A man decides to make a documentary about his father’s life while attempting to lead him to sobriety. Soon he finds that perhaps his father has other ideas.
Written by Dakota Daulby, Harrison Houde, and Rayden Wickop, and directed by Harrison Houde, this dramedy (or drama comedy) is one that reaches for the heartstrings and pulls on them here and there throughout the film. It takes the difficult subject of having to parent a parent as a grown child who has likely never seen their parent act as a responsible adult. The writing here is clearly careful and done with an attention to detail and the heart of the matter that elevates the film from being a voyeuristic take on addiction into being a deep family drama with some comedy here and there. The writing is careful, calculated, yet feels natural, organic even. The direction is solid and works fantastically well with the script and the cast.
The cast here is led by Dakota Daulby as Joel, the son, and Emmanuel Bilodeau as Bodo, the father, and both of them give fantastic performances with Bilodeau edging out the best performance of the two with a performance that should earn him awards. The work here, from both, sells the story and makes the film one that is easy to get into as you follow these two humans during a difficult time in their lives (lives that seem to have been difficult all around). Joining them is Maxim Roy as Lucy, Joel’s mother and Bodo’s ex. She’s fantastic here and a strong reminder that this reviewer is getting old as she’s the mom of a full-grown adult here. The rest of the cast is peppered with actors most French-Canadians will recognize but most others might not. They all do good to solid work with the parts, medium or small, they have here.
The cinematography by Serge Desrosiers shows the Quebec most who do not live there never get to see; the non-Montreal Quebec, the countryside and his work does so beautifully. This is what most of province is like, nature, some houses, not so much traffic, few humans, and a sense of freedom that comes with the locale. The cinematography here turns the location into its own character, almost a being that is part of the story, adds to the story, and educates some of the decisions made by the characters.
Tight Lettuce (or Tissé Serré in French) is a touching, carefully crafted, view into the difficulties of addiction, life in the boonies of a province most never think as having more than cities, and family connections in the middle of it all. The film has some funny moments but is mostly a drama and a really good one at that. The writing is more than good, the direction works great with it, the acting is solid, and the cinematography creates the perfect world for it all to evolve and move within.
Fantasia 2026 runs from July 16th to August 2nd, 2026