Donald Sutherland excels in 'Aurora Borealis'.
To be fair, I am probably not in this film's target audience. Lewis' faintly cross-eyed grin has always struck me as more unhinged than seductive, and I just can't care - as I need to - about the Gen-X angst of Duncan Shorter (Jackson), who's barely out of
short pants and having a mid-life crisis 10 years after the unexpected death of his dad.
In snowbound Minneapolis (a clumsy symbol of his frozen heart), Duncan hangs out with his buddies, drinking beer and watching hockey. His only income is renting his apartment by the hour to his successful, married and philandering brother. Then he takes a job in an apartment building for the elderly, including his grandparents, Ronald (Sutherland), afflicted by Parkinson's and incipient dementia, and his devoted wife Ruth (Fletcher). These two veterans (Fletcher won an Oscar as the evil Nurse Ratched in Cuckoo's Nest all those years ago) are the beating heart of a slight film, in which they were probably meant to be incidental characters, because they turn in performances of such conviction and heartbreaking humanity. But when Duncan meets Ronald's home-care nurse Kate (Lewis) you know what's going to happen. And you know what's going to happen when they get out of bed, too. It's predictable and ultimately quite trivial, but Sutherland alone is almost worth the ticket price.
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Donald Sutherland, Louise Fletcher, Juliette Lewis
Director: James Burke
Running time: 110 mins
Rating: M, offensive language, sexual references, drug use
Screening: Rialto
Verdict: Slight drama about a Gen-Xer with a mid-life crisis is almost rescued by a brilliant Sutherland as a man succumbing to Parkinson's disease
