Spinster

Chelsea Peretti gives an outstanding performance as thirty-nine-year-old Gaby, an outspoken cynic plagued by the societal pressure that all too often comes with being single at a ‘certain age’. Following an unceremonious break-up, Gaby resolves to find love via a series of blind dates, each one more ill-fated and comically rendered than the last. Peretti’s comic timing is remarkable in her portrayal of the prickly leading lady, evidenced in the opening scene in which she badmouths a rather vacuous client of her fledgling catering business. Gaby dreams of opening her own restaurant and finding an appreciative life-mate, but life seems to have other ideas in the picturesque Halifax where this quirky female character study was filmed. (Whistler Film Festival)