An effective, unashamedly old-fashioned love story, BUFFALO JUMP follows the emotional trials and tribulations of Sophie Ware (Wendy Crewson), who has just inherited the family ranch in rural Alberta and moved back from Toronto, determined to run it, over the objections of her mother,
Vera (Marion Gilsenan), who wants to sell the rundown place.
As Sophie knows nothing at all about the business, she hires her handsome old high-school friend Alex (Paul Gross), who has also just returned home, having abandoned fifteen years earlier his Indian lover Annie (Kyra Harper) and then-infant son Benny. He proposes marriage to Sophie as a business
arrangement, and the course of the film takes up this off-and-on relationship as it turns into love and a "genuine" marriage. Adding to Sophie's predicaments are her current boyfriend Robert (Murray Crunchley), who teaches math at the local high school, and a visit from her citified, wisecracking
friend Eleanor (Victoria Snow) from Toronto.
Written by John Frizzell from a novel by Susan Haley, and shot entirely from Sophie's point-of-view, BUFFALO JUMP touches all the familiar "women's film" bases but also surprisingly delves into more serious themes like racism against Indians (Annie) and Ukrainians (Alex's family are immigrants),
before sentimentally tying up every loose end in sight: Alex and his now-teenaged son are reconciled, as is Alex with both his father and Annie (who has since remarried), while Sophie becomes best friends with the initially belligerent Annie and draws closer to her mother. The actors deliver
uniformly fine performances, easily overcoming the fact that their characters are largely predictable.
Director Eric Till (whose earlier theatrical features like HOT MILLIONS and THE WALKING STICK led to a career in Canadian TV) has provided a detailed look at small-town life, with its homey, honky-tonk cafe and July 4th parade and rodeo, often offset by quietly pernicious rumor-mongering. Well
produced on a small budget, the movie was shot admidst the gorgeous, sparsely populated scenery of Pincher Creek, Cowley and Lundbreck, Alberta, and features a neat country and western soundtrack with a couple of tunes by k.d. lang. Originally telecast by the CBC in November 1990, the picture was
released domestically direct-to-video. leave a comment
