This film may not be one the best films of it's genre...but it does contain some definite prizes along the way. We see Dr John, wheelchair-bound and speaking in a thick Louisiana accent to his father-in-law over a recorder. There is Leon Redbone playing the guitar accompanied by someone bashing a coat-stand; ''we're creatin'!'' Julias, the main character, played by a very attractive and young Kevin J O'Connor, get's locked up for two days by a couple of isolated nutcases in Canada, a father and son pair claiming to be the local police; it is never quite clear whether they had any legal right to do what they did. The pair are verging on horror film macabre, and though it may not seem like it, are not entirely dissimilar from the sort of unsupervised menace we see in films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There are other various curious characters dotted throughout...and later in the film stunning shots of the Canadian countryside. Also a wonderful performance by one of Canada's best-loved singers, Rita Macneil. The song is really beautiful, and I am yet to find the lyrics or what, if it is at all, album of hers it is to be found on. Julias, a fairly talentless drop-out who has dreams of rekindling his band ''Big Trohble'', promises on a whim some music business veterans that he can trace their long-lost friend and legendary guitar-maker Ellmore Silk. Ellmore, whom Julias does trace, to ''the edge of nowhere'', turns out to be a nasty drunk, untrustworthy and a bit of a bastard. The end doesn't have much to it, and even feels slightly contrived. We can only hope that Julias has grown up a bit from his journey.
Review of Candy Mountain
