If this were an actual in-person Whistler Film Festival, this would be the day that I would be headed to the awards brunch and take a selfie with every single filmmaker that I met over the five days of the festival. For me it’s the photo equivalent of getting your yearbook signed. Alas, I continue my caffeine addiction and breakfast taco creation (who knows, maybe this is something I can inspire as an event at WFF 20210) as I watch screeners and live-stream industry talks from my office chair and film-reviewing couch. The show must go on!
There’s another special memory here. One of the joys of attending Whistler Film Festival is that I’m also involved with the festival. Having proudly served on WFF’s screening committee for five years, I am also a filmmaker host and have the wonderful pleasure of hosting filmmaker Q&As. I get to stand right alongside the talent and lead a conversation after the film has screened and moderate questions from the audience. From the 2018 edition of WFF, the final night was also the day I met lovely filmmaker Sophie Dupuis, the Quebec based filmmaker who I was lucky to host for a screening of her feature FAMILY FIRST, which was Canada’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Oscar that year. I mention all of this because her latest feature is the focus of today’s Whistler dispatch, UNDERGROUND.
Like with yesterday’s article, there is only one feature film addition to the lineup today. Tomorrow (Sunday) will bring another feature and another round of Kristyn Stilling’s Shortwork package into the mix, making for a slow but sure building of a month’s catalog of movies available to stream online.
Underground/Souterrain (Quebec, dir. Sophie Dupuis)
If you have any fear of mining or being underground with the fears of the potential disasters that may take place…boy do we have a movie for you here. UNDERGROUND is a testament to all of the hard work that goes on in a very difficult and demanding line of work, and the simple but powerful premise of a mining accident that strands a group of long-term workers makes for some pretty powerful filmmaking, in part because Dupuis has really balanced strong characters with action that we really give a damn about.
One of the key characters Maxime (Joakim Robillard) who finds redemption after a troubled past and incident in his life in trying to go back into the mine to save five of his co-workers. Along with some strong drama involving Maxime’s past, there are also some very exciting action sequences here; the rescue sequence alone, mostly shot with hand-held and tight editing that surpasses even the best Hollywood actioners, was greatly satisfying white-knuckle tension for this critic.
Dupuis achieves the brave task of matching a pretty horrific subject with rich, deeply detailed characters and a true sense of time and place. It really excites me to see what she does next, and perhaps even branch out into more mainstream filmmaking too? Either way, UNDERGROUND really makes you think about just how many of these jobs are going all across the country and that we just aren’t hearing about it.
Rating: ***½ out of ****
UNDERGROUND is now streaming on the Whistler Film Festival site! Many thanks to Jive PR for sending along an advance copy of the movie for this article.
#WFF20 is here! Join in celebrating cinematic excellence with 97 fresh films, including 30 features and 67 shorts, premiering through December 20th and available to Canadian audiences online until December 31. Once you order a film, you have 24 hours to watch it.
(We at Get Reel Movies stand by our Streamer Box of choice, Apple TV through the Eventival app)
Plus, WFF has pledged to share net online proceeds on a 50/50 basis directly with the filmmakers or Canadian rights holders.
For more information, visit www.whistlerfilmfestival.com!