A thriller about friendship, serial killers and lies set against the backdrop of the 1995 referendum on the separation of Quebec, Good Neighbors has a Twin Peaks feel. That is, if that show had been directed by Dario Argento. The lives of three neighbors in a Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood walk-up become entwined, leading to murder—dead cats and tenants—suspicion and double and triple crosses. The undeniable sweetness director Jacob Tierney brought to his last film The Trotsky is out the window, replaced by a delicious sense of mischief and mayhem. Also showing their dark sides are stars Jay Baruchel, Scottt Speedman and Emily Hampshire.
Good Neighbours is the second collaboration between Montrealers Jay Baruchel and director Jacob Tierney, following up last year’s high school comedy The Trotsky. Baruchel says their connection began because “we are both rabid Habs fans and movie nerds” but solidified on set.
“I embarrass him when I say this but he’s probably the best director I have ever worked with,” Baruchel said. “I don’t mean to take anything away from the guys I’ve worked with but I’ve never seen such an uncommon combination of definitive vision, open mindedness and an ability to let others contribute. That’s the key and that’s why we made an awesome movie.”
Set in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood the movie mixes and matches Rear Window, Twin Peaks and, according to Baruchel, “a really uncomfortable sense of humour.”
Don’t expect the sunny Ferris Bueller optimism of The Trotsky. Good Neighbours involves three young Montrealers, the wheelchair bound Spencer (Scott Speedman), cat lover Louise (Emily Hampshire) and Victor, an earnest school teacher played by Baruchel. As their lives become entwined it becomes difficult for them — and the audience — to know who to trust. Good Neighbours also features a murder Baruchel calls “if not the goriest, then the most uncomfortable death scene in any movie this year.”
There’s that word again, uncomfortable.
“It will be polarizing,” says Baruchel, next seen in Goon, a hockey comedy he wrote and stars in, “but I think this movie really gets under your skin.”
It’s also the kind of movie that probably wouldn’t easily find funding in Hollywood.
“The main reason this would never get made stateside is that it leaves too much up to the audience,” says Baruchel. “The studios don’t like that. They like to kind of give you a road map and let you know when you are supposed to be sad or happy and who you are meant to root for. Some people will say that my character is so lovely and sympathetic and others think he’s really creepy. Your life will inform how you see our movie.”
Take one part Twin Peaks, mix with one part Roman Polanski and you have Good Neighbours. It’s a dark comedy set in an apartment building in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce that features a murder, which star Jay Baruchel calls “if not the goriest, then the most uncomfortable death scene in any movie this year.”
The events leading up to the grisly, but darkly amusing incident involve three young Montrealers, the wheelchair bound Spencer (Scott Speedman), cat lover Louise (Emily Hampshire) and Victor, an earnest school teacher played by Baruchel. As their lives become entwined it becomes difficult for them — and the audience — to know who to trust.
“It will be polarizing,” says Baruchel, who was last seen starring opposite Nicolas Cage in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, “but I think this movie really gets under your skin.”
It’s also the kind of movie that probably wouldn’t easily find funding in Hollywood.
“The main reason this would never get made stateside is that it leaves too much up to the audience,” says Baruchel. “The studios don’t like that. They like to kind of give you a road map and let you know when you are supposed to be sad or happy and who you are meant to root for. Director Jacob Tierney says his favourite thing when talking to people after screenings is what they project on it. Some people will say that my character is so lovely and sympathetic and others think he’s really creepy. Your life will inform how you see our movie, I think.
“If I was to sum up the whole movie, and specifically my character it would be ‘Good depends on context.’ I really think this movie is nothing if not a grey area. It’s still going to be rewarding but there is this really uncomfortable sense of humour that permeates the whole thing. Jacob wants people to be on edge from beginning to end.”
One person, however, that Baruchel doesn’t want the movie to rattle is his mother. “There is a reason my mother is not coming to the movie (premier) tonight. I said ‘You can watch the movie just not beside me.’”
Canuck pride sidebar
“I’m very grateful for the career I’ve had in the states. It has afforded my mother, my sister and I lives we otherwise never would have had,” says Baruchel. “That being said … by and large the things I have been most proud of have all been here.”
A thriller about friendship, serial killers and lies set against the backdrop of the 1995 referendum on the separation of Quebec, Good Neighbors has a Twin Peaks feel. That is, if that show had been directed by Dario Argento. The lives of three neighbors in a Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood walk-up become entwined, leading to murder—dead cats and tenants—suspicion and double and triple crosses. The undeniable sweetness director Jacob Tierney brought to his last film The Trotsky is out the window, replaced by a delicious sense of mischief and mayhem. Also showing their dark sides are stars Jay Baruchel, Scottt Speedman and Emily Hampshire.
