DRUNKEN BIRDS
Romance and heartbreak are sown across this achingly beautiful drama, about a migrant worker whose search for his lost love brings him into collision with a farming family.
Nearly every frame of Ivan Grbovic’s Drunken Birds is imbued with painful desire and longing. Vast landscapes of Quebec cornfields or Montreal streets at twilight offer hope for the future, yet the film’s characters remain in the painful past. In exile after the discovery of a forbidden romance with a cartel boss’s wife, driver Willy (Jorge Antonio Guerrero, PFF27’s ROMA) is determined to reunite with her after four years. His search leads him to the Quebec farm of Richard (Claude Regault) and Julie (Hélène Florent), where he gets work as a seasonal lettuce picker. Under Richard’s suspicious eye, Julie spends her days with her head in the clouds sadly pining for the return of a former worker. Though the two are amicable enough as bosses, offering lodging and food to the migrants, all it takes is a tragic misunderstanding to result in violent repercussions. Premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, DRUNKEN BIRDS offers a new lens on the plight and struggle of migrant workers while showcasing a fresh and exciting vision in Canadian cinema.
CAST: Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Hélène Florent, Claude Legault, Marine Johnson
In Competition: Narrative Feature
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