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Freedom is a fleeting illusion, a brief gasp of air before the inevitable plunge. For Ava, released from a two-year prison sentence, the world she re-enters is not a clean slate but the same cage, just with wider bars. Her return to Ponoka, a town etched into the rugged Alberta landscape, feels less like a homecoming and more like a surrender to gravity.

Here, amidst the dust of the rodeo and the ghosts of past glories, the criminal life she sought to shed clings to her like a second skin. The film wastes no time in re-submerging her, where a violent rupture—the swift, brutal murder of her twin brother—catapults her from the purgatory of parole into the hell of being hunted.

Her existence is immediately compressed into a singular, desperate objective: survival. The presence of her father, Will, a former rodeo champion locked in a world of silence and stern judgment,...

Movies about drug dealers in trouble are nothing new, but the Canadian thriller In Cold Light, which had its world premiere in Tribeca, benefits from a strong cast and breakneck pacing. In prizing visceral impact over narrative clarity, the film sometimes leaves too many unanswered questions, but there isn’t much time to criticize while the film is racing forward.

It opens with the arrest and imprisonment of Ava (Maika Monroe), a tough but resourceful young woman who has clearly made some unfortunate choices. After a couple of years she is released and returns home to her deaf father (played by Troy Kotsur, the Oscar winner from Coda) and twin brother Tom (Jesse Irving). She seems to want to go straight, but her brother is still involved in drug dealing, and Ava finds that she cannot escape either. When Ava and Tom are stopped by police, everything spins out of control,...

Movies rarely come more generic than French-Canadian filmmaker Maxime Giroux’s “In Cold Light,” an exhaustingly paced action-thriller where every idea and visual seems templated and stylized within an inch of their life. It’s something closer to a mood-board assortment than a film with a real story to tell. A stockpile of neon lights, derelict spaces, gritty town exteriors and an on-the-run anti-heroine (Maika Monroe) caught in a web of drug lords can only sustain one’s attention for only so long.

That’s too bad, as Monroe, the renowned scream queen of excellent genre entries like “It Follows” and “Watcher,” is always an enthralling watch pit against sinister pursuers. She brings her signature qualities — a silent emotional forte, a stoic sense of gracefulness — to the psychically demanding “In Cold Light.” But while a very muscular Monroe gives the cat-and-mouse game her character is forced into her all (and...

Exclusive: Saban Films has acquired U.S. rights to In Cold Light, a crime thriller starring Maika Monroe (Longlegs), as well as Academy Award winners Troy Kotsur (Coda) and Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets), which is slated to world premiere in the Spotlight section of the Tribeca Festival on June 7.

Marking the first English-language feature from Canadian filmmaker Maxime Giroux, the film will be released in theaters nationwide later this year.

In Cold Light is set in a fractured city where loyalty is currency and violence speaks loudest, following Ava (Monroe), who’s newly released from prison and ready to reclaim her territory — until she witnesses a brutal crime that forces her to run. Hunted by enemies and haunted by her past, Ava is pulled into a desperate fight for survival.

Script is by Patrick Whistler. Yanick Létourneau produced for Peripheria, alongside Mike MacMillan of Lithium Studios (Mobile Homes). Executive produced by XYZ Films and primarily financed by Telefilm Canada and Sodec, with additional investment from Ipr.Vc, the film’s ensemble also includes Allan Hawco, Jesse Irving, Patrick Sabongui, and Noah Parker.

In a statement on the acquisition, Saban Films co-presidents Jonathan Saban and Shanan Becker said, “Maika Monroe is a star of the highest order. Her talents are on full display in this electrifying thriller. Surrounded by Academy Award winners Helen Hunt and Troy Kotsur, In Cold Light is a tour de force on every level.”

Commented producers Létourneau and MacMillan, “We’re excited to have Saban Films on board for the U.S. release. Their enthusiasm for In Cold Light and their commitment to giving it a proper theatrical life in the U.S. is exactly what we were looking for.”

Jonathan Saba repped Saban Films in the deal, with XYZ Films’ Nate Bolotin and Pip Ngo repping the filmmakers.