PEPPERGRASS: Another Indie Thriller Success

Up until a few years ago, I didn’t even know what a truffle was, I assumed that the word only had to do with a nice chocolaty treat. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Now we’ve had a successful drama (Pig) starring Nicolas Cage, and an indie horror/thriller film (Peppergrass) made about them. The words “highly sought after” and “very overpriced fungus” seem to be the name of the game when it comes to the allusive truffle and in this, the latest film to feature the truffle as a point of interest, it turns out people are even willing to kill for them.

The movie opens using the heights of the pandemic as a backdrop but rather than making that any kind of focal point it’s used as a way to explain why Eula’s (Chantelle Han) restaurant business is failing. Without something to really shake things up, her family’s restaurant, Peppergrass, is going to go under. This is something a lot of small business owners can really relate to, especially during that time. Not all of them however turned to crime. With the help of her friend and co-worker Morris (Charles Boyland) a plan is hatched to travel north to get their hands on some of those delicious money-making mushrooms.

Don’t forget your mask

The film was written by the team of Steven Garbas and Philip Irwin with the screenplay really capturing the essence of being lost in the woods in an area you might not be familiar with. The dialogue was great and actually felt like two people just having a conversation involving this strange plan to get cash fast. The pacing in the first and third acts was nearly perfect, I never found myself at the point that I wanted it to hurry along. It was well done. Directing duties were handled by Garbas and Chantelle Han collectively and the camera wasn’t ever boring. The shots were always interesting and did a fantastic job of highlighting the gorgeous Canadian landscape.

The two main characters’ motivations couldn’t be any more different it seems, even if they have the same end goal in mind. Morris really is just looking for a quick way to earn some money and pad his pockets whereas Eula desperately wants to keep the family restaurant from failing. Her father ran it before her and before that, her grandfather. Neither Morris nor Eula seem unlikable until they get to the reclusive old man’s cabin (Captain Reuben Lom played by Michael Copeman) that’s where Morris loses all of his charm and any credit he had earned with us from his sense of humor goes out the window. There isn’t a lot here we can really talk about without ruining everything that comes after, things slow way down in the second act.

Start, stop, sprint

As I said, the pacing in the first and third acts of the film is nearly perfect, they keep us involved and entertained and ready for more. The biggest drag that happens in the movie is the entirety of the second act. The only thing of consequence that happens is we meet another character (who turns out to be completely disposable) and he gives us a little backstory for Reuben. Enter Dr. Arthur Fulmine (played by Philip Williams) who seems to have been following around Eula at a distance and introduce himself so we can have a couple of scenes filled with exposition. Those scenes weren’t a complete wash however, both of the actors give amazing performances and they really helped to break up the slog of the survival montage we were just witnessing to.

Once that little section was over though, it was an all-out sprint to the finish where a lot of different things happen in a short amount of time. It really kept us on our toes and made us wonder how exactly everything was going to be buttoned up before the credits. The whole thing was a bit of a horror movie mixed with a thriller, mixed with a survival of the fittest tale. It had a lot of cards in its hand but they all had their place and they all definitely played. It did and didn’t wrap up exactly how you think it would, giving the obvious choice of ending a bit of flair.

Conclusion

Peppergrass wasn’t perfect, it was set in a time that many people would love to forget with a second act that brought the story to a temporary halt but despite those minor issues the movie still managed to succeed. It did so much right that those tiny inconveniences were easily overlooked. I really enjoyed this movie to the point that I actually looked up the price of truffles and why they are such a big deal. I’m not sure if the characters in this film knew this before their misadventure but the truffle haul they attempted to, or did get from (I’ll not ruin the movie) Lom, would have only been worth about $3,000. Enough to save a struggling business for a month or two but definitely not the long-term solution they were after.

Time to climb back up onto my very sturdy indie soap box and say, grab a friend or two, grab their mothers and their fathers, and drag all of them to the cinemas to help support indie filmmaking. If you like movies where bad things happen to bad people, then this one is right for you. If you like movies where the scenery is a main character and is over-the-top beautiful to look at, then this movie is for you. If you just want to go and have ninety minutes where you don’t have to think about anything and want to see a bloody, weird, truffle battle play out on screen, then this is the only one for you. Peppergrass kept me guessing and looking over the character’s shoulders to make sure they were going to be alright. It’s a fun time and you need to see it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some rare and pricey fungus to discover.

Watch Peppergrass