Drifting States by Denis Coté November 11, 2011

Côté’s first film already displays the documentary realist aesthetic, interest in the margins of society, and conceptual rigor that have come to characterize his body of work. After euthanizing his terminally ill mother, Christian (Christian LeBlanc) leaves Montreal and becomes a garbage collector in a remote town on James Bay. As he builds a new life, the film’s focus shifts as much to the small town world surrounding Christian as on the protagonist himself, who waits for his past to catch up to him. Côté’s assured balance of documentary and dramatic elements, as well as his undeniable talent for atmospheric tension, earned this film a Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 2005.

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