Allan Hawkco, Canada, drama, film festivals, Helen Hunt, In Cold Light, Jesse Irving, Jessica Abruzzese, Maxime Giroux, movies, Patrick Sabongui, reviews, Tribeca Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Troy Kotsur
January 24, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Maxime Giroux
Some language in American Sign Language with no subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in the Canadian province of Alberta, the dramatic film “In Cold Light” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and criminal underground.
Culture Clash: A recently paroled woman tries to get back into drug dealing, and then her twin brother is murdered, she’s framed for the crime, and she goes on the run while seeking revenge on those responsible for her brother’s death.
Culture Audience: “In Cold Light” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and crime dramas that aren’t very believable.
Despite having some gritty scenes, the crime drama “In Cold Light” has credibility issues in an increasingly far-fetched story about a paroled drug dealer who becomes a fugitive and a vigilante after her twin brother is murdered. The acting performances are adequate, but the movie has uneven pacing. The screenplay for “In Cold Light” also strains to be edgy, when most of the cast members who are supposed to portray criminals just aren’t entirely convincing in these roles.
Directed by Maxime Giroux and written by Patrick Whistler, “In Cold Light” had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. “In Cold Light” takes place in the Canadian province of Alberta, where the movie was filmed on location. The most well-known cast members in the movie are actually American and just aren’t believable as Canadians.
“In Cold Light” begins by showing how a drug dealer named Ava (played by Maika Monroe) got arrested. She was smoking crack or meth in a drug house that was raided by police. She escapes and runs away but is eventually caught and sent to prison. The movie never addresses whether or not Ava ever got rehab treatment for her obvious drug addiction.
“In Cold Light” then fast-forwards two years later. Ava (a bachelorette with no children) has been released from prison and is on parole. She goes back to her unnamed hometown and has an uneasy reunion with her family. Her twin brother Tom (played by Jesse Irving) and his girlfriend Donna (played by Jessica Abruzzese) have a baby daughter, whose name is never stated in the movie, even though this baby becomes a major part of the movie’s plot.
Ava, Tom and their friend Sef (played by Patrick Sabongui) operated a drug dealing business that was headed by Ava before she went to prison. Ava was the one who got Tom (whom she calls Tommy) involved in drug dealing. Tom and Sef continued the business while Ava was incarcerated. And now that Ava is out of prison, she wants to go back to leading their drug-dealing operation. Sef doesn’t like the idea. “Now, you’re a risk,” Sef comments to Ava about how her prison record has put her on the radar of law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Ava has a rocky relationship with her pill-popping widower father Will Bly (played by Troy Kotsur), a past-his-prime rodeo rider who’s hoping to make a big comeback in rodeo riding. Will blames Ava for leading Tom into a life of crime. Will’s wife, who was the mother of Ava and Tom, died of a seizure in a swimming pool when the twins were 10 years old. Will (who happens to be deaf, as Kotsur is in real life) doesn’t trust that Ava will stay out of trouble. Will is correct with that assumption.
As already revealed in the movie’s synopsis, Tom is murdered. Ava goes on the run with the baby after Ava finds out that Donna has been murdered too. Ava witnessed Tom’s murder: Tom was killed by a corrupt cop named Bob Whyte (played by Allan Hawkco), who frames Ava for this homicide. Ava is also hiding out from a vicious crime boss named Claire (played by Helen Hunt), who wants revenge on Ava for reasons that are explained in the movie. And even when she’s a fugitive, Ava decides she’ll also be a vigilante avenging her twin brother’s murder.
Ava eventually gives the baby to Will for safekeeping. Ava says to Will: “She’s Tom’s. You have to take care of her. We broke our family. Fix it with her.” Unfortunately, “In Cold Light” is filled with this type of stilted dialogue. It’s not a completely terrible movie, but “In Cold Light” is not thrilling enough to be a good action film, and it’s not plausible enough to be a compelling crime drama.
Saban Films released “In Cold Light” in select U.S. cinemas on January 23, 2026.