Wildhood

Link and his younger brother Travis live in a trailer in eastern Canada with their father. The father drinks and beats them. One day Link finds a box with letters from his mother in it. For years he was told she was dead. The letters are recent. The two brothers run. On the road they meet Pasmay, who has no family either and travels to dance competitions. On this journey Link learns his own Mi'kmaq roots, and what he feels for Pasmay. Bretten Hannam wrote and directed. Phillip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick, Avery Winters-Anthony and Michael Greyeyes are in the cast. It is a Canadian production. The director is two spirit and Mi'kmaq, and the film is written from inside that experience. The Mi'kmaq language is spoken in the film and learning it is part of the story. The matter it treats is returning to a root; identity here is not a secret but knowledge that has to be learned. The narrative follows the shape of a road film and proceeds through encounters. The film does not avoid showing violence but does not prolong it. The relationship between the two young men is built slowly and the narrative does not hurry. The photography brings the coast and the forest forward. The ending ties to a reunion without resolving everything. Its limit is structure; the narrative is loose, the plot thin, and some passages repeat. Who it is for: viewers who like Indigenous cinema and coming of age journeys. Who it is not for: it is loose, slow, and the ending measured.