Based on Dale Peck’s cult novel, this drama follows the days (‘adventures’ is too loaded a term) of Beatrice (Sarah Polley of The Sweet Hereafter) and Henry (Brendan Fletcher), stranded in the toxic oil refinery town of Sarnia, where they encounter an embittered older couple who seem to herald a warning of what they themselves might become. It becomes apparent that the four principal characters, one couple in their early twenties and the other nearing retirement age, are one and the same. Director John Greyson (Zero Patience, Lilies) interweaves the dual strands of the story with dextrous grace as he illuminates the central couple’s ‘past’ and ‘future’ lives. With its references to the burning fields of the Gulf War (the setting is 1991) and its obvious debt to the later films of Atom Egoyan, this is ambitious, literate filmmaking and confirms Greyson as one of Canada’s most audacious directorial talents.
2000. Colour. Dolby digital stereo. 111 mins.