By: Amanda Guarragi
A Fire in the Cold Season is co-written and directed by Justin Oakey. It takes place in rural Newfoundland, with beautiful cinematography of it’s open landscapes. The story slowly builds and shocks you, when you least expect it, especially within the first moments of the film. In the secluded forest, a trapper named Scott (Stephen Oates), stumbles upon something suspicious and gets wrapped up in a tangled web, with violent outlaws.
The film is beautifully shot, has a great soundtrack and distinct sound design, which plays to crucial moments in the film. The scenes in the open field, leading into the forest at the beginning of the film, set this dreadful tone for Scott’s journey. Scott is quiet, reserved and genuinely a good person. So when he gets tangled in this web and begins his downward spiral, you feel for him and the outcome.
It is a slow burn and as the story builds, more characters come into play and create so much tension. There were some beautiful shots, unique framing and great lighting throughout the film that impressed me. The technical aspects in this film overshadowed the actual story until the final act. The last half hour of this film had a pretty solid standoff and the execution of those action scenes were well done.
A Fire in the Cold Season is a slow film, that saves all the action for its final act. If you cans stick through the long conversations, deceit and questionable motives then you will be in for a treat at the end. Oakey plays off the subtleties of his characters and the preconceived notion of the mob mentality.
Candid Cinema 