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We live in a world where the system creates people designed to move quick and work even faster, where it is essential to labor diligently. However, every once in a while, when you take a break from your usual day and observe the little things around you, you feel and connect differently with the world. Director Naomi Jay’s Darkest Miriam, adapted from a Martha Baillie novel, feels like a sad love letter to people who dream of feeling more human but don’t get to. A story of a librarian, her eccentric daily life, and a bizarre group of people she encounters in the library. However, her gloomy and routine-ish life takes a turn when she falls in love and starts receiving threatening letters from an unknown person.

Spoilers Ahead

What happens in the movie?

Working in a public library can seem a tad boring, but Miriam, who we are rooting for here,...

Executive produced by Charlie Kaufman and written and directed by visual artist-turned-filmmaker Naomi Jaye, Darkest Miriam shows a ton of potential. Yet, despite starring a very good Britt Lower, Darkest Miriam rides on the strength of its lead performer and atmosphere, which carry a script that is slow, meandering, and not particularly substantive.

Darkest Miriam Review

Darkest Miriam follows a librarian who, at the same time, begins to receive mysterious and vaguely threatening letters and meets a stranger with whom she finds unexpected kinship, kicking off a love affair. For the first half hour of the film, viewers will be intrigued, hoping to unravel the threads of Jaye’s narrative, but as its monotony reveals itself, they may find themselves challenged to maintain their interest in the narrative.

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The movie’s tone is very dark and pensive,...

Writer and director Naomi Jaye has taken the unpromising story of a soft-spoken young librarian and turned it into a small wonder of a film, eloquent and captivating. Britt Lower (Helly in Severance) is subtle but magnetic as Miriam, who works in a neighborhood library in Toronto, eating lunch alone every day in a nearby park. She seems content with her quiet life, even when wafting a little robotically through the library stacks in her oversized sweater. Whether her aura suggests sadness or complacency we don’t yet know.

The film has a definite narrative trajectory, as Miriam begins a relationship with Janko (Tom Mercier), a Slovenian taxi diver and artist who eats lunch on the park bench across from her. But its distinctive quality comes from how deftly Jaye balances that story with Miriam’s inner life. She delicately moves us in and out of Miriam’s memories and observances,...

Infatuation turns into a sinister obsession in the upcoming indie drama “Darkest Miriam.”

Based on Martha Baillie’s novel “The Incident Report,” the film follows loner librarian Miriam Gordon, played by “Severance” actress Britt Lower, whose new affair with a taxi driver (Tom Mercier) coincides with her receiving threatening letters from a secret admirer. Could her beau also be her nemesis?

The film, written and directed by Naomi Jaye, is set to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in the Viewpoints Section on Sunday, June 9.

Acclaimed filmmaker Charlie Kaufman serves as an executive producer on the film, seemingly stamping it with his signature existentialism. Kaufman joined after reading author Baillie’s other book “Sister Language.” Canadian poet Eva H.D. approached Kaufman on behalf of the production.

The official synopsis for “Darkest Miriam” reads: Miriam lives in a fog of grief while working amidst marginalized members of the public...