AllMovie

Mile Zero is an exemplary low-budget domestic drama. Like Lodge Kerrigan's Clean, Shaven, it is a topographical map of parental pain with an unreliable protagonist whose motivations unfold slowly. Screenwriter Michael Melski sporadically illuminates Derek's (Michael Riley) mindset, while leaving the exact nature and extent of his madness a mystery until late in the movie. Well shot by Robert Aschmann, Mile Zero captures the cold, open light of the Canadian Rockies, then later, in a scene echoed in Michael Haneke's Time of the Wolf, darkens the palette to reveal the flickering beacon of a distant campfire in the night. The style, particularly the too-frequent intercutting between the past and the present, occasionally feels a bit too flashy for the narrative simplicity of the movie. But that seeming lack of focus is partly justified by the Derek's complicated and emotionally distorted point-of-view. Sabrina Grdevich is very good as the prickly wife, who understandably can't quite deal with the unfailing intensity of Derek's passion, but the film belongs to Riley and Connor Widdows, who play Will, Derek's young son. Riley manages to convey Derek's love for Will, even as the man teeters on the brink of madness. Eventually, that love is overwhelmed by darker emotions of jealousy and possessiveness, but Riley's performance, reeking with genuine anguish, forces us to acknowledge Derek's humanity, even at his worst. For his part, Widdows communicates a son's desperate need to trust his father -- a trust that transcends belief -- as Derek's lies and distortions accumulate. In its rawness, Mile Zero can be brutal to watch, but it has an emotional honesty found in too few dramas.