SHOW ME (2004)

Starring Michelle Nolden, Kett Turton, Gabriel Hogan, Katherine Isabelle, Allegra  Fulton. Synopsis: An upper class woman is abducted by two squeegee wielding young couple who take her to a remote cabin north of Toronto. Held there over a period of days, she develops a surprising bond with each of her abductors amid the growing sexual tension with each.

Have to admit that I selected this one solely because I liked the look of the box cover. Generally, one of my favorite things about being a movie buff is finding "hidden gems" like this one, a film I had not heard anything about before I got it.

The beginning of the movie just grabs you right away: we see the main character Sarah (Michelle Nolden) tied up and gagged with a narrative voice over saying "Some people are meant to be rescuers, some people are meant to be rescued". Right away, you know this is going to be interesting. When the story starts, we meet Sarah as she is stuck in traffic and trying to reach Sam, her significant other, who gives Sarah the disappointing news about being able to meet Sarah at their isolated cabin for the long planned romantic getaway due to a situation at work.

A frustrated Sarah then reacts harshly to two squeegee people who try to clean her windshield at a traffic light. After her harsh rebuke, the guilt ridden Sarah offers the squeegee kids some money, and within an instant is carjacked at the knifepoint by Jenna (Katherine Isabelle) and her boyfriend Jackson (Kett Turton). Quickly, they are off to the remote cabin where Sarah will be kept as a prisoner.

Early on, you might get the feeling that this movie will degenerate into predictable, campy, T&A schlock, but it never does. As the story unfolds and you start to empathize even more with Sarah's plight, there is a distinct twist when it seems that Sarah is becoming attached to her captors. Several questions develop and/or are present from the beginning, but will one burning at the back of your mind, if not the front, throughout the progression of the film. Exactly what, or who, are Jackson and Jenna running from? Why don't they take Sarah's car and just leave? Where is Sam throughout the multi day ordeal? Why is Jackson obsessed with swimming? What is the basis of Jenna's fascination with knives and film?

Obviously, there is a lot going on in the undercurrent of the story that the writer/director (Cassandra Nicolau) wants us to figure out on our own, and the way the film is put together she is successful in doing so. Of course, for any picture that is almost entirely character driven to succeed, we have to care about some or all of the characters, and in Show Me we do, thanks to the thought provoking and original script and the fine acting of the three main characters, who are on film for 95% of the movie.

Michelle Nolden is superb as the protagonist, we are irritated with her at first, but then grow to empathize, if not fully understand her actions and motivation, which start out as a desperate desire to get free from her captors but evolves into a sympathetic and then partner-like relationship. When it is most easy for her to escape, she chooses not to do so. Surely, the sexual tension between her and each of her captors is a strong element of this, but not the total reason. Nolden has a commanding presence onscreen and tends to carry each scene that she is in, which is not a criticism of her co-stars but a compliment to her performance in the movie.

Katherine Isabelle has the most difficult role. Her character is, at the same time, the most disturbed, the most violent, the most vulnerable, the strongest, the weakest, and the most vulnerable. Without her pulling this off as seamlessly as she does, the film does not work. She caught my eye with her brief role in Insomnia and this seems to be a young actress who will make her mark for a long time.

Kett Turton, while the least outstanding of the three stars, is nevertheless very good in his role. It is just the right level of simmering hurt mixed with rage that makes us like him, even though he is the one that eventually perpetrates the violence we expected to come from Katherine Isabelle. As the plot develops, we can see that Turton's Jackson is, in effect, the moral center of the story, if not the most troubled. I thought it was nice to see an implied love triangle, but with a different twist and more elements thrown into the mix.

To be sure, there are some negatives to Show Me, although none to make it less of a movie to recommend than it already is. But, the ending, while heavy on symbolism, does leave us with a few unanswered questions, especially given the decisions that Sarah has made throughout the course of the movie.

Also, the climatic scene featuring the onscreen murder stretches credulity a little bit. The scene is hastily pushed into the movie without a sufficient explanation to fully help us understand what is happening and why. Lastly, it was a little hard to grasp that Sam, business concerns or not, would not at some point come up to the cabin after not hearing from Sarah. This seems like a small point, but in the context of a film, its important and the believability of the movie hinges on our full appreciation of Sarah's situation.

This movie, which deals with elements of murder, drug use, homosexuality in the context of a story of three people, yet is not exploitative in any way. This is the increasingly rare film that is carried entirely by the script and acting, without a hint of CGI or special effects to be seen. Its low budget, for sure, but the directorial debut of Cassandra Nicolau is a success. This is simply a film you should see if you enjoy good movies, and a good film is enough for you.