WHITEWASH Review

Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais Unlike other slow-burn thrillers, Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais’ Whitewash opens with a bang, then backs off and lets the event simmer in our minds for the rest of the duration. It’s an effective method in telling this story of a man’s struggle to evade the police and his own conscience, while falling deeper and deeper into madness. Some may find it too slow and plodding, but the refreshing bits of dark comedy kept me interested, along with another fantastic performance from Thomas Hayden Church, who carries the entire film on his shoulders. Church plays Bruce, a snowplow operator who gives in to the drink after his wife passes away, and loses his license due to plowing while drunk. One night he has a few too many, gets behind the wheel, and kills a man. Distraught and panicked, he hides the body in the snow and drives into the woods, crashing his plow into a tree where he decides to set up camp and hide from the authorities. What proceeds is an intriguing story that jumps back and forth through Bruce’s life, showing us what led to this moment and his relationship with the man he killed, and his current state of affairs, attempting to survive in the harsh Quebec winter. It’s part survival tale, part crime thriller, with some Coen Brothers-esque humor interjected for good measure. It’s this dry humor that really makes Whitewash so entertaining and worth a look. Thomas Hayden Church kills it in a role that seems tailor fit for his deadpan comedic delivery. We feel bad for Bruce and the situation he finds himself in, but at the same time it’s easy to be bewildered by the odd choices he makes. Rather than trying to flee or simply go about his business after hiding the body, he continuously does more and more conspicuous things that make everything so much worse. It’s funny, but at the same time sad. As he spends more time in his little plow cocoon in the forest, Bruce starts to lose his mind, making things all the more ridiculous. The bitter cold and self-inflicted isolation he must contend with are enough to make any man lose it, and Church handily delivers a believable and satisfying performance. This is a film that focuses on the cold. The landscape is cold, the characters are cold, the dialogue is cold; everything is draped in a layer of ice. The interesting thing is that it’s an act of kindness and warmth that sets all of these awful things in motion. Whitewash is a surprisingly fun and unpredictable film that proves a good crime thriller doesn’t actually need to be “thrilling.” Aside from some unnecessary voiceover work, the dialogue is sharp and funny, and the great performance by Thomas Hayden Church alone is the worth the price of admission. Whitewash is currently available from Oscilloscope Laboratories on all premium digital platforms, including iTunes (at https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/id853831870), Amazon, and XBOX Live.