The Twentieth Century (2020) Drinking Game
Take a Drink: for every mention of Maple Walnut ice dream
Take a Drink: whenever the Canadian flag is referred to as “The Disappointment”
Take a Drink: every time Mackenzie King gets his face all up in a shoe
Take a Drink: for every cut to the Quebecois
Do a Shot: when the cactus, umm… explodes
By: Henry J. Fromage (A Toast) –
This is billed officially as “a re-imagining of the formative years of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King”, and while I know absolutely nothing about the formative years of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, calling this “a re-imagining” almost does this justice.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this is an embellishment.
A Toast
Oberst described this while watching, at my insistence, as “The Kids in the Hall’s 1984 by way of Fritz Lang with a touch of David Cronenberg”, and incomprehensibly it’s all true. This has gotta be the most unique mash-up of disparate and bizarrely compatible influences this year has produced. The product is a nightmare alternate reality Canada whose bizarrity serves to accentuate the authoritarian milieu which itself accentuates the comedy. I just can’t emphasize enough how crazy it is that this all works so well.
Yes, this is all patently absurd and so absurdly Canadian, although you don’t need to get all or even most of the Canuck in-jokes to absorb the overall anti-Empire and authoritarian vibes of the piece despite Dan Beirne’s tragic nebbish of an aspiring Prime Minister’s love for his institutions, be they the very literal contest to be nominated that draws from great Canadian traditions like passive aggressiveness and seal-clubbing to the several glorious asides to a mustachioed female Quebecois Great Francophonic Hope.
Verdict
I came away from The Twentieth Century feeling like I understood more about Canadian culture and history than by all rights I should from this bizarre comedy that spectacularly thumbs its nose at both.
