The Grocer’s Wife + Man Feel Pain + Off Key

The Grocer’s Wife
Canada 1991. Director: John Pozer
Cast: Simon Webb, Andrea Rankin, Susinn McFarlen Jay Brazeau, Nicola Cavendish

When Atom Egoyan’s The Adjuster won Best Canadian Feature honours at Toronto in 1991, Egoyan turned his $25,000 prize over to John Pozer in recognition of The Grocer’s Wife. (Egoyan had been the beneficiary of a similarly magnanimous gesture from Wim Wenders at Montreal in 1987.) The film was made while Pozer was a UBC student; the crew consisted of a notable number of other UBC film students who would become prominent figures in the Vancouver film scene. “Set in the industrial hell of Trail, B.C., The Grocer’s Wife is a decidedly bent comic drama about a man (Webb) who spends his days checking the emissions from the town’s giant smoke stack. After his domineering mother (Rankin) dies from the pollution, his life takes a bizarre turn when an itinerant American stripper (McFarlen) movies into her bedroom. To make matters worse, the local grocer’s wife (Cavendish) lusts after the young man. This unsettling fairy tale — Pozer’s completely original ‘no budget’ feature debut — is shot in dense black and white and features an epic soundtrack” (Take One’s Essential Guide to Canadian Film). The film won two Genies: the Jutra Award (best director of a first feature) and Best Supporting Actress (Cavendish). B&W, 35mm. 100 mins.

Man Feel Pain
Canada 2004. Director: Dylan Akio Smith

Dylan Akio Smith made his feature debut in 2005 with The Cabin Movie. This 2004 short, the comic tale of a young man whose experiments with self-inflicted pain lead to inadvertent martyrdom for him and salvation for his unhinged neighbours, was named Best Canadian Short at Toronto and won the Audience Award at Whistler. Colour, 35 mm. 11 mins.

Off Key
Canada 1994. Director: Karethe Linaae

Karethe Linaae’s gorgeous comedic short, the tale of an uptight Russian musical prodigy and his sexually-charged photo session with a famous New York photographer, was selected for the International Critics’ Week at Cannes and nominated for a Canadian Genie. Colour, 35mm. 22 mins.