This is impressively intelligent film-making from a roughly 24 year old Mettler. We have a film that basically matches its subject matter with its form (about drugged perception, structured in a drugged manner). This form=matter notion alone is rare enough for a young filmmaker to deliver and deserves applause. But the actual subject matter could have been chosen more intelligently - the three story lines within the main frame aren't of much interest, particularly the entymologist one... and things could have been drawn out a bit more clearly. It seems sometimes as if Mettler was shooting for obscurity. But the same ideas could've been carried out in a clearer manner nonetheless.
The last few minutes of the film are quite thrilling in terms of editing and shooting and it's all very well amplified by the sound. That final shot is still poignant even if it could've carried more meaning. A credit to Canadian cinema... too bad audiences just aren't willing to go through much of this abstraction in cinema. And evidently never were and this is unfortunately still pretty obscure.
