Lola

Living in a city as beautiful as Vancouver has its dark side, in more ways than anyone can imagine. Attracting lost souls at an early age is one of the lures of British Columbia's only glittering and inviting city cozily lodged on the shores of the warm Pacific Ocean and nestled in view of the surrounding Rocky Mountains.

Teenager dreams of squirting out of small towns and abusive family relationships abound and mostly end up in a wasted life naively domineered by pimps, drugs and finally untimely death is commonplace.

When Lola, a somewhat unfocused and distracted girl being psychologically abused by her boyfriend, decides to change her life, accidentally finds herself in a journey to find motherly love in an unknown woman.......

Flighty Lola (Sabrina Grdevich) gets her car towed and her boyfriend Mike (Colm Feore) is tired of her irresponsibility. She saves Sandra (Joanna Going) from oncoming traffic. She leaves Mike and starts to go with her new friend Sandra. The girls are beaten by Sandra's pimp behind a strip club and Lola runs away. She sets off taking over the other's identity.

The first half is intriguing. There are some interesting characters. I hoped to see the girls' relationship develop and how it conflicts with Mike. It all changes and Lola goes on this meandering journey. She's an aimless character on a pointless road trip. The intriguing character relationships all disappear. This Canadian indie starts off with some promise but the second half delivers nothing. At best, it tries to be poignant with Lola's journey but mostly it fails.

Things I Liked About The Movie:

. Sabrina Grdevich as Lola brings an intriguing screen presence to the role of a woman who may only reach her true potential by becoming someone else. It is impossible to determine what an attractive complex woman is thinking at the best of times and when you consider that the title character is going through a profound transition in her life it is no wonder the men she meets on her road to a new self realization look suitably baffled. . I like the way director Carl Bessai contrasts the urban rush of Vancouver traffic with the serene beauty of the British Columbia Interior. It is only when Lola leaves the jangle and confusion of the city and heads out into those windswept wide open spaces that she begins to achieve some sort of clarity. She flashes back to her chance encounter with Sandra (Joanna Going, memorable in a small role). Lola only spent a few hours with her new friend before tragedy struck but the woman made a deep impression on her. Lola is finally able to see her life with insensitive husband Mike (played by the reliably fine Colm Feore)for the emotional dead end that it is. Like Atom Egoyan in "The Sweet Hereafter" Bessai uses landscape to put character and story development into a psychological context. (The rugged mountainous terrain of the Interior is like a Canadian equivalent of John Ford's Monument Valley westerns.) . Like all stubbornly idiosyncratic independent pictures this film moves at its only deliberate unhurried pace with Bessai giving his lead actress lots of room to explore the nuances of her character. Some readers have complained that the film moves along too slowly and nothing much happens along the way. They miss the fact that much of the action here is on an internal level. As a lifelong fan of the female mystique I find Ms. Grdevich's face fascinating to watch as her character sorts through issues of identity, love and loss and finally decides to get a life ... even if it is not her own.

The One line Summary says it all. Don't expect too much action, this is a rather slow movie where you have to do your work and think to fully enjoy it. The main actress is incredible; she plays two different roles and you truly believe she is two different people.

Lola is a perfect example of a movie that should have been at least 15 minutes shorter. There simply isn't enough story here to warrant Lola a tag of being a good film.

Don't get me wrong, Lola isn't terrible. The acting is good. The Sandra and Lola characters are polished fairly well. But seeing the main character walking in downtown Vancouver doing almost nothing will keep a moviegoers attention for so long.

I gave Lola 6 out of 10.