This Beautiful City

Pretty (Kristin Booth) is a prostitute and her boyfriend Johnny (Aaron Poole) is her pimp. Carol (Caroline Cave) and Harry (Noam Jenkins) seems to be a content couple. Peter (Stuart Hughes) is a cop working on a missing person case. In a Toronto apartment, Carol sneaks a cigarette on the balcony. She falls off. She lands near Pretty and Johnny, and they run off. Peter arrives to hold her hand. Did she fall or was it deliberate? Three months later, Carol comes home from the hospital. She reconnects with Peter who is leaving the police force for stress. Harry tries to help Pretty who has become strung out on drugs. Johnny is trying to get her to stop but gets caught up in a murder and is suffering health problems.

This is a low-budget indie. The interconnected story can be disjointed viewing. What pulls it all together is five compelling performances. Booth, Poole and Cave stand out especially. They are top-notched worthy of every praise. The movie could use better style and better production. Writer/director Ed Gass-Donnelly is a newcomer with possibly something to say.

This movie feels cheaply made, but considering its subject matter, it makes sense. The gritty cinema-verite style jumps back and forth between the lives of street workers and condo dwellers, gradually drawing these two worlds ever closer. Jump cuts and hand-held cameras work in this context.

The best thing about the movie, and the thing that ultimately overcomes the poor filming, is the acting. Great performances by Aaron Poole (who is also the producer), Kristin Booth (from MVP), and Caroline Cave (from the L Word) create a genuine tension on screen. The story itself is clever, and the dialogue understated, but the acting borders on magnificent. Not only do they manage to create something riveting, but smart as well. The setting, the city, looks fabulous.