Possible Worlds- Leslie, My Name is Evil/Invisible City

Film festivals often give audiences an opportunity to see films that aren’t going to get a theatrical release. Here are two more reasons to check out Possible Worlds-Sydney’s Canadian Film Festival.

LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL

A scathing comment on 1960’s America, this warped satire from director Reg Harkema (Monkey Warfare) has spurned the ire of the controversy king himself cult director John Waters, for its comically ironic treatment of the Manson family murder trial. The film’s official site displays this fact proudly (ironically, Waters, who has himself referenced the Mansons in his own films, was a big influence for Harkema in making ‘Leslie’).

Seemingly a heightened blend of real events and the imagined, we meet God fearing chemical engineer Perry (Gregory Smith, The Patriot), engaged to an even more God fearing virgin, who is enlisted as a jury member on the trial of Charles Manson (Ryan Robbins, Passengers) and his harem for their horrific murder spree (which included the killing of a Hollywood starlet). Perry finds himself oddly besotted with one of the accused, Leslie Van Vouten (Kristen Hager, I’m Not There), whose fractured family life, an abortion and the assassination of J.F.K has led her into the arms of the famed cult.

‘Leslie’ treads a bold path juxtaposing what Harkema sees as the demonisation of Manson and his cult and the moral outrage of their “pig” killings (the killing of “normal god fearing people”) with the culpability of the Nixon government in the Vietnam War. “The loyal soldiers of Manson breaking into homes to kill pigs was not much different from the loyal soldiers of the United States breaking into huts to kill gooks,” Harkema has said. In its pillorying of America’s social and religious values (by a Canadian no less) the film raises its middle finger to what it contends to be that country’s hypocrisy – it wants its audience to question their beliefs.

Trippy, odd and no doubt offensive to some, with some strong performances from Smith and Hager, a swinging 60’s soundtrack and plenty of black satire, ‘Leslie’ is sure to be one of the most controversial flicks at Possible Worlds this year.

Leslie, My Name Is Evil screens at 6.30pm at Dendy Newtown, Sydney on Saturday the 7th of August.

Director: Reg Harkema.

Cast: Kristen Hager, Gregory Smith, Ryan Robbins

INVISIBLE CITY

How do you escape a seemingly inescapable situation when you’ve been born into it and it’s all you know? This somber Canadian documentary from Academy nominated director Hubert Davis doesn’t offer easy answers but is a sobering reminder of the effect of disadvantage on youth in low socio-economic areas.

On the outside, change is under way in Regent Park, Toronto in what the film claims is the oldest public housing project in Canada; buildings are being torn down and rebuilt in a 15 year ‘revitalization’. But take a closer look and the same cyclical issues remain. Black teenage friends Kendell and Mikey have both found themselves on the wrong side of the law, gravitating towards negative influences in their community but both want a better life, to walk the straight and narrow as it were. But in this neighbourhood, there’s more glory in jail time than there is in getting an education.

Invisible City follows these insightful, troubled youths over three years capturing their ups and downs at school and their interaction with caring social worker Ainsworth Morgan, who acts as a kind of father figure for the boys whose own fathers are absent in their lives. Their mothers emotionally reveal their devotion to them and the effect their behavior has on them personally – Mikey’s mum Sharon feels relieved when he’s in jail as it least then she knows his whereabouts.

Lingering sequences depict a community in decay – “When you’re a product of the projects, you’ve been to more funerals than you have weddings,” says Morgan – but the documentary also shows that the work being done by the likes of Morgan through community initiatives is having a positive, profound effect on Regent Park’s youth.

Kendell, Mikey and their mothers believe the cycle can only be broken by leaving their community, which at times appears akin to a toxic fishbowl. Despite their hard knock life, the positivity of both young men is heartening and admirable.