Directed by Taka Tsubota and written by Jasper Chen, when victimized by the other boys in a cabin, a boy must pick his poison: stay inside and fight his demons, or flee and face the apocalyptic landscape that real monsters have infested. Starring: Matthew Mitchell Espinosa, Thaddeus Newman, Andrew Hayden Kang, Barron Leung and Kiyoshi Shishido.
If you’re thinking of the last people that you would want to land with during an apocalypse, toxic teenage boys should be pretty high on that list. A factor which makes Alan’s (Barron Leung) plight all the more relatable, because it would be a living nightmare to be faced with the end of the world, the constant possibility of death alongside people who in spite of that, still choose to be bullies. Even an apocalypse can’t stop people from being assholes.
It’s an interesting choice on the part of Jasper Chen to write a story about the end of the world that entirely focuses on the experience of a shy, creative young man faced with toxic masculinity. The setting is a great way to intensify the conversation, taking it out of everyday, while still reflecting that very real, commonplace experience and the intensity which it can hold.
By placing the topic within an environment that exists upon that constantly wobbling precipice, it gives a fantastic excuse for Taka Tsubota to inject it with an impressively captivating and tense atmosphere. Tsubota’s direction is thoughtful, patient and purposeful, it moves extremely well and alongside Ryo Endo’s cinematography builds a darkly brooding palette. That use of colour then becomes extremely present as time goes on, it’s cleverly used to reflect the evolving tone of the story. The directorial style also does a great job of capturing how filled with emotion Canary is.
Most of that emotion lands on the shoulders of Barron Leung and he carries it well. He strikes that balance between sensitivity and strength. He creates a character who is introverted and submissive without making him feel weak, he’s simply attempting to follow the status quo, to not rock the boat. It’s a great performance and he manages to contain a lot of emotion without really needing to say anything.
It’s a shame we don’t get to see more from Kiyoshi Shishido as even in his brief appearance, he has a lot of personality and energy to add to the mix, as well as a strong compassionate side. While Matthew Mitchell Espinosa, Thaddeus Newman and Andrew Hayden Kang provide the key toxic teen boys who you will wish you could slap the unearned confidence out of them. They may be fictional but the type of people they represent are sadly all too existent in today’s world.
The only weakness you could potentially pick out of the mix is its use of threat, because we never really learn much at all about the monsters that keep them trapped inside. It doesn’t necessarily have to take a big part of the story but it does feel as though a little bit more context on how they arrived there and what hunts them, could have rounded things out nicely. There is a clear conscious choice to keep that aspect minimal and it does work, the mystery is solid but there was room to flesh it out.
Canary is atmospheric, tense and transports an everyday issue to the end of the world. Tackling that painfully negative, forceful and old-fashioned attitude that young men are faced with. The direction and cinematography are strong, they create a gripping atmosphere and a great amount of tension, as well as a fantastic aesthetic.
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