Toronto – Burton Cummings is a cultural institution in Winnipeg. In Fahrenheit 7 – Eleven, director Walter Forsberg offers up a humorous look at Cummings’ importance to the city of Winnipeg. Part of a proposed three part series on the Guess Who frontman, it revolves largely around one incident in particular, a night in 1985 when Cummings was attacked with a beer bottle at a local 7-11.
Unfolding like a wacky Prairie version of Rashomon, several Winnipeg residents recount the events of that night as they heard it told. These events are then re-enacted by those residents and given further cultural context by Weakerthans frontman John K. Samson. It’s a ridiculous, entertaining, informative look at the cult of personality that revolves around Cummings in the ‘Peg. It’s also your chance to see John K. Samson make his acting debut as a 7-11 employee in one scene. At just 14 minutes, it’s brief but packs a lot in there. I look forward to part two.