Wilby Wonderful (2004)

A Day in the Life of Deceit

This Canadian film focuses on a day in the lives and secrets of several people in Wilby, a Canadian small island town, and how they intersect as the town's annual festival approaches.

Dan Jarvis (James Allodi) is determined to commit suicide. His first attempt by jumping off a bridge is thwarted by the town handyman Duck (Callum Keith Rennie).

Carol French (Sandra Oh), a town mover 'n shaker and also a real estate agent, is insensitive to the sadness her husband, police officer Buddy (Paul Gross), is enduring over the recent death of his mother. All Carol can focus on is getting rid of the 'junk' from her mother-in-law's house so she can get it sold and making an impression on the town bigwigs as she tries to be a leader in the organization of the town festival.

Carol accidentaly thwarts Dan Jarvis' next suicide attempt when she arrives at a house she has listed for sale and finds him in the kitchen with the powerful smell of natural gas permeating the room.

Meanwhile, Buddy has an affair with Sandra (Rebecca Jenkins), a notoriously loose woman, as Sandra's teenage daughter Emily (Ellen Page) is making out with boy. Sandra teases Emily unmercifully when she realizes what her daughter's been doing.

Buddy uncovers the tip of the iceberg of city hall corruption involving the mayor (Maury Chaykin) and Dan Jarvis reveals to Duck why his wife left him. As Carol dashes into a house for sale that she is soon to show the Mayor and his wife, she finds Dan Jarvis' body swinging from a noose. Her only concern is to hide the body so as not to spoil the chance of actually selling the house.

Director/writer Daniel MacIvor does a fine job weaving together these entanglements -- and others -- in a tight 99 minutes revolving around love, acceptance and validation.

This Canadian film is not rated by MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).