Susan Granger’s review of “THE FIVE SENSES” (Fine Line Films)
“The senses are elemental, and in connecting us to the world, they connect us to each other,” says Canadian writer/director/producer Jeremy Podeswa. In this compelling urban story, he delicately interweaves five separate crisis situations that intersect in a poignant drama involving a missing child. There’s Ruth (Gabrielle Rose), a grief-stricken, recently widowed massage therapist who is unable to touch her rebellious daughter emotionally, and the troubled teenager Rachel (Nadia Litz) who became distracted while vicariously watching lovers in the park when the adorable toddler in her care wandered off. Their neighbor Rona (Mary Louise Parker) is a cynical, indecisive baker whose cakes are beautiful to the eye but bland to the taste until her passionate Italian lover (Marco Leonardi), a chef, arrives in Toronto. Rona’s best friend (Daniel MacIvor) is a sardonic bisexual who believes he can identify the scent of true love, noting: “The nose knows.” Another neighbor, an opera-loving French ophthalmologist (Philippe Volter), discovers he’s going deaf and is determined to build a “library of sounds,” something to fall back on. Each of the characters is infatuated with one of the five senses while going through a trauma or hardship, and they’re all lonely, searching and afraid of something. Essentially, this is an episodic, fragmented ensemble piece about relationships – and the choice of whether to give up or to keep going. Because of the editing, some subplots work better than others, while cinematographer Greg Middleton balances the definitive essence of time and place. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Five Senses” is a stylish, intimate, spiritual 7. It’s an intriguing example of the elegant art of cinematic craftsmanship.
