Crime Wave

"The Top! One man made it!"

John Paizs's "Crime Wave" is one of the most original film produced. Although I'm sure you've heard that before about countless other movies, unless you've seen this film you likely can't imagine just how unique it is.

Writer/director John Paizs pulls triple duty by starring as Steven Penny, a "quiet man" who is intent on creating the perfect version of what he hopes will be the best color crime movie ever: Crime Wave. For this reason, he is often re-writing his script and changing the lead characters for his future film. However, he suffers from an inability to write the middles to any of his (somewhat) different versions of Crime Wave.

Steven lives in the apartment over a family's garage. Their daughter Kim is excited to have him living there, and strikes up a friendship with Steven. Kim is excited to have a "real movie person" living in her garage, and does her best to support Steven during his struggle to write his movie. He reciprocates by teaching her how color crime movies work, and by showing her his stuff.

When Steven loses hope, Kim finds an ad in "Colour Crime Quarterly" placed by Dr. C. Jolly. Dr. Jolly, the ad states, is seeking fresh young talent to collaborate on a script. She secretly send Dr. Jolly a letter and the unfinished middles to Crime Wave, and he responds by sending a bus ticket to Kansas and expense money so that Steven can meet with him.

The movie gets quite odd at this point.

Now, the plotline to John Paizs's "Crime Wave" (not Steven Penny's film of the same name) doesn't sound all that different. It's when you couple it with all the other pieces of the puzzle, however, that you notice that a film like this hasn't been made before or since:

Though he is one of the main characters, Steven Penny has no lines of dialogue in the film; it is narrated entirely by his friend Kim. Also, aside from writing (which he only does at night by streetlight), Steven hardly seems to actually do anything when other people aren't around. One scene has Kim going up to visit Steven, and we see that prior to her arrival he was doing nothing but standing motionless in the center of his suite.

John Paizs's acting, though wordless, is very expressive yet perfectly subtle. You can tell exactly what his character is thinking at all times, or if his character is thinking at all. Eva Kovacs (Kim) also turns in a great performance that completely fits into the world of this film. There are some cast members whose acting is a little on the weak side, but for some reason it all seems to fit in with the film and wouldn't work if it were otherwise. And of course, Neal Lawrie's Dr. Jolly is absolutely one of the most riveting performances I've seen. Ever.

It's a shame this film wasn't distributed better, as it would definitely show up on a lot more lists of cult classics. However, it does tend to make Crime Wave seem even more special when you finally end up owning a copy.

If you would like to locate this movie, don't worry -- it CAN be done! After combing through all the video stores in your area, you may try finding this title on various internet auction sites. It appears that many video rental outlets will liquidate stock this way. Also, there are admirers of this film who will provide you with a copy (don't ask me - I'm not one of them). Since all of the companies that distributed this movie are now defunct, I would imagine that this is the only method of obtaining a new copy until it is (hopefully) re-released.

Also, Canada's CBC television network will broadcast this movie -- usually in a 2:00am or similar time slot. This is how I became aware of Crime Wave, incidentally.

So if this film sounds interesting, get hold of it at any price you feel comfortable with. I guarantee you will not be disappointed with it no matter what you paid.

I'm a fan of cult movies so it's easy for me to say that Crime Wave is one of my favorite films of all time, and it inspired me to create and continues to do so.

It is a travesty that there is no DVD release of this film. I had to get a personal copy of it from a VHS bootleg at a convention. Limited accessibility is frustrating to me because, I feel that the film is not only entertaining, it's also educational.

In my opinion, there has never been a more accurate or hilarious portrayal of the struggles of the creative process than the one in Crime Wave.

The films is both riotously funny and, at times, heartwarming. It's a must watch if you're an artist who has attacks of self-doubt or just someone who enjoys wacky off-beat comedies.

If you haven't seen Paizs's film work before, you may or may not know that he later directed remote segments for The Kids in the Hall ("It's a Fact!" and "30 Helens Agree", etc). I saw Crime Wave shortly after it came out, and then I taped it off CBC, at which point I've shown it to everyone who's come to my place. 30 viewers agree, it's one of the funniest, darkest, quirkiest movies ever to come out of the Canadian prairies, Canada in general, or anywhere.

The plot points have already been covered in the other reviews, but there are a few other things I could mention. For instance, I figured that the colour and lighting were an homage to all those National Film Board shorts we watched in high school. I asked Paizs about this, and he confirmed it.

The dialogue is sharp, the satire is pointed, and the acting has an edge.

Some fun moments:

Steven and Dr Jolly's dead-of-night meeting in the cornfield outside Sayles, Kansas;

The masquerade party where Steven shows up shirtless, painted up with green camouflage markings, festooned with dynamite and holding a detonator -- his costume was of a guy who blew himself up in a bank;

Inside the traffic-counting booth, where Steven's friend has three buttons to push: left turn, right turn, and straight ahead. When he sees a car sitting at an intersection, Steven's friend has his finger poised and hovering over the buttons, waiting, waiting, waiting to see which button he should push, beads of perspiration forming on his upper lip. Then the car turns left and with relief he pushes the "left" button. Who knew counting cars was so stressful? Go figure;

Eva Kovacs's line delivery throughout the movie, but especially where she shows Steven a letter and says "Steven, Steven, read this! Don't ask why, don't ask how, just read it!";

Steven explaining the concept of "persistence of vision": Keep looking at the dot through two verses of "When the Saints Go Marching In" on the harmonica;

All the assorted movie beginnings and endings that he can't join together, all satires of various genres, and all of which contain the phrase "But from the NORTH!"

This movie is a cult classic and not to be missed!

I had the opportunity to see the newly restored print of this Canadian cult classic at TIFF '14 (free screening, no less!) The director was present and told us the DVD release date is in November. The print is awesome, with great sound, brilliant colour and fine detail, very unlike the VHS release. I last saw the tape about 15 years ago, and quality aside the quirky humour, micro-budget sets, costumes and effects, and lovable non-actors still work together perfectly to create outsider movie magic.

After the screening i remarked to Mr. Paizs that the overall tone of pre-Peewee's Playhouse naive child-adult humor was brilliantly counter-pointed by the sleazy "colour crime" sequences, and the occasional acts of gory violence got the biggest laughs due to being totally unexpected. I was rewarded with a lovely silk-screened poster, which i have framed and put up in our guest room.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, be sure to give it a viewing. It really is The Top!

Such a great film on so many levels! It is about a struggling Crime Wave writer that can only write the beginning and ending to any of his stories. Further more, he can only write by the luminance of the street light. But that is only the beginning, the whole film has such a delightfully surreal feel to it. Oh, and not to mention it is narrated by a small girl. There are murderous Elvis impersonators, bio suit wearing escapades, psychopathic cowboy doctors, truck driving dogs and that is just the tip of the bizarre ice berg. The film never gets boring and is just as clever as it is funny! A film that definitely thinks much outside the box to give the audience a thoroughly entertaining experience. The only downside is it is not on DVD at all. You must find an old copy of the VHS or hope your local independent theater is cool enough to screen it. If this ever gets a DVD release I know so many folks that buy it right up! It would come in from the North and move right to the top! (This last sentence will make more since once you see the film). :)