TIFF25 REVIEW: Nika & Madison [20XX]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 87 minutes
Studio: Game Theory Films
Director(s): Eva Thomas
Writer(s): Eva Thomas & Michael McGowan / Eva Thomas (short film Redlights)

I can trust an animal. But people? That’s a whole different story.

Nika (Ellyn Jade) and Madison (Star Slade) didn’t leave things well the last time they spoke. The latter was off to university in Toronto while the former was staying behind on the reservation where they were born. We don’t know exactly what was said, but everyone knows there was enough friction to ask if they’d patched things up with Madison coming home soon. Nika says it’s all good. That they’re cousins and they love each other. But there’s something else hiding below the surface. Something she’s not ready to admit.

Adapted from her own short film Redlights, director Eva Thomas and co-writer Michael McGowan open Nika & Madison with the perfect juxtaposition of these girls’ lives and how very different settings ultimately reveal similar hardships. You mustn’t look further than Madison’s school friend making a wild assumption about the reservation being primitive living before admitting she often forgets Madison is Native at all. It’s the sort of casual racism you can expect as someone proud of their heritage regardless of passing. The world wants to forget.

Well, things only get worse from there as Madison’s return starts at a local haunt and ends with a fight. The cops are called, but charges aren’t pressed. PC Boyd (David Reale) puts her in the squad car anyway to escort her home. We eventually learn he never called it in, though. Never even wrote her name. So, guessing where things are headed isn’t difficult once Nika hops in her car to follow her cousin’s GPS and meet her at the station only to wind up at a factory closed for the night. What she saw upon arrival was even more unexpected.

The film’s central goal is to put these two back together after their relationship strained. It’s to remind them that they’ll always have each other’s backs no matter what and should know there’s nothing they cannot confide to stop feeling so alone. That’s exactly what occurs as they go on the lam considering the writing is on the wall that an arrest is coming. They agree to just stick close and face it together. Because the same forces that allow Boyd to do what he did make it so he will probably get away with it.

Cue the politics—both externally and internally. The reservation is sovereign land, so Detective Sergeant Timmins (Amanda Brugel) and Detective Warhurst (Shawn Doyle) cannot enter without a warrant. Chief Sampson (Gail Maurice) isn’t going to simply grant them access because she knows the truth isn’t often enough to stop the government or law enforcement from railroading Native people. The lawyer hired to help the girls explains how half the incarcerated women in the country are indigenous despite only making up five percent of the population.

The pursuit therefore becomes a series of contrasts. Most of the residents feign ignorance when shown Madison’s photo, but one woman (Pamela Matthews’ Trudy) never liked the girls’ troublemaking mothers. Warhurst bleeds blue to the point where he’s working through excuses for sounds Boyd’s squad car picked up rather than following logical instincts while Timmins labels anyone who isn’t willing to admit what’s happened a coward. That’s the situation, though. Indigenous people are deemed expendable. It’s why Nika and Madison ran.

Are they purposefully evading the police? Sure. But they aren’t fugitives … yet. Just as their Chief wanted to control the narrative, they don’t want to turn themselves in prematurely and allow lies to take root. So, Madison gets a taste of Nika’s life hunting and Nika gets a taste of Madison’s big city living. And they attempt to distract themselves from their reality while also confronting how what happened is a result of more than just the moment itself. Such abuses are not isolated incidents and conceding that truth might help them heal.

Nika & Madison isn’t therefore about justice or revenge. It’s about understanding and love. How two cousins can be totally different and yet still relate to and appreciate both the good and bad that they’ve experienced. Nika was there for Madison when she needed it the most and Madison will return the favor. All the rest is noise. Horrific realities that truly could turn fatal fast without a Timmins to talk sense, but narrative maneuvers to force these girls back into each other’s lives, nonetheless. That’s what resonates. Their bond to never stop fighting to survive.

Jade and Slade are great in the titular roles. Both get lost in their characters to render their disparate lifestyles authentic and find the rapport to mock the other when dipping a toe into the opposite environment. We laugh when Nika calls Madison an “Insta princess,” but it’s not long before the latter’s fear of the wilderness takes hold. We laugh some more when Madison gets Nika to wear one of her clubbing outfits (“Where does everything go?!”), but she eventually embraces the chance for release. Nothing is too scary if they’re together.