Movie Night in Canada: Patterson's Wager filmmaker on Hard Core Logo

Canadian Film Week kicks off at the Vancity Theatre today, with its series of Canadian film screenings that cover everything from Canuxploitation mashup Taking Shelter to Quebec drama The Lion's Path.

Among them is Patterson's Wager, starring Fred Ewanuick as a fellow whose ability to see two minutes into future affects his relationships. It screens on Sunday and Wednesday (April 17 and 20).

The writer-director of said film, O. Corbin Saleken, was game enough to play our Movie Night in Canada game, in which we ask film industry professionals for their recommendations of obscure, forgotten, or underrated Canadian cinematic gems.

Saleken's wager is a Cancon classic: Bruce McDonald's Hard Core Logo.

This 1996 mockumentary, adapted from a Michael Turner novel, follows a Western Canadian reunion tour of a punk rock band named Hard Core Logo, which includes singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon) and Billy Talent (Callum Keith Rennie).

Punk musicians such as Joey Ramone, Art Bergmann, and Joey Shithead, and West Coast media personality Terry David Mulligan, all make appearances.

Here's what Saleken had to say about why he chose it:

Bruce McDonald’s Hard Core Logo rocked me to my, well, core when I saw it at the Granville 7 back in 1996. From its opening frame, with its weird German muttering overtop the titles, to that final, unexpected, yet inevitable, last shot, it writhes and pulses with cinematic inspiration. Possessed with the anarchic spirit of its fictional band, this film delivers one indelible moment after another: Bernie Coulson’s Pipefitter inside the van’s bubbletop skylight as it passes through the tunnels of the Fraser Canyon, the group’s slow-motion march down the hall towards the camera, and whatever the hell happens during that acid trip at Bucky Haight’s farm. Canadian film has never been more alive than this.

Here's the trailer to get a glimpse of the film:

The sequel, handily named Hard Core Logo 2, was released in 2010 in which the fictional version of filmmaker Bruce McDonald discovers Care Failure (who plays herself), the lead singer of punk band Die Mannequin, who believes she has been possessed by the spirit of the late Joe Dick, the lead singer of Hard Core Logo.

With Canadian Film Week underway, it's only a matter of days until National Canadian Film Day on April 20, which will include Canadian films screenings all day at Vancity Theatre.

We'll be running more Movie Night in Canada posts as the week progresses so stay tuned, True North believers.