By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ruba Nadda
Country: canada
Year: 2015
Running time: 91
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2691734/combined
Kyle says: “OCTOBER GALE is a cracking little drama with a perfect dramatic arc in both narrative and character development. It is confined to a tiny private island near Toronto owned by widow Helen (Patricia Clarkson), who travels alone to the island during her late husband’s favorite month, to get away from her single life in Toronto but also to spend time in the place she associates with her married life. Unexpectedly William (Scott Speedman), a mysterious but good-looking gunshot victim, washes ashore, and Helen attends to his wounds. Shortly after she has saved his life, he is put into the position of having to save hers, and a tentative relationship evolves between the two, based upon their shared victimization by tragedy. Complications ensue first with an autumn gale, then with a quest to murder William by Tom (Tim Roth), who took William into his home as a child but holds him responsible for the death of his son Chris. What will happen after the hunt is left gratifyingly open-ended, rendering this a rare psychological thriller that can be enjoyed by adults without gagging constantly on idiocies.
“I was about to question why Patricia Clarkson is not revered as one of our greatest actresses, when I happened to check her extensive list of accolades and discovered that she has been recognized four times by Chlotrudis: twice as Best Supporting Actress for THE STATION AGENT (2004) and FAR FROM HEAVEN (2003), and twice nominated in the same category for PIECES OF APRIL (2004) and HIGH ART (1999). From her first feature film appearance as Catherine Ness in Brian De Palma’s fanciful THE
UNTOUCHABLES (1987), humanizing Kevin Costner’s stolid workaholic Eliot Ness, all the way through her imperious matriarch Celia Green in LAST WEEKEND, which I regarded as one of the best films of 2014, she has brought grace and vulnerability to every role.
“OCTOBER GALE offers another opportunity to savor Patricia Clarkson’s gifts, with the additional pleasures of handsome Scott Speedman as William, and scary Tim Roth as the ‘father’ with his virtually patented short-fuse violence-beneath-the-surface bad guy who does not think of himself in that way. Technical credits are outstanding, with a spare but appropriate music score for strings and piano by Mischa Chillak, gorgeous cinematography by Jeremy Benning that captures the light and color of the island whether stormy or sunny, and rhythmically apt editing by Wiebke von Carolsfeld that is particularly noteworthy during scenes between Clarkson and Speedman. 4 cats
“Seen Thursday, September 10, 2015, on Netflix, New York.”