more canadian content
While I'm at it . . . Canada continues to keep me awake.
That is, I've found that Canadian content is really, really, really handy when you're cleaning files or slogging through reference lists, activities that rate pretty high on the Most Boring Work Ever list. Subtitles aren't necessary for a change (unless it's the Quebecois-type of Canadian content), and it's all sufficiently bizarre to keep you from face-planting into your keyboard. But. With these movies, you to start to feel ripped off if they skimp on their Obligatory Canadian Corpse.
And, after a while, you've an overwhelming urge to tack a disclaimer on everything: "Don McKellar does not appear in this book" or "Don McKellar will not be mentioned in this email." I mean, no, he hasn't shown up in everything I've watched lately. Just nearly everything. It's a near, near thing.
So this is our scorecard to date.
Bon Cop Bad Cop
Quebec content warning! So I already nattered about this one, and, like I said at the time, bigger budget does not necessarily equal Good Thing. Eh, see FUBAR, Hard Core Logo, and Nothing for much better examples of buddy flicks. Sigh.
C.R.A.Z.Y.
More Quebec content ahoy. Climbing out of the closet in a hardcore macho/Catholic environment. I read reviews that called this a comedy. Either the reviewers are on drugs, or Canadian humor is a mysterious thing. Seriously, what the hell?
Cube
Vincenzo Natali low-budget flick number one, in which a group of complete strangers find themselves trapped in an enormous Rubik's cube full of death-traps and have to find a way out before they all starve. Note: It does not get to the point where they eat other, though I imagine that would have happened eventually ('cause Canadian). In my brain, the comparison to William Sleator's freaky YA novel House of Stairs is inevitable, only here we get less operant conditioning and more gore ('cause Canadian). This was twisty and quirky and unpredictable and quite neat, in spite of the heavy mathematics dialog. The commentary track is like a mini-buddy flick in itself: Natali and Hewlett, Best Friends 4-Evar!
Double Happiness
Sandra Oh as the fledgling actress daughter in a protracted tug-of-war with her conservative, off-the-boat parents over family and relationships and filial obligations and pretty much everything. Something I'd not realized until I watched that interview with the HK film actress Sally Yeh over on Youtube was that she's also from Canada, and that (like Oh's character) she couldn't read Chinese -- she had to have her daily sides read aloud to her before her scenes. Coincidence or something more?
Existenz
Wow, I've actually watched a Cronenberg movie now. To my (very great) surprise, the periodic gross stuff aside, I even liked this one. Even so, this is probably the only Cronenberg movie I'll ever see 'cause I have issues with the deluge of on-screen gore for which he is known. Don McKellar does appear in this movie. (In fact, do Canadian directors have reciprocal casting agreements? Hmm!)
FUBAR
So these guys "give'r" the Bruce McDonald/Vincenzo Natali school of low-budget moviemaking one better: Not only do they cast themselves and their buddies, but they also cast their families, their neighbors, their family's doctor, and random passersby on the street. Fun stuff! Here we have a fake documentary (i.e., "mockumentary") on the lifestyle of a trashy loser duo in Calgary, in which there is far too much heavy metal, shotgunning of bheers, and random destruction of property. I wouldn't have thought it was possible, given the topic, but yes indeed, they do manage to squeeze in their Obligatory Canadian Corpse. In some respects, it's a lot like a fictional flipside of American Movie, which I've also got around here somewhere . . .
Hard Core Logo
Bruce McDonald film number three, and best of the batch. (Note: Don McKellar does not appear. He's not in here. Yeah, I'm amazed as well.) Fake documentary about a punk band touring and disintegrating in Western Canada. A very neat movie, if harrowing, and I'm not sure how I managed to remain unspoiled on the plot for so long (but I'm glad I did). I'm also not sure why so many people automatically compare this to This Is Spinal Tap 'cause they've very little in common beyond the basics of "fake documentary, band on a tour." Spinal Tap is a comedy, HCL . . . isn't. Anyway, the U.S. release is a basic DVD with zero extras, so I'm working on finding the Canadian version. kanzenhanzai loaned me the commentary track, which was interesting and grounding and reassuringly nonpsychotic. As it turns out, Hugh Dillon's favorite word on screen is also his favorite word off screen. ^_^;
Highway 61
Bruce McDonald movie number two, Don McKellar appearance in Bruce McDonald movie number two, and . . . sure enough, what a freaky movie it is. But much better than Roadkill. (Not that that would be difficult to achieve.) I kinda like this one, despite the unintentional hilarity of supposed residents of Mississippi with Canadian accents. Anyway, I already rambled on about this one . . .
Last Night
Humm! I don't know! (Don McKellar alert: director, writer, star; I forgot to check whether he also catered the food.) Various people wanding around Toronto on the last night of the world -- Apocalypse Not Right Now But A Little Later. I mean depressing as hell, but still. . . I'm sure I'm not the only person who smacked the slow and still buttons to read over the walls of the kitchen. *cough* The tour of Toronto retro-50s architecture probably has a Deep Meaning of some kind, but I don't know what it is. Also notable for major nudity courtesy Callum Keith Rennie, which I found worthwhile. Unsurprisingly, Bruce McDonald is in it, as is David Cronenberg, whose character is the recipient of a Highly Ironic Fate. Heh. This release is a basic disc with no extras, no commentary track, which sucks.
Nothing
Vincenzo Natali flick number two, at which point I decided I was quite possibly in love with his braaaains. (Even though he now has made me aware that there's a dead pixel on my TV screen, which was knowledge I could have lived without.) I'm highly amused by how the trailer for this movie presents it as a horror film, which it's not. Anyway, based on the premise -- two losers trapped together in a big, white space full of nothing for the length of a feature film -- I didn't think it'd hold my attention very long; I was happy to be wrong. This is the weirdest yet sweetest movie I've seen in a while. And they reward you for sitting out the (long, long) closing credits, too. The commentary track is, like, five or six people all talking at once, and it's pretty entertaining as well. Among other things, Natali calls his movie a romance and brings up a kissing scene they decided not to do. This is a guy who gives good buddy flick. :D
Roadkill
Bruce McDonald movie number one, Don McKellar in Bruce McDonald movie number one, and . . . wug, basically the pretentious student film from hell. Y'know, this is precisely the sort of thing that the opening of FUBAR was sending up ("Turn down the suck!"), only extended to over an hour o' pain. Well, Valerie Buhagiar trying on a variety of outfits was nice, but . . . uh. Only worthwhile for the commentary track, which is all about how to make a movie for practically no money and is loads of fun as usual.
Wilby Wonderful
Scandals in a small town in Nova Scotia, and pretty much an "awww!" fest. This is the ony movie I've seen aside from Harold and Maude that features humorous suicide attempts. Oh those wacky Canadians. Um.
TV:
Due South 1-4
Counts as Canadian. No really. Even though Don McKellar never appeared in it (I know! How is that possible?), nearly everyone else did.
Slings & Arrows 1-3
Shakespeare does Canada, wootie. This is just all-around keen stuff -- and yet another ping on the Don McKellar meter. Personally, I liked season 2 the best, and really wanted to see more of the off-brand Macbeth. The DVDs for this show are top-heavy with cool extras; I wish they were all like this.
Twitch City 1-2
What happens when Bruce McDonald and Don McKellar cuddle up to do some TV together? The WTF weirdness goes off the scale. Even so . . . wah, it's fun and brain-hurty. Favorite episodes were in season 2, "Shinto Death Cults" for the Star Trek/Exorcist parody and "Planet of the Cats" for its multiple movie parodies (and for Maurice Dean Wint, last spotted in Cube and Due South, as a cigar-chompin' anti-cat terrorist freedom fighter -- how can that not rock? ^_^). The DVD menu is a disaster area, and the two commentary tracks are really, really well hidden. Thing is, Don McKellar seems like such a nice, friendly, normal person in these commentary tracks. But he can't possibly be. I may have to watch every movie this guy's ever been in . . .
Little Mosque on the Prairie 1
Downloaded the first season of this sitcom about a mosque renting space from a Protestant church in a small-town in Saskatchewan. It's very funny, yes, in that uneasy ethnic humor fashion. But I found the final episode unsettling for reasons the creator probably didn't intend, as the ultimate message seemed to be that hard, no-compromises lines must be drawn. I dunno. I honestly cannot imagine anything like this show appearing on U.S. TV primetime.
Still in the queue:
Cypher
Vincenzo Natali flick number three, whee! Very exciting.
Ginger Snaps
Werewolves. Probably gory. Yeek.
La Grande Seduction
More Quebec content. Supposed to be a comedy, which means I'll probably want to throw myself off a bridge afterward.
H20
Political-type thriller, Canada versus the U.S. I have no idea.
Kissed
A necrophilia flick. From Canada. Color me shocked.
I know I need to watch more Atom Egoyan movies, but I thought The Sweet Hereafter was profoundly depressing, so I've been wobbling over a second helping. So . . . I'm thinking either Exotica or Where the Truth Lies, whichever turns up. Maybe.
In conclusion, Don McKellar. Also, I admire how Canadian actors and directors and staff work hard to keep each other perpetually employed. Home viewers can play crazy connect-the-dots games as a result.
That is, I've found that Canadian content is really, really, really handy when you're cleaning files or slogging through reference lists, activities that rate pretty high on the Most Boring Work Ever list. Subtitles aren't necessary for a change (unless it's the Quebecois-type of Canadian content), and it's all sufficiently bizarre to keep you from face-planting into your keyboard. But. With these movies, you to start to feel ripped off if they skimp on their Obligatory Canadian Corpse.
And, after a while, you've an overwhelming urge to tack a disclaimer on everything: "Don McKellar does not appear in this book" or "Don McKellar will not be mentioned in this email." I mean, no, he hasn't shown up in everything I've watched lately. Just nearly everything. It's a near, near thing.
So this is our scorecard to date.
Bon Cop Bad Cop
Quebec content warning! So I already nattered about this one, and, like I said at the time, bigger budget does not necessarily equal Good Thing. Eh, see FUBAR, Hard Core Logo, and Nothing for much better examples of buddy flicks. Sigh.
C.R.A.Z.Y.
More Quebec content ahoy. Climbing out of the closet in a hardcore macho/Catholic environment. I read reviews that called this a comedy. Either the reviewers are on drugs, or Canadian humor is a mysterious thing. Seriously, what the hell?
Cube
Vincenzo Natali low-budget flick number one, in which a group of complete strangers find themselves trapped in an enormous Rubik's cube full of death-traps and have to find a way out before they all starve. Note: It does not get to the point where they eat other, though I imagine that would have happened eventually ('cause Canadian). In my brain, the comparison to William Sleator's freaky YA novel House of Stairs is inevitable, only here we get less operant conditioning and more gore ('cause Canadian). This was twisty and quirky and unpredictable and quite neat, in spite of the heavy mathematics dialog. The commentary track is like a mini-buddy flick in itself: Natali and Hewlett, Best Friends 4-Evar!
Double Happiness
Sandra Oh as the fledgling actress daughter in a protracted tug-of-war with her conservative, off-the-boat parents over family and relationships and filial obligations and pretty much everything. Something I'd not realized until I watched that interview with the HK film actress Sally Yeh over on Youtube was that she's also from Canada, and that (like Oh's character) she couldn't read Chinese -- she had to have her daily sides read aloud to her before her scenes. Coincidence or something more?
Existenz
Wow, I've actually watched a Cronenberg movie now. To my (very great) surprise, the periodic gross stuff aside, I even liked this one. Even so, this is probably the only Cronenberg movie I'll ever see 'cause I have issues with the deluge of on-screen gore for which he is known. Don McKellar does appear in this movie. (In fact, do Canadian directors have reciprocal casting agreements? Hmm!)
FUBAR
So these guys "give'r" the Bruce McDonald/Vincenzo Natali school of low-budget moviemaking one better: Not only do they cast themselves and their buddies, but they also cast their families, their neighbors, their family's doctor, and random passersby on the street. Fun stuff! Here we have a fake documentary (i.e., "mockumentary") on the lifestyle of a trashy loser duo in Calgary, in which there is far too much heavy metal, shotgunning of bheers, and random destruction of property. I wouldn't have thought it was possible, given the topic, but yes indeed, they do manage to squeeze in their Obligatory Canadian Corpse. In some respects, it's a lot like a fictional flipside of American Movie, which I've also got around here somewhere . . .
Hard Core Logo
Bruce McDonald film number three, and best of the batch. (Note: Don McKellar does not appear. He's not in here. Yeah, I'm amazed as well.) Fake documentary about a punk band touring and disintegrating in Western Canada. A very neat movie, if harrowing, and I'm not sure how I managed to remain unspoiled on the plot for so long (but I'm glad I did). I'm also not sure why so many people automatically compare this to This Is Spinal Tap 'cause they've very little in common beyond the basics of "fake documentary, band on a tour." Spinal Tap is a comedy, HCL . . . isn't. Anyway, the U.S. release is a basic DVD with zero extras, so I'm working on finding the Canadian version. kanzenhanzai loaned me the commentary track, which was interesting and grounding and reassuringly nonpsychotic. As it turns out, Hugh Dillon's favorite word on screen is also his favorite word off screen. ^_^;
Highway 61
Bruce McDonald movie number two, Don McKellar appearance in Bruce McDonald movie number two, and . . . sure enough, what a freaky movie it is. But much better than Roadkill. (Not that that would be difficult to achieve.) I kinda like this one, despite the unintentional hilarity of supposed residents of Mississippi with Canadian accents. Anyway, I already rambled on about this one . . .
Last Night
Humm! I don't know! (Don McKellar alert: director, writer, star; I forgot to check whether he also catered the food.) Various people wanding around Toronto on the last night of the world -- Apocalypse Not Right Now But A Little Later. I mean depressing as hell, but still. . . I'm sure I'm not the only person who smacked the slow and still buttons to read over the walls of the kitchen. *cough* The tour of Toronto retro-50s architecture probably has a Deep Meaning of some kind, but I don't know what it is. Also notable for major nudity courtesy Callum Keith Rennie, which I found worthwhile. Unsurprisingly, Bruce McDonald is in it, as is David Cronenberg, whose character is the recipient of a Highly Ironic Fate. Heh. This release is a basic disc with no extras, no commentary track, which sucks.
Nothing
Vincenzo Natali flick number two, at which point I decided I was quite possibly in love with his braaaains. (Even though he now has made me aware that there's a dead pixel on my TV screen, which was knowledge I could have lived without.) I'm highly amused by how the trailer for this movie presents it as a horror film, which it's not. Anyway, based on the premise -- two losers trapped together in a big, white space full of nothing for the length of a feature film -- I didn't think it'd hold my attention very long; I was happy to be wrong. This is the weirdest yet sweetest movie I've seen in a while. And they reward you for sitting out the (long, long) closing credits, too. The commentary track is, like, five or six people all talking at once, and it's pretty entertaining as well. Among other things, Natali calls his movie a romance and brings up a kissing scene they decided not to do. This is a guy who gives good buddy flick. :D
Roadkill
Bruce McDonald movie number one, Don McKellar in Bruce McDonald movie number one, and . . . wug, basically the pretentious student film from hell. Y'know, this is precisely the sort of thing that the opening of FUBAR was sending up ("Turn down the suck!"), only extended to over an hour o' pain. Well, Valerie Buhagiar trying on a variety of outfits was nice, but . . . uh. Only worthwhile for the commentary track, which is all about how to make a movie for practically no money and is loads of fun as usual.
Wilby Wonderful
Scandals in a small town in Nova Scotia, and pretty much an "awww!" fest. This is the ony movie I've seen aside from Harold and Maude that features humorous suicide attempts. Oh those wacky Canadians. Um.
TV:
Due South 1-4
Counts as Canadian. No really. Even though Don McKellar never appeared in it (I know! How is that possible?), nearly everyone else did.
Slings & Arrows 1-3
Shakespeare does Canada, wootie. This is just all-around keen stuff -- and yet another ping on the Don McKellar meter. Personally, I liked season 2 the best, and really wanted to see more of the off-brand Macbeth. The DVDs for this show are top-heavy with cool extras; I wish they were all like this.
Twitch City 1-2
What happens when Bruce McDonald and Don McKellar cuddle up to do some TV together? The WTF weirdness goes off the scale. Even so . . . wah, it's fun and brain-hurty. Favorite episodes were in season 2, "Shinto Death Cults" for the Star Trek/Exorcist parody and "Planet of the Cats" for its multiple movie parodies (and for Maurice Dean Wint, last spotted in Cube and Due South, as a cigar-chompin' anti-cat terrorist freedom fighter -- how can that not rock? ^_^). The DVD menu is a disaster area, and the two commentary tracks are really, really well hidden. Thing is, Don McKellar seems like such a nice, friendly, normal person in these commentary tracks. But he can't possibly be. I may have to watch every movie this guy's ever been in . . .
Little Mosque on the Prairie 1
Downloaded the first season of this sitcom about a mosque renting space from a Protestant church in a small-town in Saskatchewan. It's very funny, yes, in that uneasy ethnic humor fashion. But I found the final episode unsettling for reasons the creator probably didn't intend, as the ultimate message seemed to be that hard, no-compromises lines must be drawn. I dunno. I honestly cannot imagine anything like this show appearing on U.S. TV primetime.
Still in the queue:
Cypher
Vincenzo Natali flick number three, whee! Very exciting.
Ginger Snaps
Werewolves. Probably gory. Yeek.
La Grande Seduction
More Quebec content. Supposed to be a comedy, which means I'll probably want to throw myself off a bridge afterward.
H20
Political-type thriller, Canada versus the U.S. I have no idea.
Kissed
A necrophilia flick. From Canada. Color me shocked.
I know I need to watch more Atom Egoyan movies, but I thought The Sweet Hereafter was profoundly depressing, so I've been wobbling over a second helping. So . . . I'm thinking either Exotica or Where the Truth Lies, whichever turns up. Maybe.
In conclusion, Don McKellar. Also, I admire how Canadian actors and directors and staff work hard to keep each other perpetually employed. Home viewers can play crazy connect-the-dots games as a result.