• E x p E R I M E N T A L • its maker who has with this film freed pose to go on," specifically, how to end that imaginative control subsequently Bruce Elder's himself of a psychological burden. But the film. "Look," confesses a character's comes and goes, the inclination towards it fails technically in that beyond an voice, "what I need is an ending." narrative recurs right through to the Lamentations eight-hour journey through a mental For out of the crucible of belatedness, film's ending where even such a marvel­ and imagistic cosmos inhabited by a the Canadian poet emerges to find that ously visual sequence as the sparkling great many representations all named he can sing - but "only the snow fal­ rhinestones on a Mexican flamenco­ Bruce Elder - a not uninteresting ex­ ling," "the endless world of the snow dancer's dress tends to be dominated by cursion by any means, given the wild falling. " Because at the end of Lamenta­ the narrated conclusion (written a la catholicity of Elder's mind - one sel­ tions' long lament, nestled there in its Virginia Woolf or some such resolutely dom has much occasion to forget that dizzying snow of images, sound and pre-Joycean prose). that is exactly where one is entrapped. text, is the possibility of a beginning. Most curious of all, the viewing of he burden of belatedness - how to So there's something enormously Unless, of course, that is the specific Lamentations produces the strong sus­ px:oceed despite the crushing sense parenthetical about Lamentations - as paranoia of the poet. picion that Elder is teetering on the Tot coming too late with too little if Elder, after the apocalypse-Auschwitz If summing-up is one of the advan­ verge of abandoning experimental mm into a world filled by those who've al­ end of European history that terminates tages of belatedness, one of Lamenta­ altogether. And what makes for such an ready done it all and better - that so op­ Illuminated Texts (1982), had come to tions' advantages over any reviewer is intriguing possibility is the film's own presses Canadian cinema as a whole, is the astonishing and troubling realiza­ that its length defies encapsulation. In demonstration that Elder, by following not that surprisingly the special field of tion that he, the filmmaker, had sur­ its details, Lamentations contains a his imagination beyond belatedness, has Canadian experimental cinema. And vived his own film and there was no­ whirlwind, encyclopedic tour of Old in him the potential to become a direc­ here, broadly, two principal approaches thing to do but go home. World philosophy from Plato to tor along the axis from Fellini to Syber­ to belatedness can be distinguished: the Lamentations (Part 1: The Dream Of Heidegger, Nietzsche and Freud, histor­ berg; that is, if he would pursue that 'naive' tradition best exemplified by the The Last Historian), then, is the journey ical personages (Newton, Berkeley, tyrannical control over the utter artifi­ films of Michael Snow, and the 'know­ back from the gas-chambers of instru­ Liszt), art (imagery and music) from the ciality of his medium that the Newton­ ing' tradition so characteristic of Bruce mental reason, back through the ruins Ren'aissance to the Romantic, architec­ Berkeley sequence displays so convinc­ Elder's films since The Art of Worldly of European civilization and the rubble ture, medecine's therapies from analysis ingly. Albeit, this would involve some­ Wisdom (1979). Both traditions reflect of the European mind's echoes of its et­ to electroshock, New World ruins from thing of a theoretic reversal in Elderian dialectically different answers to the ernal debates, back to the New World pre-Columbian to urban contemporary cinema akin to Heidegger's own kehre. same question: How is belated or post­ in a pilgrimage towards new begin­ in mineral, animal and human, form, as Otherwise, what remains are prob­ technological art possible? nings, or, if nothing else, that sense of a well as Vignettes of mechanized modern lems. For one, as a poem, Lamentations With Lamentations: A Monument To broken totality that we hold in com­ life's car-filled streets, crazies, or robots, is still entrapped in belatedness; indeed, The Dead World, Elder's eight-hour mon. contrasted against representations of at much the same point Canadian poet­ film-monument to belatedness that re­ ics found itself in by the early '50s. As cently premiered as the conclusion of an 'experimental' film, Lamentations is the Art Gallery of Ontario's Elder Re­ primarily interesting because of the tri­ trospective (Oct. 1-11 ), the question is ple feat of its length, erudition and pushgl to psychological and technical technique; that is, as an object of spec­ extremes. Technically, the film 's mon­ ialist inquiry. Above all, it is as narrative ~age is composed from over 7000 shots, .cinema that Lamentations reveals ele­ layed over with printed text, readings, ments of a formidable imaginative redi­ narration, stills, dialogue and music rection. mixed on some 34 tracks. The sound­ Having troped itself, the' 'knowing' track was created from a battery of experimental tradition's further evolu­ computer and electronic equipment in­ tion could signal the beginning of the cluding, say the production notes, complete abandonment of Canadian "speech syntheSizers, phasers, phalan­ cinematic belatedness by the realized gers, vocorders, computer-controlled Canadian Romanticism that Lamenta­ synthesizers, echo boxes, digital per­ tions indicates negatively. cussion 'units, digital reverb units, "Now ve may begin," says the psychi­ analog delay units, custom built atrist at the conclusion of Portnoy's sequencers, filters and computer or­ Complaint, tellingly entitled "Civiliza­ chestration equipment." Psychologi­ tion and its discontents" in an earlier cally, the ante of belatedness is raised draft. In this sense can Lamentations be to the point of transcendental paranoia seen as the concluSion to the intellec­ in that Lamentations offers itself as tual Elder's massive critique of civiliza­ constructed from the state of mind of Part 11 of Lamentations (The Sub­ the female nude, standing solo, danCing, tion, marking the true point of depar­ one who imagines himself to be the last lime Calculation), large portions of and as part of a couple making love. ture for the "real man" Elder, no longer (thinking) person in history. In the light which were shot on the Canadian For all that, what is striking about dissimulating, but fully able to assume of such a dual over-determination - the westcoast, in the American south-west Lamentations is to what degree it is a himself as a filmmaker. Unless, of technological death of art, and the end and in Mexico's Yucatan, is a vision of traditional Romantic narrative quest­ course, this too is only another belated, of history - Elder seems to be asking, what those new beginnings might have poem at war with elements of filmmak­ and paranOid, fantasy. what happens? been, if, instead of "sickly, doomed" ing. If Illuminated Texts did stunningly Such a question only raises others: to North Americans, we had had the cour­ manage to balance image, text, voice, Michael Dorland • whom or to what? To me, to you, and age to be Spaniards "a race artistic to music and readings in a powerful all the rest of us who inhabit these mod­ the core and monstruous in their lust synaesthetic whole, Lamentations ern times? To Film, Art, or the Meaning for blood." But even therelhere, where veers sharply towards narrative. This is "the world of sunlight meets the dag­ LAMENTATIONS d.JscJcamJedJp. R. Bruce of Life? If "This film is about you, not as true of Bill Gilliam's music, be it in Elder p.assts. Stephen Smith, Tom Thibault, Cindy about its maker," as Lamentations' text ger" in a "a landscape so exuberant we his Mexican melody or his Palestrina Gawel mus. Bill Gilliam narr. Kristina Jones, Robert explains early on, the statement is later believe nature has lost her mind," our choral, as it is of Elder's poetic voice in Fothergill, J. Peter Dyson titles Charles Luce make­ amended with the words "(at best, a northernness as belated Europeans con­ text and readings which dominate the up Maria Finta anim.seq. Charles Luce flute and add. syn. Ron Allen drumming Claude DesjardinS half-truth)." For, in the half-truths of the demns us to, at best, a consciousness of imagery, even Elder's own camera­ text/narr. (Mexican insect sequence Indian dance se· end of History, perhaps nothing hap­ absence: "literally everything slipping dance technique. So too the film's nar­ quence) Murray Pomerance supertitles (voice syn' pens - and that's why films keep being away together all at once, dissolving rative scenes are the strongest, and thesis for "Ode to Joy", text mocking Palestrina) Mur· ray Pomerance tech. support Emil Kolompar coo­ made. into the gloom of an all-pervading No­ especially in the brilliant dialogue be­ forming Piroshka Hollo Mr. Pomerance's clothes If Elder hoped that, by taking upon thing." For what we hold in common, tween Isaac Newton (David King) and courtesy Harry Rosen Mr. Pomerance's office cour· himself the burden of belatedness, a finally, is "suffering" and the confession Bishop Berkeley (Tony Wolfson). tesy Arthur Gelgoot l.p. David King (Newton) Murray of the Last Historian is that he is Every­ Pomerance (psychiatrist) James D. Smith (Lizet) Bart filmmaker can make a film which un­ In this one scene lies exactly the bal­ Testa (lecturer) Tony Wolfson (Berkeley) Michael burdens him of his own sense of be­ man. ance between mind and the perversity Cartmell (man in alley) print Medallion Film Labs latedness, then that is pretty much what Not quite. After all, the film repre­ of the physical that reveals Elder in full thanks Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, The Ontario does happen. Because Lamentations is sents the mind of a paranoid ·or, by his imaginative control. When that' control Centre For Robotics (Peterborough). 'The Canada Council, and The Ontario Arts Council sp.~to an intellectual filmmaker's "Portnoy's other name, that cowardly dissimulator, breaks down (and it does), Elder suc­ Michael Snow, Peter Harcourt, Anna Pafomow, complaint" in that only after this long the poet. And as poetic history (or so cumbs to the worst kinds of dualism - Michael Cartmell, Greg Svaluto. Karen Noble. confession.is he truly free to actually the text says) "is the story of how poets logomachy and camera-frenzy on the Ex_sp_tnx.to James D. Smith (for hilarious conversa· tion and mad brainstonning). Hilarirus excessum ha· begin - yet as a confession Lamenta­ have suffered," and Lamentations is a one hand, and on the other an 'objec­ bere nequit, sed semper bona est, et contra Melan­ tions both succeeds and fails simultane­ poem-on-film, how poets will continue tivism' particularly in its examinations cholia semper cst mala. (Baruch Spinoza, Etbica V. ously. It succeeds in being a tremend­ to suffer. The poetic suffering that Elder of the 'represented' female body that's prop XLII) p .e_ Lightworks Film Prods. dist. Cana­ dian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, 16mm coL ous trope of imaginative liberation for grapples with is where to find the "pur- worryingly close to the pornographic. If running time: 8 hrs. ' ------~ - .. ----~ . 28/Cinema Canada - November 1985 REVIEWS • • has the power to touch us the way it people who live by it and forms their pointed woman who has spent her life Mort Ransen's does. moral codes and standards. References waiting for something that never Undoubtedly, one of Bayo's strongest abound to the men who went to sea comes. The outcast, the unwed mother, Bayo qualities is the community of Tickle but never came back, like Bayo's father the village whore; she turns a brittle and Cove. The people of the community and Grampa's younger brother. At the haughty face to everyone. Yet when the add that quality of truth and believabil­ party, an old man tells Sharon how dif­ moment comes for that veneer to fall , ity which lie at the heart of this film. ficult it is for a man like her father to Philips does it with grace. One would Using non-professionals well on mm is come home, where the people have wish for more filmic moments like the difficult, but Bayo pulls it off, for several made him more than a man with their one where she holds Bayo tenderly and reasons. The most important is that they legends. Yet that man has confronted he mumbles "You just don't know how are allowed to be themselves. The cam­ the fact and frailty of his humanity every fine you are." So muc.h can be said with art of the pleasure of a good film era and script make no tremendous de­ day at sea. so little. comes from those tiny verbal and mands on anyone individual. The cam­ These are the kinds of clues that link Perhaps the weakest scene is the Pvisual clues that knit it together to era flows easily, never lingering too the story together, developing Gram­ storm at sea. Technically difficult to pull form one seamless unit. To some extent long where it may become obvious that pa's character as well as the ocean's, so off, this scene represents a courageous Bayo has this quality, and for that these people are not professionals. It his fantasy of walking on the water like attempt at creating tension and sus­ reason it is an enjoyable and involving was a heartwarming change from the God becomes believable and under­ pense. But it just doesn't work. It is not film to watch. But there are times when, overly-done and ultimately unbelieva­ standable. He is a man driven by a need believable and erases so many of the unfortunately, these small clues are ble communities portrayed by Hol­ to overcome his human limitations and magical and believable scenes that pre­ made too large, destroying that subtlety lywood. But, as with others in Bayo, this gain power over that which has ruled ceded it. so crucial when dealing with the huge quality also proves in certain instances his life. When he dons the white robe Most of Bayo's strengths are also the themes Bayo attempts to. to be a shortfall. There are moments and walks into the ocean at the end, source of its weaknesses. Its truth, sin­ Much of the film's appeal is in its very when the naturalness is pushed and one feels the inevitability and the cor­ cerity and universality come from an "real" story, and its "real" people. There overplayed so the "quaintness" of the rectness of his action. honest perception and portrayal of is a universal truthfulness to the com­ community becomes too much. Yet for all the careful development of those small everyday events and the edies and tragedies played out in this At the centre of the story is the trio Grampa's character, it is with Bayo that emotions that make up life. When they film that draw us into it. And this story of Bayo, his mother Sharon, and her most viewers must become involved. are left small and subtle, the film is very is so much more than just that of Bayo, father, Philip Longlan - "Grampa," who Caught between the fantasies and delu­ good. But there are times when it seems a lO-year-old boy who finally gets close returns to Tickle Cove after 60 years at sions of his mother and his grandfather, as though the filmmakers became too to his seafaring grandfather before the sea. From the opening shots of pound­ Bayo is like a tiny piece of driftWood wound-Up in what is so clearly a good old man takes to the sea for the last ing waves as they beat against the prow bounced about on the waves. His need idea, trying to make it more and only time. Bayo tells of expectations and dis­ of a boat (from what would be for the closeness of his grandfather creating excess. It's regretful that hon­ appointments, humiliations and tri­ Grampa's point of view) to the final reaches out and clutches our senti­ est sentiment is so easily turned to umphs, personal discoveries and losses; shot of Grampa as he walks into the ments. Much credit must be given .0 schmaltz. those things that make up "real" life. ocean while Bayo "takes a picture," the Stephen McGrath who captures the es­ Nevertheless, Bayo is a special film. The film does it with insight and com­ viewer is pushed to identify with his sence of Bayo so beautifully and hon­ For the most part, it has shied away passion. One feels these characters are character; to understand his life, and his estly. Such a relief from the Hollywood from the Hollywood gloss that would not just movie images, they are truly fantasy. style of kid, where precocity is admira­ have destroyed it and has achieved an human, exposing their ugly sides as As the story unfolds, the ocean be­ ble. uncommon ability to make the viewer often as the beautiful, their weaknesses comes a stronger and stronger point of Sharon is one of those women of ' both joyfully and painfully conscious of as well their strengths. This is handled reference. It is always there. Its relent­ which at least one is found in every his own humanity, that element which in such a way that the viewer cahoot less, indomitable quality permeates. We small community. Patricia Philips is ex­ is the only true "universal." help but identify with, and so the film can feel how it controls the lives of the cellent as the lustY, angry and disap- Jan Teag •

BAY.O CBC prod. exec. David Pears assoc.p. Dorothy Courtois Lecour co.-p. Arnie Gelban. Wendy Grean exec.p. Andy Thomson, Robert Verrall p. Harry Gulkin d. Mo rt Ransen sc. Rans"n. Terry Ryan. Arni e Gelbert. based on the novel by Chipman Hall d .o,p. Georges Dufaux ed. Fran.,ois Gill , Yves langlOis mus, Loce<: na Mc Kennitt mus.arr. Loreena Mc Kenn itt , Cedric Smith art d. John Meighen, Hazel Appleton cost. Paul· Andre Guerin cast. Diane Poll ey sC.sup, Monigue Champagne a.d_ David Hood loc.sd. Ri chard Besse sc.cons. Ted Allan asst.to p. Kate Jansen NFB adv. Stefan Wodoslawsk-y dia.cons. Chesiev Yetman p.man. Josette Perrotta 2nd a.d, Anne M u~h y unit man. Denis Normandeau p.acct. Y""t1e Duguet p .coord. Jacky Lavoie loeman. Terry Ryan NFB p .cood. Denise Beaudoin post-p.coord. Grace Avrith studio admin. Marie To nto- Donati make-up Tom Booth props.master Gilles Alrd asst. pro ps Marc Corriveau ward.asst. Laval Guy const.man. Peter Hopkins art d .trainee Jim Maunder focus puller Mi chel Girard clapper loader Mi chel Bernier boom Yvon Benoit gaffer Don Saari best boy Chuck Hughes elect. John Lewin key grip Jacob Rolling grip Mi chel St· Pierre p _assts. Eileen Pittman, Lorna Simmons, Anne Mirie! chief sd.ed. Andre Gaib raJld sd _ed. Danuta Kli s asst.sd.ed. Andre Chaput asst. pict. eds Ri ta Roy. Ali ce Wright, Helene Crepeau fo ley artists Andy Malcolm. Peter McBurnie mus.rec. Lo uis Hone re-rec. Hans Peter Strobl. Adrian Croll titles Serge Bouthillier ne·g.cut. Claude Cardinal timing Denis Cantin stills Fred Smith add.stills Antonia McGra th Algis h:emcZ)'s legal counsel Stephen I. St:lznick ~ audit. Mo rton A Katz M.BACA. tech.cons.water sh oot Movie Marine & Sons editing T d epoint Inc. lab. + studios l'\ational Film Board of Cda. cam. Panav ision (Canada ) Lt ee make-up lab. Dr. Rcnau Ll p.c. Jape Film Ser.. ices In c. , in coll abo rati on with the National Fil m Board of Canada. in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation with the partici­ pati on of Teldilm Canada. cdn.dist. Col., 35mm. runnlng time: 98 min., 5 sec.l.p. Ed McNarama, Pat. ri cia Phillips. Stephen McGrath, Hugh Webster, Cedric Smith. Patrick Lane. Maisie Rillie, Nellie Ludlow. Jane Dingle. Griffi th Brewer, Gordon Ralph, Richard Ed· wards, Fred Smith. Uoyd Olford, Harris Lodge, Ph ilip • Sayo: last of the old-timers, Ed McNamara (in white) confronts the inevitable outcome, while young Sayo (Stephen McGrath) looks on Do novan, Hayward Dobbin, Thomas Legge. William Tremblett, Gerald Quinton.

November 1985 - Cinema CanadaJ29 • F I L M R E v I E w 5 • whether he has just been reduced to so vulnerable to a heart attack that he David Winning's the bestial level of the wild itself is can barely chase his victims - the Sophie Bissonnette's however, never made clear. Beca~s~ only character we really get to know if Storm manages to be slick and at all is so dumb and uninteresting Storm stylish on some levels, the film itself that his heroic transformation from Quel is ultimately shallow. As a result, nurd to a kind of Rambo is mainly in­ Storm is not the film that will comprehensible. The script, in short, numerol singlehandedly redeem Canadian is missing a heart. The film becomes ontreal's World Film Festival is cinema in the eyes of the national an exercise in conflict, tension and M notorious for its nearly hyster­ public. style. What ical edge of movie madness - for its David Winning, who is just 24 Yet Storm is a slick, professional­ sold-out screenings, and for the long, years-old, does a pretty good job de­ looking, low-budget mm, not without Number?:· smokey waits endured in order to see veloping the technical and stylistic tension and not without charm. It will completely unknown films on the elements of the mm. Storm carries an look good on TV and is probably best basis of a rumor of a rumor. interesting, non-linear structure: the viewed in that context because there The So it was certainly a shock to have motivations of the characters are only is simply not enough human sub­ to watch David Winning's mm, Storm, revealed slowly in flashbacks and hal­ stance here to create in the viewer Electronic with five people in an otherwise lucinations. This structure keeps the the empathy and concentration empty theatre. Scheduling did not plot from getting too predictable and characteristic of a really successful Sweatshop help the film - late on a Tuesday permits some wonderful surprises film experience. night, in the least prestigious of the and shock effects, as, in hommages to But I think David Winning might festival's screening halls (an enorm­ Carrie and Night oj the Living Dead, be going somewhere in th~ ftlm busi­ "I look at my machine and feel it's ous theatre/classroom arena on the the victims come back to haunt the ness. For a director so incredibly treated better than I am," says one campus of Concordia UniverSity). But, living. While there are occasional young, Storm is a considerable pro­ of the women workers in Sophie . at a festival like this one, the time continuity problems, the editing of fessional accomplishment. I look for­ Bissonnette's latest documentary, Quel and the place of a screening do not the mm is particularly tight and effec­ ward to seeing what he accomplishes numerolWhat Number? That feeling usually seem to make much of a dif­ tive in the action sequences. There is in the future. seems to be at the center of the com­ ference. an extraordinary chase sequence Brian Lewis • puter revolution when seen through Yet one has to wonder if the simple through deserted university cor­ the eyes of those whose jobs now re­ volve' around new computerized fact that this is an unknown Canadian ridors. The cinematography is often STORM dJscJp. David Winning assoc. pJa_d. mm was in itself enough to discour­ quite beautiful. Michael Kevis ed. Bill Campbell mus. Amin Bhatia technologies, The film focuses on the age people. While an unknown Amer­ But Winning has an unfortunate cam. Tim Hollings loc. sd. Per Asplund make-up psychological affects of machine-tend­ Stan Edmonds asst. cam. David Christie 2nd unit ing as experienced by checkers in com­ ican, Bulgarian, or Australian ftlm tendency to give in entirely to the cam. Andrew Jaremko add. re-rec. James Poneous would have been sold out, an un­ easy effect: a hallucination which will add. sd. Tim Archer cast. Larry Parrish loco Shauna puterized supermarkets, VDT operators, known Canadian ftlm stands not a shock the viewer the first time finally Clapp loco crew Robert Caplctte, Sandy Dickson. Paul mail sorters in the computerized post­ Bailey, James Hutchison, Corinne Ruiz, Don Shank chance. I find this incredibly depres­ becomes silly if it is repeated too office, and telephone operators whose cater. fay Winning illust. Leon Joosen trucks Nelson 'personal touch' and jobs themselves sing. Have our expectations of the often. He over-relies as well on a Thome, Mark Arron campus loco University of Cal· Canadian cinema really sunk that low? soundtrack which absolutely insists gary, Public Affairs Office. Ursula Wohlfarth, fred Bras· are being eliminated by the computer nett, Cindy Murrell campus security Grant Edmonds For this low-budget, shoestring fea­ on underlining every emotion the revolution. props. Martin Winning, Dennis Kevis, James Winning, "What was important to me above ture manages to be almost a casebook viewer is supposed to feel. Ken Clapp truck mount des. Andrew Jaremko hand­ study of the preoccupations of the If Winning opted ultimately for gun replica Ken Hawryliw titles West Coast Opticals all," says Bissonnette, 'was to return Canadian imagination, at least accord­ slickness, it's because there is really a grafix United Graphic Services neg. cut. Gay Black human beings and not machines to the lab. Alpha Cine col. timer Bruce Whidden cam. Ar· heart of the issue of technological ing to Margaret Atwood's Survival. void at the ftlm's center. The script is riflex tnx. A1bena forest Service, Albena Recreation Storm is a survivalist story, that of a formulaiC, and the characters are un­ & Parks, Dan Jenkins, A.J. Peter. Rod Gow, the Stolz change and to focus the film on the family, Rick Garbutt, Pat & Ken Clapp, Jack Drum· human dimension of that relationship modern, urban adolescent's discovery developed: a trio of largely unlikeable mond, Red Cross Society, The foto Haus, IBM of of the wilderness and the savagery old murderers returns to the woods between human beings and machines, a Canada, Allcopy Calgary, ford of Canada, fred relationship which is a highly political within himself that has to emerge for to dig up money which they had hid­ Haeseker, Martin Morrow, Calgary Herald; Larry Day, him to be able to deal with this envi­ den years before, while a couple of CfAC Calgary; Marie Hohtanz, CfCN Calgary; Calgary one to begin with." True to this intent, Cable Ten North; Jean & Ludwig Splett, Doris Oster· ronment. In the process, the youth immature young men come to ex­ Bissonnette's film is a forum through gaard, National film Board of Canada, Heather which the women workers themselves changes from a child to a man; perience the wilderness. The youths Jaremko mix, Thunder Road Studios p.c. Groundstar wbether, as a result of this transfor­ and the old timers engage in mortal Productions, Calgary, (403) 282·4906 l.p. David articulate the daily frustration, stress PaJfy., Stan Kane, Tom Schioler, Harry freedman. Lawr· mation, he is better equipped to do combat. While there are some nice sur­ and dehumanized working conditions ence Elion, James Hutchison. col., nmning time: imposed on them by the new anything other than survive or prises here - a villain so nasty but 81 mins. technologies. "If you work with a • The villainous Jim (Stan Kane) puts Lowell (David Patty) through a rough moment in Storm machine over and over and over, you end up being a machine," says one of the supermarket checkers. "I'm plugged into the machine. That's about as excit­ ing as it gets," says the VDT operator working the night shift. "You become a robot. You work automatically... I'm not there," says a mail sorter. And the film's long sequences shot at the workplace effectively underscore their feelings and observations. From supermarket to computerized office to postoffice and computerized switchboard, it is clear that human be­ ings are meant to be merely adjuncts and servants to a technological process and system geared to eventually eliminating the human dimension en­ tirely. The women workers themselves are acutely aware of this fact, and of the irony in their situation. They accurately assess the economic conditions at the base of the technological revolution, and they graphically articulate the ex­ tent to which they are conscious of being caught up in the machine's goals, "It's not working for you, you're work­ ing for it," says a mail sorter trying to "maintain production levels" of 1800 letters per hour. "We, the employees, speed ourselves up," says a telephone operator of meeting AWT quotas (Ac- • F I L M R E v I E w 5 • tual Working Time) set by the com­ puter. All these workers talk of the THE BIG SNIT psychological stress of being monitored MIN I REVIEWS In the city, an odd married couple by a machine which "spies on you and by Pat Thompson play Scrabble. She keeps taking off reports everything." One woman can­ • • her eyeballs (rather like pince-nez') didly admits about her home-life that "I and shaking them during the game. yell a lot these days." He shuffles his letters endlessly and, But it is precisely this spark of protest since he's dithering about, she goes that Quel nurnero/What Number? com­ off to vacuum. With great glee, the veys and honours. In their interviews husband turns on the TV to his fa­ and discussions for this film, the women vourite program, Sawing for Teens. workers are wonderfully alive and witty With saw in hand, he watches in ut­ and incisive in their assessment of the ter delight. Falling asleep in front of technological revolution. Whether in the screen, he misses the emergency pooling their talents to write the theme announcement of a worldwide nu­ song for the film, or in acting out satir­ clear war! ical skits that reveal the pressures of The husband awakes and ignores their jobs, these women consistently the noise of paniC in the streets, and convey a spirited energy that resists de­ the noise of his wife vacuuming the feat. As Bissonnette has written in her bathroom, including tub and taps, production notes for Quel numero/ and the inside of a large cupboard. What Number? "Where does hope re­ She returns to the Scrabble game, side in this film? For me, it lies in the and accuses her husband of looking strength, the humour and the desire for • The camera just loves Linda Griffiths in Passion at her letters. He counters with yells change of the women who participate of, "You're always shaking your in it." eyes!" She bellows, "Stop sawing the Yet the very fact that this film dares THE AGE OF INVENTION table," while the husband attempts to challenge the dominant ideology of to conceal his pet saw. computerized "progress" is in itself This month, films from two recent A short sharp overview of the transition The shooting match peaks, the grounds for hope. By its point of view festivals. The first two were at To­ from The Age of Innocence to The Age wife rushes out in tears. Attempting and structure, it does more than inform. ronto's Festival of Festivals, and the of Invention. The fascination of this pie­ a reconciliation, the husband goes It enrages and energizes, reminding us third one at the Montreal World ce is the skillful editing of archival ma­ into the hall and plays his concertina that (as the women's song says) "When Film Festival. terial - a wide variety of still photo­ to soothe and serenade her. Overco­ the machine has hands/I won't be graphs plus early film - into a smoothly me with loving emotion, they make needed anymore." cohesive and interesting whole. The up and, unaware of the disintegrating The film reaches its moment of su­ soundtrack is particularly artful, utili­ world, open the door to go outside... preme irony in a sequence devoted to zing to great effect old phonograph re­ Another winner from Richard one of the nine new computerized cord~, voices from the past, and the Condie, the talented animator who machines now used to send out un­ PASSION: wonderful clackings, rumblings, ring­ gave us the procrastinating teenager employment insurance cheques. As the A LETTER IN 16MM ings ~nd hissings of machinery. in Getting Started, and the prolific technology writes out the cheque, Covering the steam engine, the type­ bugs smuggled through Customs in places it in the envelope, addresses and writer, and up to tl).e movie camera, Anna, filmmaker., delivers a cinema­ Pig bird. The wonderfully detailed pewriter, and up to the movie camera, tic message to a departed lover. Her drawing and bizarre characters serve monologue to the camera, intercut radio and the aeroplane, with the final horrors of the machine-gun and tank in to heighten and punch across the with flashbacks as she recalls the idea of what really constitutes The "obsession, passion and ecstasy," ex­ World War I, this snappy, evocative pre­ sentation manages to impart a lot of in­ Big Snit. The human emotions dis­ poses some of the problems and di­ played, though small in comparison, lemmas of today's woman. Full of formation (coupled with a dash of so­ are every bit as earth-shattering as energy and talent, wanting to make cial comment) in an engrossing and ly­ shattering the earth. That's one easy a mark in her profession - yet stri­ rical vein. interpretation, but there are many ving to preserve a private, intimate Note: The NFB have prepared an at­ others to be deduced from this little personal life - Anna struggles and tractive little illustrated information animated film, which may even lead suffers. folder on this film, giving a few details to a new national diversion - sawing! The camera loves Linda Griffiths and dates relating to the inventions, which is worth reading. (the Maggie and Pierre actress) and, dJscJanim. Richard Condie, p . Michael Scott, without her, one's attention would Condie, anim,cam. Gordon Manson, inker: Sha­ flag. This good-looking debut film pJdJed. Albert Kish, exec.p. Adam SymanskylBarrie ron Condie, sd.ed. Ken Rodeck, mus. Patrick Howells, cam. Andy Kitzanuk, loc.sd. Bev Davidson! Godfrey, voices: Jay Brazeau, Ida Osler, Randy from Patricia Rozema falls down on Hans Domes, mus. Ben Low, running time: 10 mins. Woods, Bill Guest, running time: 9 mins.49 its script. Such florid phrases as "an 45 secs., col. I6mmlvideotape. p.c. & dist. National secs., col. 35mmll6mmlvideotape. pc. and dist.: exquisite ache," "the sublime mad­ Film Board. National film Board. ness," and "perhaps what it is all about is my being able to say to you without fear or blame, it is over," at the finish, serve to emphasize that the writing leaves much to be desi­ 'licks' it, and applies proper postage, we red. realize that not only do machines have Griffiths' shining performance is hands and tongues, they also increas­ the mainstay here - a lesser actress ingly have all the jobs. What's left for would have foundered in the words. human beings to do seems to be It's to be hoped that the interpreta­ epitomized in the film by the computer tion was decided upon between this convention salesmen who dutifully sing talented player and the director. How­ the praises for their new technological ever, it's fair to say that this ambi­ masters. tious first film, with good production Joyce Nelson • values squeezed out of (one guesses) a small budget, certainly engenders an anticipatory feeling for the next QUEL NUMEROIWHAT NUMBER?: one. THE ELECTRONIC SWEATSHOP d. Sophie Bissonnette p. Jean-Roeh Marcotte, Bisson· d J ed./sc. Patricia Rozema. cam. Peter Mettler. nette Serge Giguere ed. Liette Aubin res. Sophie cam. Iighting/assl.cam. Doug Koch, art.d. Barbara Bissonnette sd. Diane Carriere, Claude Beaugrand Tranter, casl. Maria Armstrong, I.p. Linda Grif­ mus. jean Sauvageau, Denis Larochelle, Clemence De­ fiths, 16mm, col., running time: 26 mins. Availa­ srochers 16mm., color, running time: HI minutes, bility: Vos Productionsrroronto (q 16) q61-H87~ . 1985 dist. (English Version) DEC Films, 229 College, Produced with assistance from the Onuri" Arts S!., Toronto, (416) 964-6901 , (French Version) CounciVNalional Film BoardfThe Canada Council. • The wife with the removable eyes in The Big Snit Cinema Libre, 4872 rue Papineau, Montreal, (5 H) 526·0473.

November 1985 - Cinema Canadal31 · ht A Little Ug MENT" "EXCITE

One Strand Century Dual Wattage System Uses Either the 1200W or 575W Sylvania Brite Beam@) Lamp.

The Brite Beam lamp is the most recent development in arc discharge light sources (HMI) for the studio, theatre, and television market. The lamp is normally shipped with a set of three spread lenses and a clear lens. Insertion of a spread lens will modify the beam spread to give a narrow spot (NSP), a medium flood (MF), or a wide flood (WF) distribution. The clear lens is supplied to place in the lensholder when the very narrow spot (VNSP) distribution of the bare Brite Beam lamp is required. This clear lens cover provides protection of the lamp against external damage and also will maintain the integrity of luminaires which are of weather-tight design.

II Ii II II -PANAV/5/DN II II j C l~ f'.J A DA.

Complete Film Equipment Rental 16mm and 35mm Cameras Sound and Lighting Equipment Generators, Sound Studios Sales Distributors of Tiffen, Rosco, Lowel and Osram

Montreal: Toronto: Administration and equipment (51 4) 487-5010 793 Pharmacy Avenue, M 1 L 3 K3 (416) 752-7670 2120 Decarie Blvd., H4A 3J3 Studio and Lighting Vancouver: 20 20 Nort hcliffe Avenue, H4A 3K5 43 West, 6th Ayenue, V5Y 1 K2 (604) 873-3901