#TIFF24: “BLOOD LINES” REVIEW

By Amanda Gilmore

Filmmaker Gail Maurice’s second feature follows Beatrice (Dana Solomon), a storyteller and store clerk, who is completely taken by a new woman who arrives in her Métis community looking to find her biological family. She decides to help this newcomer, Chani (Derica Lafrance), to spend more time with her. While Chani is searching for her family, Beatrice’s estranged mother Léonore (played by the director Maurice) returns home in hopes of repairing their relationship.

Blood Lines is a love story and domestic drama. The script excels at these two themes…in the first two acts of the story. It’s beautiful to watch young love blossom between Beatrice and Chani. Thanks to Solomon and Lafrance’s strong chemistry. The two help each other through their complex familial issues. Allowing each other grace in their pain.

The domestic drama aspect is l impactful. Beatrice is struggling with her mother’s return. A mother whom Beatrice believes she was abandoned by due to Léonore’s alcohol addiction. Solomon packs a punch as a young woman enraged by her childhood neglect. While Chani is a crux to tell a larger story. One about social workers who took children from their Métis parents and put them up for adoption. This is a powerful storyline that we wish were explored more in-depth.

However, rather than having this impactful storyline expand, it becomes lost in a twist that happens in the final 30 minutes. It’s a twist that feels out of place in this particular film. It complicates the purity of what’s happened beforehand, both with the love and domestic storylines.

Blood Lines screens at TIFF ’25:

Mon. Sept 8 at 6:15 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Wed. Sept 10 at 11:30 AM at TIFF Lightbox