This site is updated Thursday at noon with a new article about an artistic pursuit generally considered to be beneath consideration. James Schellenberg probes science-fiction, Carol Borden draws out the best in comics, Chris Szego dallies with romance, and Ian Driscoll stares deeply into the screen.
While the writers have considerable enthusiasm for their subjects, they don't let it numb their critical faculties. Tossing away the shield of journalistic objectivity and refusing the shovel of fannish boosterism, they write in the hopes of starting honest and intelligent discussions about these oft-enjoyed but rarely examined artforms. Click here for the writer's bios and their individual takes on the gutter.
Recent Features
Marvel's Kings of the Night Time World
In 1977, the most powerful band on earth was KISS with their pyrotechnics, monster boots and the largest army a band had ever fielded, the KISS Army, fully prepared to rock and roll all nite, party every day and read comics in between. Marvel had their ever-lovin' fingers on the pulse of the youth and put out two KISS comics, 1977's A Marvel Comics Super Special: KISS and its 1979 sequel, A Marvel Super Special: KISS
Tomorrow (November 7, if I post this on time), Toronto’s Trash Palace is showing a print of Frank Perry’s The Swimmer. If you’re in the city, do yourself a favour: go see it. If you’re elsewhere (I understand the internets now extend beyond the GTA), do yourself a favour: go rent it.
Most writers get into the Romance genre because they read it, and they read it because they love it. Each writer is drawn to the genre for different reasons, of course. Whether the concentration on character; the focus on primary relationships; or the essence of the triumph of hope, the many appeals of the happy ending hook writers the same way they hook readers. Elizabeth Lowell, on the other hand, got into it for the money.
Interviewed about the legacy of Canadian tax shelter films
in Cinema Canada in 1985, Mordecai
Richler said,
"I think they squandered a
grand opportunity and it's largely the fault of producers who were shameless
and greedy, people of dismal taste, who were more interested in making deals
than films and who made a lot of money for themselves. And so Canadian films do
not enjoy a larger reputation anywhere and it's a pity... a lot of damage has been
done."
Well, Mordecai, I couldn’t disagree more.
In this era of Bill C-10 (which may be gone, but which
leaves behind its ideological sediment), and $44.8-million in cuts to
arts-and-culture programs (this in spite of a Conference Board of Canada report
attesting to the economic benefits of investing in Canadian culture), I think
it’s more important than ever to remember and celebrate the genre exercises
upon which our film industry - and the careers of some of its brightest stars -
were built. My Canada includes sleazy movies.
But first, a little primer on the tax shelter years:
Although the late 70s are regarded as the heyday of tax shelter films, a 60%
tax write-off for investment in Canadian films was available from 1954 on. In
1975, Minister of Finance John Turner announced a new income tax regulation
allowing “investors to deduct in one year, against income from all sources,
100% [!] of their investment in certified feature films.” Moreover, it was
retroactive, and included any film productions begun after Nov. 18, 1974. 100%
tax-shelter financing more or less continued until 1982, when it fell prey to
the vicious beast known as distribution. (The preceding is a gross
oversimplification, but for the complete story on what was and could have been,
read Wyndham Wise’s excellent and exhaustive article, Canadian
cinema from boom to bust: the tax-shelter years, from which I’ve cribbed
liberally.)
But by that point, the damage was done. We already had Black
Christmas. Meatballs. Fast Company. Ilsa, Tigress of Siberia.
The Pyx. Russian
Roulette. Strange Shadows in an
Empty Room. And a host of others. Some have
gone on to prestigious DVD releases or undeservedly painful remakes, but most
moulder in VHS bins.
Recently (the day before Canada Day, as a matter of fact), I
had the opportunity to see a trio of these hidden zirconia, and I have never
felt such as swell of patriotism in my life.
The evening started with a screening of The Silent
Partner, in which bank teller Elliott Gould preempts Christopher Plummer's scheme to rob his bank. Several double
crosses and corpses later, Gould comes out on top, and along the way, we’re
treated to an early semi-dramatic turn by John Candy and the
you-can’t-unsee-it-once-you’ve-seen-it sight of Christopher Plummer not only in
a mesh t-shirt, but also in drag. Written by Curtis Hanson and produced by Garth
Drabinsky, The Silent Partner is
easily one of the more entertaining crime dramas of the 70s, which is saying
something.
Next up was Rituals
(check the trailer),
starring Hal Holbrook as one of five doctors who go on a fishing vacation deep
in the Canadian wilderness only to discover that a crazed ex-patient is
tracking them with murderous intent. The plot borrows heavily from Deliverance, but if anything, Rituals looks like it was far more hellish to make - for
most of its running time, the actors trudge through forests and swamps, wet and
filthy, surrounded by hordes of black flies that ain’t CGI. If you can find a
print where you can actually see the action (the one I saw was murky to say the
least), give it watch. You won’t be disappointed.
We rounded out the evening with Death Weekend (trailer!).
A Canadian Straw Dogs, Death
Weekend is one of Ivan Reitman’s earliest
productions, and centres on the tribulations of couple who are attacked by a
group of ruffians at their cottage. If you’ve seen Straw Dogs, you can figure out how it ends. It’s not as
shattering as Peckinpah’s film, but it’s satisfying, and smarter than expected.
But where are the midnight Canuxploitation screenings of
tomorrow going to come from when funding for anything even remotely artsy is on
the chopping block? Especially when there’s no reasoning with the people
holding the axe? As Tom McSorley, Executive Director of the Canadian Film
Institute, recently observed, what lies behind the current government’s arts
funding cuts is “ideological adamant rock… I don't think they listen with any
degree of interest to the fact that the economic impact of the arts is
demonstrably positive.”
Time has been kind to the tax shelter films. The opportunity
wasn’t as squandered as Mordecai Richler would have us believe. A lot of
genuine entertainment, expression and - yes, I’ll say it - art squeezed
out between the lines of the producers’ ledgers, and we’re all richer for it.
It would be great if today’s filmmakers got the same chance. But in the current
political climate, that’s a big if.
I like to think that if Mordecai Richler were being
interviewed today, he might use that descriptor - “shameless and greedy people
of dismal taste” - to describe a group other than the producers of those dingy
celluloid dreams.
I know I would.
Command+s.
Ian Driscoll knows he ran a bit long this month, and doesn’t think this article is going to change
any minds, but he wrote it anyway.
As someone who is part of an organization that is a 'victim' of the recent funding cuts, I applaud you for taking the time to write this article. Sure, it won't change the minds (and I use that term loosely) of the current government, but it's nice to know there are people out there championing the cause.
Kudos, Mr. Driscoll. Kudos.
—Jennifer
Is a sad fact that now, more than a century after the Lumiere brothers gave birth to cinema, the release of a Canadian film made for more than $10 million is immediately worthy of celebrity status. Very few films produced in this country have carried such a large price tag
Is a sad fact that now, more than a century after the Lumiere brothers gave birth to cinema, the release of a Canadian film made for more than $10 million is immediately worthy of celebrity status. Very few films produced in this country have carried such a large price tag
oh, hai! Jay Dixit ponders the humanity in lolcats (and talks to The New Yorker's cartoons editor about them):
"By articulating profound feelings through cats and marine mammals
speaking garbled English, we're able to shroud genuine emotions in
pseudo-irony -- which means those animals can evoke deeper emotions
without fear of mockery or cheapness."
~
The Artful Gamer ponders interactivity, engagement and narrative in videogames: "Instead of beating our collective heads against the wall as we try to
design games that let players live out their wildest desires, we should
be developing worlds that encourage players to explore them as living,
breathing, places."
~
Before there were Hong Kong movies, there were Shanghai movies. 1929's Red Heroine is the only surviving silent kung fu feature from Shanghai's golden age. The Devil's Music Ensemble provides live accompaniment. Hopefully, they'll tour. Wise Kwai has more information and a trailer.
~
View all Notes here. Seen something shiny? Gutter-talk worth hearing? Let us know!
In 1977, the most powerful band on earth was KISS with their pyrotechnics, monster boots and the largest army a band had ever fielded, the KISS Army, fully prepared to rock and roll all nite, party every day and read comics in between. Marvel had their ever-lovin' fingers on the pulse of the youth and put out two KISS comics, 1977's 
Interviewed about the legacy of Canadian tax shelter films
in Cinema Canada