By Anna Swanson

North of Normal wastes absolutely no time in setting up a story that, were it not based on true events, would seem almost too outlandish to conceive of. Directed by Carly Stone and adapted from Cea Sunrise Person’s memoir (the screenplay is by Alexandra Weir), the film opens with a narrative explanation from Cea as a child (River Price-Maenpaa) that when her mom Michelle (Sarah Gadon) became pregnant at 15, her father moved his family to the Canadian wilderness to help raise his granddaughter off the grid. For young Cea, this relocation is idyll. She makes up her own adventures in the woods while her family communes with like-minded individuals and Michelle explores romantic and sexual prospects with the guys that pass through the remote camp. Indeed, sexual freedom is all around Cea, as taboos have been banished along with taxes and running water. 

Before long, the film jumps ahead and we catch up with Cea as a teenager (now played by Amanda Fix) who has left her grandparents in the Yukon and has reunited with Michelle, now living in a small Ontario town. As mother and daughter adapt to the realities of sharing a roof for the first time in six years, flashbacks piece together the events that led to Cea being left with her grandparents in the first place. With quite a bit of narrative ground to cover to explain the rift between Cea and Michelle, North of Normal can sometimes feel all too fleeting. We are only briefly introduced to Cea’s grandfather, known as “Grandpa Dick” (Robert Carlyle), an affectionate nickname that’s also quite tongue-in-cheek considering his penchant for sleeping with the hippie women in his camp. Considering some developments later in the film, it may have been beneficial to have a stronger sense of his character and to see more of the familial bonds before they became strained.
Clocking in under 90 minutes and with a plot that covers multiple years, North of Normal might come across as rushed. Though this might initially feel frustrating, as it reaches its conclusion, the emotionally charged editing offers the possibility that this feeling  is intentional. For Cea, so many of her core memories were impermanent, unpredictable, or marred by realizations she had about the context later in life. If we wish everything could slow down just enough for her to take a breath, imagine how she feels.

Anna Swanson