The Only Thing You Know

Last updated
The Only Thing You Know
Directed by Clarke Mackey
Written byClarke Mackey
Produced byClarke Mackey
Starring Ann Knox
Allan Royal
John Denos
Hugh McIntyre
Eileen McIntyre
CinematographyPaul Lang
Edited byIain Ewing
Clarke Mackey
Rebecca Schechter
Music byPaul Craven
Iain Ewing
Distributed byCanadian Filmmakers' Distribution Centre
Release date
1971
Running time
82 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The Only Thing You Know is a Canadian drama film, directed by Clarke Mackey and released in 1971. [1]

Contents

Described by critics as a female version of the 1964 film Nobody Waved Good-bye , [2] the film stars Ann Knox as Ann, a teenager who is dissatisfied with her suburban Toronto life. [3] Striking out on her own, she moves in with her boyfriend Scott (Allan Royal) in the downtown St. James Town neighbourhood, but becomes embroiled in a complex love triangle with Scott and his friend Paul (John Denos). [4]

The film's cast also includes Hugh McIntyre and Eileen McIntyre as Ann's parents.

Production

The film was influenced by the then-experimental blend of docufiction techniques innovated by films such as Nobody Waved Good-bye and À tout prendre . [1] Its script consisted solely of a 15-page story outline, around which the actors improvised their dialogue so that the film would feel like a documentary. [1] It was made on a budget of just $23,000.

Reception

Knox won the Canadian Film Award for Best Actress, and Mackey won a special jury award for the film. [5]

Despite favourable critical response and Knox's award win the film received only limited release, in part because it had been shot on 16 mm film, which very few movie theatres in Canada had the equipment to screen, while Mackey did not have the budget to convert it to the more normal 35 mm film. [6] Apart from the Stratford Film Festival, [5] the film was never screened theatrically outside of Toronto, [4] and even CBC Television rejected the film at the time as too experimental for a mass-market network television airing. [7] Although the film was strongly championed by The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, Mackey was also unable to secure a distribution deal in the United States. [1]

The film was screened at the 1984 Festival of Festivals as part of Front & Centre, a special retrospective program of artistically and culturally significant films from throughout the history of Canadian cinema, [8] and was later broadcast on CBC and TVOntario in the 1980s, [1] but was generally not widely seen until it was released on DVD in 2006. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Nobody Waved Good-bye</i> 1964 Canadian film

Nobody Waved Good-bye is a 1964 National Film Board of Canada production directed by Don Owen, starring Peter Kastner, Julie Biggs and Claude Rae. A sequel, Unfinished Business, was released in 1984.

<i>Winter Kept Us Warm</i> 1965 Canadian film

Winter Kept Us Warm is a Canadian romantic drama film, released in 1965. The title comes from the fifth line of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Motion Picture to the best Canadian film of the year.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role to the best performance by a lead actor in a Canadian film. The award was first presented in 1968 by the Canadian Film Awards, and was presented annually until 1978 with the exception of 1969, when no eligible feature films were submitted for award consideration, and 1974 due to the cancellation of the awards that year.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television presents an annual award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role to the best performance by a lead actress in a Canadian film. The award was first presented in 1968 by the Canadian Film Awards, and was presented annually until 1978 with the exception of 1969, when no eligible feature films were submitted for award consideration, and 1974 due to the cancellation of the awards that year.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role to the best performance by a supporting actor in a Canadian film. The award was first presented in 1970 by the Canadian Film Awards, and was presented annually until 1978 with the exception of 1974 due to the cancellation of the awards that year.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role to the best performance by a supporting actress in a Canadian film. The award was first presented in 1970 by the Canadian Film Awards, and was presented annually until 1978 with the exception of 1974 due to the cancellation of the awards that year.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Direction to the best work by a director of a Canadian film.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television presents one or more annual awards for the Best Screenplay for a Canadian film. Originally presented in 1968 as part of the Canadian Film Awards, from 1980 until 2012 the award continued as part of the Genie Awards ceremony. As of 2013, it is presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best Costume Design is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian costume designer. It was formerly called the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design before the Genies were merged into the Canadian Screen Awards.

Clarke Mackey is a Canadian filmmaker, author, and educator. He is known for his first feature film, The Only Thing You Know (1972), and for the focus in his filmmaking and writing on vernacular culture. His book on the topic, Random Acts of Culture: Reclaiming Art and Community in the 21st Century, was published in 2010. Mackey is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Film and Media at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where he taught for thirty years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 Toronto International Film Festival</span>

The 9th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 6 and September 15, 1984. The festival introduced Perspective Canada programme, devoted to Canadian films. The festival screened 225 feature films and more than half of them were Canadian films.

Ann Shin is a filmmaker and writer based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Gordon Sinclair Award is a Canadian journalism award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for excellence in broadcast journalism. Originally presented as part of the ACTRA Awards, it was transferred to the new Gemini Awards in 1986. During the ACTRA era, the award was open to both radio and television journalists; when it was taken over by the Academy, it became a television-only award.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Feature Length Documentary. First presented in 1968 as part of the Canadian Film Awards, it became part of the Genie Awards in 1980 and the contemporary Canadian Screen Awards in 2013.

Ann Knox is a Canadian former film actress, who won the Canadian Film Award for Best Actress in 1971 for her performance in The Only Thing You Know.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Award for Best Short Documentary is an annual Canadian film award, presented to a film judged to be the year's best short documentary film. Prior to 2012 the award was presented as part of the Genie Awards program; since 2012 it has been presented as part of the expanded Canadian Screen Awards.

Sean Sullivan is a Canadian actor. He is most noted for his stage and television performances in productions of David French's play Of the Fields, Lately, for which he won an ACTRA Award in 1977 as Best Television Actor for the CBC Television film; and his film performances in Springhill, for which he won a Canadian Film Award as Best Actor in a Non-Feature Film in 1972, and The Boy in Blue, for which he received a posthumous Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 7th Genie Awards in 1986.

Gwenlyn Cumyn is a Canadian actor, writer, and producer based in Toronto. Her notable roles include "Valentine" in the feature film Chasing Valentine, "Alice O’Hara" in the series, Barbelle, "Ann" in Slo Pitch, produced by Outtv, and “Dorothy Castlemore” in All for One.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Celebrated film finally gets its due". Queen's Journal , October 20, 2006.
  2. ↑ Geoff Pevere, "Toronto on Film: Part 7". Toronto Star , September 14, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Young Torontonian makes perceptive movie". Toronto Star , June 2, 1972.
  4. 1 2 "Only Thing You Know: pleasing growing pains". The Globe and Mail , June 5, 1972.
  5. 1 2 "New Quebec film sweeps 8 Canadian film awards". Toronto Star , October 2, 1971.
  6. ↑ "The Friendly Neighborhood Cineastes". Maclean's , January 1, 1972.
  7. ↑ "Theatres show a profit but is it all real?" Toronto Star , January 6, 1972.
  8. ↑ Carole Corbeil, "The stars are coming out for Toronto's film festival". The Globe and Mail , September 6, 1984.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.