Eve Ringuette

(On TV, November 2020) I often refer to Montréal-based filmmaking as being “local”… which is ludicrous given that there’s a good two hundred kilometres between here and there. For truly local filmmaking, movies such as Le Dep would be a much better example—after all, it was shot barely forty kilometres away from here, at 903 Route Principale, Val-des-Monts, QC. The unimposing convenience store located there here doubles as Northern Québec establishment, with a young Innu woman keeping the store open during a snowy winter night. There are complications, of course—a white policeman boyfriend, a junkie brother and, especially, a big thick stash of cash in the safe. This ultra-low-budget effort makes the most out of its quasi-theatrical structure, setting quite a bit of drama and suspense in the confines of a small department store. Eve Ringuette is quite good in the lead role, holding her own against the other men who make up the cast. Writer-director Sonia Boileau cleverly stretches the limits of the film’s micro-budget (less than C$250,000) in making the most of its limited location, enhancing the tension of taking place in such close quarters. Le Dep is not a big movie, but it’s nicely made and often engaging in its down-and-dirty earnestness. It’s got social issues and criminal thrills within a low-six-figure budget—what else would you want?