Liane Balaban

(On Cable TV, March 2022) Money is power in a compact package, and like all concentrated forms of power, its sudden release in a void can be explosive. A Small Fortune isn’t taking place in an area where money is common: it’s set in a small Atlantic Canada community, where making ends meet can require an artful combination of jobs, government benefits and small-scale crime. It’s in this unglamorous environment that our lead couple lives, with tensions made worse by the imminent arrival of a baby. When a large quantity of money makes its way to the shore, our male lead doesn’t think for a long time about taking some of it to improve his life. The problem, though, is that the money comes from somewhere, and its owners really want it back. The small town isn’t ready, either for that amount of money nor the force exerted to get it back. I frankly watched the film to have a look at long-time favourite Liane Balaban, who looks great as the pregnant woman in the middle of the escalating mayhem, but Andrea Bang is not bad either as a policewoman clearly out of her element. The story isn’t all that original and the execution may feel excruciating to those who don’t want to spend time in such a dispiriting environment, but the Prince Edward Island setting is more original than most, and it leads to some unusual cinematography along the way. A Small Fortune, alas, doesn’t quite manage to build a satisfying conclusion: there are structural issues in the way some things are resolved, and the coda is far less satisfying than it could have been. Still, it’s not a bad watch for a low-budget Canadian production—even when it plays along familiar lines.