QUAINT QUEBEC

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=120 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <IMG SRC="4b774c90.gif" border=0 width="116" height="201" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> QUAINT QUEBEC</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>QUAINT QUEBEC REVIEW OF FILMS MAR. 20, 1997</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#9900CC" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>a review of L'Homme Idéal. </B></div> <div> <B>among other films.</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#9900CC" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div>             <IMG SRC="4b50eca0.jpg" border=0 width="270" height="202" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="2ba0dca0.jpg" border=0 width="269" height="202" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Quaint Quebec </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>BY DENIS SEGUIN </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>PREVIEW </B></div> <div> <B>Le Rendez-vous Du Cinema Quebecois </B></div> <div> <B>March 20-23. Backstage, 31 Balmuto. $6, 973-2153. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Arguing against Quebec's status as a distinct society is like arguing for O.J.'s innocence. You can lay out a slick patter, you can list all the reasons why it couldn't, shouldn't be; but if someone asks you to come up with proof, one nice piece of physical evidence to prove your point, you're finished. How could you go to Quebec and not see, hear, smell -- in every sense -- appreciate the difference? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>You don't have to be in Vancouver or St. John's very long to know you're not in Toronto, but the locals can't instantly peg you as an outsider -- not until you try to get some service. In Montreal, you can't even order a Big Mac without exposing yourself as un maudit anglais. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But beside this most obvious issue of language, there is Quebec's culture. and nothing reflects the vibrancy of that culture more than Québécois cinema. A quick illustration: can you name a famous English-Canadian actor who has not been in a U.S. film? It takes some doing. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Now consider this: it's not even a question you could ask in Quebec -- it's too stupid. They have magazines (note the plural) devoted to Québécois film and pop stars. And these aren't flavor of the week "personalities" but people with solid careers; Roy Dupuis (an equivalent would be Johnny Depp) is a guy who acts as well as he looks, who does everything from romantic leads in prime-time soaps to gay hustlers in art films. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Unfortunately, as our own culture sinks into the junk sea to the south, we're more inclined to view Quebecois cinema as merely foreign. Sub-titles are a nuisance in the fast-cut music video style (no shot is long enough to hold a sentence); distributors are less eager to lose money than they used to be. So now we get Quebec cinema in a package. Which is better than nothing. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Le Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois is a four-day mini-festival, a clutch of 1996 films including one Franco-Ontario short, Le Vidangeur (The Garbage Man). The program opens with L'Homme Idéal (The Ideal Man), the most popular film in Quebec last year, and closes with Robert Lepage's Le Polygraphe. Other films screening include Gabriel Pelletier's Karmina and Pierre Gang's Sous-sol. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>L'Homme Idéal is a hoary concept -- a career woman flips through a catalogue of male stereotypes before finding an unlikely sperm provider -- that is freshened by a vast and delightful cast. There are 26 speaking parts, among them the aforementioned Dupuis and two of Quebec's best comedians, Rémy Girard and Martin Drainville. As Lucie, editor of a fashion magazine, Marie-Lise Pilote is the ideal heroine, a gifted comedienne who is equally convincing in the boardroom and the sack. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The script, by Sylvie Pilon and Daniaile Jarry, brims with one-liners and director Georges Mihalka injects some nifty stage business. If the energy starts to flag around Bachelor Number Five, it finds its legs again to a typically madcap conclusion. No English-Canadian film has come close to this mixture of wit and mayhem. </B></div> <div> <B>Le Polygraphe opened and closed in Toronto in January but it deserves another kick at the can. The film begins in an interrogation room where Francois (Patrick Goyette) is undergoing a lie detector test. His girlfriend was murdered some time ago and the police are seemingly at an impasse; the ongoing mystery spurs another of the victim's friends, Judith (Josée Deschenes), to make a film about the killing. By coincidence, Judith casts Francois' neighbor Lucie (Marie Brassard) in the role of the victim. Lucie's voyage into the role leads us into the story. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Lepage concentrates on the sleight-of-hand but doesn't lay a solid dramatic foundation. The film's theatrical roots might have been a stumbling block; the superior Le Confessional was made for the screen and it has a completeness Le Polygraphe lacks. Still, if I were an aspiring filmmaker, I'd watch this film simply for its ideas: Lepage is one of the great visual artists of our time. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>If Le Polygraphe is a curious choice, Luc Montpellier's The Garbage Man is an unfortunate one. You can't help wondering if its Franco-Ontarian pedigree (it was shot in Toronto) was the only reason for its inclusion. Daniel Lévesque plays a Quebecois working in Toronto. He picks through other people's rubbish and finds a working camera and a lot of fetishistic leather-wear. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>According to information provided by the Rendez-vous, the film won "Best Canadian Entry in the 1996 Annual Film Festival in Vancouver" -- why then does it not appear in the Vancouver festival program book? Perhaps it was the Festival Of Found Films. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In the end, our garbage-picker learns a valuable lesson: don't let a dominatrix tattoo your penis -- I think that's it. I was very relieved Mr. Montpellier made it short and not a feature. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>One bad film won't kill a festival, but it doesn't help matters. Organizers of the third Rendez-vous would be advised to either shorten the program or be a little more selective. There is a bottom line: just because it's distinct doesn't mean we have to like it. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>          <IMG SRC="4b818230.gif" border=0 width="280" height="35" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="4b818230.gif" border=0 width="280" height="35" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Magazine Interview  Unknown source  1997                               </B><A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><U><B><IMG SRC="3473c230.gif" border=0 width="60" height="35" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>