Directed by Sean Garrity and written by lead actor Jonas Chernick and Diana Frances, Alena and her husband spend a summer up at Luna Lake Resort, JB runs the place. He and Alena begin a dangerous and passionate secret affair. Summers only, that’s the rule, until they break it. Also starring: Sara Canning, Joe Pingue, Tanisha Thammavongsa, Natalie Jane and Christian Meer.
Going into The Burning Season, Sean Garrity quickly instils the film with a bubbling tension which is a key element to its foundation. It creates the feeling of its story being on a precipice, at any point things can crack, breakdown or implode. There’s also a little injection of darkness to it, as everything starts to unravel it’s almost as if there’s a twisted quality at play, albeit a very understated one. A lot of that comes from its exploration of the ethical and internalised conflict or trauma side to having an affair, although it doesn’t feel like something that was delved into deeply enough.
Part of that issue is it spends a bit too much time on the sexual side, the rushed, physically driven side to their affair is established quickly and it could have moved on to allow more development to the story as a whole. That choice does hold it back a little, but it is nevertheless very interesting to see things told in reverse. It’s a tricky style to pull off but it works here, it allows the filmmakers to nicely unpack the layers of this story, something that might not have been achieved in a linear fashion. Although, it can make the ending feel somewhat unsatisfying, there’s not a lot of room left to manoeuvre or enough revelations to round things out.
The performances from Jonas Chernick and Sara Canning capture the same atmosphere as Sean Garrity’s direction, it’s tense and frantic. Although while it does instil those qualities, the actual movement of the film never feels rushed. Chernick and Canning also do a great job portraying the messiness of attraction and love, how bringing together people who may be deeply flawed or broken will always result in chaos. They have a strong chemistry, and while in The Burning Season’s biggest emotionally driven moments, their performances may falter somewhat, they’re otherwise captivating throughout. As well as having extremely individual personalities.
Another strength of The Burning Season is definitely the location choices which allow Sean Garrity and cinematographer Eric Oh to add a great mix of wide natural landscapes. They’re very well shot and expand the film, stopping it from falling too far inwards and balancing out the extremely intimate, secretive nature. Even though its editing and movement are very purposeful to create that reverse order, they still manage to create a fairly free flowing quality to the film.
The Burning Season is an unusual and intriguingly messy romance, straying away from the traditional into a darkly grey area. There are certain elements which feel underexplored, particularly the events that led to JB and Alexa’s complex affair, but the story still stands well without that extra detail. It moves surprisingly well, the direction and aesthetic quality are nicely consistent throughout, and Jonas Chernick and Sara Canning create relatable, messy and unique personalities.
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