Cast:
Doug McGrath (Pete McGraw), Kathleen Robertson (Betty-Jo Mayle), Anthony Lemke (Matt Burns), Jayne Eastwood (Betty Mayle), Cayle Chernin (Selina), Tedde Moore (Annie Burns), Kristin Adams (Secretary), John Cleland (Sammy), and Elva Mai Hoover (Housekeeper) Written and Directed by Donald Shebib (#408 - Goin' Down the Road)
Review:
"I think “Down the Road Again” has a better script, more emotional. It will never have the effect the original one had, that was kind of a unique film in its own way, but it was also filled with flaws, a lot of montages, musical sequences–there were far too many."
Do you remember Goin' Down the Road? 51 years later, it still stands one of Canada's most notable feature films, one that followed two Canadians from the Maritimes (located on the Atlantic coast) that migrate from Cape Breton Island to Toronto for the perceived better opportunities in jobs and the bright lights only to find hard truths. It was the debut feature film of Toronto native Donald Shebib, who was once quoted as saying the basic premise was to make a film about folks most people wouldn't care for, stating that "The young twenty-five-year-old hip kids that went to see the film wouldn’t spend the time of day speaking to those and neither would I, but they like them in the film.” Shebib had spent over a decade in film that started with his study at the the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 1961 that had followed his study of sociology and history at the University of Toronto. His study there got him close to a classmate that soon became involved in film production with Francis Ford Coppola, and Shebib worked as a cinematographer and assistant editor on Dementia 13 (1962); Shebib started to do his own short films around this time. After graduating in 1965, he returned home to do work with the National Film Board of Canada and CBC Television in documentary filmmaking (which received notice, although little of his work is readily available); it was his experience seeing his cousin try to make a living in Toronto from Cape Breton that had shaped the film's creation, one made on a crew of four people on $25,000 that starred Doug McGrath, Paul Bradley, Jayne Eastwood, and Cayle Chernina that Shebib co-wrote with William Fruet. Shebib has directed ten feature films (with another in post-production), but Goin' Down the Road is generally the movie he is most remembered for (much to his surprise, since he did not expect it to get any commercial distribution), and it is considered one of the most seminal films for Canadian cinema.
Perhaps it makes sense that clips from the film are used throughout this one (one just a bit shorter than the original at 84 minutes). Shebib was inspired to make a follow-up after years of cajoling (mostly from Chernin, who passed away from ovarian cancer three months after filming), and he wanted to make a film that touched people and prove something to Canadians, in part because he has gone on record for his distaste for Canadian films for their "boring quality" at times; Bradley had died in 2003, and Shebib uses the death of his character to shape the plot for this feature. Surely he wanted to make an interesting bookend by way of making a movie that resembles something made for television with the capability for twists like a melodrama, for which it serves as a fill-in-the-blank for things you either wanted to know or didn't from before in the original - albeit with a lessened blow in its ending. Obviously it is a better-made film in terms of its look (four decades will do that), and the acting is just as fine as it was before (i.e. not awards bait), and it certainly tries to pull at the strings left hanging from before with reasoning - the result is an okay movie that either gives you enough of the answers that Shebib urges to reach or it seems unnecessary to really find out. Honestly, some things are easier to leave buried, but whatever, at least it is Shebib behind the wheel and not someone else, much like a reunion between old friends that doesn't end in passive boredom or worse. Look, if you want to see what happens to folks that ran off to Vancouver for a new start after they assaulted a clerk and left a wife and child, the result will have some payoff that makes it more than just an epilogue or a letdown. McGrath is wry and wistful enough in his balance of looking to the past and the present without becoming a shell of himself in the process - he makes the mark he wants to make without trouble in a bucket list road movie. There is a spark in Robertson that does elicit some interesting moments when paired with McGrath when it comes to tender amusement in chemistry for a time. Lemke comes around in the middle, used for the other turn of the narrative for exposition (particularly with the ending, which is drawn out pretty silly). Eastwood and Chernin accompany the film for a few scenes in providing perspective without turning into the peanut gallery. Moore is the last piece of the puzzle, playing someone affected by Alzheimer's disease, and the performance generally works out without trouble. At any rate, what we have is a decent return for all involved, one that tugs at the strings of the past without becoming strung along too tight to forge its own pattern . The passage of time ages us all, and there can be certain moments of the past that will arise at times for us to encounter once again, whether that means a bad breakup or a decision made in the name of supposed friendship. It is our reaction to it (whether one is haunted or ready to the memory presented) that makes growing up who we are. In other words, the truth always comes out, and it's our job to react accordingly to it. For a film like this, I would say it comes up just enough in the right direction to make it fairly worth what could have been a forgettable affair (or worse a letdown), one that Shebib can say accompanies his previous film and vision. There are quite a few sequels that commit the sin of just not living up to what was done before, but at least this Canadian one does what it can to make it a worthwhile affair.
Well, here we are in July. Honestly, I had intended to return to somewhat regular tradition of a Canada Day feature for Movie Night, but I ended up having to hold it a day because of timing (i.e. I didn't want to rush a review before work). Inadvertently, this is actually an anniversary review, because Goin' Down the Road made its premiere on July 2, 1970 (the sequel was released in October 2011, but that's a horror month, man). There had been rumblings about doing this movie for a few years (because even I eventually sneak up on sequels or spinoffs being made), but the Tribute to the Decades project took off and ran right over anything for July beyond the 1980s. As always, hope for a surprise when it comes to Movie Night, because the best plans are always improvised for writing...
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
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