The best word to describe writer-director Karen Chapman’s first dramatic feature is astonishing. Village Keeper tells the story of Beverly-Jean (Olunike Adeliyi), a former professional dancer and hardworking single parent living with her mother and children in Toronto’s Lawrence Heights Neighbourhood. As the film opens, Beverly-Jean tells the audience through voice-over, “The truth is, I was drowning for a long time.” While Beverly-Jean presents to the world as an industrious, unflappable woman with multiple jobs and a will of iron, she’s also suffering from a trauma she’s never dared articulate. But when she starts attending therapy sessions, she begins an evolution that changes her life, inside and out…

Slow-paced, Village Keeper’s plot is laser-focused on Beverly-Jean and her family, which produces compelling results. The main question the film explores is this: can Jean save herself and her family? As the movie starts, our protagonist conflates that rescue mission with saving the money to move out of Lawrence Heights. When we meet her, Beverley-Jean is working multiple jobs (one as a personal support worker for a racist white man) and gluing her shoes back together rather than spending a penny on herself. However, therapy and begins to open her up to the possibilities of self-care and living in the present. 

As a filmmaker, Chapman has a wonderful eye for subtle moments that are, nonetheless, transformational. There’s a particularly memorable scene where Beverly-Jean finally opens herself up to the possibility of pleasure with a seemingly simple decision to purchase a gourmet pastry. As she eats a gourmet chocolate mouse, Beverly-Jean initially displays her usual austerity, saving half the treat for a later date. However, Jean’s character growth is on full display when she reopens the box and decides to indulge in the whole damn desert.

For anyone interested in screening Village Keeper, this critic would be remiss if I did not warn audiences to bring tissues to the cinema. This film is a gorgeous tearjerker that deftly explores difficult themes, from domestic violence, and gun violence. However, the pathos is nicely balanced by moments of genuine joy as Beverly-Jean reconnects with her kids or enjoys new experiences, like dressing up for Caribana. 

Karen Chapman is certainly a Canadian filmmaker to watch, and The Village Keeper is a movie you certainly SHOULD watch…