The Twentieth Century (film)

The Twentieth Century is a 2019 Canadian comedy-drama film written and directed by Matthew Rankin in his full-length directorial debut.[1] The film portrays a fictionalized portrait of the rise to power of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King as played by Dan Beirne.[2] It won three Canadian Screen Awards.

The Twentieth Century
Film poster
Directed byMatthew Rankin
Produced byGabrielle Tougas-Fréchette
Ménaïc Raoul
Written byMatthew Rankin
StarringDan Beirne
Catherine St-Laurent
Louis Negin
Brent Skagford
Music byChristophe Lamarche-Ledoux
Peter Venne
CinematographyVincent Biron
Edited byMatthew Rankin
Production
company
Voyelles Films
Distributed byOscilloscope Pictures
Release date
  • September 10, 2019 (2019-09-10) (TIFF)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Historical divergence

The film is not a realistic or literally accurate depiction of Canadian history,[3] instead mixing and matching elements of real history with invented fantasia in a stylized manner reminiscent of the films of Guy Maddin, and taking place largely on deliberately unrealistic sets influenced by German Expressionism, 1940s melodrama and wartime propaganda films.[4] Rankin himself described it as "one part Canadian Heritage Minute and one part ayahuasca death trip".[5]

Although most of the film's major characters are at least loosely based on real Canadian historical figures, not all of their careers actually coexisted. In reality, although Mackenzie King and Arthur Meighen already knew and disliked each other by 1899, neither man had even entered electoral politics at all yet, let alone being candidates for Prime Minister, as of that time — while the real Bert Harper was never a political rival to either man, but merely a government bureaucrat. Harper did genuinely die by drowning, albeit not until 1901, and he drowned while attempting to rescue Bessie Blair, the daughter of New Brunswick premier Andrew George Blair. The real Lord Minto, further, was a benign figure who distinguished himself in Canadian history primarily as a patron of amateur sports, and his term as Governor General had already ended by the time either King or Meighen were in politics — whereas Lord Muto, his fictionalized portrayal in the film, is an openly fascist dictator with much more control over political affairs than Canadian Governors General actually have, who oversees Canadian politics in a manner more reminiscent of The Hunger Games than the real Canadian electoral process, and who is openly conspiring to draw the Canadian military much more deeply into the Boer War. Minto really did have daughters named Ruby and Violet, although both were only teenagers, not adult women, as of 1899. Joseph-Israël Tarte was also a real political figure, although he did not serve concurrently with either King or Meighen and was not strongly associated with the Quebec nationalist movement.

According to Rankin, "I wanted everything to feel artificial all the time. The conceit of the film is that Canada might just be totally fake and in this person’s head. And the film is about his head. Everything in the film is drawn from Mackenzie King’s diary and reprocessed. I describe it as a nightmare that he might have had in 1899."[6] He has also described the film as a satire on the overly earnest way that Canadian history is often presented in film and television, contrasting it against both Heritage Minutes and Sullivan Entertainment costume dramas.[6]

The film also makes use of both cross-gender acting, with three significant characters (King's mother, J. Israël Tarte and Lady Violet) portrayed by cross-gender performers in drag, and colour-blind casting, with two White Anglo-Saxon Protestant characters (Bert Harper and Dr. Wakefield) portrayed by Asian-Canadian actors. Rankin has described this aspect of the film by saying that "I wanted to take a school-play approach that you don't see so much in film for some reason. In a school play you can have a Filipino Captain von Trapp and a transgender Artful Dodger and it's fine. In film, I don’t understand why there’s this pressure to always link an actor to their exact demographic profile."[6]

Cast
Sean Cullen plays the role of the Governor General.

Release

The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival in the Midnight Madness program,[7] and won the festival's award for Best Canadian First Feature Film.[8] The film was subsequently screened at the 2019 Los Cabos International Film Festival,[9] where it won the festival's Premio Competencia award.[10]

Critical reaction

Film critic Peter Howell described the film as "Monty Python by way of Rankin’s fellow Winnipegger Guy Maddin",[11] while David Friend of The Canadian Press said the film "subverts the mystique around politicians by mocking patriotism, propaganda and Canadian identity."[12]

For The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer described the film as "Guy Maddin meets John Waters by way of Powell and Pressburger".[13]

Accolades

In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list.[14] The film received eight Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards in 2020.[15]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref(s)
Berlin International Film Festival 20 February – 1 March 2020 FIPRESCI Prize (Forum) Matthew Rankin Won [16]
Canadian Screen Awards 28 May 2020 Best Motion Picture Ménaïc Raoul, Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette Nominated [15][17]
Best Actor Dan Beirne Nominated
Best Director Matthew Rankin Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Nominated
Best Art Direction/Production Design Dany Boivin Won
Best Costume Design Patricia McNeil Won
Best Hair Nermin Grbic Won
John Dunning Best First Feature Matthew Rankin Nominated
Directors Guild of Canada 26 October 2019 Discovery Award Nominated [18]
Los Cabos International Film Festival 13 – 17 November 2019 Best Film Won [19]
Prix Iris 10 June 2020 Best Director Nominated [20][21]
Best Art Direction Dany Boivin Won
Best Sound Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Sacha Ratcliffe, Lynne Trépanier Nominated
Best Editing Matthew Rankin Nominated
Best Costume Design Patricia McNeil Won
Best Makeup Adriana Verbert Won
Best Hairstyling Nermin Grbic Won
Best First Film Matthew Rankin Nominated
Toronto International Film Festival 5–15 September 2019 Best Canadian First Feature Film Won [22]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 7 January 2020 Best Canadian Film Nominated [23][24]
Best Director of a Canadian Film Nominated
One to Watch Won
Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film Nominated
Best Actor in a Canadian Film Dan Beirne Won
Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film Louis Negin Nominated
Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film Catherine St-Laurent Nominated

References
  1. "Le premier long métrage de Matthew Rankin au FNC". La Presse. July 29, 2019.
  2. "Oscilloscope heads to The Twentieth Century". Playback. August 2, 2019.
  3. Knight, Chris (December 11, 2019). "Chris Knight: Canada's 10th PM was a total oddball — at least thats what Matthew Rankin wants you to believe". National Post.
  4. Blichert, Frederick (September 26, 2019). "'The Twentieth Century' May Be the Heritage Minute We Need". The Tyee.
  5. Forani, Jonathan (September 5, 2019). "'Heritage Minute from hell': Mackenzie King has boot fetish in TIFF flick". CTV News.
  6. Kevin Ritchie, "Director Matthew Rankin plunges into the depths of Canadian shame". Now, December 12, 2019.
  7. Howell, Peter (July 31, 2019). "Indigenous films highlight Canadian slate at TIFF 2019". Toronto Star.
  8. Vlessing, Etan (September 15, 2019). "Toronto: Taika Waititi's 'Jojo Rabbit' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter.
  9. Larson, Richard Scott (November 23, 2019). "Los Cabos Film Festival 2019: Workforce, The Twentieth Century, Waves, & More". Slant Magazine.
  10. Hopewell, John (November 16, 2019). "'Twentieth Century,' 'Dove and the Wolf,' 'Hurricane Season' Win Los Cabos Festival". Variety.
  11. Howell, Peter (December 12, 2019). "'The Twentieth Century' has fun portraying Mackenzie King as a loonie prime minister". Toronto Star.
  12. Friend, David (14 September 2019). "Six stellar films that flew under the radar at the Toronto International Film Festival". CityNews/The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  13. Mintzer, Jordan (September 27, 2019). "'The Twentieth Century': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
  14. Wilner, Norman (December 11, 2019). "TIFF announces Canada's top 10 films of 2019". Now.
  15. Wilner, Norman (February 18, 2020). "Canadian Screen Awards 2020: Prepare for a Schitt's show". Now.
  16. Roxborough, Scott (1 March 2020). "Berlin: Christian Petzold's 'Undine' Wins FIPRESCI Critics Award". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  17. Weaver, Jackson (28 May 2020). "Antigone named best picture on final night of Canadian Screen Awards". CBC News. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  18. "Nominees announced for 18th Annual DGC Awards". CNW Group. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  19. Hecht, John (16 November 2019). "'Twentieth Century' Wins Top Prize at Los Cabos Film Fest". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  20. "Prix Iris 2020: «Il pleuvait des oiseaux» et «La femme de mon frère» partent favoris". The Huffington Post (in French). 23 April 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  21. "Le film Antigone, grand gagnant du Gala Québec Cinéma avec six prix" (in French). Radio-Canada. 10 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  22. Knight, Chris (15 September 2019). "TIFF 2019: The winners, losers and honourable mentions of the film festival". National Post. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  23. Mack, Adrian (December 13, 2019). "Marriage Story dominates Vancouver Film Critics Circle noms". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  24. "Vancouver film critics award 'The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open'". Tri-City News. January 7, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
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