Impolite

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: B-     Film: B-

 

 

Reporter Jack Yeats (Robert Wisden) gets a call about the unknown death of a multi-millionaire man before anyone else hears anything about it in Impolite (1997), an ambitious attempt to cross a newspaper drama with a mystery.  Jack even receives a diary with a missing page and blood on it.  Needing a breakthrough story to get him off of obituary duty and back on track, he goes on a search to find out what is really going on.

 

This includes visiting a priest (Christopher Plummer), the dead man’s ex-wife (Susan Hogan from Peter Hyams’ underrated Narrow Margin remake in 1990), a strange lab technician, a corrupt cop, and many other odd characters.  Writer Michael McKinley and director David Hauka pull the story together with promise, and though it does not get as dark as it should have, it makes for an interesting sit-though.  Earlier, it looks like it will get gritty, but as it progresses, it becomes just a bit too much like a antiseptic police procedural for its own good.  This was made in Canada and The X Files proves what a great location it can be for such filming.

 

I also liked the cast, the pace, and the acting.  Stuart Margolin and Kevin McNulty are among the other familiar faces.  I wonder if this was being set up as the beginning of some kind of franchise, explaining the lightening-up towards the latter half of the film.  Either way, if you like a well-written film that gives us the world of newspapers for a change, Impolite is worth a good look.

 

The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image is above average and Robert McLachlan’s cinematography is solid, though I wish it was a bit more dark and daring.  I will hold Hauka responsible for this at least as much as anyone else.  This is watchable, but an anamorphic transfer would have rendered even more interesting visuals, since so many good shots of the locations were captured.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has some Pro Logic surrounds, though no official sound format is noted in the films end credits.  Extras include a good McKinley/Hauka commentary, reconstructions of two deleted scenes, a Mockumentary of a great movie goer as if he were artist, a stills section, and trailer for the film.

 

Wisden carries himself very well and since this did not work out for him, it would be no surprise if he became a lead in a similar film or TV series out of nowhere.  It is also impressive that this was totally a Canadian production, proving my theory that a boom is bubbling there for filmmaking.  Besides the many stars from there that made it in Hollywood and all the Hollywood production that goes on there, there are so many more talented cast and crew types not getting a chance to try out their own thing.  Impolite is one of the best cases yet for that.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo