Michael Stephen Perry

(On Cable TV, November 2022) Low-budget filmmaking shouldn’t mean low imagination, and the way Residents of Arcadia combines a bit of horror with Science Fiction, a commentary on Canada’s immigration policies and some very personal drama makes it an object of contemplation far more interesting than many higher-budget genre features. It starts with something both creepy and familiar, as the idyllic lives of two influencers are punctuated by off-camera arguments, and then a countdown clock appearing on all of their house’s screens. At zero, “they” wake up—their subscription to the utopian Arcadia expired, and their Canadian work visas are about to expire. Who were they? Well, that’s where the film gets a bit murky in an attempt to heighten virtual reality drama with more complex issues—an avenue that ultimately harms the film by introducing irreconcilable issues and muddying clear themes. But still—there’s an attempt by writer-director Dom Cutrupi to cast a wide net and even poke at national points of pride. (Canadians generally like the country’s immigration policy, but often don’t completely understand its harsher facets.)  Nick Preston and Ishaval Gill turn in likable performances as lovers of very different origins whose Canadian romance looks ill-fated, while Michael Stephen Perry and Kamantha Naidoo are their more perfect equivalents. (Conversely, while I understand what Cutrupi and Stella Lai were attempting with her brainy exposition-spouting character, I don’t think it’s successful.)  There is a lot to like in Residents of Arcadia—in fact, the film goes out of its way to make itself likable, and that papers over a number of real flaws with the results. In its hurry to metaphorize a literal issue, it loses itself in a metaphor that creates more questions than illuminates answers. (This is a film that would have been better in virtual reality rather than augmented reality, so to speak.) There are also plenty of subplots that remain underdeveloped and further contribute to the fuzziness of what the film was trying to say—some judicious script-level editing or a bigger budget could have helped focus, develop and satisfy. Despite those significant issues, though, I did like Residents of Arcadia—it’s bold in ways that most films of its budget bracket simply aren’t, it speaks about a contemporary Canada, and it’s really trying hard. Likability is an underrated objective, especially in the low-budget genre category, where horror filmmakers seem delighted when mundanes recoil in disgust at the result—Residents of Arcadia goes for a different, far more humanistic approach and that makes it easier to forgive when the script logic isn’t where it should be.