TIFF 2019: TAKING US BACK TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

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Winnipeg’s own Matthew Rankin‘s directorial debut at TIFF 2019 for the film The Twentieth Century must have been quite a memorable experience.  To not only debut as a Canadian director and to present his work to the whole world at this important festival but to also throw a curveball to the Midnight Madness audience is a massive accomplishment.   The Twentieth Century does not usually fall into the horror, action, genre film that the Midnight Madness audience usually cheer on for.  Its a bizarre and hilarious biopic of William Lyon Mackenzie King and his off the wall fetishes in his younger days in trying to become the Prime Minister of Canada.  Shot on 16mm, the outrageous backgrounds, the acting lead by Daniel Beirne, and the hilarious SCTV-type Canadian humour will bring the audience to fully appreciate what Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky has brought to the table for this year.

Director Matthew Rankin’s vision works for these types of film but it always has in the past, so why shouldn’t it work today.  Only audience members like myself can appreciate the snowy type texture of the film because it brings you back to the times where the lower class was only able to watch CBC in this format which was back in the early eighties.  Other than Hockey Night in Canada, CBC would have some obscure and bizarre type of programming with cartoon-like backgrounds like this film in the early morning or right before they went off the air to play the national anthem.  It was also a time where men dressed in drag or women dressed as men and there were no questions asked which brought you back to the times of Culture Club and The Human League or Mel Brooks’ History of the World for that matter.  What is funny is how Matthew Rankin takes you back to these times to show how far we have gone and far we haven’t gone, especially for Canadians.

Actor Daniel Beirne leads The Twentieth Century cast where it needs to go as playing William Lyon Mackenzie King who goes through such a roller coaster of a journey to become the Prime Minister of Canada.  He is first prophesied by his mother, who is unforgettably played by Louis Negin, that he is going to become a leader in Canada and that he will go on to become the lover of Ruby Elliot, played by Catherine St-Laurent, who is the daughter of the Governor-General Lord Muto played by Seán Cullen.  He goes on to defy the odds despite being humiliated by his counterparts such as Bert Harper who is played by Mikhaïl Ahooja and Arthur Meighan, played by Brent Skagford, who are playing for positions in power.  We can’t forget William’s father who is played by Richard Jutras who is just trying to protect his confines while he becomes the leader of Canada.  The cast is so sharp, witty and humorous that it would be a shame to not see them all in a Matthew Rankin project.

The Twentieth Century is an important film for a lot of Canadians to watch because it reimagines a time in history where we laid down important roots in the country.  To do it in such a way where Rankin takes the many influences of Canadian culture whether its film, comedy and media and puts it into this unique film are curated in a highly intelligent way.  The approach in making it bizarre, off the wall and obscure shows a huge part of our culture since the times of William Lyon Mackenzie King and it’s nothing to be ashamed of but rather be proud of.  The Twentieth Century is going to be a Canadian Classic down the line.