A Dirty Monday

People wanting a very funny, cynical portrait of dysfunctional Vancouverites are once again directed to Bruce Sweeney's Dirty this Monday at the Cinematheque. It remains my favourite of the many locally-made films I've seen, the one that most captures my sense of life in Vancouver (God help us all). It also owes a direct debt to a VIFF workshop that Sweeney took with Mike Leigh, so fans of Leigh's approach to cinema - having actors develop characters and workshop interactions, then writing a screenplay based on that - might find it rewarding on that count, too. And by the by, director Sweeney - who will be in attendance - informs me that he'll be shooting a new movie in May, a comedy-drama off the grid in Vancouver and on the Sunshine Coast, with returning collaborator Gabrielle Rose. All good news. See you Monday?