Fantasia Fest 2024: The Code Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

The COVID-19 era of filmmaking is still upon us as the remnants of that time continue to be released. The Code is an oddball comedy/mockumentary that follows Celine (Nekrasova) and Jay (Vack) as they fight to take control of their struggling relationship. As Celine starts to film a documentary about their relationship, Jay grew suspicious about her true motive in making a documentary. Arguing that it wasn’t about them, his paranoia fueled him to stage a secret coup and set up his own camera around their rental home in an attempt to seize control over the narrative. The contrast in perspectives across the various cameras and technology used to document their experiences made for an interesting lens to view their dysfunctional relationship on an individual level. What played out essentially became performative in nature as Celine’s documentary was less about reality and more of a need to one up the other. Undoubtedly caused by the stress of the pandemic and the fact they hadn’t had sex in a long time, Celine and Jay were on edge and this exercise was perhaps a means to get that spark back and save their relationship.

In terms of humor, the film was a bit of a mixed bag as its in inherent weirdness, for lack of a better word, is certainly not going to sit well with all audiences. Meant for older audiences, playing Celine and Jay off of one another for laughs is where the film, for the most part, succeeds but once that dysfunction continued to escalate and more characters were added to the equation, it started to wain. Something that arguably runs a touch too long, clocking in at 100 minutes, a dip in the middle added to that running time before the film ultimately recovers and the focus shifts back to Celine and Jay. Through their ordeal, their tribulations were meant to be a mirror to help put their own relationship into perspective so they can somehow find their way back to each other before it was too late.

While it is easy to discount everything else going on, the best part of The Code, and its heart, is the chemistry of Nekrasova and Vack as Celine and Jay. Though their characters aren’t particularly deep, the pair do a great job at selling their strained relationship and the issues that led to it. Throw in the stress and paranoia caused by their inability to address those issues, and their arc over the course of the film was at least somewhat compelling to watch.

In the end, The Code is a decent pandemic comedy that, in spite of its silliness, offers a compelling window into a strained dysfunctional relationship.

still courtesy of Visit Films

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.