This movie is about three lives, one car accident and the ripple effect that that accident has on those lives and the people in them. More than that, this movie is about heartbreak. The heartbreak that comes with realizing that one act can have serious repercussions, the heartbreak that your children may not be who you think they are and the heartbreak of opportunity lost. It is a beautiful, honest film that I’m quite proud to say is Canadian.
Normal is the stories of many people, but as told through the eyes of three major characters: Catherine (Carrie Ann-Moss), a mother who has lost her oldest son, Nick, in a car accident; Jordie (Kevin Zegers), the young man who was driving the car in which Nick was killed; and Walt (Callum Keith Rennie) the writer, turned teacher who was driving the car that hit Jordie and Nick’s car, killing Nick. We join each of these characters two years after the car accident in various stages of life. Catherine is a shadow, moving though her life either ignored by her family or drunk, or both, occasionally sitting in Nick’s shrine-like room and picnicing at the site of the accident. Jordie is getting out of the juvenile detention centre he’s been in since the accident, only to be released into another kind of prison at home with his domineering, and disappointed, father and his lonely step-mother. Walt is teaching at a college, unable to complete the novel he had started before the accident, rapidly losing touch with his wife and trying to push his autistic brother back out and into the world.
Each of these are complex and unsolvable situations in which we see very little progress, if any. This movie is less about character change or personal progression in each of the lives of these people and more about a snapshot-style realism that sometimes in life, people are as weird and unpredictable as they are in the movies. Every time I started to think, “Wow, these people are nuts,” I had a very honest moment where I had to admit that put into these circumstances, I don’t believe I would act much differently.
The acting is overall superb, although I must say that I was struck by Carrie Ann-Moss’ powerful portrayal of a mother whose loss is so great that it has locked her in, completely cutting her off from her life and family. The depth of emotion and fearlessness with which she came to the role made it very easy to forget that she is best known as Trinity in the Matrix trilogy, a role on which her obvious talent was wasted. That said, the breakout performance here was Tygh Runyan, whose portrayal of a mildly autistic man who has not left the house since being involved in the same accident as his brother, Walt (Rennie), was fantastic. He danced just far enough from Rain Man to be convincing without becoming a lampoon. Excellent, excellent work.
The only thing I can say that I didn’t enjoy was the sex. There are some very unnecessarily uncomfortable sex scenes in this movie, that border on violent. On the one hand I had to applaud the filmmaker, Carl Bessai, on portraying even the sex with honesty, but generally sex that honest has a point, especially when used in this way (sorry, but you’ll have to see it to fully understand) and I didn’t feel that a strong enough point was ever made with between the act and the characters. Thus, I just felt it was a little pornographic and unnecessary.
Leaving that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and it is a very strong contender for the Genie’s this year. I recommend this movie regardless of your movie watching tastes. Definitely check it out.
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Well, I’m viscerally convinced that Normal is way better than Paul Haggis’s Crash, since all the three plots seem to be linked together.