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THE SKEWER CANADA'S ONLINE GUIDE TO THINGS ASKEW FRONT ...................... NATIONAL ......................WORLD.................. SPORTS ................... COMMENT ....................... ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT
PODESWA'S 'THE FIVE SENSES' WINS CITY AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE AS THE 24TH TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WRAPS UP Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa's "The Five Senses" has won The City Award for Best Canadian feature film at the Toronto International Film Festival,coming on the heels of a rave reception at it's world premiere at Cannes,which saw the audience give a rare five minute ovation at the premiere.The beautifully shot film involves the lives of five people,each of whom represent a different sense and it is expected to be out in wide release in the not too distant future.Mr. Podeswa was kind enough to speak with us in the midst of his busy filmfest schedule We reached Mr. Podeswa by phone at his home. Q-So was Cannes the favourite moment of your career so far? A-"Yeah,that was really great that and the first day of shooting a new film are probably my favourite moments so far" Q-.And your worst moments? A-"Trying to get a film together.That can be very difficult, and you have to rely on things that you have no control over and it feels like it's never going to come together". Q-Who is your favourite director? A-"Oh there's so many.If I had to narrow it down,I'd say Rhoemer,Truffaut,Allen and Scorcese". Q-What advice would you give to someone starting out in filmaking? A-"Create a community, start networking.Just get out there and do it.Do anything, get some momentum and try to maintain it." Q-If money were no object,what kind of film would you like to make? A-"You know for the way I like to work,buckets of money wouldn't change my films much.Except maybe for being able to film in foreign locales". Q-Is the Canadian film industry suffering from a "brain drain"? A-"No,a money drain!There are simply too many creative people seeking too few dollars". Q-How has computer technology impacted the way you make films? A-"It hasn't really changed the actual shooting much,but more in the areas of editing and music mixing.Post production". Q-Whats up next for you? A-I've optioned a novel,Minus Time by Catherine Bush,as well as working on an original script and I'm reading other peoples scripts.Just keeping busy. Q-Well thanks very much for your time and best of luck with The Five Senses and your other endeavours. A-Thank you.
5440 STAKES THEIR CLAIM AMONG CANADA'S ROCK N' ROLL ELITE WITH THE RELEASE OF HEAVY MELLOW
For a number of years,it has been this writers great pleasure to have crossed the path of 5440 at a wide range of venues across the country.Although I had had ,an awareness of the band since it's 1979 inception,it was not until 1984 that I managed to catch their act live at the ramshackle National Hotel in Calgary, a two room bar, replete with drunken down and outs on one side, and a band room on the other side.Or as Tom Waits says,"anyone who walked in here must have started out with bad directions".You know,terry cloth table covers and repeat offenders,the whole shmere. I think that they had Baby Ran in their repetoire back then,but that is the only thread that I can grasp across the wanderings of my time addled mind,and wanderings are rarely accurate.I do recall that my mother and stepfather came along to say hello to bassist Brad Merrit,who has been a friend of my brothers since when.They said hello, left early because it was "smokey" and slipped me ten bucks for a cab home,fearing for my safety,given the clubs unsavoury locale..And like any young man given ten bucks in a bar I used the ten spot to buy as much cheap draft as possible,choosing the moment over the plan.The club even had railroad tracks running nearby that I used as an urban compass in my post show staggerings.The whole backdrop was very "Tom Waits". But how times have changed.Over the years I have born witness to the evolution of creativity and watched the seeds planted all those years ago bear increasingly voluptuous fruit. And let us make no mistake about it,this band has worked for every inch of ground captured, and it seems that they are still hungry for more.The band still maintains an astonishingly gruelling tour schedule, and are working hard to reinvent ways to play older material, a fact made apparent by the "Mellow" aspect of "heavy mellow". The double CD release is the harvest of the band's 1998 Canadian Fall Tour,which they embarked upon with the notion of creating a live album."Heavy Mellow".The first of the two CD 's presents the "Heavy" aspect of the album,which features mostly "classic" renditions of the bands tunes,although,those in the know will recogonize changes in Baby Ran,among others,and an astonishing version of Music Man,augmented by the addition of Coco Love Alcorn on the tour.Her addition to the band is an important part of the widening and elasticity of the bands performance and it is hoped that she continues to have an association with 5440. But it's on the "Mellow " leg of our journey that things get interesting.Most of the second CD is comitted to presenting familiar tunes in a brand new light,with delightful new renditions of many of the bands classics,highlighted by One Day In Your Life,Radio Luv Song ,Crossing A Canyon and Ocean Pearl.The delight in this album, is a willingness on the part of the band to have the courage and ability to reinvent some of their material and in the case of some tunes,changing the entire mood of the song by altering it's style.The album is a testament to an immense amount of hard work, talent, and patience.It is without hesitation that The Skewer gives this album five kabobs out of five.
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