Enter the Beaver: Lee Demarbre and the debut of Can-Fu

TAKE ONE, June-Sept, 2004 by Patrick Lowe

This approach by Demarbre to doing things off-the-wall and on-the-fly has its rewards (and risks), but it also puts him outside the boundaries of the industry. Despite JCVH's success, Telefilm Canada, even in light of their new commercial policy, declined funding for Pearl Necklace, skewing Demarbre's plans for a bigger budget. But it's perhaps the way he prefers to operate: on his own terms, with his own camera, outside IATSE and ACTRA--by any means necessary. Or as Driscoll puts it, "[Lee] has a fierce determination to get the project finished. As much as he demands from everyone who works for him, he works a hundred times harder than anyone else. Much as we kid around, he does inspire the people who work for him."

Yet a question still lingers: How long can Demarbre and his fraternity continue what they're doing? In an era when so many movies and television shows are mining yesteryears' conventions for the sake of nostalgia or parody, be it Far from Heaven or That '70s Show, the process of postmodern referencing risks turning stale. So how far can someone like Lee Demarbre go with his tribute style until he must turn to real life for source material? Well, Demarbre has, in fact, faced this critique from none other than his former professor, Canadian film guru Peter Harcourt. "He loved the first Harry Knuckles. Then when we did Aztec Mummy, he said 'make more personal films.' That little sentence said a lot. He wants me to get a voice. But I love these films. I eat and breathe them. That's all I do. I might not have much to say, other than Sammo Hung is a fantastic filmmaker, and while it might be valid criticism to say that I don't have my own distinctive voice, I can't imagine making films any other way.

"It's a hustle, but everybody gets laid in the end."

Patrick Lowe is a filmmaker and writer residing in Winnipeg.