Canadian director Thom Fitzgerald's first
film, about a young
gay man who returns to his
rural Nova Scotia home ten years after his
attempted suicide and realizes that his
past is very much
alive and
well.
This film received rave reviews upon its release. It is a film which is filled with symbols. Most of the symbols have to do with flowers. Each character is named after a flower, from Sweet William, our protagonist, to his mysterious little sister Violet. Following that trend, each of the characters surround themselves with colours which represent their various flowers. For example, Iris, the mother, wears purple and white, and lives mostly in a kitchen decorated in purple. Sweet William dresses almost only in red.
The symbols are well calculated and range from glaringly obvious to fifth-viewing subtle. There is an overall feeling of crudeness and realism throughout, despite the completely surreal addition of William's memories walking around as ghosts with a life of their own. The viewer is left to interpret these memories as he or she sees fit - there are no explanations given, and that is just as well.
I love this film for its repeat-viewing value and also for its witty script and awesome directing for a first-timer. Not only is it very intellectual, it's also quite entertaining, which unfortunately are two things which seem to contradict each other in recent cinematic trends.