The Ernie Game

The Ernie Game is a 1967 Canadian drama film directed by Don Owen.[1]

The Ernie Game
Film poster
Directed byDon Owen
Produced byRobert Allen
Gordon Burwash
Written byDon Owen
StarringAlexis Kanner
Judith Gault
Jackie Burroughs
Music byKensington Market
CinematographyJean-Claude Labrecque
Edited byRoy Ayton
Production
company
Release date
  • 8 November 1967 (1967-11-08)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Called "One of the most innovative examples of personal cinema to come from English Canada in the Sixties" by the Cinematheque Ontario, The Ernie Game was part of a proposed trio of works intended to celebrate the Canadian Centennial. The film centres on Ernie Turner and his attempts to survive in the world after he's released from an asylum. He grows increasingly alienated and his fragile mental state declines, moving between two women, ex-girlfriend and current lover. "The Ernie Game provides a resonant portrait of mental illness," writes Steve Gravestock of the Cinematheque, "its pathologically narcissistic protagonist representing Owen’s most nightmarish vision of the artist as fraud and pariah."[2]

The characters of Gail (Jackie Burroughs) and Donna (Judith Gault) previously appeared in Owen's shorter drama film Notes for a Film About Donna and Gail, although the role of Donna was played by a different actress in the earlier film.[3]

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, The Ernie Game received two Canadian Film Awards, for Best Direction and Best Feature Film, at the 20th Canadian Film Awards in 1968.[4] It was also entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival,[5] and was screened in the Director's Fortnight stream at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival.[6]

Cast

References
  1. "CBC, Film Board jointly making The Ernie Game". The Globe and Mail, 20 January 1967.
  2. Gravestock, Steve (Fall 2008). "A FORTNIGHT AT CANNES: FORTY YEARS OF THE QUINZAINE". Cinematheque Ontario. Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  3. Joan Fox, "The Ernie Game: more to admire than like". The Globe and Mail, 9 November 1967.
  4. "The Ernie Game". Collection. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  5. Wise, Wyndham (8 September 2001). "Ernie Game, The". Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. University of Toronto Press. p. 71. ISBN 0-8020-8398-6.
  6. Charles-Henri Ramond, "Les films québécois à Cannes à travers l’histoire". Films du Québec, 28 April 2019.
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