VERSUS IVAN (VERSUS IVAN INCORPORATED, 2004)

By Rick Jackson

Versus Ivan which premiered at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival in March 2005 is an auspicious directorial debut for Queen's University graduate Chris Gamble.

Filmed over 19 days, the rest of the cast are also graduates from Queen's, while community members from Yellowknife where it was filmed filled in wherever possible.

Written, produced and directed by Gamble, it is a black comedy about routine, control and the acceptance of change as it affects one individual, Ivan Schulloppses, who has been trapped by his own dreams and routine. The mundane daily life he has led for the past eight years has suddenly gone awry for no reason. It all begins when the package of food he has been receiving from overseas has stopped coming. Life at and after work is slowly crumbling in small pieces which annoy him to no end. He ends up losing his job and, generally, feeling lost and frustrated in a world which used to make him feel satisfied and happy. Although he finds out who is stealing the packages by film's end, life is still not perfect but there is a glimmer of hope which only he can understand.

Liam Karry, a Queen's University Theatre graduate, makes his feature film debut after appearing in various stage plays and short art films. As Ivan he shows promise an up-and-coming actor whose sensitive performance you can empathize as he suffers from the daily doldrums which we all have gone through under far different circumstances. How he copes with the reality of discovery and accepts the answers to his quixotic way of life comprises much of the film's focus. He accomplishes this in one week.

Tennille Read shines in her feature debut as Miriya Huxley, the girl next door who wants to help but cannot summon up enough courage to go through with it. Instead of feeling sorry for him, she tries to understand his predicament and invites him over for supper to have a good home cooked meal. Her generosity and sympathy guide the plot through its own plodding way. There is also a hint of a budding romance in her last statement which Ivan has yet to grasp, but we do watching because it's written all over her face. When the story ends you can only speculate, but it is all part of the faint hope of Ivan's complete recovery from his inherent blackness.

The supporting cast features Ken Woodley as a psychotic mailman, Hannah Clarke as a demon child, Rick Poltaruk as Ivan's boss and head of the bocce ball team, and Dave Lovell as his colleague Niko at Web Smart Assets.

Locations in Yellowknife include the Black Knight, Javaroma, Parker Park and Co-Op which meant many long shooting days because the midnight sun allowed 16 hours of daylight.

Despite some rough spots in editing and some annoying pieces of music in some scenes, Versus Ivan is a noteworthy production.

Footnote: The version that played at The Screening Room the week of October 21, 2005 was seven minutes shorter from the original 97 minutes when it was premiered at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival.

Copyright 2005 Rick Jackson