Pontypool (2008)
Country: Canada
Production Company: Maple Pictures presents in association with Crescent Road Films a Shadow Shows production.
Executive Producers: Henry Cole, J Miles Dale, Jasper Graham, Isabella Smejda
Producers: Jeffrey Coghlan, Ambrose Roche
Director: Bruce McDonald
Screenplay: Tony Burgess, from his novel Pontypool Changes Everything
Cinematography: Miroslaw Baszak
Editor: Graham Munce
Production Designer: Lea Carlson
Music: Claude Foisy
Special Effects: Geoff Hill
Visual Effects: Mr X Inc.
Costumes: Sarah Armstrong
Make-up: Indiana Allemang
Prosthetics: Matthew DeWilde
Sound Design: Steve Munro
Titles: JL Munce
Budget: $1.5M (estimated)
Cast: Stephen McHattie (Grant Mazzy), Lisa Houle (Sydney Briar), Georgina Reilly (Laurel Ann Drummond), Hrant Alianak (Dr John Mendez), Rick Roberts (Ken Loney), Daniel Fathers (Nigel Healing), Beatriz Yuste (Nancy Freethy), Tony Burgess (Tony/Lawrence), Boyd Banks (Jay/Osama), Hannah Fleming (Maureen/Faraj), Rachel Burns (Colin/Daud), Laura Nordin (Spooky Woman), Louis Negin, Diane Gordon, Daniele Park, Yvonne Moore, Raffaele Carniato (Conversationalists)
Synopsis: Following a strange incident on a snowbound road, shock jock Grant Mazzy starts the morning show at his new gig at Beacon Radio in the small town of Pontypool, Ontario. Reports begin to filter in of a town riot at the office of Dr Mendez. As the reports increase, word gets through that the rioters are speaking in a strange, indecipherable tongue and a government report instructs the public to avoid terms of endearment and, in particular, the English language. As Mendez seeks shelter in the office and studio assistant Laurel Ann begins to succumb to the virus, it becomes clear that the infected are surrounding the studio.
Review: Tony Burgess's 1998 novel Pontypool Changes Everything is a thing of abstract, fractured brilliance that takes elements of William S Burroughs (the first to describe language as a "virus from outer space") and Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and creates a beautiful, shocking tale that demands concentration and a strong stomach. In developing it for the big screen, Burgess and director Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments) have tightened the book's focus and toned down much of the explicit violence to create a film that is intelligent, funny, and creepy in equal measure.
Concentrating the drama almost exclusively within a church basement-turned radio station, we hear, rather than see, the zombie apocalypse unfold through reports from the studio's weatherman, Ken Loney, inquiries from the BBC, and a government broadcast in French giving dire warnings about the danger of using terms of endearment rhetorical discourse, and speaking in English. The concept of a virus spread through language is brilliantly handled and we are constantly reminded how words and, in particular, broadcast speech, are untrustworthy – when Mazzy arrives at the radio station his voice is broadcasting before he even sits down at the mic, and weatherman Loney - a pedophile tolerated because of the service he provides to the town - is not in a helicopter, but sitting on a hill, in a Dodge Dart with a sound effects tape.
Initially, we are invited to question whether the attack is even real, or the invention of the unseen weatherman, until the imperious voice of the BBC (amusingly described as an affiliate of Beacon Radio) questions reports of an insurgency. The fact that the virus is spread only through the English language (French is safe) is playfully handled (as you might expect from a Canadian director of Scottish descent), with the final translated line of the government announcement "…please do not translate this message." providing one of many rueful smiles.
Shot with an admirably steady hand, on real grown-up cameras, by Land of the Dead cinematographer Miroslav Baszak, McDonald and Burgess clearly intend this to be a more cerebral exercise than your average zombie movie and Romero fans might feel a little shortchanged, but the team are smart enough to realize that real horror lies, not in screaming hordes of the undead, but in the sight of one character we've grown to like, repeatedly throwing herself against a sound proof plexiglass window while chewing a mouthful of glass.
However none of this would work without a strong central performance, and thankfully Pontypool has at its heart a corker from a severely under-appreciated actor. Stephen McHattie started out his career as "the new James Dean" (playing him in a 1976 TV movie), he graduated through more TV movies (Whatever Happened to Rosemary's Baby in 1976) and regular series work ("Kojak" and "Hill Street Blues") before making his first real mark as the suspected serial killer in Dick Richards' excellent (and sadly unavailable on DVD) Death Valley (1982). And from there it was pretty much more of the same, until his memorable turn in Cronenberg's A History of Violence (2005), since when he's been one of the busiest actors working, with appearances in 300, Watchmen, "Fringe", and Smash Cut director Lee Demarbre's upcoming Summer's Blood among many others.
McHattie plays the downfallen DJ as a suitably conflicted character, determined to piss people off but quick to apologize, he's a man who's used language to less than admirable ends, forced to first decipher the word-borne virus, and then - seeing he may doing as much harm as good - to void language of all meaning in attempt to save the world. It's a sizzling performance that's sure to reposition McHattie in the ranks of first-call character actors.
Suitably for a largely one-set theatrical piece, this was simultaneously produced as a radio play, a link can be found below, and it's well worth checking out, as it strips the narrative down even further to fit a 60 minute audio slot. A sequel, Pontypool Changes is at the script stage from the same team for 2010 release with, presumably, Pontypool Changes Everything following that). Pontypool is highly recommended if you like your zombies with figurative, rather than literal brains, it was released on October 16th in the UK and is available on DVD in Canada, and On Demand in the US through IFC.
A CBC Presentation
Directors: Gregory Jay Sinclair and Bruce McDonald
Cast: Stephen McHattie (Grant Mazzy), Lisa Houle (Sydney Briar), Georgina Reilly (Laurel Ann Drummond), Hrant Alianak (Dr John Mendez), Rick Roberts (Ken Loney), Daniel Fathers (Nigel Healing).
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