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RADIUS

A MAN WAKES UP TO THE END OF THE WORLD



★★★★★ (A Must-See)

Director: Caroline Labrèche, Steeve Léonard

2017


My oldest friend JJ and I have very different tastes in film. I enjoy Mark Pirro and Blood Diner and Deep Red while his preferences veer more toward slick, streamlined horror. We do not agree on Yorgos Lanthimos and he prefers Hereditary over Midsommar, but there’s no one else in the world I’d rather watch scary movies with. And then sometimes he’ll choose something incredible for our special nights, like Radius, an astonishingly good apocalypse thriller that frightens you as each mystery unfolds. When I tell you that I’m jealous of Radius‘ script, please take that as one of this writer’s highest compliments. The directors reminded me of the Coen brothers in that they let the story do what it’s supposed to do.



A man wakes up from a car accident in the middle of a serious situation. Birds fall dead from the sky, people keel over as they drive their vehicles, and all while this guy is trying to remember his name or previous life. Soon he meets up with a woman who is also struggling to recall her identity, and the two of them head out on the road to try and figure out what is happening and how to stop it before anyone else dies. To reveal even a little bit more would ruin a film consisting of onion layers of mysteries that hook you and never let go. I dare you to turn Radius off after the first twenty-five minutes—you won’t be able to. And your guesses as to what is happening? Wrong. As a writer, I kept pulling out the old tricks for twists, but none of them were right. The screenplay written by Labrèche and Léonard masterfully plays out the tension as we begin to realize nothing is what it seems to be.


Radius only has a few issues, all easily overlooked. The low budget film has the inexpensive feel of a TV movie of the week, and none of the main actors make the characters their own. Though Diego Klattenhoff and Charlotte Sullivan do a decent job, I can see many different people playing those parts. The film is so good, I wondered out loud why I’d never heard of it before, and then JJ and I both said at the same time, “Oh, it’s Canadian." Radius is just another example of excellent foreign filmmaking that has been shuffled into the ether because there were no big names or big studios involved. Isn’t it a shame that a mystery this amazing would be overlooked by the general public and thrown into the wasteland that is Tubi? Please watch Radius just to give it the attention it so truly deserves.


On a side note, I look forward to JJ’s next pick, but I have a feeling after treating him to Blood Diner a few weeks ago, I may never see him again.





GENRES: Apocalyptic, Feminist-Friendly, Psychological, Serial Killer


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