Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: LITTLE LORRAINE [Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - Toronto, Canada]
The reality of family versus a good thing sometimes walks the line between what is acceptable and what might be right. With "Little Lorraine" [Discovery/World Premiere] director Andy Hines tells the progression of a real life story where former miners in 1986 (after a devastating explosion) find work as deckhands on a lobster boat owned by one of their own's uncle. Of course things aren't as they seems and soon they find out they are working to traffic in cocaine from offshore versus the simple honest work they thought they signed up for. The question isn't so much the drug running as the impact i has on the social structure of the men in this unit because they are used to a very different standard of rules. The questions of loyalty and cash versus snitching or trying to bow out weigh heavily on these three men. Stephen Amell who played the lead in CW's Arrow series, plays a regular guy pulled in by his nefarious uncle (Stephen McHattie) who seems all sorts of wrong from the beginning (and yet he has the money to tempt these suddenly out of work men). The interesting point is who goads Amell's Jimmy into the work with his friends.
Sometimes the best opportunities might be good in the short view but not in the long run. It depends on the end goal. Hines obviously tries to mine the dread but what tends to work is the structure since it allows the audience to see the aftermath of what the decision has wrought. Though this is set in Nova Scotia, the feeling of the familial closing of ranks (like say Boston) is very pronounced and really shows the vicelike grip. McHattie doesn't smooth the edges but he does portray how the snake edges his way into people's lives with a promise of a better tomorrow. He tries to bribe them in a way until he doesn't need them anymore. Jimmy battles the problems of conscience versus money better than others but the film also shows some of his compadres who don't have as strong of a countenance. The film doesn't show all the points of view but enough to show the devastating impact it can all have. Little Lorraine as the title of the film makes reference to the town that it is set in: quiet, hardworking but open to strife like any other. B
By Tim Wassberg
