Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 – Writer/director Noami Jaye’s second feature, Darkest Miriam, is a slice-of-life type film that follows Miriam (Britt Lower), who works at a Toronto public library and encounters several strange and unique patrons day in, day out. As Miriam’s story unravels and we learn more about her, it’s clear that Jaye crafted an eccentric and oddly endearing film. There’s also plenty of intrigue and mystery.

Though famed screenwriter/director Charlie Kaufman is listed as a producer, Darkest Miriam isn’t like his body of work or the films of his long-time collaborator, Spike Jonze. Jaye crafted her own unique feature with its own idiosyncrasies and a strong performance by Lower. She conveys so much emotion with facial expressions and body language.

In the opening minutes, Miriam introduces the viewer to several of the library’s regulars, including Suitcase Man (Clyde Whitham), Fainting Man (Igor Shamuilov), Piano Mom (Anita Yung), Piano Girl (Sarah Li Wen Du), and various other oddballs. Miriam has daily encounters with this group, and they’re as funny as they are strange. Though I’ve never worked in a public library, I’ve visited enough of them to say that all these side characters feel like they could be patrons that occupy any library.

The setting itself not only acts as Miriam’s place of employment, but in some ways, it reflects her personality. She loves to sit on a park bench and read a book while having her lunch for example. She’s quirky and reserved. As stated, Lower’s performance really works because she nails the character’s personality and conveys so much through facial expressions. This is best exemplified when she visits a health clinic and must answer a series of questions. Her discomfort is evident through her non-verbal expressions, indicating there’s more to this character than she lets on.

Tom Mercier stars alongside Lower as Miriam’s eventual love interest, Janko, a taxi driver and artist. He’s just as awkward as she is, and it’s a real pleasure to watch their relationship progress and unfold. They push each other, and Mercier and Lower do have real on-screen chemistry together.

Credit goes to the incredibly creative way that Jaye tells this story and adapts the source material, the novel The Incident Report by Martha Baillie. Every day, Miriam files incident reports written in lyrical and poetic language that describes her day and encounters. These eventually read like a novella and give a window into the lead’s world.  She then discovers uncanny letters in several books with characters and plot points from the Italian opera Rigoletto. The letters indicate that Miriam is being watched. Both the reports and letters reveal more about Miriam, including her tragic past

Darkest Miriam is a beautiful film with highly inventive storytelling. The feature unfurls as a mystery and dark fairytale, like reading a 19^th Century Gothic novel. Meanwhile, Lower gives quite a notable performance that enhances this film’s strange mystique.