Darkest Miriam

Sometimes grief can leave one feeling as if one is looking at life from a distance.

Our first glimpse of Miriam (Britt Lower) is through her apartment window. She’s doing ordinary things, perhaps carrying out her morning routine, and doesn’t seem to be aware that anyone is watching. Soon she will emerge as the central subject of Naomi Jaye’s off-centre comedy drama, and yet that sense of distance will never fully go away. When we accompany her to the library where she works, she introduces us to its staff and regulars one by one, including her father – before acknowledging that he has recently died.

Screened as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival, Darkest Miriam makes use of absurdist humour to explore the sense of unreality that such a bereavement can create. We see its heroine embark on a new relationship with an immigrant she meets in the park, and there is sweetness, and there are moments of hope, but the accompanying strains of Rigoletto sound a warning. Miriam must learn to accept instability and find her own balance in a world that just won’t behave.

By request, we have kept this review short. A full review will appear here when the film is released.