Culture Vulture: The Wild Hunt, Macbeth and Other Space Odysseys

On Monday night, an estimated 17 Canadians tuned in to the Independent Film Channel to watch local hero Denis Villeneuve’s gut-wrenching Polytechnique make mincemeat of the competition at the 30th Genie Awards, walking away with no less than 9 wins. Now let’s not kid ourselves: the gala’s cultural relevance is on par with, I’d say, Losique’s World Film Festival. But even amidst widespread industry condemnation and public indifference, there’s something Montrealers should take away from the ceremonial snoozefest. Aside from Villeneuve’s new trophy wall, local helmers Kara Blake, Pedro Pires and Xavier Dolan (unjustly snubbed from almost all categories) also took home whatever the hell it is the Genies give out for prizes. And if you don’t believe that’s a testament to the vitality of the Montreal film scene, by golly, why haven’t you boarded that plane to LAX already?

While film usually steals the spotlight from resolutely more fringy pursuits like contemporary dance, theatre, photography and the all-too-convenient umbrella term “visual arts”, our artists’ international renown in those areas also goes without saying. Chouinard, Lock, Lepage, Mouawad, McLaren, Altmejd, … must I go on? And with the sheer number of galleries, theatres, studios, screening rooms and derelict Old Montreal factories vying for your precious eyeballs, how to make sense of it all? Simple: by heading over to Culture Vulture weekly for art binge itineraries, whether you’re the seasoned PoMo type or just an hors d’oeuvre-chasin’ dilettante. No one’s here to judge. Toothpicks, anyone? 

 

LARPers and space cadets
Polish those throwing daggers collecting dust in your bedroom, slip into the geekiest of chain mail shirts and head down to the AMC or Cinéma Du Parc to catch local filmmaker Alexandre Franchi’s inspired medieval thriller, The Wild Hunt. The winner of last fall’s Best First Canadian Feature prize at TIFF, Franchi penned his debut feature in collaboration with actor Mark A. Krupa. It’s as close as you’ll get to LARP (Live-Action-Role-Play) gamers until the local Tam Tam chapter resumes its elaborate weekly shenanigans for your viewing pleasure. Hunt’s appeal extends far beyond the epic battle sequences (which nevertheless do live up to their promise). The stirring relationship woes involving a recent dumpee caught at a crossroads between a drab, solitary reality and an overwhelmingly codified fantasy world pulls you in, making for a compelling film that’s well worth fighting over (in a make believe sort of way, bien sûr!)

Along with LARPers stuck in a parallel dimension, the Canadian Centre for Architecture appears dead set on blasting us off to another planet, and all that’s asked of us is that we look around and explore space’s infinite possibilities. The new exhibit Other Space Odysseys zeroes in on a world in which interplanetary travel is as common as Hawaiian print clad Quebecers migrating annually to the Sunshine State. The exhibit’s three seriously space-minded architects get us to reconsider our narrow, Earth-bound worldviews, using that “one giant leap for mankind” business as a starting point to imagining what the future may look like. Think architectural reflections, as opposed to full-fledged outer space sketches.

  

Dreadlocks and dead dogs
Macbeth, the Bard’s classic tale of ruthless ambition and prophetic witches gets a fresh take courtesy of a French and Creole-language adaptation by Stacey Christodoulou, playing at the Segal Centre’s The Studio until April 28. If you thought Orson Welles’ 1936 adaptation “Voodoo Macbeth” sounded bonkers, you ain’t seen nothing it. Set in contemporary Haiti and cast almost entirely from Montreal’s second generation Haitian community, this dance-infused play is endowed with shrewd and quite apropos social commentary on Haiti’s corrupt political history and the country’s explosive triple threat cocktail of war, drugs and magic.  

Finally, if you haven’t made it out to DHC/ART and the Darling Foundry yet to marvel at Finish artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila’s groundbreaking body of work, this will be my final appeal. (Read Sarah Lévesque’s interview with Ahtila here.) In INT. STAGE-DAY, Ahtila’s intricate multi-screen narratives reveal fascinating glimpses into the private lives of ordinary folks – via moving, at times jarring and even by turns humorous juxtapositions of sound and storytelling elements.  Among her unsettling “human dramas” are the story of a couple going through the motions of divorce (“Consolation Service”), an exploration of grief as the filmmaker herself wrestles with the loss of her dog (“The Hour of Prayer”) and even the decidedly creepy (dare I say kinky?) photo exhibit “Dog Bites”, wherein a nude woman mimics the postures and expressive range of a household mutt. Does that make her a bitch? A group of Con U hipsters I overheard at the exhibit sure seemed to think so. Whether you head there for Ahtila’s visual razzle-dazzle, her profound musings on the human condition or to observe a confused-looking gal in the throes of a scratching fit (fleas?) is really entirely up to you. Happy art binge!