Dir. Larry Kent
1964, Canada, 86 min
Rated 18A
Busy navigating his final year of high school, brainy aspiring teacher Tom (Waiting for Caroline’s Robert Howay) is determined to land an elusive scholarship, but his hard work is constantly interrupted by his real obsession: pursuing the opposite sex. Before long, he develops a romance with former classmate Elaine (The Boy Who Could Fly’s Angela Gann), who persistently declines his sexual advances. This inspires Tom to consider other options, including his good-natured study buddy Kathy (Carol Pastinsky). But when they take their friendship to the next level, shocking complications threaten to derail Tom’s future, inspiring his friends to take drastic action.
In the wake of The Bitter Ash and the censorship battles it inspired, director Larry Kent returned with this more playful – but no less provocative – sophomore effort. An intoxicating blend of carefree sex comedy and unsparing coming-of-age drama, Sweet Substitute plays like a hedonistic reimagining of the same year’s Nobody Waved Good-bye aimed at the exploitation film market. A surprise success in the U.S. (under the title Caressed), it set the stage for Kent’s next leap forward with When Tomorrow Dies, the third and final entry in his celebrated Vancouver Trilogy.
Cited by David Cronenberg as “a heroic figure,” Larry Kent made films “so ahead of their time” (to quote Atom Egoyan) that they eventually fell out of official circulation. Situated somewhere between the vivid indie dramas of John Cassavetes and the lurid melodramas of Doris Wishman, Kent’s films brought new vitality to Canadian cinema – and time has only added to their potency. The Dave Barber Cinematheque is proud to present these enduring works of underground Canadian cinema, informally known as “The Vancouver Trilogy”, featuring new 4K restorations from Canadian International Pictures.
