Indy Film Fest: Oscillations

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“Oscillations” is a poetic rumination on race and identity. The film moves so slowly, there were times I thought time had actually frozen still. This is not a compliment.

Ted Pluvoise plays Ged, a janitor at a polytechnic university in Montreal. He is quiet, self-effacing, gentle. He would probably not talk to anyone at all if it weren’t for Audrey, a physics researcher played by Léane Labrèche-Dor.

She takes time away from her interminable PhD project -- something to do with seeing how microscopic organism react to sound waves -- to banter and befriend Ged. He accepts the relationship without really seeking out. Clearly, she would like something more.

Ged lives alone in an apartment above his mother’s place, which he looks after while she spends most of the year in Florida. Ged is very much a caretaker at heart, the sort of person who doesn’t ask much for himself.

It seems his father died in some sort of tragedy years ago, and the family fought a long battle with the insurance company before finally receiving a large payment. Out of the blue, Ged’s long-estranged brother, Rene (a vibrant Ricardo Lamour), shows up. We might think he’s there to fight about the money, but Rene is a revolutionary sort who’s spent time on the streets and doesn’t much care about luxury.

We also learn that Ged used to be a rapper, who loves to stand in front of a crowd and revel in the “communion of frequencies.”

The film, written and directed by Ky Nam le Duc, takes these very bare elements and spins them into… not much.

Rene believes that their father is actually alive somewhere, though Ged resists contemplating that possibility. He also needles his brother about how black people like them are so easily cast aside and forgotten. He speaks forbiddingly about a coming revolution like a tidal wave. But people like Rene are perpetually planning revolts that never arrive.

I admit I didn’t know what to make of “Oscillations.” It’s a dull film that clearly thinks it has something important to say. Scenes stretch out like taffy, pregnant pauses and long gazes, as if the actors are trying to communicate with each other telepathically.

This is the sort of movie that you say you watched and someone asks you what it was about, and you have no good answer to give them.