Produced, written, edited and directed by Xavier Dolan, The Night Logan Woke Up marks the acclaimed auteur's entry into the television landscape, with a complex, self-contained 5-part series about four siblings reuniting in a small town in Québec after the death of their elderly mother.
The show opens with a seemingly unrelated segment: a boy is beaten up and left unresponsive under a burning pride flag; an old woman witnesses the hate crime through her window; the tv plays softly in the background, camera gazing over her ordinary decor. You never meet the victim, or the witness, again, but it quietly sets the tone that underscores the rest of the show — this is a town of prejudice, where whispers circle each inhabitant like personal whirlwinds, the privacy of one's life under the constant scrutiny of the local community.
Then, we slowly meet our core cast: Mireille (Julie Le Breton), the estranged sister; Julien (Elijah Patrice-Baudelot), the eldest brother married to his highschool sweetheart; Denis (Éric Bruneau), the protective one; finally, Elliot, played by Dolan himself, the youngest brother and recovering addict. You don't know anything for certain, really — you just know something bad, something strange, happened to them many years ago. The return of the sister causes an uproar in town, but we're left oblivious to the history she carries with her arrival.
At times contrived, but mostly effectively labyrinthine, The Night Logan Woke Up is an elegant emotional puzzle which reveals none of its conceits too soon — and as the first couple of episodes patiently set up the dynamic between the siblings and the environment beyond them, it it from the third onwards that a warm light beings flicker, revealing inch by inch the secrets they harbour.
What the series masters most of all is the ability to create a convincing ensemble of profound, lived-in characters with little direct exposition, demonstrating the repercussions of their converging pasts in their surroundings and responses. You get glimpses of Denis' hoarding tendencies, but they're never discussed, paraded or addressed. It's just staging around his actions. Elliot's addiction seemingly defines his current existence, but it's his lack of understanding of his older siblings' strained relationship which truly propels his volatility.
There's something eerily nostalgic about the show — both in its historical context and visual storytelling. The at times incongruous pompous orchestral music (with a surprising credit to Hans Zimmer and David Fleming), coupled with French-Canadian popular songs; the dated decor in the houses, even decadent, dusty objects unmoved through the years. The show jumps between 1991 and 2019 — but it is clear the suburban town has not changed much in-between. It's a compelling tale on the ramifications of one's past, as places and people hold on to memories for you. We bear witness to how personal and collective histories flow within each character, and what happens when that flow turns into a crashing wave.
The Night Logan Woke Up is a show well worth its limited run-time, which Dolan uses craftily to build tense foundations for a house of cards constantly threatening to collapse. Its structure and pace may feel conventional – but its core is novel, darkly intimate and unfamiliar.
The Night Logan Woke Up will be available to stream exclusively on STUDIOCANAL Presents November 1st.