Director: Carl Bessai (Emile, Severed)
Writer: Travis McDonald, Carl Bessai
Producers: Carl Bessai, Andrew Boutilier
Starring: Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, Andrew Airlie, Cameron Bright, Camille Sullivan, Tygh Runyan
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 100 min.

The overhead shot that opens Normal sets the stage: we’re not dealing with the average family. Gigantic yards, sprawling homes, swimming pools, waterfront properties; is this really BC? Turns out it is, in fact, Victoria but regardless of where it is, Bessai’s breathtaking method doesn’t feel like a cheap TV rip-off. The languishing visuals and music mark a somber mood and the control of someone with clear intentions.

Normal is the story of how a young man’s death affects various individuals focusing on his parents, his best friend and the man driving the other car. Ensemble casts have become a bit cliché, especially with a description like this one, but Bessai’s film feels different, likely because the connections between the characters aren’t extended between their natural reach. There’s no attempt to cross the various stories and tie them together in a nice bow instead, it feels as though we’re watching these individuals deal with the day to day but coming ever closer to a breaking point and when that point is finally reached, the conclusions aren’t grand. They feel real and raw, something which can be attributed to the script, the acting and Bessai’s handling of the camera.

With such varied characters and a loose connection between them, Normal could easily have become tired and flat but it is to Travis McDonald and Bessai’s great credit that the film never sells out. The characters grow and change but in believable ways and even when it walks the line of melodrama, the film manages to feel authentic. This must have been particularly difficult with the character of Catherine, the mother of the dead boy, who is in a constant fit of anger or depression.

Carrie-Anne Moss, perhaps the most notable name in the cast, is excellent in the role of Catherine and her breakdowns are ugly but one can’t help but feel sorry for the woman who lost her “baby”, particularly when her role is accentuated by a cold, unemotional husband who is coolly played by Andrew Airlie. Callum Keith Rennie is excellent as Walt, the professor who was drunk and behind the wheel of the other car but it’s the smaller roles of Jordie (Kevin Zegers), the dead boy’s best friend, and Elise (Camille Sullivan), Jordie’s step-mother, that really impressed me. I’d seen Zegers in last year’s The Jane Austen Book Club but his performance here marks him as more than just a pretty boy and though Sullivan’s performance is quite small, it is impressive in its power.

Normal is a solid ensemble film with excellent performances but what marks it as memorable for me is the camera work. Bessai shoots much of the film at close range and it creates an intimacy and urgency that I haven’t seen in a while. This was particularly apparent during an intimate love scene which feels that much more uncomfortable because the viewer is in the midst of the action. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for the actors and kudos to both Zegers and Sullivan for providing the steamiest (and creepiest) scene I’ve seen in a while.

Bessai doesn’t seem to be one to shy away from experiments, even if they aren’t quite at the level of Maddin or McDonald’s, but I’m curious to see what he has in his back catalog and what is to come.

Links:
IMDb profile - full cast and crew
Official Site
Flixster Profile for Normal