Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: WHITETAIL [Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - Toronto, Canada]
The aspect of life changed in an instant peppers the ideas reflected in the force of nature within "Whitetail" [Centrepiece]. Director Nanouk Leopold relates a story of a woman Jen [Natasha O'Keefe] who in her adult years is very much still living in a trap of trauma trying to make amends for something she can't control. The prologue of the film is innocent enough but is a matter of young people at the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing. There are extenuating circumstances but the repercussions Leopold presents do not let disappear. She lets the audience stay with it before showing a periodically functional aftermath. Jen finds herself in the same forest [the film is shot in Ireland] many years later trying to prevent the trauma that affected her (a hunting accident turned deadly) by caring a way for the forest where the tragedy happened and the wildlife within it There however is a deeper detail at play which this reviewer won't give away here. Simply said, Jen tries to hold on too tightly to people and yet won't let other ones close at all. The character work here is muted but understandably so in a deliberate way. Jen wants to protect people (her father) and repel others (her ex-fiancé). All the while she understands why she does things but is lost in the perspective of growth in any way.
Jen hears her father halfway through the film speaking in another room. He is moving on with another woman after her mom died and tells his new girlfriend that his daughter is stuck. But for many reasons, Jen's point is valid. However when the one other person who was there (and left) returns, Jen's control begins to break. Granted most of the people around the town can't deal with her reactiveness, especially a local law enforcement official who, while mousy and attracted to her, is still just trying to help. Her grip of Jen's own grief eventually brings her to a point, possibly caused by her own ego and pride that leaves her in a different space. The film uses a 1:33 ratio specifically because of its natural structure which Leopold said in the Q&A she had to get used to but once she saw in practice, she understood. This specifically has to do with the depth of elements: the green of the forest, the clearness of the water, even the response of a deer to an inanimate object. Leopold tries to create the parallel in nature in the imagery without making it feel overwrought. Jen does find her way out of her jungle (aka forest) by understanding that accepting is much different than living. B
By Tim Wassberg
