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Little Lorraine<\/em> was my first screening of TIFF 2025,<\/a> and I\u2019ll be honest, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Starring Canada\u2019s own Stephen Amell, with a small part played by Sean Astin<\/a>, I was intrigued about a film set in Nova Scotia filled with Canadians.<\/p>\n Little Lorraine<\/em> was inspired by a 2022 song called Lighthouse in Little Lorraine<\/em> by Adam Baldwin, who also has a writing credit on the film. Andy Hines directed the music video for that song and was inspired to write and direct a movie telling the story. In under three years, the film was inspired, written, filmed and is now premiering at TIFF 2025, which couldn\u2019t be more fitting for a film set in Canada.<\/p>\n The story follows a cocaine smuggling ring that took place in Nova Scotia in the 80s and 90s, which is interesting enough in itself. A town known for coal mining, Little Lorraine, faces the closure of their mines due to a tragic explosion. From there, lifelong friends, Jake (Steve Lund<\/a>), Jimmy (Stephen Amell<\/a>) and Tommy (Joshua Close<\/a>) have to figure out how they will put food on the tables for their families. Enter shady Uncle Huey (Stephen McHattie<\/a>), who seems too good to be true.<\/p>\n Spoilers already exist because the film does follow the song in many ways, but that doesn\u2019t mean that creative liberties weren\u2019t taken with the story. Adam Hines fills in the blanks in terms of the families, townspeople and a few artistic dream sequences to bring more to the story. Turning a six-minute-long song into a feature film takes some fresh ideas, but unfortunately, those didn\u2019t always work in Little Lorraine<\/em>.<\/p>\n Foreshadowing made many significant moments painfully obvious, ruining any tension or suspense I could have felt. Inspired by the song, it could have meant major plot points could change, but these hints assured me they would not, leading to a disappointing second half.<\/p>\n Issues also arose with the team trying to represent Canada. If you\u2019re Canadian, you know what an East Coast accent sounds like, and though Tommy nailed it pretty well, albeit toning it down a bit, several main characters didn\u2019t even attempt it, aside from Amell\u2019s<\/a> very Canadian \u201csorry\u201d. I could hear the actors fall in and out of their accents often, and it would pull me from the story.<\/p>\n In the same vein, Little Lorraine<\/em> would pepper in dream sequences to highlight Jimmy\u2019s unrest. These ranged from the unknown to several being alive in a coffin. Though I could understand the symbolism of everything they were trying to portray, they really didn\u2019t add anything other than a bit of cheese.<\/p>\n