Drinkwater

Normally I only put A-, A, or A+ work on my blog. There have been a few exceptions. Stuff which is B+ but is worthy because it deserves a little recognition. "Drinkwater" falls into this category, a B+ film but it deserves a rightful entry on this blog because it has so much heart. "Drinkwater" is intensely Canadian, eh! - Hockey, a Wayne Gretzky shrine, the Tim Horton's drive-thru scene and a soundtrack composed of Men Without Hats, Loverboy, Corey Hart and many other Canadian super groups. Shot and set in Penticton, British Columbia, this is the most Canadian thing you will ever see (up there with "One Week"). What's it all about? (ahboot as our American neighbours would say about our Canuck accents) It's about Mike Drinkwater (Daniel Doheny) who is a high school geek whose passion seems to be martial arts movies, Bruce Lee being the penultimate master of kicks and punches. Mike, without a single kung-fu lesson has hilarious moves. He lives with Hank, his father, who is illegally collecting disability and wears a neck brace and rides a mobility scooter even though he seems to have fully recovered from whatever injury landed him into this state of misfortune in the first place. There are strong parallels to "Pretty in Pink" and even direct references to it. Mike's neighbour and classmate, Wallace (Louriza Tronco) wears a Molly Ringwald "Pretty in Pink" dress (stitched together by her grandmother) to the prom. Mike is in love with the wrong girl when Wallace is standing right in front of him. John Hughes would be smiling at it. It's both homage and something fresh, with maybe a little ode to "Meatballs" and running thrown in. There is lots of heart and humour in "Drinkwater." It's Eh+ in my books. Catch it a Canadian rep theatre if you can.