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Jan. 11, 2008
Why can't weddings be simple?
Local writer talks about her soon-to-be-released film and of working with her husband.
DENA DAWSON
Love and Other Dilemmas, a film written by Vancouver native Deborah Peraya, won't send you home with a soggy hanky and a red nose. No, this is a zany comedy about a woman who wants her wedding to be perfect. That's obviously a timeless and international theme, although the dilemmas in this film are definitely not your everyday ones.
Cast with Canadian actors Gabrielle Miller, Janet Wright, Fred Ewanuick and John Cassini, among others, and filmed in Vancouver, the movie will open here in February.
This is the fourth time that the main character – Ginger Shapiro (played by Corner Gas' Miller) – tries to marry Henry Diamond, played by television actor, Stephen Lobo. Other efforts had their problems: once she was kidnapped, once she was locked in a freezer, once there was fake justice of the peace – enough already.
According to her mother's best friend, played by Wright (also from Corner Gas), there is a curse on the Shapiro family, usually descending on the prospective groom. It all goes back to when the grandmother was pregnant at her wedding; the groom fled before the ceremony was completed and was killed by a falling floral armchair (still a family treasure). So when someone gets a Shapiro girl pregnant, he dies, unless a perfect wedding is performed, with a bride, a groom, a dress, a ring and a legal ceremony.
The actors win the audience over with their portrayal of their characters: even the bad guys end up being adorable. Henry, the groom, has a gambling problem, about which he continues to lie, and needs to pay a loan shark $500 to get the wedding ring out of hock in time for the ceremony. And, of course, it's the gangster, wearing a yarmulke, who ... but I don't want to spoil the ending for you. One bad guy, Izzy, sells and alters tuxedos, not to mention engaging in various other illegal activities. Naturally, there is one scene when three of the major characters pop in and out of different dressing rooms at Izzy's. A comic cliché? Well, yes. But we laugh anyway.
Much of the plot involves efforts to get the money for the ring - stealing the floral chair to pawn, gambling using a friend to play your part (since Henry's quit), the works.
Ginger, meanwhile, has things of her own to do. She needs help, being nine months pregnant, getting pushed into her dress. She needs her hair done – and then she notices that the Shapiro chair is gone.
Rather than counting on others, Ginger takes charge herself, insisting that Emmett, the robber (who kidnapped her because he wants to be paid for stealing the chair) push her in a shopping cart – because she can't walk in those heels – to Henry's apartment, where she sees a body that she thinks is Henry being wrapped in a rug.
The opening song, by Budge Schachte, asks if only things were perfect. This is a theme of some of the quieter scenes with Emmett (played by yet another Corner Gas star, Ewanuick) and the mourning Ginger sitting on a bench in one of Vancouver's parks. She tells him about how important it is to plan. To have Plan A and then the backup – Plan B. He begins to comprehend a different way of living.
After these park scenes, the movie picks up speed as all the various elements of the story converge on a children's playroom in a synagogue. Needless to say, spelling out any more detail would give too much away.
The setting is beautiful – Vancouver – need we say more? The music throughout the movie is light and jazzy, never letting the viewer get too seriously concerned about the impending birth, frequent gunplay, burglary, walking dead (or undead dead - don't ask) and a surfeit of potential grooms at the wedding.
Larry Di Stefano, the director, brings out fine performances from the actors. He does an excellent job with this great bit of silliness and gently brings home the meaning of commitment, while we laugh.
The Jewish Independent spoke to the film's writer, Peraya, about the movie, what she brings to it and the Jewish connection.
JI: Tell us about yourself.
DP: I have a BA in film and communications from McGill and an MA in film theory from UBC. Home is here in Vancouver with my husband, Larry, and daughter, Chiara. Larry and I actually met at a party in Grade 12. We were friends for about five years before we started going out and, when we first met, I told the friend that had introduced us that one day Larry would fall in love with some girl and she'd be the luckiest girl in the world. Prophetic words that I'm pretty happy about.
JI: What first got you interested in film?
DP: I can't remember a time when films didn't figure largely in my life. As a kid, my mom was always taking me to movies – everything from Woody Allen and Neil Simon to classic Hollywood pictures at the Ridge Theatre here in town. I'd watch the Sunday afternoon matinées with my grandparents – my entire family was just movie mad. However, even though I had always loved writing and my degree was in film, it wasn't until I was in my 20s that it occurred to me that I could combine those two passions and make a living as a screenwriter. Years later, the Ridge was where our film premièred during the
Vancouver Film Fest, so that was a great night.
JI: What was the inspiration for Love and Other Dilemmas?
DP: It was kind of a number of things coming together. First off, I was pregnant and my husband and I were talking a lot about what being a family meant and the challenges we might face as new parents, so I turned much of that into Ginger's realizations about what happily-ever-after meant and how the reality might be a lot harder than the fantasy but, ultimately, would have so much more meaning. And part of it was the memory of my grandmother, who was both superstitious and one of the most dynamic, life-loving people I've ever had the joy of knowing. It all fuelled the story, along with a random thought Larry had about a woman who was robbed by her boyfriend.
JI: For Love and Other Dilemmas, what made you specifically choose a Jewish family?
DP: In all the movies I watched over the years, people were always getting married in churches. Somewhere along the way, I remember thinking that I'd like to see a movie where the bride was getting married in a synagogue and where that fact wasn't the point of the movie but simply a detail. With Love and Other Dilemmas, I had my chance to do that.
JI: How was it working with your husband as director?
DP: It's an incredibly complimentary, creative partnership 99 per cent of the time and a real rush to be able to share this kind of work. However, that one per cent ... let's just say that working with the person I'm closest to, also means that person knows how to irritate me more than anyone else and, to be fair, vice versa. Luckily, we laugh way more than we ever fight.
JI: Was there a reason it was filmed in Vancouver?
DP: Yes. Larry and I were both born and raised here in Vancouver and Clare Hodge, our producer, has lived here long enough to be a Vancouverite as well, so right from the start, it was assumed we'd film here. We all wanted to show a side of our city that wasn't often seen in the numerous other productions shot here. For that reason, we filmed in our neighborhood around Commercial Drive. It was wonderful to be able to shoot where we live.
JI: What are you currently working on?
DP: I spent the first half of this year as executive story editor on a wonderful YTV show called Zixx: Level Three and right now am developing a number of television series with a fabulously talented writer, Stacey Kaser, and the great producing team of Hugh and Debra Beard. Larry and I are also writing a comedy series and our next feature. This fall, I decided to try something entirely different and write a novel, which was a blast, so I'm hoping to be able to continue writing in that medium as well.
JI: How different is it writing for television than writing your own film script?
DP: Television is an entirely different creature from film. Film is a story that only has a couple hours to take its audience on a journey, but because it is wrapped up at the end of that single viewing, can be an incredibly powerful experience. However, I love that television allows writers to delve deeper and deeper into a world over its season than a film could go. Of course, the downside of this is the challenge inherent in sustaining the story for 13 or 22 episodes. And, generally, in television, even the writing is a far more collaborative process.
JI: When you write a script do you have a "message" in mind or do your themes develop as you write?
DP: I tend to start with characters as opposed to themes, but I quickly find my theme so that my story has depth and weight and is about something.
Indeed, it is the characters who make this movie. Love and Other Dilemmas is well worth seeing. It reminds me of the old days: remember them? When going to the movies was fun.
Dena Dawson is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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