The High Cost of Living

The High Cost of Living (2010)

There is something about this kind of slice-of-life movie with a major hook--in this case a car accident and an injury--that makes you want to watch. And here we have a rather realistic depiction of working class Montreal which is interesting as a backdrop, unromanticized.

The two leading characters, a Francophone Canadian and an Anglophone New Yorker transplanted to the city, are equally realistic. They find themselves needing, and helping, each other to get through the crisis. You grow gradually to like them just as they slowly learn to like each other, though whether a romance comes out of it is always in doubt.

But this isn't quite enough to sustain a full length movie. There is no significant secondary plot, there is no terrific surprise or second phase after the first problem gets resolves. Instead, the main problem (which I'm trying not to give away) is stretched to cover the whole extent and so it gets slow. Often.

It's interesting enough you stick with it, but you'll wish for me. I think it's probably true a different pair of leads--including the more famous Zach Braff--could energize or give depth to the role in a way that would fulfill us all better. And the situation they find themselves in is actually fascinating--a little dramatic and unlikely, yes, but leading to an inevitable climax. The relationship grows with delicacy but little emotional complexity.

Until the last scene, which is a beautiful way to bring it all to a close.