Bleakly Spartan October a Fascinating Misfire
Dr. Helen Matthews (Patricia Clarkson) has headed to her family’s secluded cabin located on a small island just off of the Canadian coast. It’s the first time she’s been out this way since her husband James’ (Callum Keith Rennie) tragic death while traveling back to the mainland, feeling as if by heading here alone she can put some of the demons and regrets dogging her to rest.
PHOTO: IFC Films
When a stranger, William (Scott Speedman), washes ashore with a fresh bullet wound, a wary Helen patches him up while also making sure she takes a few precautions in case he turns out to be dangerous. Cut off from civilization due to a sudden storm, the two are forced to join forces when an individual hunting William finds a way to come ashore. With the rain pounding against the house and the wind whipping across the island, the duo discover they have more in common than the initially realized, fighting for survival helping them mend old wounds neither ever believed could actually be healed.
The latest effort from acclaimed writer/director Ruba Nadda (Cairo Time), the cerebral thriller October Gale never comes together in anything close to satisfying fashion. It’s an uneasy mixture of melodrama and suspense, the two main characters at the heart of things too nondescript and unfinished to connect in ways that ultimately matter. There is an odd, unfinished quality to the picture that’s frustratingly omnipresent, diluting the emotional impact of the traumas and the tragedies Helen is dealing with to the point they virtually do not exist.
Yet the filmmaker still manages to weave a tensely intriguing spell, utilizing the secluded location along with Jeremy Benning’s cold, frigidly minimalistic cinematography rather splendidly allowing the film to achieve an eerie electricity that kept me continually eager to see what was going to happen next. She paces things with a precise, intimately grim confidence that’s wondrous, the final standoff between Helen, William and their wisecracking assailant staged with spectacular authority.
Then there is Clarkson. She’s as terrific as ever, finding nooks and crannies inside Helen that are barely there as far as the script is concerned, augmenting and exploring them in ways that continually surprise. It’s a smart, taciturn performance that’s far more complex and multifaceted than initial appearances might hint at. The actress has a number of nice moments, most notably a splendid bit of back and forth with a wickedly slithery Tim Roth that I found fascinating, and while far from her best work at the same time that doesn’t make her any less terrific.
October Gale is frustrating, there’s no getting around that fact, and it goes without saying that I wanted more from the film that it sadly was able to give me. Nadda is so intent on keeping things minimalistic that she forgets to add the required bits of emotional depth that would allow Helen and William’s collective brush with death to resonate in anything close to a meaningful fashion. But Clarkson is just so darn good, while many of the set pieces are so undeniably strong, the thriller is an awful difficult one to dismiss entirely, making it something of a fascinating, incredibly watchable misfire I could easily be persuaded to reevaluate at some point down the line.
Film Rating: 2 ½ (out of 4)
