Seeds: First Nations Morality Tale Will Grow on You
By Chris Knight
Rating: B+
Longtime actor Kaniehtiio Horn (The Man in the High Castle, Letterkenny) is now a first-time feature writer-director with Seeds, a First Nations morality tale that doesn’t pull any punches.
Horn also stars as Ziggy, a Mohawk woman living in Toronto, where she ekes out an existence as a food-delivery courier, having convinced herself it’s the modern version of the farming done by her ancestors.
Ziggy regularly falls asleep to the soothing tones of Graham Greene narrating a true crime TV show, and occasionally appearing in her dreams to offer life advice. He’s basically her spiritual guide, a term I only feel comfortable using because it’s also in the film’s press notes.
Ziggy’s life takes a turn when she gets an offer from a company called Nature’s Oath to be an online promoter of their seed products. The money is good and the — well, that’s actually about as far as she investigates the offer before signing on and becoming an influencer.
But at almost the same moment, Ziggy gets called back to the Rez to housesit for her aunt. It’s one of a few moments in the film where the plot takes a turn that is more narratively convenient than strictly logical, but if you can forgive a few such lapses, you’ll enjoy what follows.
To say much more would be crossing into spoiler territory, so let’s just reveal that Patrick Garrow plays a Very Bad Man who wants to get his hands on Something Important in Ziggy’s aunt’s house. And that Ziggy is going to have her hands full protecting it.
The tone of the film is a little ziggy itself, with odd moments of humour that don’t quite pair with the dark final act. But if not all the pieces fit together perfectly, they are individually compelling. Seeds tackles topics as diverse as agri-business, colonialism, intergenerational trauma and personal grief — not to mention the enduring and often overlooked heroism of house cats. Its drama will grow on you.
Seeds. Directed by Kaniehtiio Horn. Starring Kaniehtiio Horn, Graham Greene, and Patrick Garrow. In theatres October 25.
