Silly Little Country

Getting Married in Buffalo Jump

It is not unheard of me, though probabilistically unlikely, to say good things about a Canadian movie but now I must.

Not just Wendy Crewson - who has clearly captivated me for far more years than I knew - but Paul Gross too! (To quickly set one part of this theme aside, let me say that this is the Paul Gross of Due South, and Slings and Arrows - I loved the former TV series and was even more shocked and delighted one day, on a trip tagging along with my wife to a conference in Antwerp, to pop the TV in our hotel room on, and find 'Due South' on Belgian TV. It still seems odd to me that Canada is so committed to cultural protectionism. "Slings and Arrows" deserves the same exposure, not just for Gross' role in it.)

Now on to the movie. Sophie (Crewson) returns to her Alberta home and the ranch her family ran when her father dies; she has received an education in the arts and tried to make a career out East (in Canada that would mean in the big city, unless she had started there) . She hires on a local boy Alex (Gross) she went to high school with to help maintain the ranch. He proposes marriage in a non-romantic way as a means to keep the ranch going. The plot follows the usual romantic comedy series of obstacles arising and being overcome, but carries itself nicely because of this fundamental anti-romantic conceit.

There are many nice touches. An opening John Ford shot of mother and daughter. A scene in which Alex tells Sophie she could be a good rancher, with Abba's "Honey, honey" playing in the background, and the loveliest smile comes across her face. Her exasperation at the odd wedding proposal she has received - "Can't we just sleep together like reasonable adults?" Her playing "Try to Remember" on the piano. You may get the idea I liked the soundtrack - sure did - lots of k. d. lang, beyond what I have mentioned. Several voices I am not sure of as well.

Another star is the western sky. I still remember my first experience getting out of an airplane in Saskatchewan - I had read for years about 'The Big Sky' but only then did I get it.

In any case this is a lovely romantic comedy with the romance part wittily suppressed via the businesslike nature of Alex' proposal, but otherwise with the same plotting. The two stars make it an extremely attractive enterprise. And Alberta is beautiful as well in this film.

Marion Gilsenan has a bravura performance as the mother who wants better for her daughter Sophie - I only became aware of her for the first time when she appeared and stole the show in an otherwise not remarkable Canadian Stage production of 'The Norbals'; only shortly thereafter did I learn she had done the show in the late stages of the pancreatic cancer that killed her the year after. She is quite wonderful in this movie.

Maybe I'll poke up recommending some other fine Canadian films. Despite our cultural policies, perpetually subsidizing the mediocre, much talent gets to the surface and expersses itself.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 3:01 PM