A true labor of love, indie films often represent the hopes and dreams of aspiring filmmakers, who have devoted all their energies and resources to craft their first full length film. Such is the case for Expiration, a debut feature by writer/actor/director Gavin Heffernan patterned much like a slower paced Go! Taking place mainly during the after-hours, the melancholy film tracks several young people navigating their way around Montreal's underground scene and through various relationships. From a sizeable ensemble cast of aspiring actors, friends, and relatives, certain characters make life-changing decisions on the fateful night.

A recurring quotation by Colton sets the mood and establishes the theme: " Our minds are as different as our faces; we are all traveling to one Destination—Happiness; but few are going the same road." This idea, along with numerous crucifixes and a red and blue scheme help hold the uneven production together.

Heffernan plays leading character Sam, an easy going Jimmy Stewart type, initially taken for a loop when his closest friend Niki (Erin Simkin) tells him that she's bearing his child. Sam decides to do the right thing and plans to propose, but he balks momentarily over a romantic dinner and too much red wine. Before regaining his courage, Sam loses his engagement ring to a desperate convenience store thief and ends up pairing with Rachel (Janet Lane) to recover her bag of drugs. And the bizarre adventures begin, including encounters with prostitutes, a deadly Russian roulette dice game laced with lethal heroin, a surreal religious community celebrating a lesbian wedding, and a despondent individual contemplating a suicidal leap off an apartment roof at dawn.

After the eventful night, Sam contemplates a potential relationship with Rachel, who appears to lead a much more exciting lifestyle than Niki:"Do you think that maybe one time you'd wanna, I dunno, just hang out and do something that doesn't involve suicide, heroin or prostitutes?" Her response provides a satisfying denouement—a very realistic one that causes the better moments of the film to linger afterwards. And the fact that you can fondly recall scenes days later automatically elevates this above most banal student productions.

By no means does Expiration fire on all cylinders during its 102 minute running time. Although its strengths lie with character development over plot, only the two leads contain enough shading to make the film interesting. The other stock characters that run the gamut from burnt out losers, to frantic druggies, to golden hearted prostitutes merely hit their expected marks. The acting is competent, especially considering the fact that the ensemble cast was working for free in off-hours while either working a day job or going to school. Both Heffernan and Lane stand out for deeper, more natural performances—most notable during reaction shots or during quiet meditative moments. Sam's silent reveries gazing at the sky and lake and strolling through the streets highlight, yet the camera holds its distance, as if not quite confident to let us completely inside his character. Such Bergman-esque moments would require more experienced actors, so what we see here is a promise of things to come.

The advent of digital photography has opened the door for more aspiring filmmakers, often resulting in "muddy" shots and cliché jump cutting, but Heffernan keeps this to a minimum and some of the shots are truly astounding. My favorite is an absolutely awe-inspiring salmon and aquamarine colored Canadian sunset over a placid lake. Totally unplanned, Heffernan had the good sense to improvise a silhouetted scene with a quick tripod set-up when they saw the sky. Not the classic Gus Van Sant time-lapse western skies, but this image alone makes the film worth watching—a still could be appropriately displayed in MOMA.

A radically different scene shows the filmmakers paid attention to detail with some of the most realistic vomit ever created although the director self-critically admits that he neglected to consider the quantities of red wine that Simkin's character had consumed. The whiteness of her regurgitation contrasts with the reddish hues of the production. A trifle of course, but this scene illustrates how well Heffernan understands the filmmaking process and goes to great lengths to craft a professional look on virtually no budget.

Expiration contains considerable moments that plague amateur indie films (including an often muddy dialogue track), but Heffernan's debut feature simultaneously introduces an unpretentious filmmaker with a promising future. With a more sizable budget and experienced actors, he should be able to more fully develop characters that are hinted at here. Heffernan shows more interest in that area than showing off fast cuts and MTV techniques from Tarantino wannabes.




Note: As with many true indie films, you are unlikely to see this in theatrical release. It may screen at film festival, but your best bet will be to contact Sunchaser Pictures directly for a DVD release that also contains director's commentary, recorded just 4 hours after the final cut.