Rollercoaster (1999)
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B+
Honest, smart films about teens and growing up are few and
far between. When they do arrive and
get noticed, it becomes an event, as the incredible Donnie Darko (2001,
reviewed elsewhere on this site) strongly proves. While Hollywood continues to make films for this market designed
to degrade and have absolute contempt for that age group, other independent
films about growing up that work continue to get made. Along with David Gordon Green’s George
Washington (2000, out on DVD from Criterion) is another amazing gem.
Rollercoaster (1999) is not a remake of the
Sensurround thriller form the 1970s that inspired Wolfgang Peterson’s In The
Line of Fire (1993) with Clint Eastwood, but a bright multi-character study
of five teens who go to an amusement park off-season. Some are there to have fun, but a young couple intends to commit
suicide, in part due to the girl’s pregnancy.
Whether abortion figures in the equation or not is made irrelevant,
since this plan expresses how they feel out of control of their lives, which
are dead-end enough that they are ready to kill themselves.
It is hard to say which one of their friends will join
them, but they are in the park for the day, regardless. The couple in question is Darrin (Kett
Turton) and Chloe (Crystal Buble), who believe they love each other, including
in such a finalized expression of it.
Darrin’s rather silent brother Justin (Brent Glenen), obviously cares
about his brother, joins them in what seems somehow unexpected. There’s Stick (Brendan Fletcher), a
hyperactive loud mouth who is an old friend of Darrin’s, and Sanj (Sean
Amsing), who also has a mouth on him.
The first thing to ask is the most morbid, obvious
curiosity: will they do it? Will they
kill themselves? If that is what the
film was all about, that would be pointless, but this is an important
film. In content, it deals with the
lives of yet another generation that is offered little opportunity and hope,
nor any places they can really turn to.
Also, this film was made in Canada, a country that has unfairly had its
cinema trivialized. This is a landmark
that proves to be far from trivial, besting Hollywood and other cinemas, from
France to the so-called “independents” in its consistency and richness. This also announces writer/director Scott
Smith as a very important filmmaking talent, but since we are in an era where
intelligent films are treated like garbage, he does not get the respect and
career he deserves. After all, where
are the murders, car crashes, loud music, and digital effects?
Previously, Canada has given us David Cronenberg, but he
superceded his Canadian roots and his U.S. destination to become an auteur in
his own right, so Canada did not get a boost from that. They, of course, do get a great boost from
Hollywood productions shot there, but that is irrelevant. Atom Egoyan is from Canada, and is the kind
of “boutique” talent that has stayed Canadian, but not helped that country
either. Smith is a good few years ahead
of what could be an important cinema in the making.
Besides the ignorance that “there’s already a film with
that title from Hollywood”, any film about teens that do not degrade the
audience, the good ones are ignored as much as the people they are about in
real life are. Trying to
over-generalize, as so many ignorant, failed adults do that “all kids are bad”,
this attitude continues to go unrecognized as an accepted, institutionalized
version of child abuse. It is this kind
of disregard that allows teen pregnancy, rape, incest, pedophilia, and poverty
to flourish for up and coming kids.
They cannot all be A students; robo-children being readied for jobs that
might be there later. They especially
cannot be expected to fit a fictional version of childhood where they should
always be happy no matter what. This is
why dysfunctional behavior continues at an epidemic proportion, why suicide
rates for all kinds of kids continues to be an epidemic.
That behavior can be seen in this film, and Stick seems to
be the only one who has the energy to move forward, if he could only just focus
it. However, he has many other personal
issues, starting with watching his friend Darrin celebrating before killing himself. They are all engaging in underage drinking,
recreational drug use, and silly physical altercations. However, the film is much deeper and far
smarter than that, being able to see under this activity as the layers of
façade it is. Smith is bold, keenly
observant, and fearless to get to the truth in all their lives. Hollywood films have not been this smart
since Little Darlings or My Bodyguard for this age group. It could be added that, as good as they are,
Kids, L.I.E., Bully, and The Believer seem to make
the audience pay a price of a specter of horror unspoken for us to have
honestly-portrayed teens. Rollercoaster
does not have that pretense.
The 1.85 X 1 image is not anamorphically enhanced, but is
off of a good transfer that shows off the exceptionally clever and fascinating
cinematography by Robert (Bob) Aschmann, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo may
lack surrounds, but is nicely recorded.
The only extras in this edition are trailers for this and a few other
Ardustry films on DVD, but an audio commentary was done for what was likely the
Canadian DVD and is sadly not here.
However, this is so important a film to see that that can be issued at a
later date.
The other way I became aware of this film was in the new
version of Robin Wood’s book Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan… and Beyond
(reviewed elsewhere on this site), which offers further detail with spoilers,
about the film. Once again, he called
this one right. Now that it is on DVD
in the U.S., I cannot urge you strongly enough to get your hands on this film
and watch it through, because when all is said and done, Scott Smith’s Rollercoaster
is simply going to be known as a classic!
- Nicholas Sheffo
