Director Sean Garrity will be attending Thursday, May 2 screening
Thom Ernst Host/Producer of TVO Saturday Night at the Movies will be on hand Opening night to introduce both Blackbird and Blood Pressure!
Ethel's Lounge is hosting an after screening party!
Advance tickets for the opening night screening now available on Eventbrite
Though notes from secret admirers to lonely women may be a staple of swoony romantic tales, the letters in this unnerving Toronto-shot thriller soon develop a more sinister cast. Their recipient is Nicole (Stratford Fest staple, Michelle Giroux), a 41-year-old pharmacist, wife, and mother of two teens, one of whom is played to stroppy perfection by Picture Day’s Tatiana Maslany. Blood Pressure’s early scenes establish the extent of Nicole’s boredom, which is why it’s easy to believe that she’d respond with such ardency to the mysterious missives that start arriving in her mailbox.
Displaying a detailed knowledge of her habits, the anonymous writer gives Nicole a series of instructions along with the proviso that she can opt out any time. While the first requests seem innocent enough by Harlequin-novel standards, they quickly become more ominous, prompting viewers to wonder why Nicole’s would-be paramour wants her to practice target shooting. Meanwhile, Nicole’s own secretive behaviour draws the notice of her husband, Mike (Judah Katz), her work supervisor, Stu (Kristian Bruun), and her increasingly baffled kids.
Blood Pressure is one of two new features directed by Winnipeg-bred filmmaker Sean Garrity—My Awkward Sexual Adventure, a comedy written by and starring Garrity’s frequent collaborator Jonas Chernick, is out later this year. Eschewing that movie’s ribald sensibility, Garrity fashions something tense, steely, and affecting out of a premise that might’ve yielded an erotic fantasy if the events here weren’t so rooted in its suburbanite heroine’s mid-life malaise. That Nicole needs so little prodding to jeopardize her career and family life may be more troubling than anything in those letters. -- Jason Anderson
COMMUNITY PARTNER: Ethel's Lounge