It’s an unwritten truth that critics go easy on local films. Their budgets aren’t as high as Hollywood productions, they can’t get the same kind of acting talent, and their special effects can certainly be special. So when a number of B.C. awards committees say that Violent—a Vancouver-based project—is good, you’d be safe to assume that the movie is, at best, passable. You’d be wrong.

Even by the most rigorous of critical standards, Violent is a fantastic film. The brainchild of local musician, writer, and director Andrew Huculiak and his fellow bandmates from prog-rock outfit We Are the City, the film draws on each of the writers’ experiences to create a startlingly poignant coming-of-age story. Set in Norway with the script penned almost exclusively in the country’s native tongue, the film follows the life of Dagny, a young woman who remembers the five people who loved her most as she is caught up in the turmoil of a catastrophic event. To say Violent is an ambitious project would be an understatement. But that, Huculiak says, was sort of the point.

“The band has always been very concerned about what we’re doing visually,” the director tells the Straight. “We knew we had to make another album, and we came to the conclusion that we’d need to create some accompanying video. One of us had the crazy idea that we should make a feature-length film as the companion to the album, so we joined forces with Vancouver production company Amazing Factory. Since then, however, the movie’s taken on a different life beyond the album. It’s become a totally separate entity.”

The response to the movie has been, as Huculiak puts it, “very enthusiastic.” Premiering at 2014’s Vancouver International Film Festival, Violent won two titles including Best Canadian Film, and swept the board at the Leos with eight awards. That’s not to mention the movie’s consideration as Canada's Best Foreign Language Film entry at the Oscars, nor the flick’s selection to play on Air Canada flights, nor Violent’s upcoming addition to Netflix.

“VIFF was really generous with how they treated the film,” Huculiak remembers. “Then the Vancouver Film Critics Circle gave it some awards, and we won a lot at the B.C. level too. We definitely feel the support of what we’ve done from people all over. That kind of affirmation makes us feel very encouraged and inspired.”

Often celebrating Violent’s poeticism as one of its major strengths, critics repeatedly highlight the interplay between the film’s haunting landscape photography and the protagonist’s raw and honest dialogue. Delving into complex psychological issues with a delicate touch, the movie draws a remarkably candid picture of adulthood and loneliness.

“I don’t know if any of us identified the movie as a coming of age story at first,” Huculiak says, “but we definitely wanted it to represent what we ourselves have felt in our lives. Dagny is a collage of the four writers, and her story is our own experiences of grappling with the big questions of what it means to accept yourself. I think those themes could seem contrived in different hands, but the reason why it really worked for us was because it was a genuine expression of what we were feeling at the time.

“Using the Norwegian language really helped to keep the movie honest and real,” the director continues. “The script was originally written in English, and we were very diligent about the dialogue. And then when we translated it into Norwegian, there was a lot of room for the Scandinavian actors to deliver the scene in a way that was linguistically and culturally normal in Norway. When we subtitled the movie back to English, we were able to go back to the original script, and make a sort of poetry out the Norwegian dialogue.”

Having created a movie that is set in a foreign country, is written in a foreign language, and features no Canadian actors, Huculiak is surprised at the excellent reception that Violent has received in the True North—and in Vancouver in particular. Citing the city as the cradle of the film’s success, the director is thankful for its support.

“I think that when you watch a movie and there’s no actors that you recognize,” Huculiak says, “it takes another level of analysis to understand the huge role that the crew play in creating the film. This city is where we first launched the movie, and it’s really nice that Vancouver and its people have surrounded the film. It feels awesome that people have gone to go and see it already, and that it now has its own theatrical run. We’re really excited to maintain that momentum.”

Violent opens this Friday (October 14) at the Cineplex Odeon International Village.