Canadian Don McKellar’s Y2K sci-fi soap opera about the end of the world is a quirky investigation into lives pried open. No, the world didn’t end on Dec. 31, 1999, but most filmmakers conjured up blackouts, asteroids, and death rays to accommodate the possibility. McKellar focuses instead on half-a-dozen people trying to complete basic tasks until time runs out. Craig (Callum Keith Renne) acts on a crush he’s had for his high school teacher, Mrs. Carlton (Geneviève Bujold). Sandra (Sandra Oh) is unable to reach her husband amid the panic and spends the last few hours with Patrick (McKellar), whom she’s just met. This is a graceful and generous story about people who are gradually relieved of tension because its summed-up pressures are unbearable.
