Curling

An oppressively slow and downright pointless piece of work, Curling follows a socially inept man (Emmanuel Bilodeau’s Jean-François) as he attempts to raise his daughter (Philomène Bilodeau’s Julyvonne) with absolutely no interference from the outside world – with the film largely devoted to increasingly random episodes involving the two characters. Director Denis Côté has infused Curling with a relentlessly oddball sensibility that certainly proves effective at holding the viewer at arm’s length from the material, with the ongoing emphasis on random interludes (eg Jean-François and Julyvonne listen to Tiffany’s cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now,” Jean-François destroys a kid’s snow fort, etc) certainly perpetuating the movie’s aggressively meaningless atmosphere. And while there are a few compelling moments sprinkled throughout the proceedings (eg the two central characters visit her mother (and his ex-wife) in jail), Curling is first and foremost destined to put most viewers to sleep. In the end, it’s impossible not to wonder just what Côté originally set out to do with this mess – ie perhaps the whole thing is meant to come off as a portrait of a colossally horrible parent – yet by the time the movie reaches its random and (this goes without saying) anti-climactic conclusion, it’s become impossible to care.

* out of ****