The script is the best feature of the film. It has details of personality. Could have made a better movie with it. Haden Church achieves a commendable performance, even throughout the movie, but without big moments. Good intentions are seen in the feature film debut of the director, but it doesn't go all the way. It could have been a much more intense film. With inevitables reference to "Fargo", especially the snow as the big star and a crime as a starting point. Very interesting as the plot unfolds, fragments, and it will illuminate the reasons why the protagonist is in the situation he is. We can also highlight the ethical problem: good action, evil deed, guilt and punishment. This director can be to follow. The rhythm is a little slow. The best scene are the final 15 seconds.

In rural Quebec, drunken Bruce (Thomas Haden Church) accidentally kills a man during a snowstorm with his snowplow. He hides the body and drives away into the woods. He wakes up to discover his machine is stuck in the snow. As he tries to get his machine out, the paranoia and his guilt starts to drive him mad. Flashbacks reveal that the dead man was Bruce's house guest Paul (Marc Labrècheas). Paul tried to commit suicide and keeps trying to take advantage of Bruce's generosity. It becomes obvious that this is more than a simple accident.It's an interesting performance from Thomas Haden Church. Paul is an off-putting character and Marc Labrècheas is good. It is still a tiring movie where everything is so serious. The movie grinds down the audience. I have no particular rooting interest in Bruce. His struggle is not compelling and his 'friendship' with Marc is questionable. I guess a drunk is likely to make stupid decisions.

Although I thought this movie got a little tedious and that some of the plot elements didn't quite add up, I still found that it pulled me in right from the start and kept me intrigued throughout.It's basically a two person film with the fine actor Thomas Haden Church leading the way and starring as Bruce. He's been drinking heavily since his wife died a year before, while living in the Canadian wilderness. However, his livelihood as a snow plow driver has been shut down, as his license has been revoked for driving drunk and crashing into a restaurant.Marc Lebreche, as Paul, is the other major player here, and rather than write too many spoilers here I'll just say we learn a lot more about him as the film progresses. I can say that the movie opens with Paul running desperately through the snow covered streets of the town, while Bruce is shown driving his snow plow in a snowstorm with very poor visibility. Suddenly, we see the plow crashing straight on into Paul.Through flashbacks, we'll eventually learn how these two men got to the opening scenes, and it is quite a journey we're in store for. We'll also see what amounts to a wilderness survival story and a slow descent into madness, which, as mentioned can get a little tiresome, but still kept me quite engrossed.I thought this was quite a good effort for a directorial debut from Emanuel Hoss-Desmaris, who also co-wrote the script with first time screenwriter Marc Tulin.Overall, I felt this film had its' limitations, but I still found it to be an intriguing and engaging watch.

I had the pleasure of seeing Whitewash at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival or KVIFF for short. I went to see this film while knowing nothing about it because that is sometimes the way you see films at KVIFF. You buy a ticket and go see a film that you know nothing about. I strongly recommend going into a movie which you know nothing about because that way you can enjoy it much more.A snow plow operator accidentally runs over with his mini-plow a man walking on the street during a blizzard. That's all you need to know about this film's plot. What ensues after this accident is a the perfect blend of drama and black comedy. Surprisingly Thomas Haden Church's Bruce spends most of the movie hiding in his snow plow and trying to figure out what to do next. Thomas Hadden Church gives here the best performance of his life. Very minimalistic though but very gripping and funny. The film shows how physically demanding Bruce's survival is. (The story is set in Quebec, so the winter there is very harsh) Thomas Haden Church portrays a man who is unwilling to die even though he is doubting if living is worth the struggle. But all this can be told with a lot of humor, even if the situation wouldn't be funny in real life.After the screening there was a short Q&A session with the director Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais. He said that although the winter looks very harsh, during the time of the shoot the winter was very wimpy so they had to help themselves with a few special effects. After the Q&A session ended I went up to the director and asked him for an autograph and asked him if the Coen brothers was an influence on this film. The answer was: Of course! The guy seemed like a very sympathetic fellow and I look forward to seeing more of his work.