Film

Down to the Dirt

Down to the Dirt

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Cert: (adv 15)
Dir. Justin Simms
Canada , 110 mins, 2008
Cast: Joel Thomas Hynes, Mylène Savoie, Hugh Dillon

The short film Attack of the Robots from Nebula 5 will be shown before this film.

Justin Simms' debut as a feature film director is an enigmatically comical story of one man’s improbable salvation. The film is an adaptation of the internationally acclaimed novel by Joel Thomas Hynes, who incidentally plays the lead role of Keith Kavanagh, a wayward young Newfoundlander desperate to make sense of his own drug-infused, mutinous way of life. A black-and-blue antihero whose life is a chaotic kaleidoscope of numerous broken relationships, Kavanagh is a spineless tormenter and fool destined for an early grave.

Kavanagh’s only sanctuary is his notebook, filled with his own lyrical beat poetry, which is insightful and poignant in its scolding of the dreary world around him. Snippets of this hidden genius keep us tentatively believing that he can pull himself out of the mire and make something of his life. Kavanagh does his utmost to self destruct, however, as his girlfriend Natasha (Savoie) heartbreakingly finds out as their search for a fresh start crumbles into a horrendous nightmare – brilliantly resembled in an unbearable mercy killing of the pet cat.

This journey through the underbelly of Atlantic Canada is both gut-wrenching and elegant. The unique customs and colloquialisms of Newfoundland, along with its sadistically rugged and haggard landscape, serve as an apt canvas for Hynes’ reckless romanticism. Viewers will no doubt find these aspects endearing.

But the triumph of the film is Hynes, who offers a simply astounding performance as Kavanagh. He vividly gets to the soul of a man who single-handedly alienates everything he has known and loved before finally turning his back on himself; this destructive wanderlust is provocatively and grittily realised by Simms’ sure direction. The mesmerising combination of Hynes’ distinctive voice and Simms’ absorbing perspective ensures that Down to the Dirt is enthralling, and certainly one of the most important films to emerge from Canadian cinema in recent times.

Ben Haller

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