2014 Canadian Screen Awards: Viggo and Cronenberg take a bow!

photo by donna g

The highlight of my evening at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards was the moment actress Gabrielle Marion-Rivard (left) walked onto the press room stage, absolutely glowing, as if lit up from within. I don't think I have ever seen someone beam before last night. As she held her award in her arms, and answered questions in both English and French, Marion-Rivard spoke about how winning her award (Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role) was a dream come true. The coming of age romance Gabrielle  which was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar (2013) was later presented with a Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture. Director, Louise Archambault says that she has heard from audiences that they see the film as being about "pure love" and not just an issues story about Williams syndrome,  a condition that first-time actress, Marion-Rivard shares with her character.

photo by donna g

I love David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen together. For a director and actor known for such serious work, they are like a vaudeville comedy duo as they riff off each other as Viggo holds up his ubiquitous Habs flag or jersey (Cronenberg is a lifelong Maple Leafs fan).  My cohort, blogger HeidyMo, had a fangirl moment over the dynamic duos presence, but Viggo's History of Violence co-star (and my girl crush), Mario Bello, although in attendance at the event for Cronenberg's acceptance of his Lifetime Achievement Award, did not come to the press room. Still it was revealling to hear Cronenberg express his gratitude to the Canada Council and Telefilm Canada for allowing him to have a career and live in Canada. Without support from these two organizations when he was starting out, he would have had to leave Canada in order to become a filmmaker, or he might have pursued his love of writing and become a novelist. (His debut novel, Consumed will be released this year.)

photo by donna g

Big winners for the evening were television's Tatiana Maslany's (left) clone drama Orphan Black and Jason Priestly's comedy Call Me Fritz, while multiple honours also went to Denis Villeneuve's feature film Enemy. Lost Girl's Zoie Palmer won Fan Favourite Star and the show won Fan Favourite.

The Canadian Screen Awards honours achievements in film, television and digital media. For the second year in a row, the event was held at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, and I don't know if it was because the Academy was celebrating its 65th year, but the Red Carpet was definitely longer this year! The host broadcaster was the most suitable, CBC, and stage host was the inimitable Martin Short, or as he sang in his humourous tribute song to potential "losing ladies" last night, Uncle Marty.

Being in an awards press room can be pretty dry: some journalists were plugged into headphones to get the feed from the stage, but others, like myself, watched the silent monitors in between the winners taking to our stage for their post-win Q & A session. Thank you, Richard Crouse for your positive vibes, and for asking such great questions that I always feel as if you are reading my mind. Richard also knows how to share, never once forgetting to check the room for those who have their own questions. If you ever have the chance to attend an event where Richard is facilitating a discussion about film or with filmmakers, do yourself a favour and buy a ticket. I sometimes feel at these events that some people in the room are only interested in getting sound bites and money shots. Richard is that person in the room that always, always maintains an enthusiasm for film.

For the complete list of winners and nominees, please visit: http://www.academy.ca/Canadian-Screen-Awards/2014-Nominees-Winners/Film 

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Richard Crouse's Son of the 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen

Photo Credit: TINARS (from Richard's website)

I think the Fates conspired to bring film critic and author, Richard Crouse to where he is today. His parents moved from the US to his birthplace of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and Richard grew up in a house that was once a vaudeville theatre. The boom that was supposed to bring big development to Liverpool never happened, but the opera house they built became a movie theatre that exposed Richard to a variety of film genres. He could watch an art house, mainstream and kung fu movie all in one day, and living in a small town, Richard went to the movies a lot. See what I mean about the Fates? His destiny may have been predetermined, but hard work also played a part in Richard's professional achievements: 10 years as the host of Reel to Real, author of 6 pop culture books, film critic on Canada AM, and host of his new show, "Richard Crouse's Movie Show".

I had such a great time talking to Richard about his latest book, Son of the 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen, that I didn't get a chance to talk about all the films that I had intended to discuss. Loving films as much as I do it was great to prep for this interview. Like his first book, The 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen, the sequel is a fantastic resource for anyone. The films range from mainstream films that didn't get the box office attention that they should have to cult films that are just plain weird; you can also find out what people in the film industry think is a forgotten gem (Deepa Mehta's choice is a film called Ajantrik; one of Danny Boyle's three choices is the Russian film Solyaris).

I went to Bay Street Video, rented some films and had a wonderful time watching films like the 70's girl-gang movie, Switchblade Sisters, seeing Barbara McNair singing on the floor in Venus in Furs (this whole film is a trip!), and the women in prison film, Caged. We also discussed the Carole Lombard classic, Twentieth Century, and the life of Latin spitfire, Lupe Valez (The Girl From Mexico)who allegedly planned a photo-op suicide that went very wrong.



Tura Satana, star of the ultimate bad-girl movie, Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! had to be mentioned during this show which was high-lighting some of the films in the book that featured women. I've been calling Richard "Mr. Tura Satana" since seeing him gush over the legendary cult-movie actress last summer when her film screened at the Festival of Fear. Turns out he fell under her spell over a very candid dinner conversation prior to the screening's Q&A session. He's still captivated by the septuagenarian even though she hurt him while demonstrating a martial arts move in front of the audience.

Richard's list is narrowed down from an original list of 300. 100 hundred made it into his first book, another in this second book, and maybe there will be a third book. All the films are his personal choice, and are not a result of any formulated structure. One of the things that the books made me do, was think about what would be on my list. A few titles I thought of are:

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the Carole Lombard film directed by Hitchcock, not the Brangelina version)
Bowfinger (I don't usually flock to Steve Martin and Eddy Murphy movies, but this one is hilarious. The scene with the dog in heels gets me every time.)
Saved (a great pre-Juno coming-of-age film)
Born Romantic (a melancholy British comedy about love)
Layercake (Sean Connery is my 007, but this movie convinced me that Daniel Craig would be a top James Bond)

MARCH 7th SHOW PLAYLIST
Marlene Shaw, "Street Walkin Woman" from The Best of Marlene Shaw
Bettye LaVette, "Before the Money Came" from The Scene of the Crime

SHOUT OUTS!
Thanks to Richard Crouse and Simon Ware of ECW Pressfor the book giveaway (Son of the Best 100 Movies You've Never Seen).

Thank you Kelsey of the First Weekend Club for the giveaway to Canada Screens presentation of RiP: A Remix Manifesto"