ZERO PATIENCE
A film review by Max Hoffmann
Copyright 1994 Max Hoffmann
1993 CANADA Writer/Director: John Greyson Composer: Glenn Schellenberg Lyrics: John Greyson Cast: John Robinson, Normand Fauteux, Dianne Heatherington, Ricardo Keens-Douglas, Michael Callen, Marla Lukofsy Producers: Louise Garfield, Anna Stratton Cinematography: Susan McKenzie
Rating: 10 (scale of 1= low 10 = highest)
A must see! Canadian film maker John Greyson has pulled off the nearly unthinkable: an uncompromising, in-your-face, Queer/Aids *musical* that is highly entertaining, and is destined to be a cult classic. The film makes no apologies for its randy sexuality, and will offend more conservative viewers. But it's refreshing to see a "message" film that, unlike PHILDADELPHIA, wasn't neutered to please the Blockbuster crowd.
Borrowing from a variety of cultural icons, on the surface the film might be initially mistaken for a fluffy piece of entertainment. But deft direction, inspired casting, punky rhythms with scathing lyrics and healthy doses of frontal male nudity save the film from taking on the didactic overtones of most "message" films.
The whimsical script has Victorian sexologist and explorer, Sir Richard Francis Burton (John Robinson), still miraculously alive after over 170 years (due to an unfortunate encounter with the fountain of youth). Burton has resurfaced in the Natural History Museum, where he's working on his upcoming exhibit, "The Hall of Contagion." When his most coveted exhibit becomes unavailable, he hits on the inspired idea of making "Patient Zero" (the enticing Normand Fauteux, as the maligned French-Canadian flight attendant, accused of bringing AIDS to North America) in to the centerpiece of the show. Like the tales of Scheherazade, the telling of Zero's tale keeps him "alive," as a lusty ghost that only Burton can see, and eventually touch.
The film is peppered with imaginative musical segments that run the gamut from synchronized swimming, to Buzby Berkeley camera angles on Michael Callen (in drag as "Miss HIV"). Callen fulfilled a lifelong dream by holding a note longer (19 seconds) than Barbra Streisand did in any of her films!
Though it's easy to rave about the film's more innovative visual aspects, the glue that holds the film together is the corral of strong performers that Greyson pulled forth from the highly fecund Canadian performing arts scene. The highly watchable Normand Fauteux brings just the right impish charm to his Zero, who still wants to get laid after years beyond the Grave. Even still photographic images of Fauteux holds the audience's attention like fly paper. Also notable is the memorable screen presence of Dianne Heatherington, as an ACT UP leader who takes no prisoners. Marla Lukofsky nearly steels the film when she sings "Contagious," as the African Green Monkey.
Video and film artist John Greyson's previous work includes "The ADS Epidemic" ("Acquired Dread of Sex'--1987), and "The Making of Monsters" (1991). "Because I come from experimental film and video, but want to reach broader audiences," Greyson relates, "the musical seemed to be a perfect strategy. In a perverse way, I loved adopting such a traditionally 'fluffy' genre, and applying it to the politics of such a controversial and depressing subject."
Composer Glenn Schellenberg echoes Greyson's sentiments: "With Zero, we were interested in creating a musical space where lots of popular references would quote a whole smorgasbord of styles." Not wanting to privilege one style of music, Schellenberg relates that "our references were everything from Pet Shop Boys and the Jesus and Mary Chain to Ricky Ricardo and the Pirates of Penzance." Calypso meets barber shop. Hi-NRG meets Broadway. Gershwin meets Morrissey.
Greyson and Schellenberg's songs richly deserve a soundtrack. Not every number is memorable, but several songs, particularly "Six or Seven Things," "Zero Patience," and "Positive" stand out. In "Positive," school teacher George, who's losing his eyesight from AIDS medication, sings the sentiments known to all too many: They're positive that I'm positive They're sure that these doubts are a curse I'm supposed to be certainly certain Well, I'm sure that I'm getting worse I'm positive I'm here, I'm positive I care I'm positive that there's nothing to be sure of I'm positive I'm positive, I'm positive I'm still alive I'm positive that I'm going to die... sometime.
The randy, male sexuality that's in your face through out the film will stretch the envelope for some mainstream viewers virtually to the breaking point. Yet, somehow, Greyson has managed to inform and entertain, while breathing new life into the musical format. Far from being a comedy (there are searingly personal moments of the pain that comes from living with the disease), it is a film you will not soon forget.
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