Direction: Jasmin Mozaffari
Country: Canada
Consistently involving and skillfully sketched, Firecrackers gives a natural development to the 2013 short film of the same name written and directed by Canadian Jasmin Mozaffari, who demonstrates confidence in her feature debut. The story follows two best friends and frustrated teenagers, Lou (Michaela Kurimsky) and Chantal (Karena Evans), who are stuck in their small and isolated rural Ontario hometown. Dissatisfied, they dream to leave for New York, but the anxiety grows as they realize that all the arrangements to make that step become compromised by unexpected circumstances.
Both girls work as motel cleaners, saving all their wages for the planned road trip. Their environment at home is not inviting at all. Whereas Chantal almost never sees her parents and is trying to get rid of her possessive boyfriend, Lou seems more independent and confident, but often clashes with her mother (Tamara LeClair), a former drug addict turned religious devotee. Negligent toward her children, the latter focuses all the energy on her boyfriend Johnny (David Kingston), who has half her age.
Finely calibrated and charmingly low key, Firecrackers is an undoubtedly strong effort at many levels, even when its cinematic realism borrows elements from Andrea Arnold’s filmmaking style. The raw emotions sometimes take the proportions of an avalanche in the lives of the protagonists, whose unambiguous point of view and determination are paired with dangerous impulsive behaviors.
Praised with the Canadian Screen Award, Mozaffari doesn’t really innovate, but recreates known atmospheres and moods with new characters that constantly search for a way out in spite of the obstacles and pitfalls. Formidable performances from the young actresses.
