Regrettably, this is the kind of film that taints the perception of other Canadian films as being "so-o Canadian". Dull, myopic and introspective. While some of the performances are strong -- Peter Outerbridge creates chills as a nasty ex-con and Jonathan Scarfe exhibits a competent and natural charm as Michael -- the actors are hamstrung with a lethargic script that starts slow and sputters to a standstill. The writers seem to believe that you create character complexity by reducing their IQs and having them smoke a lot of cigarettes... And I mean A LOT of cigarettes! To make matters worse, there's nary a likable character in the story. With the exception of Michael, they come across as dimwitted, backwoods losers, flawed and with no hope of redemption -- leaving us to wonder what draws the globe-trotting Michael to them in the first place. If the script wasn't slow enough, the lack of any significant score only serves to emphasize and elongate the tedium. I can't understand why the CBC and Telefilm continues to commit $$ to this type of drivel.