Preview of Charlie Zone

Charlie Zone

Michael Melski 2011Writer/dramatist/director Mike Melski's second feature film is a gritty urban kidnapping drama with a strong First Nations flavour. Charlie Zone stars Glen Gould as a washed-up Aboriginal boxer reduced to fighting amateur YouTube bouts while holding down a labouring job on the Halifax waterfront. Spotted on the Internet for his still-potent fight prowess, he's hired by a mysterious woman who claims to represent a family that wants its adopted daughter back from a heroin den in the North End (the 'Charlie Zone' of the title). What appears to be a simple crime story darkens and deepens, as the kidnappee (Amanda Crew) has her own hidden agenda. Revealing a side of Halifax not trumpeted in any tourist brochures, Charlie Zone explores life and character well past the edges of acceptable society. With fulsome profanity "along with depictions of violence and explicit drug use" the film is a bracing cinematic experience that broadens the range of Melski's palette beyond his comedic debut Growing Op.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.