In Katherine Jerkovic’s enthralling debut feature, a young woman struggles to rekindle her relationship with her paternal grandmother and her home country while mourning the death of her father.
Still mourning the death of her father, Sarah travels from Montreal to a sleepy village in rural Uruguay to visit her paternal grandmother, Magda. Over a decade ago, Sarah and her parents left Uruguay and never returned. Driven by childhood memories, she hopes to renew her relationship with Magda and with her home country. But as soon as Sarah arrives, a quiet unease forms. Magda doesn’t understand why her son never returned to see her and must now live with the fact that he never will. The tension comes as a surprise to Sarah, who must face the distance between herself, her family, and her country of origin in addition to her grief.
Director Katherine Jerkovic skilfully infuses each scene with an intimate yet powerful tone as Sarah struggles to reconcile the gulf between the past and present, and ideals and reality. The stifling heat and torpid pace of rural life in Uruguay heightens her growing sense of alienation. Arlen Aguayo Stewart and Gloria Demassi deliver beautifully subtle performances, where the gravity lies in what remains unsaid between them. An evocative slice of life with an assured visual style, Roads in February is an enthralling debut that firmly establishes Jerkovic as one of Canada’s bright new talents.
DANIS GOULET