Review: Continental, A Film Without Guns (SIFF 2008)

It's night. An insurance salesman is riding the bus home. The bus arrives at a deserted stop, and he's the only one left on the bus. He gets out of the bus, stares out into the dark, and wanders off the road and into the forest.

So begins Continental, a film about death. But there's no funerals and caskets in this movie. Instead, the film portrays a set of characters, each experiencing their own version of death as part of changes happening in life, and shows how each character's story casually intertwines with others.

Take the wife of the aforementioned insurance salesman, dealing with the loss of her husband and an apathetic police force who suspects he ran off with a mistress. Or, take the guy who replaces the aforementioned salesman and is dealing with a shaky marriage while he lives out of a hotel room. Or, consider the shop owner with medical problems who's dealing with a gambling problem and trying to raise money for surgery. In each case, we have a death of some part of a character's life (husband, marriage, health) and we witness their struggle to deal with it.

But Continental isn't all doom and gloom. Surprisingly, it makes one laugh much more often than it makes one lament. There are several awkward situations that the characters are placed in that makes the audience first sigh, then snicker, and finally all-out laugh at the restrained reactions of the characters. This black-comedy approach balances the otherwise dark material that the film deals with, and thankfully so.

The acting of the film is spot-on. The pacing is a bit slow, but as long as you're in a casual, calm mood entering the film, the pacing combined with the musical overlays on some beautiful long landscape shots will leave you some breathing room and some time to ponder what's going on. Continental isn't a movie you'll talk about for years on end, but it does a decent job of making you care about the characters and their problems. And, the scenes of comic relief give you several chuckles to take home with you.

Overall rating: 6.5/10.0

Details:
Runtime: 103m
Countries: Canada
Languages: French / English