Review
WILBY WONDERFUL
Directed by Daniel MacIvor
Film Movement, 2004
Wilby Wonderful is a day-in-the-life story that takes place in a small, Eastern Canadian island town that is preparing for a big celebration. The characters that populate these 90 minutes are about as different from one another as you can get, but they all seem to be looking for one thing – home.
Daniel MacIvor is known for his work as an actor, writer and director for film, television and theatre. Apart from a few trademark themes he likes to explore, however, his work in these assorted mediums is individual. His pieces for the stage are severely dark and devilishly funny, as Calgary audiences might have noticed most recently in Cul-de-Sac and Monster. His films tend to present similar ideas that are somehow less foreboding. In Wilby Wonderful, MacIvor manages to explore homophobia, corporate development, environmental issues and relationships with weight and depth, but also with a tender catharsis.
A master storyteller, MacIvor focuses on the spaces in-between, allowing what his characters don’t say to be just as important as their dialogue. In taking that time, he is able to coax a more nuanced narrative from both the camera and the cast. MacIvor also proves himself a successful director of a larger ensemble – exploring their dynamics without losing intimacy.
The cast is incredible. To have so much talent in one picture is a feat in and of itself, but to have that talent being used to the best of its ability is something else. It’s no surprise that MacIvor wrote the parts specifically for his handpicked cast. James Allodi is brilliant as Dan Jarvis, a man whose wife has just left him over a soon-to-be-revealed scandal, and who spends most of the film trying to quietly commit suicide. Paul Gross has never been better as the longing and slightly frustrated police officer Buddy French, whose wife Carol, played just right by Sandra Oh, is more concerned with making good impressions than emotionally engaging in life. It is fabulous to see Rebecca Jenkins onscreen, and she doesn’t disappoint as the slightly lost single mom Sandra Anderson while Callum Keith Rennie is charming, as always, as the gentle handyman Duck MacDonald. By adding the flamboyant Maury Chaykin, skilful newcomer Ellen Page and the film’s writer-director MacIvor, you have a pitch-perfect Canadian cast.
With all of the aforementioned actors bringing their best to a project, it would be easy to presume that the director would rely on them to carry the film. Perhaps it’s because of the many hats he wears, but MacIvor never lets even the smallest detail slide. He incorporates great camera work and beautiful transient shots of the Maritimes that would make even a Prairie kid homesick for the Atlantic.
Accompanying these shots and underscoring the performances is original music composed by Michael Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies. A series of lilting melodies that sound like summer will make any listener take notice, but each song is there as a support for the onscreen action, and not a distraction.
Apart from a quick behind-the-scenes featurette, where some of the cast and crew are interviewed, there isn’t much in the way of extra features on this DVD, which is too bad because a commentary from anybody involved in this film, particularly MacIvor, would no doubt be a treat. The film does, however, stand on its own, proving that just because a film wasn’t released in theatres, doesn’t mean it isn’t wonderful. |
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