When I first started playing the movie, I was taken a little bit by surprise. A black and white, grainy, off focus, too-much-close close up welcomed me, and I wasn't sure this film was going to work for me. I fast forwarded a few minutes to see whether the movie went on like that. And it did.
After few seconds thinking, I decided 60 minutes were worth a try. I started the movie over again, and watched it. And was I glad I did. Different stories and very different issues - unfold slowly, as the characters gain more density, and although they all leave loose ends, as someone noticed, I don't really perceive it as a limit. I had the feeling this movie wasn't intended to be an exhaustive tale, but a postcard about someone's lives. It starts with a character's words about his mother, and it ends with his mother's words about the characters. In a perfect circle, where at its end everything can happen, like tracing a beginning where the characters have grown, not a conclusion.
The feeling of watching a postcard is sustained by technical side of the production. The director warns the viewer that it has been produced with very limited budget, and yet he chose B/W and a DV camcorder while a bit more professional camera would have increased the cost only a tad. It's like taking a Polaroid picture instead of a digital still: give the sense of a fleeing moment. A postcard of lives, as I said. I also enjoyed the acting, Norbert Orlewicz (Riley) gives a very tridimensional performance, Karen Rae (Tobie) is fresh and grows better during the movie, Cody Campbell(Chad)delivers but without brightness, Kevin MacDonald (Gavin) was good, in spite of the too many smiles. It's a movie that, catching the viewer off guard, grows inside. If you only let it.
