Friday, November 25, 2016

'Canadian Content' for the Deprived

In this wasteland filled with Hollywood productions one yearns for another perspective on what constitutes the core values of the established film genres, especially westerns and comedies. Well, Athenians of a Canadian persuasion, the Institute has its “Canadian Film Night” on Wednesday, November 30th at 19:30 in the Library of the Institute. This annual event for our Athens Association of Friends offers one some much sought after “Canadian Content” and a different view of world.

This year’s film is the 2010 work by the director and writer William Phillips entitled Gunless. As described by Rotten Tomatoes, “When notorious American gunslinger, The Montana Kid (Paul Gross), staggers into the tiny Canadian hamlet of Barclay's Brush, life for the town's 17 inhabitants is about to get exciting. The Kid immediately gets into an unfortunate altercation with Jack (Tyler Mane), the town's surly blacksmith, which leads to The Kid 'calling him out' for some good old frontier justice - a showdown. But in a place totally ill prepared to deal with a classic gun fight and without a single working pistol to be found, adhering to the code of the American Wild West may prove difficult. Not able to let go of the 'code', The Kid remains stuck in Barclay's Brush, getting drawn into a strange world of eccentric rituals and characters; among them Jane (Sienna Guillory), a smart sassy woman who becomes his only hope of finding a way out...or perhaps his only reason for staying..”

Here are some of the audiences’ and reviewers’ comments to entice you in coming to join us:

“I liked ‘Gunless’ a lot more than I thought I would. As with other projects involving Paul Gross (“Men with Brooms”), this is a spoof that's not always laugh-out-loud funny, but one that's quirky and still strangely compelling.”

"Put me down for three more [bullets] and a carrot." This is a charming and funny Canadian western comedy that pokes fun of stereotypical Canadian culture. It was even better than I expected and Paul Gross was terrific. Loved it! "How far are we from a real country?"

“Like ‘Shane’ with whimsy, ‘Gunless’ takes the hoary old template of the gunfighter movie and gives it an utterly Canadian spin based on our comfort myth of niceness.”

So, do you dare to take a walk on the wild side for 90 minutes on the 30th????

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

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