A Fire in the Cold Season

Cott (Stephen Oates) lives a boring life as a trapper. One day he notices someone has messed with his traps and then he finds Keith, dead by the river. He visits his pregnant widow Mona (Michaela Kurimsky) and everyone tells him to stay out of it. The mystery eats at Scott until he is involved with a bunch of bad guys. Not an exotic setting. No Audi car chases or roof top jumping. Just guys in pick-up trucks with more shotguns than brains. Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

You will need patience but this film is worth it. Everything gdalesmith writes is true. Reminds me ofAin't Them Bodies Got Saints, only a very different setting. Tricky editing might throw some, but it is effective.

You can skip the first 75 minutes and catch the tail-end. The film would have been better if they just condensed down all the slow boring film and gone with a 15 minute short feature. I would have given it 8 stars just on those 15 minutes. During the first snooze-fest 75 minutes I was able to cook dinner, paint the bedroom, cut the yard and take a shower, but I never missed anything important. I think the people that like this film are probably the ones that were in it.

This movie is great entertainment, even though the mood is dark from start to finish. A perfect example of contemporary film noir (aka neo-noir), set in Newfoundland. Everyone involved in the production put their heart and soul into making it work, and it paid off. Acting was superb by one and all. Cinematography, pace, settings and props that match the dark ambience - all top notch. Special mention should be made regarding the wonderful background music, which reinforces this movie's bleak (but riveting!) story. At one point a few lines of 'Barbara Allen' is heard - a timeless song which reflects the direction Scott and Mona's relationship seems headed, up to that point at least.