Canadian indie is a feel-good delight
With the air waves dominated by the Super Bowl this weekend, you could be forgiven for not noticing a charmer of smart and sweet Canadian indie film that quietly dropped on streaming services on Friday. But with the Big Game now over, seek out Suze, a Canadian film festival gem from 2023 that’s finally available to U.S. audiences. Warm, funny, and engaging, this film deserves a spot at the top of your “must watch” list.
Suze gives actress Michaela Watkins, who was terrific as the sister of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character in 2023’s You Hurt My Feelings, a lead role, and Watkins proves she can carry a picture and then some. As the titular Suze, Watkins brilliantly conveys the myriad of emotions experienced by a divorced mother facing an empty nest after her only daughter leaves for college (er, university, per the Canadian-set picture’s parlance).
Directed by the Canadian husband and wife duo Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart, Suze is notable for presenting complex characters who are far from saints. Suze’s daughter Brooke (Sara Waisglass) is Suze’s world, but Brooke actually isn’t perfect. She’s self-absorbed, spoiled, and often rude to her loving, doting mother. But Brooke is also only 18, and her flaws are as realistic as her vulnerabilities. And Suze herself can be faulted for making Brooke the center of her life, to the detriment of Suze’s own happiness. She also hasn’t let go of the bitterness she holds for her cheating ex-husband, Alan (Sandy Jobin-Bevans), which still consumes her five years after their divorce.
That dynamic slowly begins to shift when Suze agrees to keep a watchful eye on Gage (Charlie Gillespie), Brooke’s breezy, affable high school boyfriend. Gage’s good-natured exterior masks deep trauma and insecurities, thanks in part to having parents with their own emotional issues. Suze initially dislikes Gage, thinking the high school dropout isn’t good enough for her precious daughter, but as Suze spends more time with the young man, her opinion begins to change–not only of Gage, but of Brooke, and, most importantly, of herself.
Charlie Gillespie, who plays Gage, creates such a guileless, open-hearted character that it’s easy to see why both Brooke and, eventually, Suze, take to him. Gillespie’s performance–and look–are more than a little reminiscent of the young Matt Dillon back in 1992’s Singles. Gillespie won a special jury citation for his performance at the 2023 Calgary International Film Festival when the movie played there, and, after you watch this film, you’ll understand why.
Watching the trust, respect, and genuine fondness develop between Suze and Gage– two imperfect, wounded people who both yearn for a little human connection–is the picture’s great pleasure. Ultimately, this is a movie about the power of compassion and kindness, both of which we could all use a bit more of these days.
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Suze is now streaming on Amazon Prime and AppleTV.
