Tu Dors Nicole
Contemporary World Cinema
Believe it or not, sometimes something as simple as the ennui of a hot lazy summer in the suburban rural landscape can be a touch too understated to genuinely work. Tu Dors Nicole is a stylishly interesting, but unarratively dull affair that leaves too much unsaid with too characters that don’t stand out enough.
Nicole (Julianne Côté) is aimlessly stuck in her hometown after graduation, working a dead end job in the midst of a hot Quebec summer while her parents are away. Her tired and apathetic funk persists when her older brother Remi (Marc-André Grondin) unexpectedly returns home with his new bandmates, jamming by day and getting drunk and stoned at night. When Nicole cooks up an idea to get out of town with her best friend to go to Iceland, excitement is afoot. That changes pretty quick and Nicole sees that she has to make more meaningful changes in her life to get her life back on track.
Writer/Director Stéphane Lafleur and cinematographer Sara Mishara paint this all in a lush black and white palette, but there’s one problem: nothing of consequence happens in this movie. Côté is an interesting enough protagonist, but with the exception of one interesting and hilarious side character, everyone else is one dimensional and things often just happen for the sake of them happening.
It’s okay if you’re into this sort of thing, but there’s still not enough here to get excited about. (Dave Voigt)
Screens
Tuesday, September 9th, 6:30pm, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
Thursday, September 11th, 4:45pm, Scotiabank 4
Thanks to SPiN TORONTO for sponsoring our TIFF 2014 coverage.
