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HELEN LUCAS ... HER JOURNEY -- OUR JOURNEY
Directed by Donna Davy. Davy Productions, 1996.
Here is a film to celebrate. Donna Davy has produced, directed, and co - written a documentary film on Canadian artist Helen Lucas which is visually beautiful and very moving. Let it be said at the outset that Helen Lucas, best known for her very large canvasses of flowers, is at this moment evidently in her vibrant prime, painting at full power. Lucas has travelled far in her life, not only from her origins in a Greek immigrant community in Saskatoon, but also in her evolution as a woman and as an artist. Lucas' journey, implies Davy in her title, has much in common with the life journey of all women; she suggests that to share Helen Lucas' experience through this film is to illuminate the way we as women see ourselves.
How does Davy achieve this? The films moves back and forth in time between the present (through conversations with Lucas and others), and the past (through flashbacks to her childhood). To evoke the past Davy uses early photographs, reenactment of the child Helen by two young children, glimpses of her early art work, and highly articulate observations by Helen herself. Punctuating this format are glowing commentaries on Helen -- by women artists and friends, her daughter,...