Whitewash

The script is the best feature of the film. It has details of personality. Could have made a better movie with it. Haden Church achieves a commendable performance, even throughout the movie, but without big moments. Good intentions are seen in the feature film debut of the director, but it doesn't go all the way. It could have been a much more intense film. With inevitables reference to "Fargo", especially the snow as the big star and a crime as a starting point. Very interesting as the plot unfolds, fragments, and it will illuminate the reasons why the protagonist is in the situation he is. We can also highlight the ethical problem: good action, evil deed, guilt and punishment. This director can be to follow. The rhythm is a little slow. The best scene are the final 15 seconds.

Thomas Haden Church has made some decent films. This one falls short. The script and performances are decent, but the pace is slow. The story is played out flashback style and has some good moments, but never gains momentum. It centers on Church hiding out in the wintery woods, and spending a lot of time wandering around. The end resolves nothing. It's worth a watch, but is nothing special.

Director Emanuel Hoss-Demaris & writer Marc Tulin have only made two films: both of which are unexceptional but quirky. Prior to 2018 dramedy "Birthmarked" they co-wrote 2013 Canadian small-town crime-drama "Whitewash" in which Thomas Haden Church (solid) hits & kills Marc Labrèche with his little snow-plow, hides the body, then careers off into the surrounding woods where he's trapped / hides out. The men's brief history is revealed via flashbacks, as Haden Church it seems goes rather mad - but those expecting a clear cut conclusion will be disappointed. Hoss-Demaris & Tulin are an off-centre duo indeed... what might they produce next?

Since his first entry into the realm of Oscar-lovers and voters, Thomas Haden Church seemed like a one-trick pony. His newest effort in Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais' film Whitewash has the actor delivering his finest work yet. Telling the story of Bruce, a man heavy on the bottle, who after he hits a man with his bulldozer during a snowstorm, ventures out into the cold Canadian woods to hide for survival.

As the narrative travels in and out of present and past time, writers Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais and Marc Tulin manage to keep the subdued aura of the film while still keeping it interesting and inventive. Many choices in storytelling and shooting will remind many of the underrated film from Joe Carnahan, The Grey (2012), but the characters here felt much more accessible, both in flaws and pros. The dreary and intimate portrait captured by Cinematographer André Turpin is what encourages the film to go to another place cinematically. His choices along with Hoss- Desmarais' direction keep the story and the audience close and working together to get to our resolution.

Thomas Haden Church really manages to outdo himself as an actor and for the first time, becomes something bigger than he probably though of himself to be. In a tale of survival, in both the physical and criminal sense, Church lays out of an agenda that is both demanding of himself and philosophically sound. He walks the line of composure and is absolutely hypnotic. His performance is both poetic and visceral and becomes the first authentically genuine and raw male performance of the film year. He has never been better. What Whitewash also manages is an introduction to actor Marc Labrèche, who is simply fantastic in his role of Paul, a mysterious figure that will bring you on an emotional roller coaster to his defying finale.

The film is surely a risky endeavor and while the film utilizes the audience's imagination and requirement to let certain laws of physics go, the bridge from the film to the resounding mind of film-lovers is clearly passionate and aptly brutal. It's vividly melancholic in execution and could be one of the best films of the year. Small yet larger than itself, Whitewash is a tranquil message of survival and redemption.

In rural Quebec, drunken Bruce (Thomas Haden Church) accidentally kills a man during a snowstorm with his snowplow. He hides the body and drives away into the woods. He wakes up to discover his machine is stuck in the snow. As he tries to get his machine out, the paranoia and his guilt starts to drive him mad. Flashbacks reveal that the dead man was Bruce's house guest Paul (Marc Labrècheas). Paul tried to commit suicide and keeps trying to take advantage of Bruce's generosity. It becomes obvious that this is more than a simple accident.

It's an interesting performance from Thomas Haden Church. Paul is an off-putting character and Marc Labrècheas is good. It is still a tiring movie where everything is so serious. The movie grinds down the audience. I have no particular rooting interest in Bruce. His struggle is not compelling and his 'friendship' with Marc is questionable. I guess a drunk is likely to make stupid decisions.