YEAR OF THE CARNIVORE (Sook-Yin Lee). 88 minutes. Opens Friday (June 18). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NN
You gotta hand it to Sook-Yin Lee. The major heat she took for her involvement in the sexually graphic Shortbus hasn’t kept her from pursuing her erotic interests, this time in a film she herself wrote and directed.[rssbreak]
Too bad the tone of Year Of The Carnivore is so off-putting.
Supermarket security worker Sammy (Cristin Milioti) loves guitarist Eugene (Mark Rendall), but before she can land the man, she needs more sexual experience. So she sets out to get some, mostly by extorting shoplifters.
The premise offers the potential for some lovely loopiness, but Carnivore winds up having very little charm. It’s not that funny, and when it goes for farce, it just seems forced
The leads are excellent – Rendall, who starred in last year’s Victoria Day, has star quality, and Milioti’s appealing – but the silly story unfolds in a throwaway, tongue-in-cheek way that leaches it of emotion, a style that’s become too common in Canadian-made films.