October Gale (2014)

A Netflix reviewer suggested that this film improves somewhat after the first 20 minutes of watching a middle-aged woman cleaning her house. I didn't make it that far, so I can't comment.What I can say is that if you're going to make a film that begins with 20 minutes of house-cleaning, you could at least get the actress to fold the blankets neatly! I believe I actually developed a bad case of OCD while watching this movie. Either that, or it was just so dull that my mind began to obsess over irrelevant details in the set dressing.It's a rare film that makes me give up so soon, but this one managed to be both boring and depressing before anything had even happened (other than an unevenly folded blanket), so I didn't get to see if she restocked the fridge or merely emptied it.

I found this beautiful little movie very recently and it quickly has become a new favorite. The story and writing, the cast, the location and mood, the dynamics and nuances between characters I found to be all quietly captivating. Patricia Clarkson and Scott Speedman, playing their parts with 'Canadian restraint' are perfect in their roles, and Tim Roth, as ever, is utterly authentic as the British undesirable. October Gale, in my humble opinion, should be watched as a love story rather than as a thriller . . . and the naysayers who have given it the thumbs down, should perhaps view it again with a different mindset. I loved it!

So far I've liked Patricia Clarkson in every role in which I've seen her. She first caught my attention in Todd Haynes's "Far from Heaven", and she's also had good roles in "The Green Mile", "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Six Feet Under". To be certain, she was the only interesting character in "The Maze Runner". "October Gale" isn't a great movie but manages to create some suspense. The main thing that I derived from the movie is that Georgian Bay (a branch of Lake Huron on the Canadian side) looks like a nice place to visit. That's right, the unpleasant things that happen to Clarkson's character on the coast of Georgian Bay won't scare me away from that place.Anyway, it's an OK movie. I hope that Patricia Clarkson's career continues as it has.

Premiering during a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), October GALE is a dramatic thriller that's too devoid of tension to be considered thrilling and far short of emotional and relatable characters to be considered dramatic.It's a shame because the opening sequence of sweeping Parry Sound long shots and Steadicam shots of Helen (Patricia Clarkson) opening and cleaning the family's vacation cottage offered a promising segue into what appears to be (on the surface), a study in normative bereavement with a murderous twist. Likewise, the film's setting is a beautiful contradiction of comfortable isolation that quickly dissipates as the story's nonsensical and improbable choices become too incredulous to be believable.Grieving the loss of her husband (played in silent flashbacks by Callum Keith Rennie) in a wild storm the previous year, Toronto doctor Helen Matthews (Clarkson) decides to return to her family's isolated cottage in an effort to move on. After single-handedly opening up the warm and comforting home in Georgian Bay, Helen begins the arduous task of sifting through and removing some of the mementos accumulated during their 32-year marriage.The visual and aural planes of this transition from acceptance to perseverance are well crafted; the non-diegetic musical score gives way to diegetic empathetic sounds of the bay that feel crisp and renewing. Fortuitously so considering Helen shortly thereafter comes face-to-face with an unexpected and mysterious gentleman (Scott Speedman) crawling and bleeding on her floor with a gunshot wound. After treating his wound and grabbing her rifle, Helen waits for the stranger to wake up and when he does, Will is vague about the attack and about his life thus far until local handyman Al (Aidan Devine) decides to pay Helen an unexpected visit. Will relents and reveals that he had spent time in prison for manslaughter after a bar-fight and that the guy's father 'is not going to stop until he's killed me'.As the storm gains momentum outside, Helen agrees (stupidly I might add) to allow Will to stay in her home as they lazily prepare themselves for Al and the gunman to return. The script here is utter wish-wash: writer/director Ruba Nadda (INESCAPABLE) fails to build any suspense and tension for the ensuing action causing it to fall flat, it fails to explain how Helen's appears to be a survivalist doctor who's also a crack shot, nor the circumstances of Will's incarceration and Helen's inconceivable trust in a man she just met.Clarkson and Speedman should however, be applauded for their performances: extracting every nuance they could from their two-dimensional characters to at least be creditable. Overall, if 'it's OK' are the only two words I can come up with after 91 minutes, it's probably safe to say you might want to wait to watch it on video.You can catch me on my handle @TheSachaHall or at The Hollywood News.