Preview
SAINT RALPH
Starring Campbell Scott, Adam Butcher and Gordon Pinsent
Written and directed by Michael McGowan
Opens Friday, April 8
Check listings
Somewhere between the dark sets of highbrow independent film and the saccharine drip of feel-good family schlock, there is a place where a young boy can struggle against impossible odds without depressing reality or the aid of animated sidekicks. Don’t worry; that nagging feeling you’re experiencing is completely normal. It’s all right to cheer as he struggles to the finish line. No one will think any less of you.
Canadian writer-director Michael McGowan’s Saint Ralph strikes a careful balance between its independent roots and the familiar idealism of family fare. Set in 1950s Hamilton, the film follows 14-year-old Ralph Walker’s (Adam Butcher), journey through adolescence and the potential tragedy of his critically ill mother, whose lapse into a coma introduces the film’s central conflict. Endearing and awkward, Ralph’s experience runs the gamut from an embarrassingly sexual encounter with a public swimming pool’s filter to simple schoolyard rebellions, illustrating a nuanced character who is both naive and cunningly savvy.
Caught smoking on the school’s grounds, he is assigned by the school’s administrator, Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), to the cross-country team, where he falls under the watchful eye of Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott). When an off-the-cuff comment convinces Ralph that his mother can be brought back by a miracle, he sets out to do the impossible – run and win the prestigious Boston Marathon. Driven by his own hopeful fantasy and the reluctant coaching of Father Hibbert, Ralph begins to improve himself, firmly believing that his faith will be rewarded.
From misfit sports teams to second chances for bad kids, the struggle against impossible odds is a theme so tried-and-true that it has already worn a path in the Astroturf of every family sports film. But for Scott, himself an actor-director-producer, the unique perspective of Michael McGowan, the writer-director of Saint Ralph, is enough to save it from an undistinguished spot on the theatre marquee.
"Every one or two or three years there is a movie that comes out that isn’t R-rated or just adult-themed that also doesn’t take its audience for granted and doesn’t spoon-feed you and doesn’t hit you over the head," says Scott. "(Michael McGowan) has a great low-key sense of humour and he’s able to tell a story with characters that we might have seen before or (with) familiar dynamics, but in a fresh way. There’s the mentor-coach and the kid – the kid who’s rebelling and all that stuff – but when I read it, I thought, ‘This guy’s got a really keen eye for these things.’"
As Father Hibbert, Scott occupies the familiar mentor role, but reveals that the relationship with Butcher, the young actor whose first feature appearance is both subtle and sympathetic, is no simpler than the film itself.
"In the movie certainly (Hibbert is) a mentor and a reluctant one, but that’s not the way I act when I get to the set," says Scott. "Usually, with young people, you’re a little wary to see if they either know what they’re doing or not, or act like a strange little acting child as opposed to a real person. But as soon as you recognize someone like Adam who’s just talented and seemed to know what he was doing they’re your colleague….
"He was just great. He was already shooting when I first arrived and had already managed to charm the crew and so I knew that we were in good hands."
Independent without being inaccessible, uplifting without falling into the mire of formula, the world of Ralph Walker is an almost nostalgic trip to a place where cheering for an impossible goal is a guilt-free pleasure. While the 1950s setting may make Saint Ralph a period piece, identifying with a moving struggle is a refreshingly familiar visit.
"I love anything that’s a different place and a period (setting) makes that even further away from the way we live," says Scott of the film’s retro setting. "Of course, I get to wear the dress, the cassock and ride a bike, which is good clean fun but I really like it when we think we’re in a different world and then you begin to identify with the characters regardless." |
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