It's not often that I praise Canadian film, particularly when it's funded by the usual scoundrels Astral and the like... yet this has actually been a good year, and I'm having to rethink.
This is a good film, and certainly deserves more than the absurd 4.8 it currently gets on IMDb.
Let's get the bad out of the way:
The childish sing-song poetry narration was annoying. It seems there entirely to pretend that this is a movie for Canada's schoolkids. I guess if this shows up in schools, we'll know if it worked.
And whoever decided the fonts to use for "The End" and for the opening and closing credits (except the scrolling ones) knows nothing about fonts and should be kept as far away from a keyboard as possible.
And what magical property does fire have, that it knows it should only burn the poppy field, and then stop?
It's not clear why Wade had to shoot his horse. Presumably, the horse was wounded, but I don't recall ever seeing that happen.
Finally, it should have been made clear why gold made the river smell, and why people were falling ill. Was it sulphur?
That's a lot of nitpicking. But aside from that, the truth is that this is a good western, comparable to 60s spaghetti westerns. What makes it unique is that it's in a Canadian context (Yukon Territory), and of course it's filmed with current techniques which allow for a bit more (but not too much) gore.
It's a quiet film, which draws you into the story, characters, and landscape. I never once doubted Andrew Walker's portrayal of Wade. The cinematography is great. And the short running time (less than 90 minutes) is perfect for the story they're telling.
I look forward to more like this, but with a bit more fine tuning.
This is a good film, and certainly deserves more than the absurd 4.8 it currently gets on IMDb.
Let's get the bad out of the way:
The childish sing-song poetry narration was annoying. It seems there entirely to pretend that this is a movie for Canada's schoolkids. I guess if this shows up in schools, we'll know if it worked.
And whoever decided the fonts to use for "The End" and for the opening and closing credits (except the scrolling ones) knows nothing about fonts and should be kept as far away from a keyboard as possible.
And what magical property does fire have, that it knows it should only burn the poppy field, and then stop?
It's not clear why Wade had to shoot his horse. Presumably, the horse was wounded, but I don't recall ever seeing that happen.
Finally, it should have been made clear why gold made the river smell, and why people were falling ill. Was it sulphur?
That's a lot of nitpicking. But aside from that, the truth is that this is a good western, comparable to 60s spaghetti westerns. What makes it unique is that it's in a Canadian context (Yukon Territory), and of course it's filmed with current techniques which allow for a bit more (but not too much) gore.
It's a quiet film, which draws you into the story, characters, and landscape. I never once doubted Andrew Walker's portrayal of Wade. The cinematography is great. And the short running time (less than 90 minutes) is perfect for the story they're telling.
I look forward to more like this, but with a bit more fine tuning.