FILM REVIEW

Danette Goulet

Unless I just missed it, which is possible, “Johnny Greyeyes” simply

didn’t work.

It was the slow moving narrative of a woman who knew little but pain

in her life. Many of the lines were unintelligible, leaving the viewer

straining to hear, but not sure they really cared that they may have

missed something.

The film wove together a dream of Johnny and a healer by a campfire, a

slice of her childhood in which she shot her father, the last year of her

seven-year prison sentence and her release back into the world.

Mixed in with that was a bit of her brother’s troubled life and some

scenes from Vancouver, where she apparently stabbed a man who infuriated

her, landing Johnny in Kingston maximum security prison for women.

The only place Johnny found love was with an inmate in Kingston, but

the couple never could forget where they were.

Throughout was Johnny’s quest for some semblance of spiritual peace,

which she felt could be found by reuniting her mother and brother.

The film takes you through her emotional turmoil, which as aviewer,

you can see, but not quite feel.

* “Johnny Greyeyes” will screen 11 a.m. Thursday at Edwards Island 7

Cinemas.