FILM MAKES LITTLE THINGS COUNT
Winnipeg director Sean Garrity and writer/actor Jonas Chernick have a history of putting together solid, reasonably amusing variations on standard movie genres: rom-com (Inertia), thriller (Blood Pressure), sex comedy (My Awkward Sexual Adventure).
Their latest marries the tropes of father-daughter reconciliation, road trip and running from a gambling debt, creating a hybrid that, if nothing else, will teach you how to pronounce The Pas and the best route to take if you’re driving to Churchill, Man.
That’s the destination of Jonah (Jonas Chernick), a hapless father and problem gambler whose 15-year-old (Joey King) is rapidly going blind.
He wants her to see the northern lights before she loses her vision entirely. He went there on his honeymoon and loved the view so much he named his child Aurora.
Jonas’ heart may be in the right place, but he’s also driven by an ulterior motive: $98,000 owing to local kingpin Tubby Finkelmen (Kevin Pollack, trying for a Tarantino vibe but never quite nailing it). Getting out of town could buy him some time.
Of course, when the highway signs list The Pas as the next settlement worth stopping at, 598 kilometres away, it doesn’t take Tubby long to figure out where his quarry is headed.
Small films perform best in their small moments and Borealis is no exception. There’s a sweet scene in which Aurora meets a pot dealer in Flin Flon, Man., and another in which she hitches a ride from a creepy guy who turns out to be something of a hero.
I guess there’s a reason the Manitoba licence plates all say “friendly.”
Chernick delivers a nicely laidback performance as the gambler, with none of the twitchiness we associate with such characters. The most excited he gets is when Aurora offers him a hit of her joint, and all he does then is get out of the car to marvel at how the province is so, like, flat.
And King is perfect in the role of Aurora — those pale blue-grey eyes look like they’re either going blind or can see into the future.