This film focuses on the majesty and beauty of huge forests, but also their eerie, isolating and unnerving nature. This is the director’s debut, with Georgina Campbell delivering an excellent performance of a park ranger haunted by tragedy, seeking resolution within the vast wilderness. The visuals and the setting is gorgeous, but this is ultimately a ponderous exercise in tedium where very little happens, and what does is baffling. The movie is only 90 minutes, but it feels like it stretches into an eternity, like the woods themselves. Unfortunately the film veers into extremely confusing territory, and the plot seems to wander into the nonsensical for large portions, as the character’s hallucinations overwhelm the plot. Eventually there is an explanation and coda, but not many questions are answered, the one could be forgiven for presuming it is all still part of the character’s mental breakdown. The questions that do get answered only raise more questions, and the viewer is ultimately left unsatisfied. For those who enjoy a surreal psychological study and not seeking easy answers this movie might appeal, but to all others I’d advise to avoid it but keep an eye out to see what this director does next.
Lovely Dark and Deep (2024)