OMG, where do I begin on this mess of a so-called "movie"? This film is so bad, I wanted to kill myself too when it was over.
Story problems:
1) The script is horrible. It's boring, mundane, and there's very little conflict in it. Yes, a father loses his son at the beginning, but the "inner conflict" of this father is missing. The director was horrible here, apparently not able to really show the pain/struggle this father was going through (until his first "suicide attempt" near the end). Actually, I have to blame three people for the lack of effective performance by Thomas Dekker: The writer for a bad script, the director who couldn't elicit even a semblance of a father in turmoil, and Dekker himself for not having the chops to pull this role off.
I actually heard just a few minutes of some interview the director did, who explained that the father killing himself at the end was not out of guilt, but out of a desire to be with his dead son in the afterlife. What???? We never saw that; we never saw or heard any conversation about the afterlife, we don't even know if the father thought an afterlife existed. I mean, come on, Herr Director, WTF are you thinking? Inventing some reasoning that isn't EVEN in the story, for what happens at the end? Are you nuts? If this is what you wanted in reasoning, then frickin' have the writer do a re-write.
Frankly, it's movies like this that give indie films a bad name. And turn people off from seeking out non-studio, non-formulaic films.
2) There are a lot of characters in this film. All of them are boring. We don't know who any of these people are, either. You keep thinking, expecting, that somewhere along the way, we'll know how people relate to one another and their connections with each other. No. Never happens. And of course we have a lesbian couple (no sex) because the writer and/or director wanted a lesbian couple as two characters in the film. Puuullleeeease.
3) Many story point issues, or story logic issues too. Here's an example: The 3 year old boy who leaves the vehicle in the snow (who subsequently dies) is eventually found. But the 20- 25 people in the search party couldn't find him (it was daylight), and the father couldn't find him. Yet, we learn late in the movie that the boy only died a quarter mile from the vehicle. (That's 2.5 city blocks long, for reference.) So you're telling me, that with the father screaming for his son, his son never heard him? Or, presuming a 3 year old would cry out for help at some point, no one would hear him 2.5 "blocks" away? Or that the search dogs couldn't track a person's scent for 2.5 "blocks"? Or that the 25 search party people would miss someone 2.5 "blocks" from what became their base camp? Or -- and this is the best one yet -- the father who saw the boy's tracks in the snow, couldn't follow these for 2.5 "blocks"?? Puuullleeeease. (And despite references to it being a blizzard later in the film... sorry, it wasn't a blizzard when the father left the vehicle to walk around, and it wasn't a blizzard when he came back to the vehicle to find his son missing.)
Performance problems:
There's some talent available, in the cast that was chosen. And it was all wasted, because these characters are all the SAME at the end of the film as they were at the beginning. No change, no growth, nothing interesting to watch. And by and large, all the performances were flat. I think this director just doesn't know how to direct actors and elicit compelling performances out of them. Well... she could get them to cry, because there must have been at least 10 instances where someone cries in the film. By the 6th time, you're reaching for the razor blades.
Directing problems:
Well, I've already trashed the director thus far, who at least deserves it for this piece of garbage. Look, the storyline had potential. (And I'm sure it did since it was based on a book.) But that potential was not realized in the screenplay, and certainly not via the direction. Drama and conflict is not attained by having all your characters be flat, with a few of them crying a bunch of times. Also, the pacing is really, REALLY bad. How bad? Someone walks out of a room (after an uneventful scene), but we hold on the empty room now for a couple of beats. I mean, that's ridiculous.
This movie is not worth your time. Unless you want to seriously torture yourself.
Story problems:
1) The script is horrible. It's boring, mundane, and there's very little conflict in it. Yes, a father loses his son at the beginning, but the "inner conflict" of this father is missing. The director was horrible here, apparently not able to really show the pain/struggle this father was going through (until his first "suicide attempt" near the end). Actually, I have to blame three people for the lack of effective performance by Thomas Dekker: The writer for a bad script, the director who couldn't elicit even a semblance of a father in turmoil, and Dekker himself for not having the chops to pull this role off.
I actually heard just a few minutes of some interview the director did, who explained that the father killing himself at the end was not out of guilt, but out of a desire to be with his dead son in the afterlife. What???? We never saw that; we never saw or heard any conversation about the afterlife, we don't even know if the father thought an afterlife existed. I mean, come on, Herr Director, WTF are you thinking? Inventing some reasoning that isn't EVEN in the story, for what happens at the end? Are you nuts? If this is what you wanted in reasoning, then frickin' have the writer do a re-write.
Frankly, it's movies like this that give indie films a bad name. And turn people off from seeking out non-studio, non-formulaic films.
2) There are a lot of characters in this film. All of them are boring. We don't know who any of these people are, either. You keep thinking, expecting, that somewhere along the way, we'll know how people relate to one another and their connections with each other. No. Never happens. And of course we have a lesbian couple (no sex) because the writer and/or director wanted a lesbian couple as two characters in the film. Puuullleeeease.
3) Many story point issues, or story logic issues too. Here's an example: The 3 year old boy who leaves the vehicle in the snow (who subsequently dies) is eventually found. But the 20- 25 people in the search party couldn't find him (it was daylight), and the father couldn't find him. Yet, we learn late in the movie that the boy only died a quarter mile from the vehicle. (That's 2.5 city blocks long, for reference.) So you're telling me, that with the father screaming for his son, his son never heard him? Or, presuming a 3 year old would cry out for help at some point, no one would hear him 2.5 "blocks" away? Or that the search dogs couldn't track a person's scent for 2.5 "blocks"? Or that the 25 search party people would miss someone 2.5 "blocks" from what became their base camp? Or -- and this is the best one yet -- the father who saw the boy's tracks in the snow, couldn't follow these for 2.5 "blocks"?? Puuullleeeease. (And despite references to it being a blizzard later in the film... sorry, it wasn't a blizzard when the father left the vehicle to walk around, and it wasn't a blizzard when he came back to the vehicle to find his son missing.)
Performance problems:
There's some talent available, in the cast that was chosen. And it was all wasted, because these characters are all the SAME at the end of the film as they were at the beginning. No change, no growth, nothing interesting to watch. And by and large, all the performances were flat. I think this director just doesn't know how to direct actors and elicit compelling performances out of them. Well... she could get them to cry, because there must have been at least 10 instances where someone cries in the film. By the 6th time, you're reaching for the razor blades.
Directing problems:
Well, I've already trashed the director thus far, who at least deserves it for this piece of garbage. Look, the storyline had potential. (And I'm sure it did since it was based on a book.) But that potential was not realized in the screenplay, and certainly not via the direction. Drama and conflict is not attained by having all your characters be flat, with a few of them crying a bunch of times. Also, the pacing is really, REALLY bad. How bad? Someone walks out of a room (after an uneventful scene), but we hold on the empty room now for a couple of beats. I mean, that's ridiculous.
This movie is not worth your time. Unless you want to seriously torture yourself.