Joe and I drove out to Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where the esteemed Andy Brown, publisher of Conundrum Press and editor of this issue, now resides. After having sold Conundrum Towers in Montreal, Mr. Brown moved his offices to the new Conundrum Estates and Nature Reserve on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, where we met to discuss the Movie Mythos Top Ten Maritime Movies.
Due to the stifling July heat, we decided to adjourn to the Conundrum Cottage by the oceanside, where salty breezes would cool our brains for thinking. I asked the interns (mostly locals, fishpants and all, said Mr. Brown) what Maritime films they could recommend. The interns took a break from making lobster rolls and rappûre/rappie pie, an Acadian delight of gelatinous grated potatoes and meat, which I first sampled as a French Camp student at Ste-Anne University nearby. Some classics of Canadian cinema came up immediately: Margaret’s Museum, New Waterford Girl, The Hanging Garden. There followed a lively discussion of Anne of Green Gables and CODCO, and how these have shaped our national identity. Finally, we wracked our brains to come up with more recent examples of Maritime cinema, and came up with some of playwright Daniel MacIvor’s work, including Wilby Wonderful and Marion Bridge.
A hard day’s work concluded, the interns then took us crab-fishing off the dock. The lazy late afternoon stretched into the evening as we played Hearts, before a kitchen party erupted, everyone drinking Screech, jigging and playing fiddles and spoons. No, this last part was not actually true. There were, however, many rounds of Farewell to Nova Scotia (sung mostly by Joe) as we left in the morning.
The Movie Mythos Top Ten Maritime Movies:
Anne of Green Gables (1985) – Kevin Sullivan. Sure, roll your eyes. Anne is amongst the most recognizable kitsch icons of Canadiana, along with Mounties and lumberjacks. Prince Edward Island is a top tourist destination, thanks to her. But when I was young and romantic, I read and re-read the original stories a thousand times over. I thought the movie was a lovely rendition, Megan Follows as Anne was perfect, Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth as the Cuthberts were inimitable.
The Hanging Garden (1997) - Thom Fitzgerald. You can’t go home again, especially when you’ve hung your troubled, fat, teen-aged self in the garden and gone off to be a gay man in the city. Ashley MacIsaac shows up playing the fiddle, who else?
New Waterford Girl (1999) – Allan Moyle. The best thing about this quirky Cape Breton small town coming of age comedy is the wonderful Liane Balaban in her first acting role. Not the only good thing though! Nicholas “Da Vinci” Campbell and Mary Walsh are also great. Themes include teen pregnancy, the strangeness of people “from away,” and wanting to get away.
Margaret’s Museum (1995) – Mort Ransen. Based on Sheldon Currie’s book The Glace Bay Miners Museum, with lots of Maritime signifiers, from the coal mining town where it is set, to the abundance of Gaelic music and dialect, bagpipes and booze.
The Shipping News (2001) - Lasse Hallström. There was a time when I would have been excited about seeing a movie by Lasse Hallström, director of the wonderful My Life as a Dog, but working in Hollywood for the last twenty years has done him a disservice. The Shipping News, though greeted with mixed reviews when it came out, warranted a spot on the list as one of the few Hollywood films set in Newfoundland (based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Annie Proulx). Maritime signifiers here include seal flipper pie and the sea, the sea, the raging stormy sea.
The Bay Boy (1984) – Daniel Petrie. A Catholic boy in small-town Nova Scotia, whose mother wants him to be a priest, wrestles with religion, girls, murder, and molestation by the local priest. An early coming-of-age Canadian classic with Keifer Sutherland, Liv Ullmann and Peter Donat.
Codco (1988-1992). A CBC television series that was on at the same time as The Kids in the Hall, which at the time I liked better than Codco, but my roommates, all of whom hailed from Nova Scotia, thought Codco was hilarious. I admit, I didn’t get the Newfie humour a lot of the time. But Cathy Jones and Mary Walsh would go on to do This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which in turn has spawned a Rick Mercer empire (Monday Report, Made in Canada, Talking to Americans…). Mercer was also in Secret Nation with Jones and Walsh (both of whom are also empires), a movie positing a conspiracy around the referendum that saw Newfoundland join Canada. Codco and The Kids in the Hall would meet at last in the short-lived series set in Newfoundland, Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, with Walsh and Mark McKinney.
The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood (1986) – Andy Jones and Michael Jones. The Codco gang before they were Codco, with all their trademark gags and humour, about a bureaucrat who becomes the first ruler of the People's Republic of Newfoundland.
Wilby Wonderful (2004) – Daniel MacIvor. A brilliant playwright, actor, and director who also wrote Marion Bridge, MacIvor leads a who’s who cast of Canadians here with Paul Gross, Maury Chaykin (may he Rest in Peace), Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie, Ellen Page…
Crackie (2009) – Sherry White. Just last year, the latest Maritime film made its rounds through the film festival circuit, garnering great reviews. Crackie is about a young girl and her single mother, living in a gritty small-town of hardship in Newfoundland. Tough and poetic at the same time. Look for it at your local video store, though probably filed under “Foreign Films” as ironically, many Canadian works tend to be.
Altogether now! Farewell to Nova Scotia, the sea-bound coast/Let your mountains dark and dreary be/For when I am far away on the briny ocean tossed/Will you ever heave a sigh or a wish for me?
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Movie Mythos #86: The Drinking Issue
I thought I’d already done a drinking and writing column, but I guess my memory is shot by the booze. The column I’d been thinking of ran in Matrix 76, Robert Allen’s memorial issue, but it was really more of a writers-in-movies column, though indeed, many of these involved drink. Alcoholism is an unfortunate occupational hazard when one is a writer. Or is it the other way around? Being a writer would certainly be an unfortunate occupation for a drunk. Ha ha! This romantic cliché is most famously embodied in Barfly, written by Charles Bukowski and directed by Barbet Schroeder.
Barton Fink, besides being one of my favourite films, is on this list for the character of W.P. Mayhew, based on William Faulkner, who Howard Hawks invited to Hollywood to write screenplays, and who believed that alcohol helped him to write.
From Hollywood, we move to Las Vegas, where people go to drink themselves to death, or at least Nick Cage (playing a screenwriter) does in Leaving Las Vegas. The more carnival-esque side to booze in Vegas (plus everything else you can imagine) is explored by Johnny Depp’s rendition of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but though it’s directed by Terry Gilliam, nothing captures crazy like the book.
Then there’s the old classic, The Lost Weekend, which follows an unsuccessful writer’s four day bender, tracing through flashback all the destruction wrought by the bottle.
The last of the writerly drunk movies on this list is Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker. Are writers the most prone to drink? Why aren’t there as many movies about alcoholic artists or accountants?
Well, for a change in pace, we have a couple of comedies next. The Big Lebowski, the second entry here from the Coen Brothers, features Jeff Bridges as The Dude, who drinks White Russians throughout. Some friends and I once had a Big Lebowski party where everyone had to drink a White Russian everytime The Dude did. A dangerous game! White Russians (kahlua, vodka and milk) go down eeeeeasy, then hit you in the head. We also had Cosmopolitans (vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice) while watching Sex and the City, and contemplated drinking straight vodka while watching North by Northwest. However, in that movie, James Stewart is forced to drink a whole bottle of booze by spies, who try to kill him by then letting him drive drunk. Maybe not the best drinking game movie!
James Stewart surfaces again in Harvey, where he plays an alcoholic who makes friends with a giant pink rabbit that only he can see. A screwball comedy!
Then there are the amazing, hilarious series of Drunken Master kung-fu flicks, starring Jackie Chan, whose character actually fights better while drunk. If you haven’t seen these classics, you gotta go check them out!
And finally, the last entry on the list is Cocktail. Cheesy Tom Cruise! “Flair” bartending action that spawned an 80s fad! The tagline: “When he pours, he reigns.”
The Matrix Movie Mythos List of Drinking Movies:
Barfly (1987) – Barbet Schroeder
Barton Fink (1991) – The Coen Brothers
Leaving Las Vegas (1995) –Mike Figgis
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) – Terry Gilliam
The Lost Weekend (1945) – Billy Wilder
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) – Alan Rudolph
The Big Lebowski (1998) – The Coen Brothers
Harvey (1950) – Henry Koster
Drunken Master (1978) – Woo-ping Yuen, and The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) – Chia-Liang Lu. Both starring Jackie Chan.
Cocktail (1988) – Roger Donaldson
Barton Fink, besides being one of my favourite films, is on this list for the character of W.P. Mayhew, based on William Faulkner, who Howard Hawks invited to Hollywood to write screenplays, and who believed that alcohol helped him to write.
From Hollywood, we move to Las Vegas, where people go to drink themselves to death, or at least Nick Cage (playing a screenwriter) does in Leaving Las Vegas. The more carnival-esque side to booze in Vegas (plus everything else you can imagine) is explored by Johnny Depp’s rendition of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but though it’s directed by Terry Gilliam, nothing captures crazy like the book.
Then there’s the old classic, The Lost Weekend, which follows an unsuccessful writer’s four day bender, tracing through flashback all the destruction wrought by the bottle.
The last of the writerly drunk movies on this list is Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker. Are writers the most prone to drink? Why aren’t there as many movies about alcoholic artists or accountants?
Well, for a change in pace, we have a couple of comedies next. The Big Lebowski, the second entry here from the Coen Brothers, features Jeff Bridges as The Dude, who drinks White Russians throughout. Some friends and I once had a Big Lebowski party where everyone had to drink a White Russian everytime The Dude did. A dangerous game! White Russians (kahlua, vodka and milk) go down eeeeeasy, then hit you in the head. We also had Cosmopolitans (vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice) while watching Sex and the City, and contemplated drinking straight vodka while watching North by Northwest. However, in that movie, James Stewart is forced to drink a whole bottle of booze by spies, who try to kill him by then letting him drive drunk. Maybe not the best drinking game movie!
James Stewart surfaces again in Harvey, where he plays an alcoholic who makes friends with a giant pink rabbit that only he can see. A screwball comedy!
Then there are the amazing, hilarious series of Drunken Master kung-fu flicks, starring Jackie Chan, whose character actually fights better while drunk. If you haven’t seen these classics, you gotta go check them out!
And finally, the last entry on the list is Cocktail. Cheesy Tom Cruise! “Flair” bartending action that spawned an 80s fad! The tagline: “When he pours, he reigns.”
The Matrix Movie Mythos List of Drinking Movies:
Barfly (1987) – Barbet Schroeder
Barton Fink (1991) – The Coen Brothers
Leaving Las Vegas (1995) –Mike Figgis
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) – Terry Gilliam
The Lost Weekend (1945) – Billy Wilder
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) – Alan Rudolph
The Big Lebowski (1998) – The Coen Brothers
Harvey (1950) – Henry Koster
Drunken Master (1978) – Woo-ping Yuen, and The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) – Chia-Liang Lu. Both starring Jackie Chan.
Cocktail (1988) – Roger Donaldson
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Movie Mythos #85: The New Feminism
The Old Feminism came up with some pretty good slogans. “The Personal is Political,” for instance, still works pretty well! But when the subject of feminism came up in an art history class that I was teaching, I posed this question to my students, most of whom were freshly out of high school: Do you call yourself a feminist? In each class of 30, only one or two students ever said yes, and even then, hesitantly.
However! Though this perfectly informal and scientifically un-rigorous survey might dismay the Old Feminists, fear not. The New Feminism only rarely calls itself the “F” word, because so many issues intersect, not only gender. The personal is now more political than ever, and whatever you call it, Feminism is still needed more than ever. After all, we haven’t even achieved something as basic as equal pay for equal work, never mind the restructuring of whole value systems.
It’s even worse at the movies. In a recent article on the lack of movies made by and for women in Hollywood, New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis pointed out the sad statistics: “Only three women have been nominated as directors by the Academy in 81 years: Lina Wertmüller for “Seven Beauties” in 1976; Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993; and Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation” in 2003. None won. “ (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/movies/13dargis.html?_r=3&ref=movies)
This year, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker is up for a lot of awards in the Industry, some say probably even for that coveted Oscar (maybe even won it, by the time this column runs). The fact is, women such as Bigelow are very rare. She can make a "guy flick", rather than a "chick flick." Dargis points out that Bigelow’s success is important in breaking stereotypes, so that women might someday direct films other than rom-coms.
However, the New Feminism isn’t trying to be one of the guys. It’s not so interested in playing by Hollywood rules, trying to get deals, money, Academy Awards. Women directors tend to work outside the system, for the most part. They work in different media, often video, which, because of its accessibility, allows greater expression and control. Video artists often take more risks than filmmakers, and are able to be far more personal (and thus, political). It must be noted that there are a far greater number of video artists who are women. In terms of form, then, it’s video art and not filmmaking that represents the New Feminism (whether we call it that, or not).
The Matrix List of New Feminist Movies:
Jane Campion’s early films are tough and strange, like Sweetie, or melancholy and exuberant, like Angel at My Table. There’s The Piano, sensual and disturbing, and her latest, the gentler Bright Star. Campion is one of the few women directors who does great work both in and out of the system (though most often, she’s better out).
Mira Nair’s early films, Salaam Bombay! Mississippi Masala, and Monsoon Wedding, were wonderful. The Namesake, adapted from the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, had great reviews. But her latest is a Hollywood biopic about Amelia Earhart that frankly doesn’t look very good (Hollywood destroys!).
Claire Denis is associated with the New French Extremism because her films are very, very intense. Trouble Every Day is my favourite film by Denis, starring Vincent Gallo and Beatrice Dalle as science lab guinea pigs inflicted with a disease that makes them crave sex and human blood.
Sally Potter’s Orlando was a wonderful adaptation of the Virginia Woolf classic. Tango Lessons was insightful, personal look into gender roles in Tango and life.
Agnès Varda is one of the few women associated with the French New Wave, and her film Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) is regarded as one of the classics of French cinema, but I think her later works just get better and better. In her documentary The Gleaners and I, she embraces video as an intimate medium and uses it to interrogate her own life, her memories, her preoccupations.
Dorris Dorrie‘s Men was one of the first German films I ever saw, back in 1995. It was funny and moving and full of heart. She has also embraced video for her later works, which are still funny and moving and full of heart.
Shirin Neshat – Beginning with her work in installation, Neshat’s stunning epic film loops often explore the great gender divide, especially in Islamic societies. She recently directed her first feature film, Women Without Men, which is currently making the rounds on the film festival circuit.
Alanis Obomsawin made Kahnesatake: 270 Years of Resistance, for which she’s perhaps the most well known. But Obomsawin has been making films with the NFB for almost 40 years! She recently won the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award.
Miranda July’s first feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, is quirky and disturbing as hell. She also writes quirky stories and does performance art, often about quirky obsessions and heartbreak. Her participatory website, learningtoloveyoumore.com, with artist Harrell Fletcher, is pretty neat.
Midi Onodera has been making films and videos for over twenty years. In 2008, she made a tiny movie every single day, and posted them on her website. In 2009, she scaled back to produce a tiny movie every single week. These are still on her website at http://www.midionodera.com. For 2010, she aims to produce a Baker’s Dozen. And there are so many other women media artists that I want to include: Sylvie Laliberté, Helen Lee, Monique Moumblow… check them out at http://www.fringeonline.ca/
However! Though this perfectly informal and scientifically un-rigorous survey might dismay the Old Feminists, fear not. The New Feminism only rarely calls itself the “F” word, because so many issues intersect, not only gender. The personal is now more political than ever, and whatever you call it, Feminism is still needed more than ever. After all, we haven’t even achieved something as basic as equal pay for equal work, never mind the restructuring of whole value systems.
It’s even worse at the movies. In a recent article on the lack of movies made by and for women in Hollywood, New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis pointed out the sad statistics: “Only three women have been nominated as directors by the Academy in 81 years: Lina Wertmüller for “Seven Beauties” in 1976; Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993; and Sofia Coppola for “Lost in Translation” in 2003. None won. “ (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/movies/13dargis.html?_r=3&ref=movies)
This year, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker is up for a lot of awards in the Industry, some say probably even for that coveted Oscar (maybe even won it, by the time this column runs). The fact is, women such as Bigelow are very rare. She can make a "guy flick", rather than a "chick flick." Dargis points out that Bigelow’s success is important in breaking stereotypes, so that women might someday direct films other than rom-coms.
However, the New Feminism isn’t trying to be one of the guys. It’s not so interested in playing by Hollywood rules, trying to get deals, money, Academy Awards. Women directors tend to work outside the system, for the most part. They work in different media, often video, which, because of its accessibility, allows greater expression and control. Video artists often take more risks than filmmakers, and are able to be far more personal (and thus, political). It must be noted that there are a far greater number of video artists who are women. In terms of form, then, it’s video art and not filmmaking that represents the New Feminism (whether we call it that, or not).
The Matrix List of New Feminist Movies:
Jane Campion’s early films are tough and strange, like Sweetie, or melancholy and exuberant, like Angel at My Table. There’s The Piano, sensual and disturbing, and her latest, the gentler Bright Star. Campion is one of the few women directors who does great work both in and out of the system (though most often, she’s better out).
Mira Nair’s early films, Salaam Bombay! Mississippi Masala, and Monsoon Wedding, were wonderful. The Namesake, adapted from the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, had great reviews. But her latest is a Hollywood biopic about Amelia Earhart that frankly doesn’t look very good (Hollywood destroys!).
Claire Denis is associated with the New French Extremism because her films are very, very intense. Trouble Every Day is my favourite film by Denis, starring Vincent Gallo and Beatrice Dalle as science lab guinea pigs inflicted with a disease that makes them crave sex and human blood.
Sally Potter’s Orlando was a wonderful adaptation of the Virginia Woolf classic. Tango Lessons was insightful, personal look into gender roles in Tango and life.
Agnès Varda is one of the few women associated with the French New Wave, and her film Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) is regarded as one of the classics of French cinema, but I think her later works just get better and better. In her documentary The Gleaners and I, she embraces video as an intimate medium and uses it to interrogate her own life, her memories, her preoccupations.
Dorris Dorrie‘s Men was one of the first German films I ever saw, back in 1995. It was funny and moving and full of heart. She has also embraced video for her later works, which are still funny and moving and full of heart.
Shirin Neshat – Beginning with her work in installation, Neshat’s stunning epic film loops often explore the great gender divide, especially in Islamic societies. She recently directed her first feature film, Women Without Men, which is currently making the rounds on the film festival circuit.
Alanis Obomsawin made Kahnesatake: 270 Years of Resistance, for which she’s perhaps the most well known. But Obomsawin has been making films with the NFB for almost 40 years! She recently won the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award.
Miranda July’s first feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know, is quirky and disturbing as hell. She also writes quirky stories and does performance art, often about quirky obsessions and heartbreak. Her participatory website, learningtoloveyoumore.com, with artist Harrell Fletcher, is pretty neat.
Midi Onodera has been making films and videos for over twenty years. In 2008, she made a tiny movie every single day, and posted them on her website. In 2009, she scaled back to produce a tiny movie every single week. These are still on her website at http://www.midionodera.com. For 2010, she aims to produce a Baker’s Dozen. And there are so many other women media artists that I want to include: Sylvie Laliberté, Helen Lee, Monique Moumblow… check them out at http://www.fringeonline.ca/
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Matrix #84
Happy When It Rains
I moved to Vancouver when I was fresh out of high school, and lived there for the next seven years. I never got tired of the rain. Or maybe I’m just romanticizing it, because I would probably get tired of the rain now. But back then I was a wannabe Goth girl, though not as morbid or as made-up. I wore only black and I was happy when it rained. And it’s the rain, of course, that is a huge part of Movie-Mythic Vancouver.
The Movie-Mythic City exists as a collection of moods, ideas and images found in cinematic history and the collective imagination. New York might be the most mythic of these cities, figuring as its own character in iconic films from Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, to Wes Anderson. For Vancouver, it seems to be the rain that comes up most often. The never-ending drizzle, the grey skies, and the gloom have become part of its character as portrayed on the screen, perhaps most famously in setting the mood for The X-Files, which, like so many things shot in Vancouver, was not actually set there.
The fact is, although dubbed Hollywood North, Vancouver has mostly lent its famed weather to television and movies that didn’t want Vancouver to be in them. But Vancouver often sticks out, anyways. How can it not? Most ridiculously, in Jackie Chan’s Rumble in the Bronx, Vancouver can’t be mistaken! Who ever thought Vancouver could pass for the Bronx? It clearly doesn’t. There’s a scene with a hovercraft on the beach, the mountains in the background… heck, if that’s the Bronx, it sure is a beautiful place.
One of the first American TV shows to shoot in Vancouver to save a buck was 21 Jump Street, the teenage cop show that launched Johnny Depp’s career. Though supposedly set in a fictitious American state, the opening titles gave away its true Vancouver location as the Skytrain and the Hastings bus were seen in the opening titles (always a source of pride to Vancouverites).
Since then, the list where Vancouver has stood in for Anytown, USA, has grown and grown, including such venerable TV programs as MacGyver, Smallville, and of course, The X-Files. And in the movies, Vancouver has quietly appeared in Hollywood gems as X2: X-Men United, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, and currently, Twilight: New Moon.
But when it came down to making my Vancouver movie list, I wanted to include shows that were actually set in Vancouver. Hard Core Logo came to mind immediately for movies, and not much else. So then I had to do some digging!
Out of necessity, I widened my scope to include television shows, which are an especially important part in reflecting Vancouver’s character. Da Vinci’s Inquest, one of the CBC’s most popular shows ever, is really Vancouver. But there are also little-seen independent films that, although not widely available, have certainly added to Vancouver’s onscreen mythos. Most of these on the final list are, of course, Canadian, because if we don’t set our stories where we live, who else will?
So finally, here’s the Matrix Top Ten List of Movie-Mythic Vancouver:
Hard Core Logo (1996) – Bruce McDonald captures Vancouver’s punk rock scene the way I remember it (perhaps I’m romanticizing again).
Da Vinci's Inquest (1998-2005) – One of the best crime dramas ever, based loosely on real-life Vancouver coroner and then later, mayor, Larry Campbell.
The Grey Fox (1982) – This historical drama by Phillip Borsos about a genteel stagecoach robber who decides to go to British Columbia to become a train robber. Notable mostly for the wonderful Richard Farnsworth.
Unnatural & Accidental (2006) – by Carl Bessai, based on the play by Marie Clements.
Based on the real life murders by alcohol poisoning of 10 Native-Canadian women on Vancouver’s East Side, a subject also tackled in Da Vinci’s Inquest.
Everything’s Gone Green (2006) – by Paul Fox, screenplay by Douglas Coupland.
Love him or hate him, Mr. Coupland has contributed much to developing the character (caricature) of Vancouver. Everything’s Gone Green was the first movie that he’d written, and is one of the most “Vancouver” movies ever made! And if that wasn’t enough, you could then watch all 13 episodes of jPod, adapted from Coupland’s novel and made into a CBC television series, which ran one season (available to view on the website!).
The Beachcombers (1972-1994) – The Beachcombers on the CBC had a run of 22 years, the longest running Canadian TV drama in Canadian history. It wasn’t technically set in Vancouver, but about 40 minutes north by ferry. But whenever I go out to the Vancouver Airport, I see logs jammed up in the Fraser River delta and I think of this show.
Better Than Chocolate (1999) – Anne Wheeler’s lesbian love-story fairy-tale.
Double Happiness (1994) – One of the first movies I ever saw that starred an Asian-Canadian woman (Sandra Oh), and even more importantly, was written and directed by an Asian-Canadian woman (Mina Shum).
Robson Arms (2005-2008) – A wacky comedy with a who’s who of Canadian TV stars (including my fav, Dave Foley), and set in the West End, one of the most densely populated areas of Vancouver. Naturally, it’s all about neighbours!
The X-Files (1993-2002) – I couldn’t resist finishing off with The X-Files because, although not set in Vancouver, it’s become part of the myth of Vancouver in a way that other more generic shows have not. In the last seasons, when the production moved to sunny LA, some wondered whether they would be able to strike the right mood without all the rain.
I moved to Vancouver when I was fresh out of high school, and lived there for the next seven years. I never got tired of the rain. Or maybe I’m just romanticizing it, because I would probably get tired of the rain now. But back then I was a wannabe Goth girl, though not as morbid or as made-up. I wore only black and I was happy when it rained. And it’s the rain, of course, that is a huge part of Movie-Mythic Vancouver.
The Movie-Mythic City exists as a collection of moods, ideas and images found in cinematic history and the collective imagination. New York might be the most mythic of these cities, figuring as its own character in iconic films from Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, to Wes Anderson. For Vancouver, it seems to be the rain that comes up most often. The never-ending drizzle, the grey skies, and the gloom have become part of its character as portrayed on the screen, perhaps most famously in setting the mood for The X-Files, which, like so many things shot in Vancouver, was not actually set there.
The fact is, although dubbed Hollywood North, Vancouver has mostly lent its famed weather to television and movies that didn’t want Vancouver to be in them. But Vancouver often sticks out, anyways. How can it not? Most ridiculously, in Jackie Chan’s Rumble in the Bronx, Vancouver can’t be mistaken! Who ever thought Vancouver could pass for the Bronx? It clearly doesn’t. There’s a scene with a hovercraft on the beach, the mountains in the background… heck, if that’s the Bronx, it sure is a beautiful place.
One of the first American TV shows to shoot in Vancouver to save a buck was 21 Jump Street, the teenage cop show that launched Johnny Depp’s career. Though supposedly set in a fictitious American state, the opening titles gave away its true Vancouver location as the Skytrain and the Hastings bus were seen in the opening titles (always a source of pride to Vancouverites).
Since then, the list where Vancouver has stood in for Anytown, USA, has grown and grown, including such venerable TV programs as MacGyver, Smallville, and of course, The X-Files. And in the movies, Vancouver has quietly appeared in Hollywood gems as X2: X-Men United, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, and currently, Twilight: New Moon.
But when it came down to making my Vancouver movie list, I wanted to include shows that were actually set in Vancouver. Hard Core Logo came to mind immediately for movies, and not much else. So then I had to do some digging!
Out of necessity, I widened my scope to include television shows, which are an especially important part in reflecting Vancouver’s character. Da Vinci’s Inquest, one of the CBC’s most popular shows ever, is really Vancouver. But there are also little-seen independent films that, although not widely available, have certainly added to Vancouver’s onscreen mythos. Most of these on the final list are, of course, Canadian, because if we don’t set our stories where we live, who else will?
So finally, here’s the Matrix Top Ten List of Movie-Mythic Vancouver:
Hard Core Logo (1996) – Bruce McDonald captures Vancouver’s punk rock scene the way I remember it (perhaps I’m romanticizing again).
Da Vinci's Inquest (1998-2005) – One of the best crime dramas ever, based loosely on real-life Vancouver coroner and then later, mayor, Larry Campbell.
The Grey Fox (1982) – This historical drama by Phillip Borsos about a genteel stagecoach robber who decides to go to British Columbia to become a train robber. Notable mostly for the wonderful Richard Farnsworth.
Unnatural & Accidental (2006) – by Carl Bessai, based on the play by Marie Clements.
Based on the real life murders by alcohol poisoning of 10 Native-Canadian women on Vancouver’s East Side, a subject also tackled in Da Vinci’s Inquest.
Everything’s Gone Green (2006) – by Paul Fox, screenplay by Douglas Coupland.
Love him or hate him, Mr. Coupland has contributed much to developing the character (caricature) of Vancouver. Everything’s Gone Green was the first movie that he’d written, and is one of the most “Vancouver” movies ever made! And if that wasn’t enough, you could then watch all 13 episodes of jPod, adapted from Coupland’s novel and made into a CBC television series, which ran one season (available to view on the website!).
The Beachcombers (1972-1994) – The Beachcombers on the CBC had a run of 22 years, the longest running Canadian TV drama in Canadian history. It wasn’t technically set in Vancouver, but about 40 minutes north by ferry. But whenever I go out to the Vancouver Airport, I see logs jammed up in the Fraser River delta and I think of this show.
Better Than Chocolate (1999) – Anne Wheeler’s lesbian love-story fairy-tale.
Double Happiness (1994) – One of the first movies I ever saw that starred an Asian-Canadian woman (Sandra Oh), and even more importantly, was written and directed by an Asian-Canadian woman (Mina Shum).
Robson Arms (2005-2008) – A wacky comedy with a who’s who of Canadian TV stars (including my fav, Dave Foley), and set in the West End, one of the most densely populated areas of Vancouver. Naturally, it’s all about neighbours!
The X-Files (1993-2002) – I couldn’t resist finishing off with The X-Files because, although not set in Vancouver, it’s become part of the myth of Vancouver in a way that other more generic shows have not. In the last seasons, when the production moved to sunny LA, some wondered whether they would be able to strike the right mood without all the rain.
Monday, September 21, 2009
2 Days in Paris / Two Lovers
I'd read a review of 2 Days in Paris, Julie Delpy's directorial debut, which described it as being rather Woody Allen-like, and it really is an apt description. I know Delpy mostly from starring in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, which I happen to think are two of the most romantic movies of all time, so it was great to see her onscreen again. She strikes me as eccentric and kooky but down-to-earth at the same time. Her boyfriend in the film (played by Adam Goldberg) reminds me of so many neurotic people that I know, so it was kind of fun to watch him blunder his way around. The movie ranges from cringe-inducing to neurotic and messed up, but kind of sweet and decent, too. I really liked it, but when we lent the film to a friend, who admittedly has the opposite taste in movies than we do, he said he had to turn it off after fifteen minutes because he found the characters too whiny. A chacun son cinema!
The same friend recommended Two Lovers by James Gray to us, and so logically it would follow that we wouldn't like it. Actually, Joe thought it was just okay (though he was under the impression it was going to be a RomCom and it wasn’t), but I found it surprising and not too affected. I was surprised when the Joaquin Phoenix character, who seems a bit like Marty, a guy who lives with his parents and seems socially awkward, goes out to clubs and breaks with the best of them. Well, I guess that was the main surprise… besides the fact that the film paces itself out beautifully, takes its time with it. Gwyneth Paltrow gives more depth in her bad-girl portrayal than I’ve seen in some time. Isabella Rossellini, who is always wonderful, plays Joaquin’s mother wonderfully. The scenes are quiet and well-observed. Both these films ended up being paired well together in very opposite yet kind of complimentary ways. Nice!
The same friend recommended Two Lovers by James Gray to us, and so logically it would follow that we wouldn't like it. Actually, Joe thought it was just okay (though he was under the impression it was going to be a RomCom and it wasn’t), but I found it surprising and not too affected. I was surprised when the Joaquin Phoenix character, who seems a bit like Marty, a guy who lives with his parents and seems socially awkward, goes out to clubs and breaks with the best of them. Well, I guess that was the main surprise… besides the fact that the film paces itself out beautifully, takes its time with it. Gwyneth Paltrow gives more depth in her bad-girl portrayal than I’ve seen in some time. Isabella Rossellini, who is always wonderful, plays Joaquin’s mother wonderfully. The scenes are quiet and well-observed. Both these films ended up being paired well together in very opposite yet kind of complimentary ways. Nice!
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