Blue Heron

Formally inventive and emotionally impactful, Sophy Romvari’s feature debut more than fulfills the potential the Toronto-based filmmaker displayed in her acclaimed series of short films.

Like many of those predecessors, Blue Heron is acutely personal. The graceful opening scenes depict a period of transition for a Hungarian-Canadian family of six as they adapt to a new home on Vancouver Island in the late 1990s. Seen from the perspective of the youngest daughter Sasha (Eylul Guven), events range from the comfortably quotidian — family beach days and park outings, summer afternoon fun with trampolines and garden hoses — to those that take on a darker cast as the extent of the issues concerning one family member become clear. In sequences set years later, we witness an effort to grapple with this difficult past.

While expanding on ideas and themes introduced in Still Processing (TIFF ’20) — one of several films by the director to premiere in Short Cuts at the Festival — Romvari pushes further when it comes to matters of both content and form.

Fascinating and moving as a meditation on grief, memory, and love, Blue Heron sees the filmmaker blur the borders between fiction and documentary in ways that aren’t soon forgotten, thereby confirming Romvari’s status as one of Canada’s most exceptional emerging filmmakers.

JASON ANDERSON

Content advisory: mature themes