Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Sophie Dupuis
Starring: Joakim Robillard, Théodore Pellerin, James Hyndman, Guillaume Cyr, Catherine Trudeau, Mickaël Gouin
French-Canadian writer/director Sophie Dupuis made her feature debut
a couple of years back with gangland drama
Family First. That film saw Jean-Simon Leduc play a low-level mob enforcer attempting to extract his
mentally challenged kid brother (Theodore Pellerin) from the
clutches of a mob boss. Essentially a Quebecois riff on
The Pope of Greenwich Village, it didn't offer much in the way of originality. It was however
interesting to see a woman filmmaker take on this traditionally masculine
genre.
Dupuis sets her second film, Underground, in another world of men. This one isn't about brothers, well, not blood
brothers anyway. But it is about fraternity, set as it is in the tight
knit world of Quebecois miners.
Pellerin is back, and once again he's playing a mentally challenged
character. He's toned things down from the Eric Roberts on steroids
performance of his previous Dupuis collaboration, and he's quite
brilliant. Here he plays Julien, a former miner forced to quit his career
when he was left mentally and physically disabled, not by some underground
accident but by a car crash. The car involved was being driven by his best
friend and fellow miner Maxime (Joakim Robillard).
Months after the incident, Maxime is so consumed with guilt that it's
affecting his relationship with his wife. It doesn't help that he works
alongside Julien's father, Mario (James Hyndman), who refuses to
forgive Maxime for the damage caused to his son. Julien has himself
forgiven Maxime, but being in his presence is often too much for Maxime to
bear.
The showboating of Family First has been thankfully cast
aside as Dupuis instead focusses on men who keep their emotions coiled up
until they burst, usually ignited by alcohol. In the mines the men joke
around with each other and sometimes cross lines, but it's shrugged off
because they all have to work together - falling out just isn't an option.
Maxime and Mario are often asked if they need help, and being the stubborn
men they are, they brush off their problems.
What makes this community so suited for the screen is how it's populated by men who never know what to say. As such, there are no emotional speeches,
no exposition dumps or backstory monologues. Sometimes the silence is
awkward and uncomfortable, like when Julien's former workmates feel bad in
his presence, guilty for being able to carry on. At other times the quiet
is a sign of contentment, like when Maxime, Julien and two other buddies
pound beers on a boat and simply enjoy each other's company.
Ultimately, Dupuis, who grew up in a family of miners, seems to suggest
that there's a time for men to be quiet and a time when they really should
be talking to one another. The closing image of two men sharing an
emotional moment while unable to look each other in the eyes implies that
the men of Underground haven't quite reached that point, but
they're a little closer to getting there.
Underground is in UK cinemas and
VOD from August 20th.
