Shot when director Harley Chamandy was 22, making him the youngest recipient of the Munich film festival’s Werner Herzog award for “special achievement in innovation, courage and vision”, this short Canadian drama digs into the peaceable Kaspar Hauser rather than the megalomaniac Aguirre end of the Herzog spectrum. Starring Vincent Leclerc as the eponymous former music producer taking refuge in a lakeside house, it has a disarming simplicity and aura of benevolence.
Allen Sunshine is a man who seems to have successfully decluttered his life. Accompanied by his great dane, Sully, he spends his time recording nature sounds in the surrounding woods and tweaking his electronica music indoors. He is, though, in recovery from trauma; an unannounced visit from his brother prises open his past in the music industry. And when he meets a couple of local kids called Dustin (Miles Phoenix Foley) and Kevin (Liam Quiring-Nkindi), they already know he was the husband and svengali of big-time singer Eloise Hayes. But she is nowhere to be seen.
Chamandy’s character study has an almost cleansing plainness and, as Allen’s friendship with the foul-mouthed teenagers deepens, a mild loopiness reminiscent of David Gordon Green’s more down-home efforts. Some of Chamandy’s attempts to use plot to crowbar his way inside the laconic protagonist feel too direct, notably the drunken evening with a receptive old friend Jocelyn (Catherine Souffront) during which Allen finally cracks.
But, while a touch slight, the film displays a pleasing self-possession simply bathing in the sense of goodness Allen is trying to nurture in his life, from teaching Kevin to ride a bike to getting a pie-making lesson from Bill the delivery man (Joseph Whitebird). None of it seems hokey or forced or ironically intended; just essential, embroidered discreetly by Leclerc in the lead role. “These blueberries are what makes the difference,” notes Bill. Chamandy has found the right filling for his pie – enough to make us anticipate servings to come.
• Allen Sunshine is on digital platforms now.
