Reel 13's latest Indie hails from north of the border and features a cavalcade of Canadian stars, boasting the likes of Sandra Oh, Paul Gross, Maury Chaykin and Ellen Page. The film is a wannabe Altman with its multitude of characters intersecting in a small island town somewhere in Canada. The tone is less satirical than Altman, however, and more sitcom like Northern Exposure with blander writing. Ultimately, it's pretty slow & boring. Very little of the film captured my attention. The film suffers the same fate as American Wake in that all its subplots dilute each other. Instead of having one well-told story, they have several empty ones.
I normally don't like Sandra Oh, but found her to be among the more seasoned ensemble members. Ellen Page showed the early promise that she has since fulfilled with her Oscar-nominated turn in Juno. Maury Chaykin is good as usual. Most of the other performances are quite unfortunate. I don't see what all the buzz is about Paul Gross. I suppose he's good looking, but that's pretty much all he's got going' on. Rebecca Jenkins is an irritation on screen very little subtlety in her choices.
There is one extremely memorable performance in the movie and that is from veteran Canadian actor James Allodi. He is given very little to actually say in the film, which is probably the best thing to have happened to him. He communicates his anguish with his eyes and perhaps most impressively, his body language. It's a complete performance and one wishes that he had more screen time.
Allodi's storyline takes a major shift at the beginning of the third act, which is a shift in tone for the film. It is a terrible tragedy in the story, the execution of which is done well. It seems as if the film is starting to finally display depth. Less than a minute later, however, it is washed away as the director chooses to play the tragedy as slapstick comedy. The film goes from Bergman to Laverne & Shirley in one swift, awful stroke.
I normally don't like Sandra Oh, but found her to be among the more seasoned ensemble members. Ellen Page showed the early promise that she has since fulfilled with her Oscar-nominated turn in Juno. Maury Chaykin is good as usual. Most of the other performances are quite unfortunate. I don't see what all the buzz is about Paul Gross. I suppose he's good looking, but that's pretty much all he's got going' on. Rebecca Jenkins is an irritation on screen very little subtlety in her choices.
There is one extremely memorable performance in the movie and that is from veteran Canadian actor James Allodi. He is given very little to actually say in the film, which is probably the best thing to have happened to him. He communicates his anguish with his eyes and perhaps most impressively, his body language. It's a complete performance and one wishes that he had more screen time.
Allodi's storyline takes a major shift at the beginning of the third act, which is a shift in tone for the film. It is a terrible tragedy in the story, the execution of which is done well. It seems as if the film is starting to finally display depth. Less than a minute later, however, it is washed away as the director chooses to play the tragedy as slapstick comedy. The film goes from Bergman to Laverne & Shirley in one swift, awful stroke.