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.

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!

Happy-Go-Lucky / The Wrestler / The Fountain

I'd heard way too often that Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler was a pretty good film, which is the perfect way to ruin a film with high expectations. For example, Joe and I started watching Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh's latest, which we’d also heard was a good film. After ½ an hour, we decided not to continue. We found ourselves rather annoyed by the main characters, especially Sally Hawkins with her continuous cackle. Same as with the whimsical music that kept popping in. I may return to it, however, as I’ve heard that the beginning of the film is a bit of a misstep for Leigh, and I'm a fan of his earlier works.

The Wrestler, in spite of all my preconceptions, surprised me. It struck a good balance between gritty realism and Hollywood storytelling. It seemed heartfelt, and its excellent script was not too maudlin when it had so many opportunities to be. Mickey Rourke is great as an excellent ex-wrestler trying to make a come-back after a heart attack takes him out of commission. And we get a peek into behind the scenes of the world of professional wrestling, which seems way stranger than anything I could dream up, like stapling one's opponent with real staples. Whoa! Director Darren Aronofsky seems to be back on track after his strange and fantastical flop, The Fountain.

We actually hadn't seen The Fountain prior to seeing The Wrestler – well, not more than twenty minutes before giving up on it – but we were so impressed with Aronofsky’s latest that we thought we'd give it another shot. I can't say I regret doing so, if only because I haven't seen anything so outlandish in quite some time, but it was really, really, really, um, strange. Not in a good way. New-Agey and sentimental and poorly acted. I'm glad that The Wrestler followed, because I might have written Aronofsky off, otherwise.

Moon

The first thing I noticed about Moon is that for a science-fiction film, the set is very human. The machines looked used and duct-taped together, and have sticky notes posted to them with instructions like "kick me". The living quarters are a comfortable mess. It's so much more realistic than those super art-designed classics that we all know and love, and which are often alluded to in the movie. For instance, the computer named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey) is calm and soft-voiced, but it isn't evil or malicious, though of course you expect it to be. Sam Rockwell gives a brilliant, understated yet anguished performance as a man who's about to finish a three year solitary mining contract on the far side of the moon. Clearly, three years of solitude is too much for a man! Duncan Jones has made a really wonderful film... with no hyperbole, Moon was the best new movie I'd seen in quite a while, a quiet, humanist sci-fi tale.

Bloody Sunday

Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday was a revelation in docudrama. It's riveting, gritty, chilling, sickening, but not in the least bit exploitative or overdone. In 1972, during a pro-I.R.A. civil-rights march in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 27 unarmed civilian protesters were gunned down by the British Army, and 13 killed. Though Greengrass is obviously on the side of the Irish-Catholic demonstrators, he presents two contrasting points of view throughout the film. We see the protestors, ordinary Irish folk, lead by Ivan Cooper, their member of Parliament (a wonderful performance, full of gravity, by James Nesbitt); and we see the under-trained soldiers in British Army preparing for the confrontation, their anxiety, their disdain for the Irish “hooligans” and their confusion going in. The events are presented simply but deftly, building with tense emotion to the imminent clash.

The camera is handheld, but most importantly, not too hand-held, avoiding the jerky motion-sickness-inducing motions of The Blair Witch Project but lending the aesthetics of documentary film. And there is no music throughout, just dense soundscape and overlapping dialogue. Bravo! There is nothing I hate more than inappropriate or overdone music.

Until the end, anyways, when it faded to black and the credits started to roll. Oh no, I thought, there’s going to be a U2 song now. And there was! It took me a moment to realize that the song was, what else, Sunday, Bloody Sunday, and then I remembered that I used to love this song when I was a teenager and was really into U2. But now, I have trouble taking U2 seriously after they became ironic rock stars, then at some point, seemed to lose the irony.

But that's such a trivial digression. Bloody Sunday reminded me of every civil rights movement in history, of Kent State, Tianenman Square. It's an amazing feat of filmmaking, and having seen it, I might reconsider seeing United 93, Greengrass’s portrayal of the events of 9/11 and the plane that didn’t reach its target (though I’m still not convinced of the necessity of that film's existence). Bloody Sunday, however, is a completely necessary film, an outrage, a challenge, an impassioned shout for justice. See it!