THE BITTER ASH (Larry Kent/1963)

[Johann]

The Bitter Ash

This film was once thought lost forever. It is Canadian underground Legend Larry Kent's first feature, and it was in fact Vancouver Canada's first real feature film if you want the straight facts. NO ONE was making films in Vancouver British Columbia in the early sixties. It was pretty much an untapped medium then. Larry Kent made THE BITTER ASH with zero money and even less money to have a soundtrack- he had to dub all the dialogue later. (Stanley Kubrick had to do the exact same thing for his first feature).

It was thought lost forever by even the Director, as Larry left the master print in his landlord's attic and he moved away without retrieving it from him. Fortunately, his landlord saved it, thinking it was interesting and may have value later on. Did it ever.
This was recently completely restored, and EACH FRAME needed work. It took forever. The young man who restored it was at this screening as well, and he was up onstage with Larry to talk about the film, which was given a showcase premiere at last year's TIFF.
Larry Kent was born in South Africa, and he went to University in Vancouver British Columbia Canada, where he made a few shorts and then embarked on his first feature: THE BITTER ASH. It takes place in Vancouver, circa 1959. Larry told us that the sixties weren't "The Sixties" until 1967, and that everything else was The Fifties until then.

His first feature has these taboos in full force:
rampant drinking/alcoholism
pot references
sex- frontal nudity
adultery- jealousy- contempt-horror-social deprivation-"square" oppressions and rules-lack of freedom of expression-lack of values-lack of moral compass- lack of responsibilty-and many others.
It's extraordinary.
It's a low-budget masterpiece.
And no one has ever seen it, except a select few. The Tiff Bell Lightbox had a good crowd on hand to see it, and we all loved it.
And here the Director was in the house.
I met Larry at the 24th VIFF and I've been a Facebook friend of his for over a year.
He gave me a big hug, told us to keep doing what we're doing here at FilmLeaf, and he said that he will have a new film in August of this year.
I asked him about it and he smiled and said

IT WILL BE ULTRA-VIOLENT.