"Peppergrass"
review by Diablo Joe

Audio version


"Peppergrass"

Heist thrillers tend to come in two varieties. One style focuses on the idiosyncrasies of pulling the job off. Think “Ocean’s Eleven” or “The Sting.” The other kind deals with the fallout of the heist, usually after it has gone awry. Think “Reservoir Dogs.” Steven Garbas and Chantelle Han’s film “Peppergrass” is of the latter ilk. And, as is often common to both varieties of the genre, it features some quirky and unique characters driving its narrative, including a gigantic pet pig.

Eula and Morris are desperate. A pandemic (never explicitly named as COVID) has destroyed their livelihoods, and the pair have concocted a scheme to locate and steal a priceless white truffle from a reclusive Captain Lom in the Canadian wilderness where Eula spent her childhood. Of course, their plan is a disaster, and, with chaos and blood in its wake, leaves Eula, pregnant with child, to face the harsh winter elements and the relentless pursuit of the Captain to recover his precious delicacy.

“Peppergrass” is a bit of an anomaly. It’s filled with unusual ideas and eccentric plot points, but unlike many films, they’re played entirely straight and close to the vest. The film is gritty rather than oddball. “Smokin’ Aces” this is not. It’s a startlingly quiet film, even in its brutal scenes of violence. The result is a movie that takes place in the expanse of the Great White North but feels, above all else, disturbingly claustrophobic.

In many ways, Garbas and Han have given us a film noir. These are hapless, terminally flawed characters driven by desperation and questionable morals and who are at much at the mercy of themselves as their situation. And while she may not fit the traditional mold, Eula, played by co-director Han, is very much the film’s femme fatale. But the movie also has elements of the slasher genre. Captain Lom is as faceless, relentless, and, at times, as seemingly unstoppable as Michael Myers. But again, like everything else in “Peppergrass,” he is formidable but 100% firmly grounded in reality.

“Peppergrass” seems somewhat like a showcase for Chantelle Han’s acting (since the directorial style is so seamlessly unified and adept). She commands almost every single scene in the picture quite skillfully. As her loutish partner in crime, Morris, Charles Boyland is almost annoyingly effective. Morris is a textbook of grating traits and qualities. In short, he’s an asshole.

What seems to be part of the reason that “Peppergrass,” despite the skill and talent that went into making it, never fully hits the mark is that Garbas and co-writer Philip Irwin have filled their script with dense details that don’t actually enrich the storytelling. While Eula’s pregnancy is a motivator in her drive to survive, it could have been jettisoned without effect. A hunter Eula encounters during her quest to get back to safety seems to exist only as a way to explain the film’s title. As anti-protagonists, Morris and even Eula seem real but somehow superfluous. Even the film’s McGuffin, that huge white truffle, doesn’t seem as nifty an idea by the movie’s darkly ironic ending. Maybe, in some ways, “Peppergrass” IS like “Smokin’ Aces,” after all.

This leaves the film in a bit of a weird position, as, on the one hand, “Peppergrass” is superb in mood, acting, tension, and so much more. On the other, however, it’s less than the sum of all those parts. Steven Garbas and Chantelle Han laid the table out and served us a well-planned and skillfully crafted meal. But it seems to lack that final touch to bring the whole thing together. A bit of finishing salt, Perhaps a little zing of acid. Or a shave of white truffle.

This devil of a reviewer gives “Peppergrass” 3 out of 5 imps