Talking Tribeca: The High Cost of Living

I’ve had the pleasure this year of screening a number of selections from the Tribeca Film Festival. In no particular order, I present a look at one film per day. The Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 20th through May 1st.

The High Cost of Living
Directed by Deborah Chow
Released on VOD April 20, 2011

In director Deborah Chow’s new film, which is available on Video on Demand today and will roll out to theatres in May, a drug dealer named Henry (Zach Braff) accidentally hits a pregnant Nathalie (Isabelle Blais) with his car, resulting in her losing the baby and preparing for a stillborn birth. This rather dark film chronicles Henry’s search for atonement and Nathalie’s efforts to come back from her tragedy while still dealing with a constant physical reminder of what could and should have been. I had the opportunity to chat with star Zach Braff about the movie. He says the response to the film has been extraordinary. He sees its release on Video on Demand as a very positive thing, asking, “what’s negative about putting a small film into millions and millions of homes?” This dramatic part was something extremely different from the kind of roles he’s taken on in the past, and he notes that he loves a “good, solid, dark drama” and wants “to do something intimidating.” The real feat of the movie, according to him, is having the audience root for him despite the horrible things he does. He also speaks fondly of working in Montreal, a bilingual city with its own culture, and quotes Chow, who has expressed that she wanted Montreal to be a character in the film. “The High Cost of Living” doubles as a heart-wrenching, meaningful drama and an ode to the Canadian city. Almost all of Henry’s dialogue is in English, while Nathalie speaks mostly in French. The film, however, is far less disjointed, and it’s worth the trip (or the click) to see these two troubled characters brought together in the face of tragedy.

See it or skip it? See it if it the story isn’t too upsetting!