Criminal bind

Local cops-and-robbers thriller Transit aims for
high intrigue on a low budget, with mixed results

AMBITIOUS ACTION: Transit

by MALCOLM FRASER

Local, low-budget films often present a challenge to critics. On one hand, you want to praise their energy while going easy on the occasional sloppy technique; on the other, you feel a certain responsibility to spur the filmmaker on to better things by drawing attention to the unpolished chops. That’s even more so when it’s not an art film but a genre flick, where technique is paramount, as is the case with Christian de la Cortina’s crime thriller Transit.

Director, producer and co-writer de la Cortina stars as Nicolas, a car thief working for mid-level mafioso Ricardo (Deano Clavet). We soon find out that de la Cortina is in fact an undercover RCMP agent, working on a major sting. The operation is compromised by the efforts of a crusty Montreal detective (veteran Quebec actor Luc Morissette) to bust up the stolen-car ring on his own. The feds parachute in an agent (the lovely Julie du Page) to keep Morissette under control, but naturally he bristles at job-sharing with the young lady.

Morisette is compelling as the aging detective, who happens to be the best-developed character of the bunch. A number of the supporting players are also solid—unusually for a local low-budget film, de la Cortina managed to hustle an agreement with the Quebec actors’ union. In a uniquely local twist, the mostly French film has extensive dialogue in English and Spanish, all unsubtitled.

Shot on video and with minimal lighting even in its frequent night scenes, the film has a cheap aesthetic that it struggles to overcome (the over-the-top music doesn’t help). The plot doesn’t break out of the genre’s clichés—the scenes between the maverick Morissette and his pissed-off supervisor are particularly by-the-book. And although the suspense is well timed, there are a number of underdeveloped characters and dropped plot threads. It’s a common case of a filmmaker’s ambition being greater than his means.

Ultimately, the film deserves an A for effort, and will undoubtedly please fans of the genre, but more discriminating cinephiles may prefer to wait and see what de la Cortina will come up with next—hopefully, with either a bigger budget or a concept more appropriate to a clo-fi approach.

TRANSIT OPENS THIS FRIDAY, JAN. 30