MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Zach Clark
Film Pulse Score: 6/10
It’s Christmastime in the bizarre, slightly depressing world of American Indie Suburbia in Zach Clark’s White Reindeer; full of festive cheer, awkward conversations, cocaine fueled dance parties, Joe Swanberg and a number of those peculiar suburban situations that seem to always populate these types of films.
Tragedy befalls realtor Suzanne Barrington (Anna Margaret Hollyman) in the weeks leading up to Christmas, leaving her recently widowed and alone for the holiday season. Adding to her already heartbreaking situation is news of her deceased husband’s extramarital affair with a stripper named Autumn (Laura Lemar-Goldsborough); seemingly lost and alone in a churning concoction of grief, confusion and loneliness, Suzanne with a newly formed directionless life sets out to meet new people and perhaps break out of the banality that is the middle class. Some of these decisions provide an insight and some of these decisions are regrettable, to say the least.
First decision for Suzanne is to seek out and meet Autumn; the reasoning behind this decision, and the others that follow, is shrouded in uncertainty and ambiguity. The viewer can come to a number of conclusions, as to why Suzanne does the things she does, but Clark never fully explains Suzanne’s reasonings, nor does Clark ever cast a judgmental eye on his characters. It could all be as simple as Suzanne is lost in a fog of shock and grief or, it could all be much more complicated while either way White Reindeer’s central theme is sure to strike a nerve of relateablility.
Suzanne seems to spiral down exponentially starting with a dip of the toes into consumerism in an attempt to buy back some sort-of semblance of happiness which appears to fall short in its desired effect. So too does the cocaine-accented nightclub girl’s night, the frenetic department store pilfering, and of course the indie-quirk, orgy party with her new neighbors Patti and George (Lydia Hyslop and Joe Swanberg) which is kicked-off with pâté and punctuated with a post-coital game of Rock Band.
Where writer/director Zach Clark excels with White Reindeer is in his depiction and presentation of Suzanne (along with the other characters), never looking down on them for their actions or judging them which is usually customary for these Suburbia films. Instead, Clark presents them as everyday people taking it one day at a time finding their answers in both decisions, whether they be regrettable or comforting.
While it’s not without its faults, White Reindeer is a surprisingly heartfelt and sincere film dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy and the effects of grief and loss that also features a solid performance from Anna Margaret Hollyman in the role of a woman calmly trying to find her own way.
