Festivals - Fantasia 2020 : Anything for Jackson

By Mulder, 08 august 2020

Anything for Jackson is a clever, often funny and deliciously petty story about an elderly satanist couple who are literally ready for anything in the name of love. Keith Cooper's screenplay is constantly surprising, alternately funny, mean and progressively more intense as the film progresses, while director Justin G. Dyck happily dives into both the dark and comedic aspects. It is also the combination of the two lead roles played by Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings, and the well-distributed supporting roles that make Anything for Jackson so special.

Synopsis:
Each one of us has someone we care about who would do anything, move heaven and earth if need be, to see him again. For Audrey and Henry Walsh (the great nobility of Canadian genre cinema, Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings), it is their two-year-old grandson Jackson who was taken from them in a car accident that also claimed their beloved daughter. The precepts of their religion teach them that their daughter has moved on, but that, because of her very young age, it is possible to revive Jackson, provided that a suitable host can be found for her. And the Walshes are in an excellent position to find such a host: Henry is an obstetrician. His day job allows the couple to get to know Becker (Konstantina Mantelos), a single mother-to-be who is still unsure about her unexpected pregnancy. With the perfect candidate at hand, the stars seem to line up. Their noise-proof, escape-proof home is home to the Walshes' plans to bring back their little Jackson. How could this plan go wrong? It turns out that their lord and master has more than a few surprises in store for this Canadian satanist couple.

Anything for Jackson
Directed by Justin Dyck
Produced by Keith Cooper, Justin G. Dyck, Christopher Giroux, Bill Marks
Written by Keith Cooper
Starring Yannick Bisson, Josh Cruddas, Konstantina Mantelos, Sheila McCarthy, Julian Richings
Music by John McCarthy
Cinematography : Sasha Moric
Edited by : Vincent Whiteman
Running time : 96mns

(Source : Site official Fantasia 2020)