Big city reporter comes home for her father’s funeral and ends up obsessed with an audio recording of him talking about the strange lights in the desert. Hoping to connect she goes wandering into the desert.
Less horror and science fiction film than the story of a lost daughter trying to reconnect with a lost loved one this film doesn’t really work. There are no scares and no real suspense despite the fact that much of the film is made up of people telling spooky stories.
The reason the film doesn’t work at all is that the entire film is told in a series of close ups. It seems every shot, outside of the opening credits or the photographs the father took are close ups of a character’s face. No effort is ever made to really give a sense of space or place, there are almost no establishing or wide shots. Everything is too close as if the filmmakers are trying to hide something. I think they are trying to make us lean in and feel close to the characters and emotions, especially since there are lots of long takes of them telling stories, but it’s too much of a “good” thing. It doesn’t match real life since it’s not how we look at anything. We shift our gaze, even when staring intently. Here the result is like looking at a talking still photo, which is not claustrophobic just dull.
I disconnected.
To be completely fair there is a good story here, it just needs to be told to us in a different way.
Not recommended.
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