Wisteria: Flowering Plants… and The Exigencies of Canadian Filmmaking

By Liz Braun

Rating: C+

Fans of fantasy/romance are alerted to Wisteria, a new Canadian movie playing at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto through July 16.

Wisteria tells the story of Alana (Caitlin McNerney) and Jack (Joseph Marrese), soulmates hoping to have a child together. Early on, they swear their love for all time, even into the future; wisteria is the flowering vine they intend to grow everywhere at the country house where they one day hope to live and raise their children.

Wisteria — magnificent and hardy — represents love and immortality in the language of flowers. It is a symbol of their enduring love; a love they believe is eternal. Alana and Jack have so much to look forward to… but fate intervenes.

Alana is left alone in the world to try to pick up the pieces of her life.

She is not coping well. Alana meanders through her days, flattened by grief as she tries to make sense of her loss. A decade passes, during which time she retreats further into her own sadness and isolation.

Then, by chance, she hears about a child violinist, a Viennese prodigy who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jack when he was a little boy. She is convinced that she has found the reincarnation of her one true love and sets out to learn more about the child (Mason McClinchey).

It is a difficult path, but with the passage of time all the puzzle pieces of a forever love fall into place.

Wisteria is the feature debut of filmmaker Nina Moscone Marrese, whose short films (Tile Man, The Junction) have been well received. The film has a certain Hallmark Channel feel, and it is imperfect.

It has storytelling issues typical of first films: important emotional elements are fairly well-developed (courtesy of good performances), but then various plot points are too rushed to fully engage a viewer’s imagination.

You can see the potential. You can also see the editing decisions, the storytelling sacrifices, the budget restrictions. Wisteria clearly illustrates how difficult it is to get a film made in Canada, but one looks forward to seeing what Moscone Marrese does next.

Wisteria. Written and directed by Nina Moscone Marrese. Starring Caitlin McNerney, Joseph Marrese and Ali Chung. At Toronto’s Carlton Cinema until July 16 with post-screening Q&As July 11 and 12.