Levers

Rhayne Vermette described her working method as “hyper open, process-based” when speaking about her remarkable first feature STE. ANNE (2021). Far from shying away from this experimental mindset, her rapturous sophomore feature once again defies standard narrative conventions and takes her bold approach to a whole new level. LEVERS hinges on an astral event significantly more surreal than your standard solar eclipse: all corners of the Earth are simultaneously plunged into darkness. When the uptight officials of a small town are about to unveil a monument, smoke fills the screen, then light vanishes before we can even see it. In a series of shuffled chapters headed by cryptic, tarot-like illustrations, humanity is plunged into the unknown and waits for signs from their cathode ray tubes. The feeling this evokes seems to echo the dark times we’re living in. Without indicating any simple way out, Vermette encourages us to travel down unfamiliar paths. And the beauty of LEVERS ultimately emerges from its largely unchartered setting: the filmmaker’s home province of Manitoba, where the Métis culture to which she belongs and the specificity of this unique place intertwine to create blissfully syncretic forms. (Antoine Thirion)

Rhayne Vermette: R SEYMORE GOES NORTH (2011, K), TUDOR VILLAGE: A ONE SHOT DEAL (2012, K), ROB WHAT (2014, K), U.F.O. (2016, K), LES CHÂSSIS DE LOURDES (2016, K), DOMUS (2017, K), STE. ANNE (2021), A BLACK SCREEN TOO (2024, K)