Delinquent drama
The Zero Sum is gritty, dark
Sabrina Carnevale
It sounds like a simple equation: add one positive to one negative and you get zero. Now convert that equation to a life lesson: when somebody wins, someone has to lose. That’s the concept behind Raphael Assaf’s The Zero Sum, a dark, edgy drama focusing on one man’s attempts to relinquish his felony-filled past in order to raise bail money for his imprisoned brother, all the while trying to handle the personal feelings he develops for one of his victims.
Ewen Bremner (best remembered as Spud in 1996’s Trainspotting) stars as Leonard, a quiet, self-contained career thief who works as a restaurant waiter. His brother, Patrick (David Richmond-Peck), a struggling writer, is trying to catch a break.
“I used to believe that if you don’t talk about something, maybe it never happened at all. I used to believe that things change — no, scratch that, the things that you want to change the most almost always never do,” narrates Patrick at the beginning of the film.
With Leonard continuously on his mind, Patrick’s life — and writing career — always seems to take the back seat. This is especially apparent when one of Leonard’s crimes goes awry and Patrick undeservedly takes the fall. Leonard needs to come up with cash — quick — in order to raise the lawyer’s retainer. With a clever scheme to break into the restaurant safe planned with his co-worker Chris (Breaker High’s Tyler Labine), Leonard seems to have it all figured out. However, lines are crossed after he mugs troubled publishing executive Leah (Madison’s Sarah Strange), only to come across the upset woman later on in the restaurant where he works. When Leonard sees how fearful Leah is as a result of the mugging, he befriends her. Both Bremner and Strange are wonderfully cast in this gritty, dark feature.
“I take a lot of time casting, making sure that everyone is going to look like they’re in the same film,” said Assaf. “You hire actors because they have talent, and as soon as they start articulating good stuff to you, you let it go and just make sure no one’s in their way.”
The screenplay, written by Armen Evrensel, presents an interesting dilemma when Leah and Leonard become an item, offering Leonard a chance to turn his life around and leave his criminal ways behind.
“Leah falls in love with Leonard, but because Leonard knows the truth from where it all came about, he hesitates in the relationship,” said Evrensel. “But there is still an attempt to break that sort of mathematical economy of the way things work sometimes, love stories can transcend that.”
Granted, the film moves slowly. At times you may think “what’s the point of this scene?” Hell, you may even want to fast forward a couple of parts; the meaty part of the story lies just ahead, revealing Leonard’s true intentions. Has he really fallen head over heels for Leah, or is he just using her for her publishing connections?
“We definitely wanted people to see Leonard’s different intentions simultaneously to distinguish that they were in conflict,” said Evrensel. “He has many moments in the movie where you’re not quite sure what he’s after.”
Production values are high in Assaf’s second feature. Shot entirely in Vancouver, the film’s locales are fittingly grey and dull. These tones serve nicely when associated with the emotional states of the characters.
“We tried to shoot Vancouver in a way it hadn’t been shot before, as far as dark or gritty films go. We wanted it to look like your average, big, North American city,” said Assaf. “The look had to service the content. I made sure that we hired a cinematographer who didn’t know Vancouver that well.”
Assaf attributes a lot to the people with whom he worked. “The reason I’m so proud of this film is because of my team,” he said. “You have to go and get the best people to help you.”
