I really liked this movie, but I'll be honest in saying that I believe it is in dire need of a stronger climax. The climax kind of fizzled out... it's not that it's bad, I realize what they were going for... it's just not really strong enough in my opinion. Still, this unusual film kept me pretty captivated with great acting and beautiful cinematography.
The cinematography is definitely the strongest thing going for this movie in my opinion. The scenes in nature are amazing. The choice of lenses are fantastic. Was this shot in film rather than digital? It sure seemed like it... It's a great looking movie with a really great color palette. The set design was minimal but the locations and buildings were chosen very wisely. It just looked great.
I also found the acting to be top notch. It has to be when dealing with this kind of story where suspending your disbelief is a MUST if you're going to enjoy it. The Spanish speaking immigrant was really fantastic. That guy truly seemed as scared as he should be and have an awesome performance in my opinion.
I found the plot to be very metaphorical. And even though the ending wasn't strong enough to my liking, I definitely felt what the director and writer wanted me to feel with this film's conclusion... the freedom that comes with the having survived what you always knew to be inevitable... and feared the most. I only wish that I felt that fear more during the climax. I wanted it to be more emotional during the parts that are meant to hit hard, but all that violence didn't really shock me as much as it was maybe meant set out to. The final decision made at the end also kind of felt like it came out of nowhere... (-SPOILER ALERT- I would have had the big brother just mercy kill him against his will... THAT would have made a much better climax in my opinion... A sort of homage to Of Mice and Men if you will...)
Still, I found this film to be very much above average. I'd definitely give it a 9 or 10 had the climax been a little more solid, but I can live with the 8.
One final note... all these poor reviews on here are written by people that that are addicted to junk. I enjoy junk films as much as the next person but thus film isn't junk. It's a serious movie. I would barely call it a horror film. It leans more on the drama side. If you enjoy heavy drama and have a taste for the macabre, you'll probably enjoy this movie as much as I did.
The cinematography is definitely the strongest thing going for this movie in my opinion. The scenes in nature are amazing. The choice of lenses are fantastic. Was this shot in film rather than digital? It sure seemed like it... It's a great looking movie with a really great color palette. The set design was minimal but the locations and buildings were chosen very wisely. It just looked great.
I also found the acting to be top notch. It has to be when dealing with this kind of story where suspending your disbelief is a MUST if you're going to enjoy it. The Spanish speaking immigrant was really fantastic. That guy truly seemed as scared as he should be and have an awesome performance in my opinion.
I found the plot to be very metaphorical. And even though the ending wasn't strong enough to my liking, I definitely felt what the director and writer wanted me to feel with this film's conclusion... the freedom that comes with the having survived what you always knew to be inevitable... and feared the most. I only wish that I felt that fear more during the climax. I wanted it to be more emotional during the parts that are meant to hit hard, but all that violence didn't really shock me as much as it was maybe meant set out to. The final decision made at the end also kind of felt like it came out of nowhere... (-SPOILER ALERT- I would have had the big brother just mercy kill him against his will... THAT would have made a much better climax in my opinion... A sort of homage to Of Mice and Men if you will...)
Still, I found this film to be very much above average. I'd definitely give it a 9 or 10 had the climax been a little more solid, but I can live with the 8.
One final note... all these poor reviews on here are written by people that that are addicted to junk. I enjoy junk films as much as the next person but thus film isn't junk. It's a serious movie. I would barely call it a horror film. It leans more on the drama side. If you enjoy heavy drama and have a taste for the macabre, you'll probably enjoy this movie as much as I did.