The Burning Season, 2023.
Directed by Sean Garrity.
Starring Jonas Chernick, Sara Canning, Joe Pingue, and Tanisha Thammavongsa.
SYNOPSIS:
Alena and her husband spend a summer up at Luna Lake Resort. JB runs the place. He and Alena begin a dangerous and passionate secret affair. Summers only. That’s the rule. Until they break it. A sexy and tragic love story – told backwards.
Sean Garrity has had a successful indie career since his debut film Inertia won the Best Canadian First Feature Film award at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival. His latest film The Burning Season is an unorthodox take on an affair, told in reverse order. We witness JB and Alena’s secret affair becoming public knowledge on JB’s wedding night. Opening with this chaotic revelation, we slowly dive into the prior eight summer’s the pair spent together at JB’s summer residence.
This unique narrative framing gives The Burning Season an advantage over many other films that cover similar topics and it never detracts from the pair’s relationship, adding different layers and textures, gradually unravelling them as we come to the truth over how the pair first met and the pull they clearly have over one another through shared experiences. We eventually come to realise why the film has its title, cleverly toying with the audience’s expectation.
It’s an ingenious way of challenging what we think we know about the central pairing as they play younger and older versions of the characters at different points in the relationship. Jonas Chernick and Sara Canning are in almost every scene of the film, playing the pair as strangers and as deeply intimate lovers out of sequence.
In addition to having a small cast of characters that also extends to JB’s fiancé Poppy and Alena’s husband Tom; the whole film takes place in the picturesque resort. The resort was filmed in the gorgeous Algonquin Park in Ontario, a calm backdrop for the affair, with many gorgeous shots of the Canadian landscapes.
The chemistry between the leads is magnetic wholly investing us in the years of their relationship and linking back to the pair’s childhood. The flipping of the narrative shows why they mean so much to one another, but it is never overtly distracting and also shows how small things can shift from summer to summer, with the affair kept to Alena and Tom’s summer visits.
The Burning Season might be slight on plot but its departures from norms keep it investing and the strength of its performances means it is never a dull affair. The choice of resort location is intelligent and never cries out for more. It is a thrill to watch this affair play out in reverse and see how Garrity toys with the audience’s expectations for a film of this type.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Connor
