There are very few directors who like to work at the break-neck speed that Canadian multi-hyphenate Xavier Dolan relishes. Fewer still can boast of churning out quality output at every turn. Since debuting with the semi-autobiographical “I Killed My Mother” in 2009, Dolan has more or less helmed one feature every year. In fact, the longest Dolan has stepped away from filmmaking has been during the three pandemic-stained years when life retreated indoors. As if to make up for his absence, the filmmaker returns with “The Night Logan Woke Up,” his first TV project — creating, directing, writing, and acting in the captivating limited series.
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Adapted from “La nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s’est réveillé,” French-Canadian playwright Michel Marc Bouchard’s 2019 stage production (Dolan had previously adapted another Bouchard play into a feature: “Tom at the Farm”), “The Night Logan Woke Up” is structured as five hour-long episodes. Only two episodes of the psychological thriller are screening as part of the Indie Episodic program at the 2023 edition of Sundance film festival, marking the filmmaker’s debut here. Centered on the dysfunctional dynamics of the Quebec-based Larouche family in the wake of their matriarch’s (Anne Dorval) death, the first two episodes alternate between the present and past timelines to set up the origins of the family’s estrangement and observe the ramifications that long-held secrets and resentment have on the grown-up Larouche siblings.
Set simultaneously in 2019 and 1991, “The Night Logan Woke Up” opens with a beguiling episode, less interested in joining the dots and more insistent on building atmosphere, mystery, and an eerie sense of foreboding. One by one, we meet the siblings and the demons they wrestle inside their minds: the responsible Denis (Éric Bruneau), who possesses a natural tendency to look out for his family. Elliot (Dolan), the youngest son of the family, affectionately refers to him as “the father he never had.”
On the other hand, there appears to be some animosity between Julian (Elijah Patrice-Baudelo), the complicated elder son of the family, and Elliot, considering that he seems almost frightened by his own brother. The 30-year-old Elliot, with his tattoo-covered chest and bright pink hair, stands out as the black sheep: we learn that he has been in rehab for substance abuse — marks on his neck suggest suicidal tendencies — only being able to get out now as his mother lies on her deathbed. There’s also talk of Julian’s alcoholism, although Elliot claims that it’s been years since he quit the bottle, enrolling himself back in school in order to keep himself occupied.
Both Denis and Julian seem to also have strained relationships with their spouses — Denis is separated while the unfaithful Julian and his wife Chantal (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau) appear stuck in a passionless marriage. It’s only in the second episode that we uncover the existence of an estranged sister Mirelle (Jasmine Lemée), whom no one in the family has seen for the last two decades. The reason for her absence is relayed to us in ambiguous but vivid flashbacks that point to the occurrence of a traumatic event that upturned the fate of the family almost overnight, in part causing the untimely death of their father. Tensions flare further when Mirelle suddenly shows up after the death of their mother — no one is more displeased by her return than Julian, and one can sense suppressed resentment and anger between them, possibly circling back to that tragic night in 1991.
Carefully plotting the narrative stakes, Dolan slowly rustles up tension while leaning into standard stylistic flourishes — the surreal horror of the proceedings is amplified by ominous daydream sequences and sudden hallucinatory episodes, both of which awaken the series; similarly, the muted color palette casts a depressing, suffocating shadow over the household. The characterization is intricate and intimate (a bickering dinner-scene sequence in the second episode has an effect similar to a suspense set piece), and the grim score by Hans Zimmer remains evocative in evoking a feeling of dread as if something terrible has already happened while everyone sits unaware.
By the time the two episodes draw to a close, it’s evident that “The Night Logan Woke Up” is simultaneously going to be a character study of a family struggling to keep it together and an examination of the inextricable hold of trauma. As director and writer, Dolan seems to be on assured footing, although he sparkles as Elliot, essaying a complicated character with a complexity that seems to come naturally to him. The rest of the ensemble, some of whom have also acted in the play, turn in uniformly remarkable turns, restrained and ambiguous enough to keep us wanting. It’s an impressive start and an altogether captivating tease. [A-]
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