Every year a movie comes out that I feel the need to see again and again, for me it is usually a small independent film about love, loss and coming of age. Last year I fell in love with Garden State this year I fell in love with Aurora Borealis. This film really has it all, a touching script, heart-felt award worthy performances and the wonderful wintry setting of Minneapolis. Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek, The Skulls) plays Duncan Shorter becoming an outstanding leading man with his sensitive and charismatic performance. Duncan is a charming 25 year old man who has seemed to have lost his way in life. Never coming to terms with the death of his father who died ten years ago, Duncan is hesitant to find out the truth about how this tragedy happened. He hangs out with his friends, watches sports, plays hockey, and drifts through life with no real sense of purpose. During a visit to his grandparents home at their senior residence, Duncan is offered a handyman job and takes it to be closer to his grandfather, Ronald Shorter (Donald Sutherland, Pride & Prejudice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. Donald Sutherland gave a phenomenal and heartbreaking performance that made you want to laugh and cry simultaneously. If it doesn’t win him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor this year, I will be very disappointed. Ronald and Duncan form a close bond because of the support they give one another. Ronald also plays matchmaker by encouraging Duncan’s relationship with Kate the always Oscar worthy Juliette Lewis (The Other Sister, Kalifornia), a free spirited care-giver who is assigned as a home assistant to Ronald. Ruth (Louise Fletcher, ER), Duncan’s grandmother, also welcomes his visits because she sees how happy Ronald is just having Duncan around. Kate shines light and paints color into Duncan’s life, both have a wacky sense of humor; they are insanely attracted to one another and give each other exactly what the other is lacking in life. However, Kate is a full of life and adventure traveling from town to town and Duncan is very reluctant of anything outside his secure walls of Minneapolis. Jackson and Lewis have amazingly sweet chemistry, we find ourselves rooting for them every step of the way. Aurora Borealis is my pick this year for being that one exceptional independent film where all the film-making elements come together and are molded into cinematic brilliance. Technically the film is composed into complete excellence but the way this movie makes you feel, is what stays with you for hours after you leave the theatre. It is a film about loving, living and humankind. Several times during the film I even wanted to reach out and hug each one of these well crafted characters. It even has a perfectly fitting title “Aurora Borealis” meaning “The Northern Lights” and in the words of Ronald Shorter you too begin to wish for beautiful lights, whether others see them or not, to help you face the critical phases of your own personal journey. This film is not available in MoPix but with the wonderful non-stop dialogue you will not need it. So go see it now! What are you still doing here? Seriously, stop reading this; put down whatever you are doing and go see this movie, I assure you, you will not be disappointed!
(Regent Releasing)
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Juliette Lewis, Donald Sutherland, Louise Fletcher and Steven Pasquale
