By Travis Johnson
The Canadian/Australian co-production follows the disintegrating relationship between Michael (Paul Doucet), a janitor in a retirement home, and his wife, Maya (Suzanne Clément) after he begins to suspect her of an affair. An intimate and sophisticated study of workaday life in crisis, it is Rowe’s third film, following 2010’s Leap Year, which won the Caméra d’Or, and 2013’s The Well. “Raymond Carver is a big influence,” Rowe admits, as well as “…certain parts of Bergman and Cassavetes.”
“Both Early Winter and Leap Year are exemplars of Michael Rowe’s filmmaking philosophy using his cinematic technique ‘the long take’,” Producer Trish Lake said. “It’s an exacting style of directing where there are virtually no edits within each scene of the film, giving Michael’s stories a particularly unique and voyeuristic style. The tension and intimacy he achieves with his filmmaking makes for very powerful cinema. Early Winter packs a very emotional and dramatic punch.”
Filmink is presenting a series of Q&A screenings with Michael Rowe in the first week of October, taking in New Farm Cinemas in Brisbane, Dendy Newtown in Sydney, Dendy in Canberra, Nova Carlton in Melbourne and Regent Cinema in Ballarat, which is where Michael Rowe was born. The film will then go nationwide from October 13. For further information on screenings, go to the FilmInk Presents page.
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