Final Rating: 3.5/5
At every point in M. H. Murray’s feature debut I Don’t Know Who You Are, the tension feels ready to boil over. A striking character-focused drama tackling class dynamics in Toronto, I Don’t Know fuels suspense just as much through what’s said as what’s left unsaid.
Featuring a breakout performance from Mark Clennon, I Don’t Know is a movie in which the main conflicts often have simple solutions that are also hopelessly out of reach for the main characters.
After he is sexually assaulted, musician Benjamin (Clennon) spends the weekend trying to get money for HIV-preventative treatment. Embarrassed, confused, and with his pride and life both on the line and at odds with each other, Benjamin turns to extra work and begging old friends for extra cash. The tensions in I Don’t Know bubble just under the surface, Benjamin’s earnest attempts at connecting with the people in his life are undercut by the knowledge that every interaction will ultimately turn to asking for money.
The result is a story in which the action plays out slowly, but always feels like it’s just about to burst. Benjamin at dinner with a friend is, on the surface, just three people exchanging small talk, but the anticipation of his friends’ reactions when he inevitably calls in a favour keeps the scene tense.
Each time Benjamin misses a call from his boyfriend, their promise of an eventual confrontation grows more uncomfortable.
There’s a double meaning in the title: Benjamin didn’t know his assailant, but after that night, he no longer knows himself, either. It’s heartbreaking to watch Benjamin struggle through explaining his situation to his friends. Benjamin has trouble articulating what happened, and in many scenes, it’s as if he feels that his relationship with people he knows has been permanently altered by a stranger. Despite being some of the most supportive and understanding friends anyone could ask for, they can never undo what happened to him.
Benjamin’s character is elevated by a brilliant score from Spencer Creaghan. Violent scenes are heightened through loud and brutal crescendos while even the most comforting images are put just a bit off-balance by Creaghan’s echoey jazz. But just as important are the moments when the score is completely absent, in which sound designer Michael McInnis builds as much tension through ambient noise. The morning after the film’s inciting event, Benjamin spends hours furiously cleaning his apartment in silence, the only sounds are those of sponges scraping across wooden floors, and the occasional buzzing of his phone going unanswered.
The supporting cast – featuring Anthony Diaz as Benjamin’s boyfriend Malcolm and Nat Manuel as his best friend Ariel – bring an inspiring warmth to the film that keeps things from ever getting hopeless. When Benjamin suddenly becomes distant, his friends are initially hurt, but stand by him. In a roundabout way, Benjamin’s amazing support network serves to deepen his initial loneliness. His hesitancy to lean on others for help ironically drives him to old friends, ex-lovers, and people he barely knows, instead of the people who can help him the most.
Benjamin’s journey leaves him a different person over the course of a single weekend, but it also brings him closer to the people in his life who care about him. For its serious subject matter, I Don’t Know never becomes bleak. And yet the message of the film takes just as much from what’s said as what’s left unsaid. Benjamin’s situation is not unique, and neither is his assailant.
I Don’t Know Who You Are was seen during the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Thank you to Route 504 for the screener.
