Unbottling the Genies

Pierre-Luc Brillant and Johanne Lebrun in the Quebec smash hit, C.R.A.Z.Y. Photo Sébastien Raymond. Coutesy TVA Films.

Our most perplexing entertainment trophy giveaway, the Genie Awards ceremony, airs March 13 on Chum TV stations. Producers are again tinkering with format. Last year’s Golden Globes-style dinner-theatre didn’t work; a chorus of French language winners speaking in their mother tongue made for underwater-slow English TV. So this year’s show, which figures to be a showdown between Deepa Mehta’s Water and the Quebec hit, C.R.A.Z.Y., will be a brisk, one-hour wrap party — interviewers mingling with winners, movie clips, a few highlight speeches.

Friends of Canadian film wish the reconstituted award show well, but sensible patriots might suggest that if the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television wants to engage viewers it might try inviting the best Canadian films to its parties. 

The exclusion of A History of Violence, an internationally acclaimed film made in Canada by a Canadian producer-director (David Cronenberg) with a Canadian crew and more than 20 Canadian actors, invalidates the competition. Especially when the film conspicuously “out-Canadas” some previous winners, like 2000 Genie recipient, Sunshine, a work shot in Europe by a Hungarian writer-director.

István Szabó’s Sunshine was eligible and Cronenberg’s film was not, because the first film did and the second did not satisfy government financing and production treaty “elements” — a circumstance that suggests the Genies are sometimes an accountant’s call.

Viggo Mortensen in A History Of Violence. Photo Takashi Seida/New Line Productions. Courtesy of Alliance Atlantis.

If the Junos employed similar standards, Shania Twain would never get an invite. There would be no Alanis Morissette or Leonard Cohen … and no TV audience. The folly of excluding A History of Violence or Sarnia native Patricia Rozema’s Mansfield Park (1999) from competition, is that smaller movies never gain the exposure they might receive participating in a grander, audience-friendly celebration of the best Canadian filmmakers have to offer.

That said, as the list of finalists in the 2006 Genie best film category proves, audiences should be watching both Canadian movies and the Genies.

Here’s one handicapper’s guide to the big categories in this year’s show:

Best film:

Adam Butcher in Saint Ralph. Courtesy Alliance Atlantis.

Saint Ralph: An aggressively sentimental tale of a plucky Hamilton, Catholic schoolboy (Adam Butcher) who hopes to jolt his mom from a coma by winning the 1954 Boston Marathon. His coach is a frowning priest (Campbell Scott standing in for Bing Crosby) who rediscovers his calling watching Ralph labour slow-mo through the rain. One can complain that Saint Ralph made the cut, rather than Atom Egoyan’s rousing, endlessly complex (and fascinating if you ask me) noir, Where the Truth Lies. But hey, movies are the democratic art, and Lord knows English Canadian filmmakers should be encouraged to make more audience-friendly films like Saint Ralph. No chance of winning, but not an embarrassing fifth entry.

Favourites in other categories:

Best director:

Nominees:
Luc Picard — L'Audition
Jean-Marc Vallée — C.R.A.Z.Y.
Louise Archambault — Familia
Michael Dowse — It's All Gone Pete Tong
Deepa Mehta — Water

Again, a toss-up between Deepa Mehta (Water) and Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.); it would be the Canadian thing to award the best director award to the loser of the big race, so Mehta could take this one.

Lead actor:

Nominees:
Luc Picard — L'Audition
Michel Côté — C.R.A.Z.Y.
Marc-André Grondin — C.R.A.Z.Y.
Paul Kaye — It's All Gone Pete Tong
Adam Butcher — Saint Ralph

Either Michel Côté, the deeply burdened father in C.R.A.Z.Y, or Marc-André Grondin, who played his son, should take this award. Both were marvels, with Côté giving the more nuanced performance. It is possible that the Quebec actors will split whatever votes Vallée’s film might receive, allowing Paul Kaye’s shouting, snorting DJ in It’s All Gone Pete Tong to take the prize.

Lead actress:

Nominees:
Macha Grenon — Familia
Sylvie Moreau — Familia
Arsinée Khanjian — Sabah — A Love Story
Gina Chiarelli — See Grace Fly
Seema Biswas — Water

If Water wins all the big trophies, the award might go to that film’s Seema Biswas. Otherwise, Arsinée Khanjian (Exotica, Last Night), should take the award for her delicate, artfully conceived performance in the romantic comedy, Sabah.

Original screenplay:

Nominees:
Luc Picard — L'Audition
Jean-Marc Vallée, François Boulay — C.R.A.Z.Y.
Louise Archambault — Familia
Michael Dowse — It's All Gone Pete Tong
Deepa Mehta — Water

Voters should be impressed with the engineering miracle that is the script for C.R.A.Z.Y., a film that covers three decades, a multitude of styles and moods, and music from Charles Aznavour and Patsy Cline to David Bowie, without stumbling for even a frame. 

Stephen Cole writes about the arts for CBC.ca.

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