The new film “The Middle Man,” a new dark comedy now playing in theatres, is the story of Frank (Pål Sverre Hagen), an unemployed man who takes a job in the accident capital of America.
The setting is Karmac in Any Midwest State, USA. Terrible things happen on an almost daily basis. It’s so grim there the flags at City Hall are permanently at half-mast. The only growth industry in town is accident clean-up, the crew that comes in to tidy up after bad things happen.
The city is going broke, pretty soon they won’t be able to turn on the streetlights, which, says the local doctor (Don McKellar), will lead to even more mishaps, so they need to hire a Middle Man, someone to deliver bad news to the families of the bereaved.
Frank, out of work for three years, applies, even though his only qualifications are a hangdog demeanor and telling his mother that his father fell off a ladder, hit his head and died.
He gets the gig, learns the ropes—”Crying is a privilege that belongs to the next of kin,” says the sheriff (Paul Gross), “not the middle man.”—and forms a bond with receptionist Blenda (Tuva Novotny). When Bob (Trond Fausa Aurvåg), Brenda’s ex-boyfriend and failed Middle Man candidate, strikes and kills Frank’s best friend, it sets into motion of events that causes an overwhelmed Frank to wonder if his new position is right for him or not. “It’s a busy job,” he says, “accidents don’t keep office hours.”
Norwegian director Bent Hamer, who also wrote the script based on a novel by Norwegian-Danish writer Lars Saabye Christensen, may have set the story in the Midwest, but his dark, deadpan humour is purely Scandinavian. This semi-comedic study of loss and grief, is macabre in tone but maintains a quirky, if bleak, sense of itself. Dialing up the farcical aspects of the story may have increased the film’s commercial appeal but may have chipped away at Hamer’s thoughtful consideration of life in a small, unusual town.
“The Middle Man” won’t be for everyone, but viewers with a taste for unconventional but restrained absurdism will find much to enjoy.
Becoming a new parent is scary, filled with unknowns. Will the baby be healthy and happy? What kind of parent will I be? A new film called “Isabelle,” starring Amanda Crew and Adam Brody, imagines the unimaginable, the unknowable psychological torment that follows a miscarriage.
Larissa (Crew) and Matt (Brody) are a happy young couple. Expecting a baby, they move to a new house to start their new life as parents. Next door is a stately old home, occupied by the schoolmarm-ish Ann Pelway (Sheila McCarthy) and eerie daughter Isabelle (Zoë Belkin), who is usually only seen peering through a second story window. After an encounter with Ann on the street Larissa is rushed to the hospital. Though clinically dead for a minute Larissa survives. Sadly, the child does not. Once at home Larissa is plagued by guilt and depression. She hears her dead child crying in the other room and is tormented by Isabelle’s seemingly unbreaking gaze.
After a brief set up director Rob Heydon sets a fast pace for the brisk 80-minute movie, diving right into the psychological terror. Much of the horror is subtle but effective as we learn about why Ann and Isabelle seem so otherworldly and follow Larissa on her terrifying journey. Midway through, however, “Isabelle” becomes cluttered with plot devices; there’s a hospital priest (Dayo Ade), demonic possession, a spiritual healer (Michael Miranda), Devil worship and more. More is sometimes less, and in this case the film feels rushed, over-stuffed with every trope out of the Supernatural Drama Handbook.
“Isabelle” does have its pleasures. McCarthy is a standout as Ann, a pious woman tormented by the past, and Brody and Crew who humanize the horror of the aftermath of a tragedy.
Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again,” but some people do it anyway. Take Valerie (Sheila McCarthy), protagonist of “Cardinals.” After spending a decade in prison for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated she returns home to an unexpected reception.
The story begins the night of her crime. Without spoiling the film’s set up I can tell you we see Valerie guzzling vodka in the front seat of her car as a lifeless body is illuminated by her tail lights. Fast-forward ten years. On the day of her release from prison her daughters (Grace Glowicki and Kate Boland) welcome her back. Not everyone is happy to see her, however. Next door neighbour and victim’s son Mark (Noah Reid) has waited ten years to confront her, to find out what, exactly, happened that fateful night. Valerie’s stoicism and lack of contriteness stonewalls Marks’ attempts to uncover the truth. Is there more to this story than he originally thought?
“Cardinals” is a slow burn that focuses on the reaction to Valerie’s actions. She brought tragedy to two familes, Mark lost a father and her daughters lost their mother, but as details are revealed in a harrowing climax, more questions about culpability and consequences are raised. It’s an interesting “Dateline” worthy crime story with an effective central performance from McCarthy.
