2004-01-20

Canadian Film Festival, Day Two, Matinee

The Delicate Art of Parking

OK, I have to admit, one of the best things about seeing this movie was that the director and one of the lead actors were at the screening. That was pretty cool. They did a great Q and A after the movie, which I really enjoyed. Anyway, on to the movie.

Basically, this is one of those mock-documentaries like This is Spinal Tap, or, for a more Canadian-flavoured version, my beloved FUBAR. (If you have not seen FUBAR already, go do it now. Just do it. Do not argue with me that you don't like Canadian movies. If you ever went to high school with headbangers, you will laugh your ass off.)

This movie-about-a-movie begins with an aspiring documentary filmmaker, Lonny (Dov Tiefenbach), whose car has finally been towed (he owes over $2000 in parking tickets). In a fit of pique, he decides that he is going to get back at parking enforcers by making a documentary film that exposes them for the cruel idiots they really are. He starts off by doing "man-in-the-street" interviews (most of which are real, according to the director) asking people what they think of parking attendants.

Eventually, Lonny and his crew meet up with Grant (Fred Ewanuick), a parking attendant who truly believes in his work; to him, it is not just a job but a calling. At first, Lonny plays with Grant, feigning earnest interest while making snide comments behind his back. But as events progress and the lead parking attendant is run over, allegedly by an irate ticket recipient, Lonny starts to become intrigued, curious, and even a little sympathetic to the plight of the put-upon parking attendants.

Ewanuick does a great job as Grant; he actually looks nothing like him in real life, and it took me a while to connect the real-live person with his character in the movie. He plays Grant completely straight-faced and never stoops to wink-wink, nudge-nudge gratuitous irony. The other standout, for me, was Jerome (Tony Conte), the tow truck driver who is Grant's best friend. He manages to convey lunk-headed doofishness with a vulnerability that really makes you feel for the guy. He's like a dim but loyal St. Bernard dog.

Overall, I thought the dialogue was hilarious and the actors great. The story was clever and the documentary look was very realistic. The one criticism I had, though, was that the movie dragged in the middle. About twenty minutes could have been excised from the middle, and it would have tightened up the film and improved the pacing. However, this criticism is pretty minor, considering how many times I actually laughed out loud while watching it. I give The Delicate Art of Parking three and a half parking tickets out of five.

Moving Malcolm

I really enjoyed Ben Ratner in Last Wedding, so I was pleased to see him turn up as the main character in Moving Malcolm. This movie begins with a wedding as well, but unfortunately, just before the procession is about to start, we see Elizabeth, the bride, hand her bouquet hastily to her father and escape via taxi, leaving Gene (Ratner) at the altar.

The next time we see Gene, he has written a novel, Fear Knot, about his failed relationship with Elizabeth. He is struggling with the process of whether or not to send it to publishers when who should appear at his door but Elizabeth. She is about to go to Prague to film a sci-fi movie, and she needs Gene to help her father, Malcolm, move to a new apartment. At first Gene says no, but of course if he were firm in his resolve, there would be no movie, so before you know it, he has agreed to help with the move.

Malcolm is played wonderfully by John Neville, perhaps most recently known for his role as "Well Manicured Man" in The X-Files. He is patrician, slightly cantankerous, and very lonely. His attitude does not exactly endear Gene to him at first, but eventually, the two form a reasonably friendly connection and the move takes place.

When Gene is not with Malcolm, he is spending time with his raucous, maddening, lovable family. His father and mother, played respectively and with great gusto by Jay Brazeau and Babz Chula, spend their days despairing over their sad-sack son and taking care of their autistic teenaged daughter Jolea, played with amazing talent by Rebecca Harker. Although the rhythms of the family sometimes seem discordant, as the movie progresses we can see that there is harmony and order beneath the chaos, and that in reality they are a very loving and tight-knit family.

As a family, they worry about Gene, who really should know better than to keep hope alive that Elizabeth might ever get back together with him, let alone move her father to a new apartment. What they don't know is that Elizabeth continues to string him along long-distance from Prague, engaging him in phone sex at one point, while lying about the stuntman who is in her hotel room at 5 am when Gene calls. "What stunt is he coordinating in your room at 5 am?" Gene demands, but of course he knows the answer. Nevertheless, it seems he is always ready to be taken advantage of yet again.

Elizabeth is played surprisingly well by Elizabeth Berkley. Yes, that Elizabeth Berkley from Saved by the Bell and Showgirls infamy. Apparently the part was originally meant for Jennifer Beals, but when she had a scheduling conflict, she recommended her friend Elizabeth Berkley. Berkley is entirely believable as the flaky, commitmentphobic B-movie actress. Perhaps it's not much of a stretch for her, I have no idea, but even though I found her character quite unlikable, she still manages to elicit a little sympathy at the end of the movie.

I've read some horrible reviews of this movie, most of which complain that for a comedy, it's just not that funny. I disagree. Not all comedy is meant to make you double over with laughter; sometimes all it will do is make you chuckle or just smile. I personally didn't mind that the movie wasn't a laugh a minute; I was far more interested in it as a character study. I would highly recommend Moving Malcolm if you are in the mood for a movie with well-written, realistic dialogue, fully realized characters, excellent acting, and polished production values. I give Moving Malcolm four aching backs out of five.

Posted by polarcanuck at 1:55 a.m.

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