Mark Reviews Movies: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 26, 2020

Writer/director Matthew Rankin's debut feature looks and sounds like a melodrama from the early sound days, and it's performed with the same level of sincerity. The Twentieth Century, though, isn't sincere, except in its singular quest to transform the early history of a self-governing Canada into an absurdist comedy about the politics of war, self-deprecation on a national level, and the early career of one of the country's most prominent political figures. Here, he's a shoe fetishist.

That's far from the strangest thing in Rankin's film, which also features an ejaculating cactus, a most uncomfortable mother-son relationship, and an English viceroy whose style is that of a proto-fascist. Rankin's screenplay is structured like a pretty straightforward biography of William Lyon Mackenzie King (Dan Beirne), who would serve as the country's prime minister for three non-consecutive terms in the 20th century. The filmmaker's tonal and storytelling approaches, though, are more Monty Python (complete with some crude animated segments) than "Masterpiece Theatre."

It's 1899, in a Canada that doesn't know what it is yet—except a "disappointment." Mackenzie is an ambitious young politician, driven by a need to impress his mother (Louis Negin, just one of many drag performances here) and to win the heart of Ruby (Catherine St-Laurent), daughter of the war-mongering Lord Muto (Seán Cullen).

The plot is pretty simple: The young politician tries to make the best of a series of disappointments and challenges to his principles in his journey to eventual greatness. As for what actually happens in the film, one lengthy challenge, for example, has him competing with his fellow political school rivals in events like leg wrestling, identifying pieces of wood by smell, and clubbing baby seals (They're puppets, like the family's puffin, so don't worry).

The humor primarily works because Rankin juxtaposes the ridiculous with an accurately re-created visual style of movies from the early 20th century. With cinematographer Vincent Biron, the director captures the lush, tactile nature of three-strip color cameras. The sets are minimalist, decidedly leaning into Expressionism (The roads are jagged, elevated platforms, and backdrops are composed of severe geometry). The performances never grin or wink, no matter how silly the characters' words and actions may be.

It's an exercise in absurdity, played and looking like the melodramatic real deal. The Twentieth Century is funny, not because it's so strange, but because it behaves as if it's perfectly normal.

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