- Starring
- Alana Hawley Purvis, Joe Perry, Nicole de Boer
- Writer
- Kyle Thomas
- Director
- Kyle Thomas
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 86 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Calgary Underground Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
Redemption stories are a tried-and-true theme in film with the best ones giving viewers compelling emotional stories for them to them to connect to on a deeper level. When it comes to Canadian drama Range Roads, that fact isn’t necessarily the case, surely working better for some than others and that’s perfectly okay. That being said, this shouldn’t be an indictment of the film as is certainly possesses some great pieces to it. What truly held it back was a story that simply didn’t go far enough in spite of everything else it had going for it. Being a Canadian film, of course it was beautiful to look at but in the end, what truly saved it, if not somewhat, was a stellar lead performance from Alana Hawley Purvis that helped cover up some of its flaws. With a relatively short running time, clocking in at under 90 minutes, it still packs a decent punch.
Range Roads tells the story of Frankie King (Purvis), a television actors whom after her estranged parents are killed suddenly in a car accident, she is forced to return to her rural Alberta hometown to face her estranged brother Grayson (Perry) and her demons and the other issues which led to her departure 20 years prior. It is plain to see that King was a damaged person stemming from a troubled past but the problem with that was the film never truly went into it in great enough detail. Things like her complicated relationship with her brother and her family and their troubled childhood and how it fit within the context of their close-knit small town were only hinted at. Nevertheless, Purvis’ nuanced performance did an admirable job at bringing that pain to life as she was compelling to watch overall. However, that only went so far.
Ultimately, Range Roads is still a solid drama that is worth it for Purvis alone.
still courtesy of North Country Cinema
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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.