(USA/Canada, 94 min.)
Dir. Matt Johnson, Writ. Matt Johnson, Josh Boles
Starring: Matt Johnson, Owen Williams, Josh Boles, Krista
Madison, Jared Raab
 |
| Courtesy of eOne Films |
Operation Avalanche
brings to the screen a conspiracy for the Canadian film scene to rival the
allegedly false moon landing that it dramatizes. This new found footage
flick/mockumentary is the latest film from Matthew Johnson following his
breakout hit The Dirties and it comes to theatres
following a ten months of controversy and conversations fuelled by Johnson speaking
out against Canadian film pillars like TIFF and Telefilm Canada for their allegedly conspiratorial
practices that determine who gets anointed in terms of support and funding. He
says that the same established filmmakers receive tax dollars to churn out
commercial films that aren’t doing Canadians any service. Bruce McDonald,
Patricia Rozema, and Deepa Mehta all just made their best films in years, but here
comes Matt Johnson and Operation Can Con to rouse the members of the Toronto New Wave from their slumber.
The real question, though, is whether Johnson’s work stands up to the challenges he frequently sets out for the industry. Johnson’s words, as the ensuing murmuring and think pieces suggest, touched a nerve. His story is unique, for speaking frankly pulled him from obscurity and put him on every list in The Globe and Mail on hot new Canadian directors shaking up the Canadian film scene. Operation Avalanche now hits theatres after months of being championed as part of a renaissance for new Canadian cinema despite the fact that there’s nothing perceptibly Canadian about outside the credits and its roughly on par with Atom Egoyan’s most recent work.
The answer is that Operation
Avalanche is certainly a good film that delivers on the promise of The Dirties. It’s a good film, though,
but not a great one and it doesn’t entirely merit the publicity Johnson’s
getting as he tries to steal the enfant
terrible crown from Xavier Dolan. It’s a fun lo-fi adventure made with a
surprising amount of finesse for a found footage movie, but the film ultimately
suffers from its precociousness. (Another Dolan parallel, but at least it
doesn’t rain shirts and pants in Operation
Avalanche.) Johnson once again stars as Matt Johnson and he reminds the
audience of this fact so frequently that he might as well be wearing a tag that
reads, “Hello, My Name is Matt Johnson.” His persona is something that he needs
to get under control for his third movie. Johnson’s actually a great actor and
his funny, smart-alecky performance works with the film’s self-satisfaction to
an extent.
Johnson and company have reason to brag given Operation Avalanche’s history
of infiltrating NASA and crashing the set of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. This kind of
guerilla-style moviemaking shows that the future of independent film is alive
and well. The spirit of the film rejects convention and defies the
establishment as the fake documentary film crew sniffs around NASA’s business
and fakes a moon landing Wag the Dog-style.
Operation Avalanche, however, isn’t
quite as good as the backstory that drives it. It’s a lot of fun as it wages
conspiracy theories about the moon landing and the team delivers some smart
tricks as they turn the apparatus of filmmaking back on Operation Avalanche to show insider handshakes like Kubrick’s front
screen projection or post-production magic theatre. It’s hard not to relish the
film’s playful act of unravelling the threads of production through the art of
moviemaking.
Operation Avalanche
also succeeds with the mockumentary style that Johnson used in The Dirties with a few more winks to the
camera. However, it's more of the same without the same sophisticated interplay with the footage. There's no apparent reason for Operation Avalanche to be filmed documentary style. It could just be a drama about some guys making a fake doc. The mockumentary style assumes a conspiratorial note
as it builds a document akin to the Zapruder film that needs to be watched and
rewound in search of evidence. (One scene too many sees the camera creep around corners and catch the
action through windows.) A car chase sequence in the final act is
especially impressive as Johnson stages an elaborate and jittery old-school set
piece through the confines of the cinematographer’s vantage point within the
diegesis. The details are fleeting within the lo-fi viewpoints, but the payoff
is high as Operation Avalanche puts
the audience in the middle of the action with the fuzz on their tail.
Johnson’s film, like The
Dirties, is very self-reflexive as it engages with the medium. It’s a movie
about filmmaking made by an unabashed film geek. However, and this is where Operation Avalanche’s value as a
Canadian film comes into play, for it’s also a film about how much talented
individuals can do if given the means and opportunity to meet their potential. Operation Avalanche begins in inky,
crappy, π-level grainy black and white as
Johnson explains his concept for the fake film shoot to his superiors. “Oh, and
we’ll need a bigger budget,” he says. Operation
Avalanche then immediately cuts to a colourful 16mm image that offers a
swanky face-lift. The guys in the movie have a riot using new toys as their
disposal as they learn the ins and outs of moviemaking from legends like Kubrick
to deliver superior work. If the Matt Johnson within the film can change
history with a few extra dollars, then presumably the Matt Johnson making this
movie can do the same—but, as with the problem that the Matt Johnson character
faces in the film, the Matt Johnson character in the headline will have to
tango with authority to get Atom Egoyan’s next cheque.
This reading of Operation
Avalanche is obviously overreaching, as the play between film stocks and
filters is obviously more about aesthetics and cinephilia. However, it
illustrates how Operation Avalanche
is a better talking point than it is a movie.
Operation
Avalanche opens in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Sept. 30.
