Candy Mountain (Canada-USA, 1987) 103 min color DIR: Robert Frank, Rudy Wurlitzer. SCR: Rudy Wurlitzer. PROD: Philippe Diaz. DOP: Pio Corradi. MUSIC: Dr. John, David Johansen, Rita Macneil, Leon Redbone. CAST: Kevin J. O’Connor, Harris Yulin, Bulle Ogier, Tom Waits, Roberts Blossom, Laurie Metcalf, Joe Strummer, Tantoo Cardinal, Dr. John, Rita Macneil, Leon Redbone, Jayne Eastwood. (International Film Exchange)
Canadian Cinema sometimes attracts interesting bedfellows from abroad. Perhaps most notoriously, Yugoslav director Dusan Makavejev made Sweet Movie for the NFB (his previous film, WR: Mysteries of the Organism, was banned in Canada). Hungarian Jan Kadar (previously of the Oscar-winning The Shop on Main Street) made his well-remembered Montreal film, Lies My Father Told Me. Ryszard Bugajski made Clearcut in Canada, shortly after his film The Interrogation received its official premiere, only years after being banned in his native Poland. (Even French New Waver Claude Chabrol stopped by between films.)
And sometimes, these works will explore Canadianism as seen from an outsider. Candy Mountain is a collaboration of Swiss-born Robert Frank and American Rudy Wurlitzer, both of whom had erratic careers in American cinema. Frank first gained notoriety in the 1950s for his controversial photographic essay, “The Americans”, which portrayed American people in anything but white picket fence milieux. It is of little surprise then that his secondary occupation as a filmmaker has garnered assignments depicting life on the fringe. His best known films are the mini-Beatnik epic, Pull My Daisy (made with Alfred Leslie) and the infamous Rolling Stones documentary, Cocksucker Blues, which was banned by the group itself (but if you squint, you may find a bootleg copy). Co-director Wurlitzer (who also wrote the screenplay) is the author of the psychedelic novel, Nog, yet perhaps is best known for his screenplay for the existential road movie cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop.
Candy Mountain is also an existential road movie, as the lead (anti) hero Julius (Kevin J. O’Connor) slowly thumbs his way to oblivion, while travelling to find legendary, reclusive guitar-maker Elmore Silk for a potential business deal. People who dislike this movie cannot relate to any of the bored, eccentric and often parasitic characters. Frank himself dislikes the film, stating they were given too much money to make it, whereas less money and a tighter schedule may have increased the necessity to make it more improvisational. (Interesting theory!) The resultant film is a roughly textured, ugly-looking movie; yet all of this compliments the material, especially the antagonist’s haywire lifestyle. Perhaps it is for these reasons that it has a strange charm, and why I still watch it every couple of years. It is interesting for its depiction of the hero’s downward spiral (he is the master of his own misfortune; the hare-brained “cash grab” scheme was his attempt at impressing people). Also, because it is made by “foreigners”, it is also an amusing look at how these outsiders portray Canadians. It is much more than an offbeat road movie, especially when seen through a Canadian lens.
The film opens with a pan shot of tall buildings in New York City from the interior of an empty office space undergoing renovation. A window separates the landscape from our hero: such harbours of corporate wealth he cannot attain, only watch in envy. He quickly sheds this existence as a painter (and, we learn, has shed other lives; he is a failed musician) and then sweet talks his way into another, by offering to look for Elmore Silk, whom he pretends to know. Julius drifts from one of Silk’s disgruntled friends, lovers or relatives, to another; all of whom have little nice to say about the man that he seeks, but nonetheless sponge our hero for some money in exchange for the next clue to Silk’s whereabouts. Along the way Julius loses all layers of his being: love (his girlfriend leaves him after no longer being able to tolerate his abuse), property (his car breaks down, and its trade-in ends up in other hands), and money (in the hands of everyone he meets).
It is interesting to note that prior to his crossing the border, we have witnessed a microcosm of 80s greed and consumerism. People pretend they are someone else, and everyone is out to make a fast buck at someone’s misfortune. Once he crosses the US-Canadian border, however, the movie shifts.
First, one cannot help but notice that once he pays the toll fare to Canada, it is the first time one sees snow on the ground! This is a snarky little reference to the cliché of how Canadians are always living knee-deep in snow amongst polar bears and igloos, and their constant employment as lumberjacks or mounties (but still, imagine the unification of the work force). The Canadians he meets are depicted as good, independent people, if unflattering and flawed: a native woman (who steals), more than a few rednecks, and a lonely woman who goes to bed with Julius with little provocation. (The woman is played by French actress Bulle Ogier, whose resume includes films by Buñuel, Rivette and Barbet Schroeder! Interesting bedfellows, indeed.) Yet, given these negative portrayals, none of these people cheat this stranger- they all seem to help him out. He does lose his car and some money to a redneck sheriff, but that is due to an understandable grievance.
Candy Mountain has a minor cult following largely because of rock ’n’ roll musicians appearing in small roles: David Johansen (who hires Julius to find Silk), Tom Waits (in loud golf pants), Joe Strummer (waving a pistol), as well as Dr. John and Leon Redbone! There are also interesting supporting roles for the brilliant Laurie Metcalf, and of course Roberts Blossom! Also, among Canada’s rugged landscape are Tantoo Cardinal, Rita Macneil and Jayne Eastwood!
Frank and Wurlitzer seemed to have chosen the most godforsaken locations for his odyssey to meet Silk. (Interestingly, Robert Frank had lived in Nova Scotia for many years.) This world is depicted as a brown countryside full of winding, unkept roads, and whatever civilizations he encounters are dirt poor. There is no way this footage would be lifted for the Maritimes Tourism Commission.
After all of these colourful encounters, Julius’ eventual meeting with Silk (Harris Yulin) seems anticlimactic, or on a minor key, but perhaps necessarily so. At the end, he is forced to confront his true identity, as art and commerce often don’t mix.
Candy Mountain is best remembered for all the quirky characterizations that would befit the road movie genre. Secondarily, it is such a rigorous, visceral experience, where one truly feels they’ve lived on the land, that it could be compared to, of all things, Joyce Wieland’s glorious experimental film, Reason Over Passion. That film’s beautiful travelogue of the Canadian Shield, displaying its ruggedness, suggests our people’s perseverance, and ponders our national identity.
Edited from a review originally published in Volume #1, Issue #1.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.