Cultural Mining

Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

There are tons of summer blockbusters waiting to be inflicted on the public, with loads of coverage and promotions to keep them firmly lodged in the front of your brain. But this week, I’m steering clear of al that, and instead talking about three new indie Canadian movies, from BC, Alberta and Ontario. There’s a punk art school student facing her demons, a teenaged camp counsellor avoiding her guilt, and a failed athlete trying a new sport. 

Racewalkers

Wri/Dir: Kevin Claydon, Phil Moniz

Matt MacKenzie (Kevin Claydon) is an athlete at the top of his game. A baseball star in college, he develops into a top ranked player…until he messes up bad, and his career crashes and burns. He’s kicked off the team, his girlfriend dumps him, he’s a public disgrace, and now lives out of a van in a parking lot. Things get even worse when he makes national news after a tussle with a little league dad who wanted him to take a bribe. But when he takes his injured hand to a clinic he is spotted by Will Lester (Phil Moniz) a physiotherapist. Will notices his strong stride and the wiggle of his glutes.  He’s sure he can train Matt as an Olympic athlete. Not for any traditional sport, mind you; Will sees him as a natural born race walker. A competitive walker? Matt is baffled and almost insulted when he sees his waddling competitors. But the more Will explains, the more Matt thinks he just might give it a try… because Will has a theory that could change the sport entirely. And if Matt’s a successful athlete again, his girlfriend Ava (Italia Ricci) will surely come back to him… right?

But he faces a number of obstacles: first, being accepted and selected by the national walking organization that chooses the Olympic team. And that group is dominated by Kurt Lester (Greg Bryk), Will’s uncle and a first-class asshole. He won a bronze medal once and think’s he’s God’s gift. And he wants his own son, Ched (Robbie Amell) a first class douche, to carry on the family legacy. Matt also must learn to walk stronger and faster, and with less oxygen, than any of his competitors. Can Will’s scientific expertise, and Matt’s strength and stamina overcome the prestige and political pull of Kurt and Ched? Or is it a lost cause?

Racewalkers is a cute and heartwarming sports comedy with a very simple, age-old story: Can two outcaste losers beat the favourites? The two main characters, played by Claydon and Moniz have excellent chemistry, just what’s needed for a buddy flick. They also wrote, directed and produced this film (their first feature, I believe), and presumably made it to fit their particular physical types. Much of the humour comes from the fact that Matt is literally twice as tall as Will!  There are other quirky traits and characters, and some mildly raunchy situations, but it’s easy-watching all the way through. And Robbie Amell is as great as ever.

Racewalkers is fun to watch.

Camp

Dir: Avalon Fast

It’s summer in Calgary. Emily (Zola Grimmer) is a teenager who lives with her single dad. She’s shy and withdrawn except with her close friends. But when her best friend Charlie OD’s in her car after a house party, Emily is plunged into a deep depression. She was burdened with a similar death years earlier, and now she thinks it’s all her fault. She’s marked by death. I’m a serial killer, dad! To pull her out of her funk, he signs her up for as a camp counsellor. It’s a place especially-designed for damaged kids. Hopefully, if she can help littler kids adjust to life’s problems, Emily will stop feeling so guilty about her own situation. 

The camp is non-denominational and non-judgemental, though run by Dan (Austyn Van de Kamp) a devout Christian. She soon makes friends with the other counsellors, and reaches out to kids like Eden (Izza Jarvis), a nervous goth on the verge of puberty. Despite the camp’s straight-arrow image, the counsellors drink like fish, smoke pot and hold midnight raves around a bonfire. Especially five of the girls, who hold secret nighttime meetings in the attic above the cafeteria, a mysterious place filled with strong energy. They urge Emily to trade in her flannel shirts and hoodies for black lingerie. And it’s where she falls for Clara (Alice Wordsworth) a red-haired woman with whom she shares secret moments. It’s also where the five (Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Ella Reece, Sophie Bawks-Smith) embrace in a coven replete with magic, witchcraft and sex; with each other and unsuspecting guys. But are they good witches…? Or bad witches?

Camp is a coming-of-age story filled with summer awakening and unexpected horror. The story is told at a languid pace with a gentle tone, even the scary parts. It’s full of romantic images like shooting stars, clear skies and grassy fields. There’s also a stylized, retro theme to the whole movie, set in some earlier period (1990s?) with phone booths in empty fields and offices with black landlines. Train cars have velour seats, panelled walls and drawn yellow drapes, giving it all a dreamlike quality. Filmmaker Avalon Fast is 26 but already has a distinct style that draws you in. Though Camp is a bit too long and not particularly scary, its dream-like quality leaves you with feelings both pleasant and chilling.

Lucid

Wri/Dir: Ramsey Fendall, Deanna Milligan 

It’s the 1990s in Victoria, BC. Mia (Caitlin Acken Taylor) is an art student living a punk lifestyle. Dressed in a tartan skirt, boots, and a long leather coat, she has a constant look of panic, confusion  and fury plastered on her face. She attends classes by day, works as a deep fryer in the evening, and dances to bands at a punk club at night. She lives in her studio, a shed behind the home of her Scottish grandma, who raised her since her parents abandoned her as a child. And she’s working on her latest project: a self-portrait. But something is missing; she doesn’t really now who she is. She’s always frazzled and shows up late wherever she goes. Her art teacher threatens her with expulsion, for the half-assed work she keeps producing. Nailing a dead trout to a board is not sufficient! he warns her. Her Grandma, a potter, tells her not to be afraid to create something true, even if it’s ugly. But Mia can’t seem to unblock her creative muse.

Until her friends suggest she visit a psychic known for her special elixirs, formed into heart-shaped Valentine’s day candies.. Taken in small doses, will open the door to her hidden memories and let loose the people and monsters of her past. Sure enough, Mia begins to revisit lost events from her childhood. But the more of the elixir she eats, the more unhinged she becomes, until she finds it hard to differentiate illusion from reality. Her synapses fight off an imaginary ash-blonde yeti, even as her brain tries to hold on.

Can she tame these beasts and conquer her childhood fears? Or will she collapse into a lump of miserable, nihilistic dreck?

Lucid is a portrait of a young punk trying to find her true self and portray it on canvas. It’s a psychedelic fantasy set in a surreal Vancouver island, like Beachcombers on acid. Caitlin Acken Taylor’s Mia is a fireball of blood and mascara. She uses her entire body, writhing and rolling, twisting and stabbing, as she fights off real and imaginary demons in a spasm of sexual violence. Beautifully shot in 35 mm and Super-8 film, Lucid is a non-stop head trip.

Check it out!

You can see Racewalkers, Camp and Lucid in select theatres across Canada; check your local listings.

This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website  culturalmining.com