with turgid-driven the art world has been heard before . Yet the Canadian undercover activities represent a clear and (b) their actors, writers and directors have dramatics and characterization. managed, through years of painstaking For the most part, the direction and imitation, to pass for one of U. S. cinematography demonstfote schlock-proof Watchers, were it not a dangerous and trade -craf t. Ac tors, with the exception of near-successful attempt to penetrate our Oxcom, turn in a performance perfectly defences, could be dismissed as Lass ieM eets matching the exigencies of the project. Clean Godzilla , Three Days of theOXC OI1J or Grizzlyalld the Teen, Spunky Mom and Sneering Villain being War Games. The hybrid ti tles are a natural possibly more memorable than the script called outgrowth of th e CIA-opera tion-gone-wrong for, but this could have been caused by an error and-danger-stalks-the-land-as-a-consequence in wiring. Oxcom's efficacy is difficult to plot, another cloning achievement of tha t determine ; possibly for budgetary reasons, he, aU-powerful multinational conglomerate, she, it, is never full y visible. Not even its status Industrial Plot and Action. as a mammal can be certified on the basis of Specifically, Watchers deals with the escape of visual sighting. the "ultimate predator ", a.k.a. Outside However, we must bite the bullet: the , Experimental Combat Mammal or Oxcom. Canadians nearly got away with successfully Oxcom Must Be Stopped, not only because it launching across the border a near-perfect pod, keeps on killing everything in its way with a deceptively well-made and commercially predictable regularity and not only because it is feasible replicate of a U. S. B-'89 Bomb. telepathically linked to a nice doggie, but Almost, but not quite. because the CIA team that created and trained it Fortunately, Watchers has been intercepted by has a Hidden Agenda, wouldn't you know. the undersigned before it could become part of Oxcom'sM. O. seems to be mostlyripping out American culture. This, thanks to the vigilance esophagi and de fenestration, and he (she? it?) of this operative and some minor, but telltale Sylvie Catherine Beaudoin as Esther in Onzieme Speciale leaves a bloody trail until he Meets Its Match in flaws in the film's concept and execution. CINIMA CANADA "AGE to IUNI • IULY 1 ••• PAT THOMPSON The first clue indicating subversive activity SKIN Jennifer hits back, "Don' t congratulate me. You high flame and the creation of edible works of was the deliberate withholding of an adequate made me feel like a fool. " art; and where appreciative consumers are seen amount of gore in the first two acts: while the hree" visible minority" teenagers talk As mart, sensible and humorous look at the murmuring their delight (the audience joined in perpetrators may have wished to establish a about their backgrounds. Phiroza was born hurt and suffering caused by thoughtless racial too ... ). Atrul y delectable film which should not sense of rising action, the poorly planned Tin Bombay and ca me to Toronto at age prejudice. The use of masks is particularly be missed when CBC shows it soon. (By the time-release mechanism of gore, gristle and four. jennifer's roots are Jamaican, but she was effective in conveying the blind, blank attitudes way, the invited audience, following the gutbucket indicates typical Canadian restraint. born in Toronto. Tuan is Chinese from Hanoi, often encountered in school and in the world at premiere of this li ttle epic, were treated to Itors Adead giveaway! North Vietnam, and he and his older brother large. The three leads are personable, d'oet/ures from the master hands of Jamie The second clue also belongs in this category: were "boat people". When their frail craft sank, convincing achievers who forcefully convey the Kennedy ... ) the first time the film made an attempt at real 60 people drowned, including Tuan's brother. message of, and some solutions to, this gore, the butchered face and torn-out eyeballs of Based on actual incidents, interviews and pervasive problem. This is undoubtedly a useful exec. 1'. Ronn Mann, Don Haig /'. Sue len Quon, Susan the victim looked so phoney, even a moderately Hayes d. Robert Kennedy calli. Robert Fresco sd. Valentin interracial workshops, the trio talk of prejudice film for stirring up discussion and confronta tion. Pricop 24 mins. 16nun. Sphinx ProductionslToronto (412) splatter-happy six-year-old could tell. Was it and race relations, and fantasy and rea lityjs However, one wonders how less educated and 971 -9I3J With financial participation 01: Ontario Film deliberate sabotage? Is one of them working for cleverly combined to reveal their feelings. less fortunate minority yo uth copes with the [Jevelopment Corp. , City ofT orontolT oronto Arts Council, us? Further investigation may be required. Phiroza loves school and never has any same questions, and do they succeed in the end? CBC, City-TV Butthe fatal blow was struck by the dialogue. problems because she is black, but then admits Quote the villain, speaking to some suspicious that she's not sure what'S worse - being called prod. Gilbert W. Taylor/Glenn Frost. d. Gilbert W. Taylor. local citizens: "We are Washington, we' re the sc. Dennis Foon. cnm. Robert Brooks csc. sd. Peter THE DINGLES names or just being in visible ... a boyand girl si t Oements. I. p. Mishu Vellani (Phiroza Mehta ), Robert Lee good guys.