Through Black Spruce

A beautifully shot and well acted and slow paced character study. Watch it in a chilled out mood. I really liked the understated performance of the two lead actors and the soporific tone of the piece.

Through Black Spruce is a sinister drama shot in northern Ontario in and around Moosonee and in and around Canada's biggest city Toronto. The movie presents two story lines that are closely connected. After a young Cree model disappeared with her criminal lover in Toronto, gang members who want money from them put pressure on her resilient uncle in remote but beautiful Moosonee as they believe he might know more about their mysterious disappearance. Meanwhile, the model's twin sister travels to Toronto to find out what really happened and soon realizes that the vanished couple had a volatile relationship and got into trouble with criminals.

Based upon an award-winning novel, the most fascinating thing about Through Black Spruce is that the story is particularly realistic and honest. Many First Nations women get involved into drug trafficking and prostitution and end up getting caught in a vicious circle of addiction, isolation and violence. This movie shows one such case and portrays the desperate situation with bleak atmosphere, slow precision and cold realism. The locations meandering between the small town of Moosonee which only connects to the rest of the province via the railway and the gigantic city of Toronto where people with numerous backgrounds meet are facsinating to watch. The acting performances by lead actor Brandon Oakes and lead actress Tanaya Beatty are excellent as they rely more on body language and facial expressions than lengthy dialogues and extravagant clothing or make-up. The award-winning soundtrack underlines the movie's sinister atmosphere perfectly.

The movie might have got several negative reviews because of its slow pace but this approach actually adds to the increasingly frightening atmosphere. Some reviewers criticized the story in general and the film's ending in particular but both focus on realism rather than satisfaction and blend in very well with the rest of the movie. There are some gloomy action scenes here and there to spice things up but they are fittingly integrated. If you are expecting a fast-paced movie with a twisted plot and vivid special effects, then this movie simply isn't for you. The unique style of this crime drama however makes it a memorable experience and should particularly please those interested in First Nations cultures.

Having been raised in Northern Ontario and now living in Toronto I am a tad biased towards this plot, nevertheless felt inclined to review because I was touched by this film and it's success in addressing very delicate issues regarding indigenous peoples (isolation/otherization, culture/tradition preservation, substance abuse, missing/murdered women, etc.). I really appreciated the directing and depiction of northern life. This piece of Canadiana featuring beautiful NWO covered all bases for me; heartfelt missing-sister drama turns thriller with the introduction of the fashion industry's dark side. There are laughs, there is love and moments you'll be holding your breathe. Just wanted to mention Toronto is a very friendly city :) I watched this on an AirCanada flight and there are a few scenes with subtitles.

Don McKellar directed this film, which means a certain degree of quirkiness and unpredictability. The two main actors who get virtually equal lead time are Tanaya Beatty (as Annie) and Brandon Oakes (as Will), though they almost never are on screen together. She leaves her Northern Ontario Cree village to find out what has happened to her missing twin sister Suzanne in Toronto. Her uncle Will stays home and copes with a variety of events including threats from young drug-dealing thugs who think he knows more than he does. In both places there is always an undercurrent of potential violence (as expected, whites against First Peoples) but which only occasionally erupts. Beatty (who's a strikingly beautiful combination of a First Nations mother and Indian father) plays Annie as a down-to-earth, rough-edged young woman who gradually gets drawn deeper into the fashion photography world (with an undercurrent of drugs) that her twin was involved with but has mysteriously disappeared. What happened? The slow-burn nature of the mystery makes it almost irrelevant as to whether it finds any resolution.

On the other side of the line, there's no doubt about how the plotline with Will unfolds and why. His part of the movie lets us see more of the Cree life and quite a mixture of characters, settings, rituals, and experiences that to me might have been the most interesting part of this film. There are other familiar First Nations actors in the cast too, like Graham Greene (who's great in the Toronto sequence as a down-and-out street dweller with a rough sense of humor), Tantoo Cardinal, and Tina Keeper. Nice cast and bound to raise sympathy for the native lived experience.

All this aside, the scene-to-scene flow is kind of uneven, almost choppy in places. I don't know why, because it leaves a somewhat disjointed effect on the whole thing. Nevertheless, the resolution is satisfying (certain characters get what they've earned, either good or bad) and by and large it's quite watchable.

Most film goers could never understand what it would be like to live in a beautiful yet isolated part of the northern Ontario wilderness, and yet we get to appreciate some of the vastness of the countryside through the lives of the Bird family and the native people of the surrounding lands.

The two lead actors Tanaya Beatty (as Annie) and Brandon Oakes (as Will), are rarely seen on the screen together as Annie has chosen to travel to Toronto to see what is happening with her twin sister who has been absent for far longer than ever before. Will on the other hand is dealing with a bunch of drug thugs who want something that the missing twin sister who is supposedly in Toronto working as a fashion model.

Will especially reflects a man comfortable living in the northern Ontario wilderness, and unlike you or I who may take a cab or subway to travel around our neighborhood, Will takes a plane. If we want to just chill, we may order in a pizza and hunker down to watch some TV series, Will on the other hand would prefer to cover his naked body in mud, chant, then swim in the remote waters with the local marine life.

Annie after arriving in Toronto with limited funds begins to learn more about her twin sisters life and existence as a First Nations woman living in a big city like Toronto.

It's an interesting movie with a film style all its own. (Probably because their funds available do not provide the same standard as lets say a Warner Brothers release would have at their disposal).

I give the film a respectable and appreciative 7 out of 10 IMDb rating.