I’m not going to be making any ice jokes in this one. I’m not.
Helena Marie plays a young woman named Tara with a fear of leaving something behind. Tara’s partner Stephane (Lucas Chartier-Dessert) has a special surprise for her one morning, revealing he has found the perfect house for the two of them to live in and make plans together. So when Tara goes to check it out, she takes a look around. But as she does, an odd feeling comes over her and she starts to feel uncomfortable as she walks around the empty house. Tara’s feelings are shown to be awkward at first, but later while talking to her friend Carol-Ann (Michelle Boback), it’s revealed that she was once in a mountain-climbing accident with her ex-boyfriend Glenn (Ivan Peric), who sacrificed himself to save her — by getting stuck on the mountain. Now Tara is stuck with two dilemmas: deciding on getting the house and letting go of the feeling of leaving Glenn behind.
The movie had an interesting concept and the visuals were stunning. Even more incredible and chilling is how this was based off a true story. However, all the open unused space in the house seemed a bit wasteful at times and the audio needed a bit of cleanup as well, as it wasn’t always easy to understand what people were saying at times. I still liked the use of the snow and the frozen dead man in the imagination shots, and adding Helena’s genuine expressions into it gave the film a true chilling feeling. It goes to show when you love someone and lose them so soon to an unexpected event, things will get out of hand in life.
(A Late Thaw, a short film by Kim Barr, will be available to screen at the Short Film Corner during the 69th Cannes Film Festival. Read more here.)