High

Larry Kent was the first guy in Canada making movies with his own money. He was a hero to David Cronenberg, was offered the first Ilsa film (which he turned down) and made a handful of great movies in the 60s before his recent renaissance with The Hamster Cage (2005) and Exley (2011- also playing at SF Indie). His freewheeling magnum opus, however, remains High, filmed in Montreal in 1966, and inspired in part by Antonioni"s Blow-Up. Headed up by the charismatic pop/dada hustling team of Kent stalwart Lanning Beckman (looking every bit like a Monkees-era Mike Nesmith) and the Birkin-esque Astri Thorvik- who star as two petty criminals living a life of leisure, lovemaking and LSD " High would go on to be banned in Quebec while simultaneously securing cult status in Europe. With its intermittent use of still photography and liberal shifting between monochrome and psychedelic color tinting as well as some inventive, non-linear dialogue, HIGH is easily my personal favourite of Kent"s films.