The team behind James Vs His Future Self return to the Glasgow Film Festival with an altogether different cinematic experience with Ashgrove.
Set in the not so distant future, Dr. Jennifer Ashgrove is one of the world’s top scientists battling to find a cure to a crisis that affects the world’s water supply. As the weight of the world takes its toll, she retreats to the countryside with her husband in a bid to clear her mind. However, it’s not all happiness on the home front and they soon realise that their ability to save their marriage will literally determine the fate of humankind itself.
With the film beginning with a news bulletin detailing how the world has been decimated by a water-born virus, there is that initial reflex of “oh no, another pandemic movie?”. It is hard not to feel that twinge of recognition where they describe that until a cure is found, survival is dependant on a fundamental change in human behaviour.
However, rather than an end of the world, Roland Emmerich-esque disaster movie, the film chooses to go down a much smaller, more intimate path. Focusing on how the situation has affected one particular couple.
Close to an answer to solving the crisis, Jennifer has worked herself to the point of exhaustion. Following a blackout, she is ordered to convalesce at her farmhouse with her husband Jason. As Mr. Spock once said “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. The closer she gets to a cure for mankind, the further she is from her partner. The obsession with work has driven a literal and emotional wedge between them and it is a chance for them to reconnect.
However something is off from the moment they arrive. Secret phone calls, irrational frustration when things don’t go to plan. Plus Jason has an oddly specific checklist of tasks to do while setting up the house.
Amanda Brugel (The Handmaid’s Tale) is excellent as Jennifer. Consumed by her work, the decompression is an unnatural feeling. One she tries to fill by looking for problems where there may be none. Becoming highly suspicious of her husband’s behaviour.
At times he seems charming and attentive then at others dismissive and nasty. At times his behaviour could be construed as manipulative or even gaslighting. Jonas Chernick walks a delicate tightrope and nails every single moment.
The actors developed the characters and the script along with writer-director LaLonde and it shows. Together they have great chemistry. There are moments where they generate real affection towards each other and provide a sense of real history between them. The chemistry also allows for the two to convincingly argue like a married couple.
The team of LaLonde and Chernick potentially also worked to keep some elements of the story secret from Brugel. This helps to elevate her performance and sense of paranoia and mistrust. It feels like she is organically discovering new information at the same time as the audience.
The reason for this and the reveal make for a stark, harrowing realisation. One that is arguably the lesser of two evils but something that will undoubtedly spark conversation. A debate that returns to the “needs of the many” and “the needs of the few”.
Sometimes the breakdown of a relationship can seem like the end of the world. Here it might be more than a metaphor. Ashgrove is a fascinating exploration into truth and memory, powered by two fantastic central performances.
Ashgrove has its World Premiere at Glasgow Film Festival on March 3 and 4
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Director: Jeremy LaLonde
Stars: Amanda Brugel, Jonas Chernick, Shawn Doyle, Natalie Brown, Christine Horne
Runtime: 92 minutes
Country: Canada
