Ashgrove Review: Lovers in a Dangerous Time

We’re all special to somebody, but Jennifer (Amanda Brugel) is hands down the most important person on earth. Jennifer and her team of scientists are on the brink of finding a cure for a viral outbreak that’s ravaging the planet.

The virus poisoned the world’s drinking water, making it so that each thirst-quenching sip brings humanity closer to extinction. Drink too much water, and you’re toast. Drink too little, and you still kick the bucket.

As Jennifer works around the clock to save humanity, the pressure takes a toll on her personal life. She’s now a stranger to her husband Jason (Jonas Chernick), who deals with his loneliness by baking bread and freestyling ukulele tunes.

Jennifer’s boss orders her to take a weekend off after she suffers a blackout. She heads to the country with Jason for some much-needed R&R. But their sweet getaway turns sour fast as the couple bring out the worst in each other. Something about Jason’s behaviour seems fishy, and Jennifer starts suspecting their weekend escape is not quite what it appears to be.

The end of the world proves fertile ground for director and co-writer Jeremy LaLonde’s unsettling character study, Ashgrove . LaLonde puts a global catastrophe on the back burner to dive into his characters’ emotional depths. Come for the apocalyptic premise, but stay for the spectacle of a marriage disintegrating before your eyes.

Much of Ashgrove consists of two people in a room talking. LaLonde gives the audience plenty of time with his charming cast before the emotional stakes ramp up. Jennifer and Jason’s rapport feels authentic whether they’re engaged in playful banter or at each others’ throats. At times their relationship drama was compelling enough to make me forget about their bleak circumstances.

LaLonde trusts his talented cast enough to let their performances breathe. The story takes its time building up, so viewers have a strong sense of who these people are once things shift into high gear. So when the film hits you with its WTF twists, they strike that much harder.

It helps that Brugel and Chernick deliver a pair of knockout performances. This story doesn’t work without both actors firing on all cylinders. At times Jason and Jennifer can be as sweet as apple crumble pie, and other times they’re toxic assholes. Regardless of a character’s mood, you understand where they’re coming from. The story wouldn’t hold up if we didn’t see Jennifer and Jason as multifaceted people with conflicting wants and needs.

Ashgrove deftly captures that feeling in a relationship when emotional baggage outweighs love and patience. It’s that point when your frustration with your partner goes from 0-100 in an instant because you still hold a grudge from your last fight (or three). Dialogues between Jennifer and Jason have the tension of an overstretched elastic band; you sit there knowing it can snap at any moment.

Speaking of snapping, the film asks a reasonable question to a society that’s lost its collective mind. Turn on the news and people are brawling over vaccine passports and mask mandates. Ashgrove examines the somehow controversial concept of sacrificing for the greater good.

The film is too smart to tackle this idea with an issue as black and white as vaccinations. LaLonde wrestles with this theme on a deeper existential level that I won’t spoil here. I will say that Ashgrove puts Jason in the role of Dr. Fauci’s wife, forcing him to give up the love of his life in a time of crisis. Even though Jason understands Jennifer’s work is for the greater good, he feels alone and abandoned.

Most of us like to think that given the opportunity, we would do the right thing. But that’s easier said than done. We’re only human and full of selfish wants, needs, and desires. Our mind tells us one thing while our heart sings a different tune. That inner conflict makes life messy and complicated, so it’s perfect material for a character study like Ashgrove .

Ashgrove also does an excellent job capturing the essence of modern hustle culture. We’re always connected to work, family, and friends, scrambling to manage overflowing inboxes with no time to catch our breath. Metaphorically, we’re all Jennifer, going nonstop because we’re afraid the world will end if we step away. Ashgrove offers a spot-on depiction of life in 2022 – even without the pandemic angle.

We’ve seen countless films where people fight to prevent the end of the world . A global catastrophe seems like a perfect way to raise a film’s stakes. The problem, though, is that too many filmmakers stop there. They present us with world-ending stakes without showing us why that world is worth saving. They’re so concerned with spectacle they don’t bother writing bold characters and memorable worlds that are worth fighting for.

Ashgrove handles apocalyptic storytelling the right way. The premise may be epic in scope, but it’s grounded in its execution. LaLonde delivers a suspenseful chamber piece anchored in strong characters, staggering performances, and authentic modern-day anxieties.

Ashgrove will have its Canadian premiere at the Canadian Film Fest (CFF) on Saturday, March 26 at 9PM ET & midnight on Super Channel Fuse .