Porcupine Lake is a story set in a hot and strange summer in northern Ontario where the way of Bea, a 13-year-old girl who needs to have a best friend, intersects with the way of Kate, a weird girl. When they are together, Bea may find more than she has dreamed.
Amidst the more refined naturalistic photography and tighter-than-usual plotting, it's this emotional acuity that makes Porcupine Lake instantly recognizable as Veninger's work.
Remarkable performances by the two young actors at the centre of the film -- along with assured, subtle storytelling by director/screenwriter Ingrid Veninger -- propel this cottage country coming-of-age drama.
NOW Toronto
September 11, 2017
The key to this compelling pic is the way it keeps you on edge - Ally isn't exactly nurturing and Kate is probably big trouble so you're never sure what or who to root for.
Porcupine Lake is carried on the shoulders of its young stars, who, with guilelessly natural performances, act circles around their more experienced costars.
Sweetly-told tale of a tween summer best-friend crush has its own very Canadian vibe. But it has universal appeal to anybody who remembers how it felt to be an awkward age.
If "Sleeping Giant" was a shout, "Porcupine Lake" is a whisper. Told with style, warmth, and restraint, this knowing, delicate film from director Ingrid Veninger should be a modest crowd-pleaser.
