At the Quinte Hotel. (Short Takes).

2002 8m p Douglas Bensadoun, Michael Kronish, d Douglas Bensadoun; with Gordon Downie, Kent McQuaid, Terry Simpson.

Based on the eponymous 1968 poem by the late Al Purdy, At the Quinte Hotel concerns a proletariat barfly--played by The Tragically Hip's frontman, Gordon Downie--who waxes poetic about the transcendental qualities of beer. He also intervenes in a fight started by another man. Knocking down the aggressor and sitting on top of him, our visionary poet--warrior then delivers an ode to the bar and its beer, which he describes as "full of flowers." As Downie speaks Purdy's poem, director Bensadoun sets up an echo of Downie's performance with a recorded reading of the poem by Al Purdy himself. This unusual duet of voices is cleverly embroidered throughout the film's brisk and smart editing rhythms, demonstrating the implications of the poem as read and the poem as enacted. Performing with wit and assurance, Downie seems to effortlessly embody the Purdy aesthetic: rugged and insightful, with a paradoxical combination of the charismatic and the self--deprecating. Should his singing days ever end, Downie has a promisin g acting career ahead of him. Reminiscent of the inventive cinematic adaptation of a Michael Ondaatje poem by Bruce McDonald in Elimination Dance, the very impressive At the Quinte Hotel was presented at this year's Sundance Film Festival.