We know 2020 wasn't a year with a huge number of Canadian films. On the surface, the idea of The Nest making the TIFF Top Ten Canadian films list, well, maybe there should have been 9 films instead of 10 films.
That isn't a fair assessment without seeing the actual film.
Rory (English actor Jude Law) is a commodities trader with a bit of ADD. His master plan is to go from New York back to London. Rory buys a farm in Surrey for his wife Allison (American actor Carrie Coon), who trains horses and gives lessons.
The film addresses the contrast between the United States and the United Kingdom, both countries that are co-producers along with Canada. Rory wants to bring the American Dream to London.
Sean Durkin, writer and director, thinks the film is building chemistry with the pitfalls of what happens to the family once they are in Surrey and London. Durkin is definitely mistaken about this.
There is one argument scene that comes to chemistry between Law and Coon. Good try.
Their children Samantha (American actor Oona Roche), who was Allison's daughter from a previous marriage, and Ben (American actor Charlie Shotwell) have decent chemistry in an early scene in the film. This despite the 12-year difference between the actors. If the married couple had as much chemistry as the children, this film would have been a lot better.
Law gets to look psychotic while Coon gets to watch her life fall apart. The issue is there is no connection to anything within the film to make people want to watch.
Random things happen without any fluid direction. That is not a coherent film worth watching.
Rory pretends to be rich with childhood issues over being poor. This isn't really explored other than a scene with his mother. Again, no connection with a potentially decent subplot.
The dim lighting doesn't build tension but you get confused who is talking. The one sex scene, dimly lit, is so over the top that laughter is more likely than any other emotion.
Perhaps Durkin thought the mansion in Surrey was a parallel to the hotel in The Shining, which would have been more interesting than this film.
There is not a millisecond of "visibly Canadian" content. Canadian actors such as Wendy Crewson, Tattiawna Jones, and Tanya Allen are technically in the film. Crewson had one scene early in the film. Jones is visible and is talking but we don't get to hear what she says. Your humble narrator searched for Allen on screen several times and couldn't find her. We joke that Canadian films in name only don't highlight Canadian actors but The Nest sets a new low.
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Maybe you are a huge Jude Law fan and you have to see everything he's done. Maybe you are related to Carrie Coon. Maybe you enjoy horses. That would be the potential audience for this film.
The film does have some good songs that you would have heard in the 1980s in London, which feels a bit odd in a 2020 film.
The Nest surprisingly got 5 Canadian Screen Awards nominations but didn't win any awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress (Carrie Coon), and Best Sound Editing.
The Nest has had theatre runs in the United States and Canada. The film is available on Showtime in the United States and Crave in Canada.
video credit: YouTube/IFC Films
photo credit: The Nest
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