CALGARY UNDERGROUND FEST: radio, stuff, and THE PUFFY CHAIR

I think the McKees and Hlubik ought to know that, according to at least one liquor store owner here, Wiser’s won the award for best Canadian whiskey at some international competition in 2005. BUt that’s the in-joke. ON to the radio interview.

When I showed up to the station it turned out that, as a last-minute thing, a guest that they had expected the following week was on the line right then and there, so they’d have to do half the show with him first. The problem was, since they weren’t expecting him, neither host had seen his movie, a little-seen Canadian superhero spoof.

But wouldn’t you know it, I had seen it. I reviewed it here on this very blog a while back. A movie called SIDEKICK. The writer-producer Michael Sparag had communicated with me prior to SF Indiefest, where both our movies played, but in different weeks so we never actually met.

And now, here in Calgary, I found myself interviewing him on college radio. Go figure. I’m probably the only L.A. critic who’s even seen his film.

So for the first half-hour, Michael and I discussed SIDEKICK, which is doing a theatrical tour of Canada prior to being remade on a larger budget by Focus Features.

For teh second hour, DJ Rat Bastard and DJ Mo-Suga interviewed me. Mo-Suga was the one who had seen the film, and he clearly got it. The local alt-weekly, FFWD, wasn’t so kind, but then they were kinda snooty about all the movies. They seemed more pissed about the Phil Hall review comparing MAD COWGIRL to 2001 than anything. I agree it’s a comparison that’s hyperbolic and doesn’t necessarily help audience expectations, but it isn’t anything to do with the movie itself, really. Anyway, the reviewer wasn’t too much of an ass about it — he allowed for the fact that it was simply a matter of taste, and that it wasn’t his.

I had a great meal of mussels yesterday, at a restaurant that specialized in them. One bowl of mussels in tequila/jalapeno/lime sauce (a moules margarita, if you like), and one in Indian coconut curry sauce. Yum.

And then the movie I saw at the fest last night was called THE PUFFY CHAIR. It was great.

It’s a digital-video feature about a dysfunctional couple who are only ever-so-slight exaggerations of male-female archetypes: He’s kinda slow and practical, she’s always getting mad that he doesn’t want to talk about his feelings. Writer Mark Duplass stars as Josh; his borther Jay directed. Kathyrn Aselton, who has kind of an Evangeline LIlly look to her, is the girlfriend Emily.

Anyway, after a big fight, Josh and Emily try to reconcile on a road trip to Josh’s parents’ house. On the way, they have to pick up a La-Z-Boy chair that Josh bought on eBay for a birthday gift for dad. Also along the way, they (somewhat unwillingly) pick up Josh’s hippie brother Rhett, whose spontaneous, irresponsible ways, threaten the fragile peace between Josh and Emily. MInor adventures include trying to sneak all three into a motel room while only paying for one person, and Rhett’s affair with a local girl in the middle of nowhere.

I could easily imagine Kevin Ford making something like this, with him and Anglea in the leads and Lucky McKee as the hippie brother. It’s a bit more tightly scripted than Kevin might go for, though, and consistently very funny, until the end where it suddenly gets all serious.

I understand it played at Suindance, so I’m surprised it doesn’t seem to have been picked up yet. It really is worth seeing, and all three leads, especially Duplass, deserve bigger and birghter futures.