Major Arcana

Starring Ujon Tokarski and Tara Summers. Screening at Vancity Theatre at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday (October 27). Streaming online at VIFF Connect until November 22.

The act of creating something out of nothing is always hypnotizing and that works in the favour of the low-key debut feature drama Major Arcana by writer-director Josh Melrod. A drifter named Dink (Ujon Tokarski) returns from some obscure place called British Columbia to the backwoods of Vermont to collect what his late father left him: a pigsty of a home, a stash of cash, and 52 acres of land.

That’s not all that awaits him though—there’s also his resentful former flame (Tara Summers), whom he abandoned to wander across the West Coast, as well as his cantankerous mother (Lane Bradbury), who wants a share of the money.

Amidst his own toxic stew of relationships, he commences the construction of a cabin with little more than his carpentry expertise and focussed determination. Watching him fell trees and build the structure bit by bit serve as a central focal point and a metaphor for his attempt to turn his life around.

Although he’s two years sober, his alcoholic ex-girlfriend, still sore for his unexplained disappearance from her life, is a troubling temptation who could derail him. She’s since taken up tarot card reading, which the film’s title refers to. The Major Arcana are the trump cards of the pack that represent life, death, and rebirth, and can also mean secrets and mysteries.

Dink is attempting to undergo a rebirth but he’s also a man full of secrets and remains a mystery to those around him. There’s much backstory hinted at, with some explained but never fully explored. Consequently, we never fully get to understand what makes Dink (or his demons) tick—but for a man who doesn’t know himself, that seems true to life. But similarly so, as he advances towards his goal, obstacles arise but never fully coalesce into any narrative impact. Yet in a time period without any shortage of troubles, it’s therapeutic to watch someone attempt to build a new life out of the collapsed mess of an old one, regardless of whatever life unexpectedly throws in the way.