Rain/Drizzle/Fog: Film and Television in Atlantic Canada (review)

Varga’s collection provides a valuable sampling of perspectives on a topic which, like many great things from Canada’s east coast, may come as a surprise to some readers: the collection makes it clear that Atlantic Canada does indeed have a film and television industry that is vibrant, complex, and, from the depth and variety of articles here, worthy of serious attention. Varga modestly situates his book as a ‘critical introduction to film and television production in Atlantic Canada,’ a claim that is both less and more than what the work achieves. The contributors’ shared focus on the concept of region not as simply a matter of geography but ‘as an idea that is produced through conditions of economy, social organization, and politics’ means the work goes well beyond introducing the impact of film and television on the performance of ‘Atlantic Canada.’ On the other hand, the imbalance of coverage (many articles on facets of Newfoundland film-making, while a nearly complete absence of reference to work from Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick being discussed only in reference to Acadian film work) means the claim to speak of ‘Atlantic Canada’ is a distorted picture at best. To be fair, the editor notes that these gaps, and others, are being addressed in a second manuscript now in preparation.

The brevity of this review means I cannot mention every article in the collection; however, I will highlight a couple of my favourites. Gregory Canning’s examination of how motion pictures came to Truro, NS, is a concise case study that examines a range of material forces linking the impact of motion pictures on a rural population at a critical period in both the region’s and the industry’s development. Jen Vanderburgh brings the nation to the region in her reading of Don Messer’s construction of nostalgia as seen through the national reaction to the cancellation of the long-running show. Bruce Barber uses the image of the mirror as a clever and productive way to open up the work of Thom Fitzgerald. And the volume concludes with Silvia D. Hamilton’s fascinating exploration of race, memory, film, and performance in the account of her personal ‘journey to document [the] life and career’ of Nova Scotia singer Portia White. These highlighted articles are not to say the others in the volume were less interesting: far from it. I enjoyed every article and learned a great deal from each one.

Overall, the volume is beautifully edited, with consistent, clear writing that still allows the individual voices of the contributors to come through. The volume has very few typographical errors and is well designed with notes at the end of each article and a collective bibliography at the end. There is also a detailed index and biographical notes on each author. The weakest element is perhaps the photographs and stills. Some are clear in reproduction, but many are of inferior resolution and do not come across well in print. The captions are cryptic and could use more detail to situate the image in time and space (dates for images that do not come from films discussed in the text, for example, would have been helpful). I would also have appreciated a list of films discussed. The titles all appear in the general index, but as a work that highlights a relatively unknown regional industry, to highlight the works in this way might have been a helpful approach.

This is a fine and welcome collection, and I look forward to the second volume.