Sunburn has plenty of affection for St. James Town — Toronto’s most densely populated neighbourhood — but not much to say about what it means to grow up there. The third feature from the St. James Town native Serville Poblete, the film follows three pairs of young people as they navigate the hottest day of the year and an ensuing blackout. A loose, coming-of-age tale, the film is at its best when its characters are simply hanging out in the neighbourhood’s diverse high-rises. There is plenty of charm and humour among the cast as their paths gradually intersect, but Sunburn really comes alive in the margins: curious neighbourhood kids, colourful side characters and the fleeting interactions give St. James Town a lived-in quality. It’s when Sunburn turns from observing the neighbourhood to exploring the inner lives of its protagonists that its shortcomings become harder to ignore.
There are compelling questions about what it means to outgrow the place that made you. Vince (Dashawn Blackwood) is a standout among the six main characters, portraying a boy who longs to leave St. James Town in order to expand his horizons and make something of himself. Blackwood brings a playful swagger to Vince, pairing a gentle confidence with a mischievous warmth that gives the character more dimension than many of those around him. Still, it’s unclear what exactly he’s searching for or what he hopes to achieve beyond the confines of his neighbourhood. The other characters are bogged down with other familiar coming-of-age tropes, like a young man faced with his last chance to connect with a longtime crush before she moves away. But these dilemmas rarely develop into meaningful conflict or consequence. The film’s overly direct dialogue too often tells us what characters feel, without allowing us to understand them more deeply. The film’s focus on youth also leaves the older residents of St. James Town largely outside the frame, limiting our sense of what a life spent staying in or eventually leaving the neighbourhood might look like. Poblete knows how to make St. James Town feel like home, but Sunburn fails to show us what it might mean to stay, leave or grow beyond it.
This article appeared in the 2026 Oct/Nov issue.
