Photo courtesy of www.impawards.com

Winner of three Atlantic awards, (Best Atlantic Director, Best Atlantic Feature, the Michael Weir award for Outstanding Atlantic screenplay) the Vancouver International Film Festival award for Best Canadian Feature Film, and the Claude Jutra award for Best Canadian film by a first time director, Blackbird stars Connor Jessup as Sean, a socially isolated goth accused of plotting a school massacre.

It’s also not very good.

The plot drifts from point to point, occasionally drifting back a few points, with a meaningless ending. The dialogue is laughable, the characters cardboard cutouts of the dullest stereotypes, with the exception of Michael Buie, playing Sean’s father. As a father lost in a sea of red tape, a father who doesn’t really understand his son, a guy trying to help his son find his way, he brings a tenderness and a frustration to the movie that feels real. Sadly, his ability cannot hide the weaknesses of the rest of the movie. The very occasional flash of brilliance gets lost in a tide of “seen it before, but better.”

Avoid.

Donal O’Connor