By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Philippe Lesage
Starring: Antoine Marchand-Gagnon | Arieh Worthalter | Aurélia Arandi-Longpré | Noah Parker | Paul Ahmarani
Original language title: Comme le feu
Year: 2025
Running time: 161
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30521164
Chris says: “‘Cabin Fever!’, one woman quips at the dinner table following a particularly cringe-laden tirade thrown by another of its occupants; this occurs closer towards the end of this character study about ten or so people staying at a filmmaker’s rustic home deep in the Quebec forest. It would come off as lazy and cliched if not for the nervous (if also casual) way she barks out the phrase. I’ve seen Philippe Lesage’s film simply described as two-and-a-half hours of people arguing and while it doesn’t lack for verbal sparring, there’s far more to it than that. It opens with a lengthy tracking shot of a driving car accompanied by minimalist but spookily effective instrumental droning on the soundtrack. Later, it contains a few out-of-nowhere sequences that could be seen as musical numbers (the two most memorable being pop songs written by queer artists, coincidentally or not.) The final act even swerves into a genuine action/adventure of sorts. It’s uneven and overlong but kind of mesmerizing in how it’s rarely boring despite its measured pace. Ultimately worth seeing for its stellar cinematography and inspired, sometimes nutty use of music (I’ll be nominating it in both those categories). 3.5 cats