TIFF 09: LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL Review

Ah, the sixties. Free love, political assassination, rising divorce rates and Vietnam. It made for a curious fusion of idealism and violence, a fusion that was perhaps nowhere as prominent as it was in the Manson Family murders, the never-called-by-full-name subject of Reginald Harkema's Leslie, My Name Is Evil. It's a big topic and a fascinating one, with many promising avenues to explore, and Harkema chooses to go the path of satire - mirroring the Manson-induced religious hysteria against the social norsm of the time - but, alas, despite some very pro9mising elements, Harkema is just not quite up to the task.

Kristen Hager is the titular Leslie, a young girl who we first meet on the eve of John F Kennedy's assassination, the oldest of three children sitting quietly at the dinner tale as their parents' marriage explodes around them. It is clear Leslie adores her father but exactly how much damage this event would lead to, nobody could ever have guessed. As she grows her world changes and Leslie finds herself pregnant by an acid-dropping beatnik before aborting and heading out on the road on a quest for love, a quest that will eventually lead her to Charlie.

Simultaneously, we meet Perry (Gregory Smith), a young and bookish boy about the same age as Leslie, a boy whose temperment is worlds apart from that of his warlike father and whose primary interest is in science until a pretty blonde girl sits next to him and asks if he knows about Jesus. And suddenly church becomes oh so much more important to him. As Leslie learns the way of Charlie's family, Perry adopts the ways of the church so beloved by his girl and the two chart parallel paths until, year's later, Perry finds himself as a juror at the trail of Leslie, two other women and Charlie for a string of brutal murders in Hollywood.

Leslie, My Name Is Evil opens with a great deal of promise. The soundtrack is brilliant, for one thing, and the art design and cinematography does a remarkable job of catching its era. The casting is also strong with a few clever tricks - finding a role for Don McKellar is always a good move and having the same actor play both Charlie and Leslie's father was a smart, effective touch - drawing you in. But things get clumsy quickly.

While individual scenes are often strong, the tonal shifts from Leslie to Perry's world - which could be lifted straight out of Norman Rockwell - are jarring and the comic elements poorly handled by the cast who often don't seem quite sure what type of movie they're in. Worse, the satire is overly obvious and handled in far-too-broad strokes. As the film progresses you start to wonder if Harkema - who also wrote the piece - maybe had a great short film on his hands before unwisely trying to stretch it out. And while there are certainly scenes shot with flair and style that truly sing there are also others that are considerably less so, so much so that when a boom mike clearly desceneds into the top of the frame in one shot it is by no means clear if what we're seeing is meant to be a joke - in which case god only knows what the punchline was - or a mistake that somehow survived all the way through post with nobody ever bothering to just paint the damn thing out.

In the hands of a skilled satirist - hello, Chris Morris! - Leslie, My Name Is Evil could have been one fearsome bit of work but it just simply does not play to Harkema's strengths and the strong elements are ultimately squandered.