Diminished by grief, 18-year-old Tess (Kelly Van Der Burg) is moving through her life like a ghost. The one thing that comforts her is listening to the music of Danny Sharpe (Joel Thomas Hynes), a local legend who left home almost 20 years ago. Tess is stunned when she wakes up one day to find him in her kitchen, igniting a spark of life in her that grows out of control.
Acting
Van Der Burg's hollowed-out grief is devastatingly real
Cinematography
Newfoundland's grey beauty mirrors Tess's internal fog
Direction
Oates lets uncomfortable moments breathe until they burn
Director
Melanie Oates
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Joel Thomas Hynes is a Newfoundland native and author who drew from actual local musician mythology for Danny's faded mystique.
The film captures a specific post-2016 collapse of rural Atlantic Canadian youth culture—Tess's aimlessness mirrors an entire region's economic grief.
CA
US
