After hastily leaving Montreal with her children to join the father of her daughter in Florida, a woman is forced to stop for a few days in a village in the Adirondacks, the time to have her broken down car repaired.
The first feature film by Marianne Farley, an actress revealed as a filmmaker thanks in particular to Daisy, nominated for the Oscars in 2019 in the category of best short film, is a psychological thriller. It is important to specify this, because, although it is sometimes under tension, this film is still not the thriller that its trailer foreshadowed. Thrill-seekers will not find anything here to satisfy their appetite.
On the other hand, the author of the scenario ofNorth of Albany, written with Claude Brie, drawing inspiration from an experience she herself had on the road, nevertheless showed cleverness by constructing her story on two axes. First, there is the relationship between Annie (Céline Bonnier) and her two children, Sarah (Zeneb Blanchet) and Félix (Eliott Plamondon), exacerbated by this sudden departure from Montreal to Florida following an event in which the eldest was involved.
Then there is this other relationship, hostile at first, which develops between Annie and Paul (Rick Roberts), the unknown mechanic who has reluctantly agreed to tow the old Volvo, which has broken down not far from a small village in the Adirondacks. And for which it will take days to receive a replacement part.
Annie and her children thus find themselves trapped in a small American town where, over the hours and days, bonds are forged between the Quebeckers on the run and the mechanic’s entourage, in particular between Sarah and Hope (Naomi Cormier), the rebellious daughter of Paul, and between Felix and his host.
Céline Bonnier excels in the role of this mother whose decision to flee was taken in a moment of panic, but the story, whose outcome surprises us little, takes a path that is a little too predictable. That said, the director displays a great sense of staging and the images, signed Benoit Beaulieu, are magnificent.
Indoors
Drama
North of Albany
Marianne Farley
With Celine Bonnier, Zeneb Blanchet, Rick Roberts
1:47 a.m.