“Skeet” a 2024 Canadian film shot in the Chalker Place east end neighborhood of St. John’s, Newfoundland indicates there is more to Canadian film than Ontario and British Columbia productions! Immediately prior to watching “Skeet”, “Sweet Angel Baby” another Newfoundlander film was on my screen and will soon be available in theatrical release in Canada. Is Newfoundland the new Hollywood North?
What is a “skeet”? It is a Newfie term for a tough guy with a heart.
What is a “Newfie”. For me it is a term of endearment for residents of the far eastern Canadian province and island of Newfoundland so Newfoundlanders please do not pelt me with dried cod when I arrive to receive my Order of Newfoundland” from the Vice Admiral of the “Newfoundland Fleet” on a date yet to be announced because for many less than culturally sensitive Canadians a Newfie is a derogatory term.
In this black and white film, imparting to it a raw a jagged feel, Billy Skinner (Sean Dalton) is released from Her Majesty’s custody after serving three years for a violent assault. Billy was a “manager” of crime boss Leo’s (Garth Sexton) drug operations. Fellow thugs attempted a hold up of Billy and his brother Bobby, blowing off the latter’s arm. Billy exacted revenge and bashed up one of the robbers leading to his incarceration.
Billy returns to his neighbourhood and a Syrian refugee community has sprung up to replace victims of drug overdoses.
Billy’s super raunchy pill popping mother Mae, brilliantly portrayed by Wendi Smallwood, “welcomes” home her son with baloney sandwiches as she sits in a disheveled fashion swilling beer from a coffee mug, pills in an ashtray by her side. Billy declines his welcome home feast stating he consumed far too many such sandwiches in prison. Leo had set up Billy with compensatory payments made to Mae while he was in custody. Mae spent the dough on her drug habit diverting these funds from Billy’s wife and son.
Billy is estranged from his son and embarks on a journey to develop a relationship with him but Billy is entirely snarled up by pride in the Skinner name hence his influence on his son is far from positive. Mr. Skinner, Billy’s dad was a nasty alcoholic that beat Billy regularly as a child. Billy carries on the violent Skinner tradition.
As a condition of Billy’s parole there is compulsory attendance at group “therapy” sessions most participants ravaged victims of drug addiction. There is a bad drug problem in the hood fuelled by Leo’s narcotics ironically noted by Leo who says the neighbourhood needs more paramedics not heroes.
Leo is a gentleman poet with a vicious psychotic core. Deservedly this poet, a delightfully disturbing character, meets “poetic justice”!
Billy befriends Mohamed, or Mo as he prefers to be called, a Syrian refugee living with his family in the hood. The immensely charismatic Mo (Jay Abdo) stands by Billy through thick and thin explaining his escape to Canada with his family’s stint in a refugee camp being comparable to Billy’s time in prison.
Billy’s marriage is shot but a love interest develops with yet another top notch Rauncho Leah Locke (Kate Corbett) so intertwined with narcotic abuse she has lost custody and visiting rights to her young son.
Amid a drug infested lumpenproletarian neighbourhood populated by a host of nefarious low life desperados and decent Syrians, belittled by the criminals in the hood, Billy struggles for redemption while working at a chicken processing plant. A man with the odds stacked against him from infancy.
Is this a Newfie Neo Noir film? Debate this from left to right you genre obsessionists but shot in stark black and white, full of shady characters, drug ridden and a pure and thick streak of desperation and a highly flawed love interest woman, far from a “babe” it could well be within the noir family but in lieu of theoretical discussions on genre I’d rather spend my time watching what should become a Canadian classic film replete with grit, rawness and unforgettable characters.
“Skeet” has recently played in Germany and Ireland and is currently available on VOD at Hollywood Suite in Canada.
You may watch a teaser here https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=352078724537674
Directed and written by Nik Sexton.
RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film Rating 92/100.
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