Review: Blue Heron

Image courtesy of Janus Films.

Much like the recent film "Aftersun," Sophy Romvari's debut film, "Blue Heron," takes a quiet approach in delving into the sad memories of its lead character and much of the tragedy in the story is left to the imagination.

The film feels like - and could very well be - a reenactment of past traumas presented as semi-realistic home movies. Set in Canada at some point in the past - perhaps the late 1990s - the film follows a Hungarian family that includes a father (Adam Tompa) and three children that he has with his wife (Iringo Reti) as well as a teenage boy who was the only child of her previous marriage.

The film is told through the remembrances of the only girl among the four children, Sasha (Eylul Guven), whom we meet later in the film as an adult (Amy Zimmer) as she looks back with sadness and a sense of unknowing about the trials and tribulations of her family. 

Most of the drama revolves around Jeremy (Edik Beddoes), the bespectacled teen from the mother's first marriage. Jeremy clearly has problems - he is brought home by the police for shoplifting, he takes part in dangerous stunts such as walking on the family's roof, and at one point punches out a window, leaving his hand covered in blood. We also overhear a discussion that he once also threatened to burn down the family's home and keeps a gas canister in his room.

The reason why Jeremy engages in this behavior - which also includes intentionally annoying his siblings and refusing to listen to his mother and stepfather - is somewhat of a mystery. There's a scene later in the film in which grownup Sasha meets with a group of professionals in the psychology field who discuss how they would have gone about dealing with Jeremy if they had met him, but they don't provide any easy answers.

The film has a somewhat experimental vibe, with less of an emphasis on plot or traditional scenes and more of one on observance of behaviors among the family members as they idle around the house or spend a day at the seashore, where Jeremy mostly sits atop a large rock by himself.

Unlike her other brothers, Sasha seems at an early age to be more aware of Jeremy's increasingly darker behavior. His parents seem like good people, but they struggle and are frustrated as to how they should handle Jeremy, and a visit with a social worker who suggests they place him in a home only leads to more anguish.

The picture is from the perspective of Sasha, who is a young girl and is, therefore, an unreliable narrator. She tries to recall memories from the time when she was young, but they are insufficient in explaining what happened to she and her family at that time, and what we suppose eventually happened to her brother.

This is a sad movie that has its own unique rhythm and pace. It's the type of film to which the viewer must get onto its wavelength and see where it takes them, rather than trying to pick it apart and explain it in simple terms. 

There's a scene late in the film that requires some work from the viewer, but it's a particularly impactful sequence in which an adult Sasha travels back to the late 1990s - literally, though not in the way most movies would handle such a scenario - to sit in on a consultation between her parents and the social worker. The scene acts as a means of trying to understand and provide grace for all who were involved in that turbulent time - and it, ultimately, becomes the film's raison d'etre. "Blue Heron" is a solid and memorable debut.