mboughn

Shunning all green screen superhero action movie razzle dazzle, Rozema gives us the real goods -- what it would be like for the grid to go down and then never come back. Day after day they wait for the lights to come on. Until they don't anymore. The two protagonists (and us) never do find out what caused this apocalypse, even as it slowly but surely encroaches on their isolated world. Akin to Soderberg's Contagion, the suspense is in the relentless, unadorned unfolding of each ordinary moment of the disaster. This is a seriously underrated film.

What a surprisingly delightful film. It unfolds, always slightly off balance,from one unexpected development to the next. It starts off as a kind of crime farce, with a very funny Chaplinesque chase that turns into a scene from a Beckett production with Alexis Martin in full 18th century garb walking down a snow clad rural Quebec road in mid winter. Boulanger's eye for the sublimely absurd is impeccable and he serves it up effortlessly over and over. The actors are terrific and the writing is both hilarious and, finally, extremely emotional in a restrained way. On top of that, the cinematography is brilliant both in its scenic composition and in its luscious colour palettes. I had no idea what to expect from this film and was thinking perhaps it was just a Quebec version of Homegrown. But it is far more sophisticated and complex in its ambition and its final accomplishment. Highly recommended.