Clan in crisis

>> Rival writers reunite and duke it out in the literary and funny Who Loves the Sun

by MATTHEW HAYS

A sense of uneasiness sets in as Who Loves the Sun opens. It’s a Canadian movie about old friends and family who reunite, despite strained relations, at a lakefront home. Seeing as we’ve seen this many times before—often with dire consequences—a degree of concern is warranted.

The good news is that, for the most part, director-writer Matt Bissonnette’s (Looking for Leonard) screenplay avoids many of the possible traps it could so easily have fallen into. The best part is that he maintains a healthy infusion of humour throughout Who Loves the Sun, a thoughtful film about two writers who have a longstanding rivalry. Lukas Haas plays a troubled man who shows up, after a five-year absence, at the lakefront residence of the parents of his childhood best friend. Played by R.H. Thomson and Wendy Crewson, the folks are a bit puzzled as to why Haas has been quite so distant for quite so long.

Enter their son (Adam Scott), who is less than thrilled about Haas’s reappearance. It turns out that while the two were best friends, they had a serious rivalry that culminated in Scott bedding Haas’s wife, played by Molly Parker. Making matters worse, Haas walked in on Scott and Parker as they were doing the nasty, thus the five-year disappearing act.

Who Loves the Sun moves along at a leisurely (but not deadening) pace, showing us various character flaws and foibles. It’s an original screenplay, but it’s quite literary in that it feels like a series of short stories that have been translated to the big screen. Haas and Scott get into some (literal) brawls over their ongoing tensions, while the parents tiptoe around various thorny issues in true WASP fashion.

Where Who Loves the Sun really loses its way is in the final 20 minutes of the film, when Bissonnette decides to induce a sizable plot twist. Though it doesn’t destroy the entire feature, it’s a curve ball that the film really didn’t need. The rivalry between Haas and Scott, the tension between both of them and Parker, and the concerned fussing of the parental figures was all that this film needed. The final twist, sadly, leaves a contrived aftertaste.

Who Loves the Sun opens Friday, April 6

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