Blue Heron will reach into the soul of anyone who has lost someone. It will pull out emotions long thought forgotten or moved past, and examine them through the small moments of half-remembered connection.
Set in both the past and present, Blue Heron tells the story of a girl turned young woman named Sasha as she attempts to reckon with the tragedy of her brother’s life and death. Writer and director Sophy Romvari’s semi-autobiographical film is a deeply personal affair. The girl and the young woman represent stand-ins for Romvari, a conceit made overtly clear later in the film when the protagonist becomes a filmmaker making a film about her family tragedy.
Where the first half of the film is designed to evoke a specific time and place (1990s Vancouver Island), the latter half adopts a much more documentary style and tone, giving way to magical realism as Sasha delves quite literally into her own memories, grief and guilt. Thanks in large part to Eylul Guven and Amy Zimmer, who play Sasha as a child and adult, respectively, Blue Heron‘s exploration of these themes are gentle but devastating.
Link: https://exclaim.ca/film/article/viff-2025-blue-heron-review
VIFF 2025: ‘Blue Heron’ Takes Flight with Tender Devastation | Exclaim!
