Ed and Jenny

Fate meets tragedy in this coming-of-age picture. Shot in Toronto, the scenes mesh together the beauty of the autumn choreography through Robin Layle's deft directorial touch. We feel the winds whisk by; we can almost relish the maple olfactory flavors; this is a place we would want to live.

Layle's first feature film, E&J uses noir techniques but doesn't shade or obscure its story; rather, it envelops it with an atonal milieu, an almost Beckettesque sense of desperation. Witness the performance of David Evenson as the title character Ed. Evenson delivers his lines with a matter-of-fact, perhaps plastic confidence, but by the end we get the feeling he has actually devolved.

And Jenny (Sara Leary) matches Ed's desperation, but more outwardly so. No better is this displayed than in the scene in the bar. Jenny passes through the watering hole with a sense of vacancy, a taste of bitter, but limited hatred -- one that has enervated her soul.

Alas, Ed and Jenny is one for the ages. I was completely shocked by its tranquil despondency, its austere forgivelessness and its eternal economy of triviality. And yet this film is a chameleon: its form is completely malleable to Layle's eye and the actors' performances. One of the most intelligent scripts of our generation and a must see.

E.C. Edholm