‘Le Coyote’ Review: No Sophomore Slump for Director Katherine Jerkovic [TIFF 2022]
Director Katherine Jerkovic’s second feature film, Le Coyote, a follow-up to her massively respected Roads in February certainly brings a certain amount of pressure with it. Roads in February won the distinction of being TIFF’s ‘Best Canadian First Feature’ in 2018, and contained what some would consider a meticulously thought out approach to character and pacing. Perhaps a tough act to follow, especially considering that once again Jerkovic braves the discerning TIFF audience, both at the festival, and as one of this year’s digital at-home screenings.
Le Coyote follows the reserved and laconic Camilo, a widower in his fifties, who enjoys working the night shift for a cleaning company in Montreal. Camilo once owned a successful restaurant, and he dreams of returning to that more expressive and glamorous life once again. However his life and his plans are thrown off of their pathway as he unexpectedly receives a visit from his estranged daughter, Tania. She’s going into rehab, and she needs him to look after Zachary, the five-year-old grandson Camilo didn’t know he had.
Jerkovic, as expected, gives her Sophomore effort the same careful approach, as she sensitively explores the profound, conflicting emotions complicating her characters’ relationships. There are no heroes or villains here, just human beings battling themselves. Proud and still resentful over the past, Camilo wants little to do with Tania and doesn’t really know how to speak to Zachary. (He’s like a modernized version of Silas Marner.) Tania is erratic and irresponsible while Zachary is angry and terrified he will lose his mother, the only constant in his young life. What emerges is an affecting tale of a family trying to reconstruct itself. That relatability coupled with Jerkovic’s naturalistic and unruffled style makes Coyote one of the most poignant and emotionally genuine films of the year.
One of Le Coyote’s strongest aspects is that it is one of those films which is focused entirely on the people within it. It is the very definition of character driven, and while it would be easy to perhaps see it is as ‘one-note’ or perhaps wonder where the prominence of a subplot is, the streamlined script and attention to detail makes it more than worthwhile. Those characters in it are faced with decisions upon which their struggles and their dreams hang in the balance. Along the way, Jerkovic also draws attention to cultural differences between immigrants and their descendants, as well as the journey to rebuild a broken family.
Played by Jorge Martinez Colorado, Camilo is a hardworking and reserved man. His story is a universal one; he is working a hard job while he tries to find something better, in his chosen field. His only friendship seems to be with Edgar (Christian de la Cortina), a younger co-worker who is stuck cleaning floors because his education overseas is not recognized. There are times when Edgar seems more like a surrogate child than just a friend, which only adds fuel to the fire when Tania reappears in Camilo’s life.
Of the three leads, Tania (Eva Avila) sadly has the least screen time, and yet the most impact on the story. Jerkovic certainly adopts a “less is more” approach when it comes to Tania’s past and present. There are only a few hints to her drug addiction, as well as her struggles raising Zachary by herself. Camilo is resentful and mistrustful when she first appears, but even he must acknowledge that she genuinely wants to better herself, if not for her own sake, then her son’s.
Enzo Desmeules Saint-Hilaire as Zachary is a talent that has already sprouted beautifully, and one audiences should continue to watch grow in the future. Saint-Hillaire gives a very quiet and understated performance as a little boy who is trying to cope with big changes in his life, something that seems beyond the grasp of any actor his age. There is a large cultural difference between him and his grandfather, but they both have similar reactions to an unwelcome situation. Their silences both hide a sensitivity which comes out unexpectedly. Consider, for example, Zachary’s insistence that they bury a dead bird rather than just leave it alone and abandoned.
Le Coyote does not make any large pronouncements on life, and the high stakes revolve only around a single family’s attempt to heal itself. This is a slice of life which countless people endure on a daily basis, and the film’s strengths come from its authenticity and earnestness. Jerkovic points her camera at Montreal’s multicultural population through Camilo’s family, but also through his neighbours and co-workers. If you’ve ever lived in a Canadian city, you’ve probably passed by people like this without knowing it. Or maybe you are one of these people yourself.