(Canada, 97 min.)
Written and directed by Karim Ayari
Starring: Sophia Radisch, Ron Tarrant, Richard Gélinas.
A young girl and an old man lie on the floor. Their sweaty
faces are framed in close-up. “What just happened… stays between us,” the old
man says to the young girl. Ick.
After the opening credits, the film – written, directed, and
produced by local filmmaker Karim Ayari – flashes back to the events that
brought Lilly to Dan’s quaint little cottage at 13 Downs Street near Wakefield,
Quebec. It’s refreshing to see some Ottawa locations creep through the excess
of close-ups in Thirteen Downs,
especially Westboro’s Baker Street Café where Dan takes Lilly for their first
“date.” It’s too bad that both characters neglect to mention how Baker Street
serves the best brunch in town, but the fact that they commute from Wakefield
just to enjoy a bowl of soup should give a pretty good hint.
As Thirteen Downs explains
the steps from Lilly and Dan’s date to their floorboard panting, the film crosscuts
past and present by placing the story of Lilly and Dan’s relationship side by
side with an encounter between Lilly and Dan’s son, Stuart (Richard Gélinas).
Stuart drops by 13 Downs in order to visit his dad on his birthday. They are
estranged, but Stuart seems ready to make amends; however, he’s understandably
surprised when a breathless teenager answers the door. She’s visibly flustered
and says that Dan is not home. A mild altercation ensues between Stuart and the
houseguest. Lilly eventually becomes calm and explains that Dan is out buying
some tea. To pass the time, Stuart has Lilly explain how she met his father.
The film employs an intriguing temporal structure by weaving
back and forth from scenes of between scenes of Lilly with each generation of
the Palmer family. Both storylines leave no doubt that there is some
impropriety going on, but the ‘who’ and ‘why’ fluctuate with the new bits of
information granted in each one. Although Lilly is a complicated little
character, the real enigma of Thirteen
Downs is the ongoing reveal in Dan. He seems like your standard dirty old
man at first, but as he spends some more time with Lilly, it seems like he is
just a lonely man in search of a friend; however, when a concerned waitress
starts asking questions, Dan lies to her and says that he is Lilly’s
grandfather. The motivation for this nice man is rather murky.
The tone and structure of the film create an air of
ambiguity; however, although the film has an element of mystery, it is mis-marketed
and improperly pitched as a thriller/suspense. Thirteen Downs builds to a genuinely surprising twist, but one
might best appreciate it if one approaches it as a provocative family drama. The
story is painful and the subject is matter risqué. Thirteen Downs is also intimate and claustrophobic, especially with
how Ayari frames the dramatic triangle mostly in tight close-ups within the
enclosed space of Dan’s cottage. The drama sometimes feels contrived as it
unfolds, but the actors buoy the material, with Ron Tarrant giving particularly
good work as Dan. The overall impact of Thirteen
Downs, however, is slightly muted by its over-length, which could have been
remedied had it featured fewer montages and interludes of favourite songs, and
been less prone to slow motion. Thirteen
Downs is narratively and thematically intriguing, however, so a tighter cut
might deliver the film in its full force.
On the other hand, Thirteen
Downs works rather well for such a small production (the film reportedly
cost only $10 000), so its shortcomings are relatively forgivable, particularly
because it shows promise for our local filmmakers. As the film selected to open
this year’s Ottawa International Film Festival, Thirteen Downs, which credits OIFF Executive Director Nina Bains
among its producers, is a good example of the budding talent in Ottawa’s film
scene. It might be difficult for the film to expand beyond the local level, but
Ottawa fans should certainly note the progress of the talents within the city’s
film scene and expect to see more.
Rating: ★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
