There is a refreshing bluntness to this debut film from First Nations writer-directors Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas. After a brief prologue depicting the seemingly simpler time of her childhood, we are thrown directly into the chaos of Aberdeen Spence’s adult life, setting the propulsive tone for the rest of the film, with powerhouse Indigenous actor Gail Maurice in the title role, this brave, if uneven indie pulls no punches.
When Aberdeen loses her ID while getting arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct for the umpteenth time, she can’t imagine what a world of hell this simple mistake will bring her. With an estranged daughter and a dying brother (Ryan Black), it soon becomes clear that she is her grandchildren’s only hope for a familial connection. Not only that, with them currently in the care of white foster parents, she fears she may also be their sole remaining link to their Peguis culture.
The film’s most brilliant move focuses its plot around Aberdeen’s identity card loss and the bureaucratic nightmare it brings. The system is arbitrary and unforgiving, sending the protagonist back and forth between Winnipeg’s government buildings. At one point, we learn that the office where locals can apply for proof of Indigenous status changes location every week. Aberdeen cannot secure her family’s future without her official documents, and the film becomes a question of literal and spiritual identity.
Aberdeen is an alcoholic, and much of the film sees Maurice portray her fragile state with a ferocious physicality. When her drunken antics devolve into tirades about her people’s land being stolen, there’s a glimpse of the historical inequality that has contributed to her current circumstances. The tonal opposite of Maurice’s performance comes from Black, whose Boyd is always on hand to bail Aberdeen out and get her back on track. His gentle performance is the film’s highlight. More of this quiet nuance would be welcome in the film’s script, which can’t decide whether to follow the realist or melodrama route. It is almost relentlessly bleak, its characters engaging in a series of shouting matches and little else. The tonal clash jars when comic relief arrives, usually in the form of Bill Merasty’s witty but one-note Alfred.
Jessie Wicklund’s work as a cinematographer shows flashes of brilliance; a recurring frontal shot of multiple performers, including the young and old Aberdeen, is a nice motif. At times, though, a lack of appropriate lighting and awkward blocking expose the filmmakers’ early-career status.
Despite its full-throttle approach, this effort from two emerging First Nations filmmakers shows their potential in its most tender moments. Regretfully, these scenes can’t quite pierce through the noise in a film that too often descends into a soap opera. Aberdeen is a bold but flawed debut.
Aberdeen was screened at TIFF on September 8, 2024.
The Sobees Movie Night Score: This film has not yet been scored by our internal team of Sober Curator Contributors
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