Darkest Miriam is an urban exploration of isolation, connection and literature that earnestly attempts to portray a sense of poetic loneliness. Filmmaker Naomi Jaye sculpts and executes these themes with beauty and catharsis, but they're ultimately strung together more like a series of disconnected tableaux than a cohesive and satisfying narrative.
The film concerns Miriam (Severance's Britt Lower), a quiet, Toronto-based librarian who works at a particularly underfunded branch frequented by a series of eccentric and disadvantaged cast of characters. More chaos manifests through the ongoing work incidents she's required to document. Mysterious, loose dentures appear in strange locations, perverts masturbate in the quiet corners of the stacks, and fights break out over the computer schedule.
Miriam is sweet with the tragic regulars who haunt her branch, as she drifts in and out of life's routines like something of a ghost herself. That is, until she meets Janko (Tom Mercier), an attractive cab driver and Canadian newcomer who hangs out in the gardens out front of the library. With Janko, she finds a connection, and becomes somewhat grounded after years of nearly floating away, just like her elusive father once did.
Lower's careful exploration of Miriam gives the film a lot of its value. While the character's intentions and objectives are sometimes hazy, there's a subtlety in the haze that's engaging enough for an audience to spend an hour and a half investigating. A workplace mystery subplot doesn't hold much liquid in its cup, nor does an attempted tragic C-story concerning Miriam's father, an unpublished poet obsessed with collecting books. Yet the gravity of Lower's performance gives space for intrigue and empathy, especially during the strange, budding romance with Janko.
Unfortunately, the film's precociousness bogs it down. Stylistically, Darkest Miriam feels a bit like an approximation of Atom Egoyan, broken into chapters and labelled with pretentious, overly flowery subheadings. Style sometimes suffocates substance to the point that the film occasionally feels more like a Harbourfront modern dance piece than it does an engaging drama with burnt edges.
All in all, Darkest Miriam is a somewhat fresh and strange character study worth watching for audiences with the right threshold for arthouse vagueness. Thankfully, Lower's title performance elevates the material, and Jaye's direction shows very real promise.
Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 takes place from July 18 to August 4 in Montreal. Find details, including information about tickets, at the festival's website.