All marriages have their hurdles to overcome. In the case of Henry (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) and Alyssa (Sarah Allen), there’s the fact she’s currently seeing out a jail sentence for having slept with one of her 14-year-old students. Meanwhile, Henry is left to play single parent to their infant son while contending with considerable self-loathing and coming to terms with his understandably complicated feelings towards his wife.
Notably inconsistent throughout his career (and occasionally in the course of the same film), Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo) is at the top of his game here, demonstrating a confident directorial hand as he boldly renders Henry’s downward spiral in dark comic tones that never undermine the film’s raging emotions. Having also handled screenwriting duties, McCabe-Lokos turns in a remarkable physical performance. With his clenched, defensive posture, he resembles a turtle trying to retract into a shell that’s unceremoniously abandoned him. His finest exhibition of physical comedy is also steeped in pathos. As Henry attempts to rid himself of the mattress that Alyssa and her lover soiled by clumsily dragging it from his house, it becomes plainly apparent that it’s his cross to bear.
And while that visual metaphor is easy to spot, Henry’s exact objectives are frequently inscrutable. Rarely is a film guided by a protagonist so angry and confused, making for a remarkably unpredictable and wholly engrossing watch as scenes careen in odd new directions and catharsis assumes strange forms. With their tragicomic character studies, McDonald and McCabe-Lokos make the inspired choice to focus largely on imperfections. In the process, they turn out a gem.
