When one Googles “Skeet”, the word means many different things. The primary definition of Skeet refers to clay shooting. More recently, it’s Bluesky’s version of ‘Tweeting.’
But to anyone from Newfoundland and Labrador, it means something very specific. According to the Dictionary of Canadianisms, it is defined as follows:
skeet slang
n. — Newfoundland, derogatory
a working-class youth associated with illicit activities (e.g. drinking, smoking), especially a male.
Some argue it should be common Canadian vernacular, others say it’s too vulgar for common use.
But perhaps what might now overtake any definition, and perhaps launch it into broader usage, is the bold new film by director Nik Sexton, titled ‘Skeet.’
Shot over the course of more than seven years, the film is a “character study” of an NL archetype, Billy Skinner, played by Sean Dalton. It’s this level of long-term commitment that demonstrates the belief in the project by everyone involved.
According to the director, the main character’s son, Brando, actually aged the same number of years before his younger scenes earlier in the movie and his older ones throughout the film.
During the production of the film, the cast and production often improvised large components of dialogue and the collaboration between both performers and production is manifested in what can be considered a widely acceptable, gritty, and nuanced depiction of working-class life in St. Johns.
Following the LSPU’s showing, an after-show QA with Sexton and lead actress Wendi Smallwood was held in the social bar section, hosted in a live stream by CBC.
Juggling the duality of seriousness and humour
The film humanizes the innumerable and similar characters occupying our metro area beyond the daily discomfort of being asked for darts.
Comparing the film to the Trailer Park Boys, another depiction of Atlantic Canadian underbelly, provides a lot of insight as to what makes Skeet unique. While both projects are accurate, these two depictions of Canadian socioeconomic experience are similar, yet nothing alike.
Although Trailer Park Boys has its serious moments, its category as a comedy alters the cadence of its social commentary, which can be hard to see at times. In Skeet, there are moments of levity- such as life in the city- but the social commentary and messaging are front and center.
The film, at its heart, is about cycles of violence, intergenerational trauma, poverty and crime, and addiction, which are effortlessly depicted by the two female leads of the film, Kate Corbett (playing Billy’s romantic interest, Leah Locke) and Wendi Smallwood (playing Billy’s mother).
In its own vital message, this film is about building community through bridges, not walls. This is best represented in the way that all of the characters overcome their struggles by supporting one another, regardless of their social and cultural background.
Skeet is able to capture the true whimsy of the Townie life, it savours particular moments for appropriate comedic purposes but still tells a tragic yet uplifting story.
Balancing levity with drama appeared to be a real challenge, according to writer and director Nik Sexton, who spoke on a panel at the Nickel Festival.
“When Billy gets out and he goes to Shelly’s house, that’s an important scene, and we filmed this really funny sequence. Gina and I have done comedy together for years- where she slams the door in his face and then he’s like ‘Oh… fuck, again…’ and then he knocks and they have a little funny exchange. We had to cut that out.”
“We cut out a lot of jokes because it just sent the film into this comedic tone I didn’t want it to go down.”
The film itself evolved over time, through the many years of production before its end state. According to Sexton, the experience of immigrant life in St. John’s was such a core component to the film that it almost became the main perspective.
“So we were going around shooting this thing seven years ago. We wrote a script- we basically threw it in the garbage. It was a sort of noir, crime-y thing…” However, while filming the character shots shown in the earlier portion of the film, the crew’s on-the-scene filming inspired them about the emerging aspects of city life.
“In those character shots, we went into Buckmaster… and we saw a bunch of Middle Eastern families had just moved in, and we saw a way more interesting story to tell. So many years later, we wrote the script.”
To gain a better perspective on the issue, Sexton and his team reached out to Ken Walsh, who worked with Association for New Canadians. From there, the team was put in touch with Iyad Sikar, an immigrant from Syria to NL.
“He helped me craft what its like to be a Syrian Newfoundlander.”
According to Sexton, one scene was based on a real interaction encountered by Sikar. Billy is invited to a dinner made by his refugee neighbours, Mohamed, played by Jay Abdo, they ask him if he’s ever had Syrian food before.
“That’s his story when he asked friends to come over and he said, ‘I make food for people. I say come over and I’ll make you some Syrian food- and they say ‘What’s that like, curry or something?‘ And I was like ‘Well, that’s going in the film immediately.”
Director Nik Sexton pointed to that particular scene as being an example of how they edited some moments into the movie while cutting out others. According to the production and cast, real-life experiences helped to build the unique collage of interacting social issues present in the film.
The duality of The Skeet
One ongoing theme in the time I’ve lived in St. John’s is that serious things aren’t taken seriously, and the unserious things are taken far too seriously. Think of the public outcry over the Ode to Newfoundland, compared to complacency over agency nurse overspending or rampant neglect of the housing crisis.
In the film, an immigrant performs a difficult job driving Jiffy Cabs, much to the frustration of native-born NL workers. Simultaneously, the community ignores the elements of organized crime and drug selling until it reaches a fever pitch.
It’s only through crossing those cultural divides and working collectively that Billy and Mohamed confront the antagonists of the film in a violent but appropriately dramatic concluding action to the final moments of the film. The film knows exactly when to be dramatic and when to time its humour.
It’s the sort of juxtaposition best manifested by instances where the main actor will try to wield disarming humour in one hand, and a bloodied bat in the other. It’s the equivalent of saying: “Yeah, I’m dangerous, but don’t be scared of me.”
That’s the duality of the man, but also (the) Skeet.
Anyone simply hoping to watch a good movie and support local film production or gain a broader awareness of shared human experiences in poverty should go find the film on CBC Gem when it comes out in “the next few weeks.”