Greetings again from the darkness. Naomi Watts is a gifted actress and always elevates her films, but can someone please cast her in a comedy? The lady deserves a chance to lighten up a bit. Known for her dramatic turns, this may be her most physically demanding role yet. The film is based on a true story and the life of Pam Bales. Director Malgorzata Szumowska and co-writer Joshua Rollins, with input from Ms. Bales, recreate the remarkable events of 2010 on Mount Washington in The White Mountains of New Hampshire.
We first see Pam Bales (Watts) as her alarm goes off early, and she goes about preparing for a six-hour trek up the mountain. This includes layering her backpack and her clothes for the below freezing temperatures. She stops by the café where her friend (Denis O’Hare) pours her some hot cocoa and tries to talk her out of the climb due to the possibility of lousy weather (which is saying something for this area). However it’s clear this date is important to her when she says the climb is “cheaper than therapy”, because “mountains always listen and don’t talk back.” Pam has a special connection to the mountain and to nature.
As she begins her journey, Pam sees a couple of campers finishing up their stay. One of them is Eliot Sumner (offspring of musician Sting), who also wrote and performed a song for the film. The other is played by the film’s writer, Joshua Rollins. Pam also notices another car in the parking lot, which, although she doesn’t know it at the time, does set the stage for her day. Often covered in goggles and snow gear, the hike offers Pam the serenity for reflection, as well as some mind-clearing physical exertion. One misstep sends us the flashback of why this day and climb is so important to Pam; but it’s a trail of sneaker tracks in the snow that change the day every bit as much as the approaching storm that caused her to cut the hike short.
Those sneaker tracks are a recognizable sign of trouble to an experienced climber, nurse, and Search and Rescue Team member. Pam follows them to a near-death man suffering from hypothermia. Since he is initially non-responsive, she calls him “John” (Billy Howle, ON CHESIL BEACH, 2017) and proceeds to coax, drag, and all but carry him as they begin the slow battle down against the mountain and the weather elements. As he regains some semblance of awareness, John makes it clear he doesn’t want to be rescued and was trying to end his life on the mountain. Pam ignores this and sternly informs him that she will not leave him behind.
Cinematographer Michal Englert does a terrific job of capturing both the beauty and danger, although there is one close-up of Pam’s whistle that seems a bit out of place (minor quibble). Filmed in Slovenia (as a stand-in for New Hampshire), the weather and the view are co-stars with Ms. Watts, and the blizzard is blinding and treacherous, making Pam’s actions even more incredible. The film can be taken as the story of one woman’s determination, but it can also show how grief is powerful … and so is a helping hand. One person can certainly have a dramatic impact on the life of another and the way this real-life ordeal played out is quite interesting. Ty Gagne’s was the first to publish Pam’s story in his article, “Footprints in the Snow lead to an Emotional Rescue” in New Hampshire Union Leader. As always, the film earns bonus points for including “Katie Belle Blue” by Townes Van Zandt … and we can relate to Pam’s difficulty in singing along. The likelihood of Naomi Watts taking on a comedy seems remote, as she’s already slated for a remake of the 2014 Australian horror movie, GOODNIGHT MOMMY.
Opens in theaters Friday, March 25, 2022
Posted by David Ferguson 
Greetings again from the darkness. Director, Jain monk, war veteran, and sexual abuse survivor Sadhvi Siddhali Shree follows up her 2017 documentary, STOPPING TRAFFIC: THE MOVEMENT TO END SEX-TRAFFICKING, with a focus on the rare survivors/escapees of the horrific global issue labeled sex trafficking. The initial statistics she provides state 45 million are trafficked each year, and only about 1% ever escape or are rescued. We learn this “industry” generates approximately $150 billion (with a b) in annual profit.
Greetings again from the darkness. It seems society has reached a point where most of us are at least a bit skeptical of someone being nice. We assume there is an ulterior motive for acts of altruism. Writer-director-actor Cooper Raiff won a SXSW award for his first feature film (a title I can’t print here), and he follows that up with this feel-good dramedy that may very well inspire us to have a bit more faith in humanity … well at least some of humanity.
Greetings again from the darkness. We are informed that the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival features 7000 musicians across 14 stages over 8 days. It’s a massive and popular event and co-directors Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern set out to highlight the festival’s 50th anniversary in 2019, and ended up with a blend of music, history, and culture. Mr. Marshall, along with his wife Kathleen Kennedy, is a frequent producing partner of Steven Spielberg, and he also directed the 1990 favorite ARACHNOPHOBIA. Marshall and Suffern previously collaborated on music documentaries of Carole King-James Taylor, and The Bee Gees.
Greetings again from the darkness. There is a fine line between movies that cheat and those that cleverly keep us guessing. The first feature from writer-director Eli Horowitz and Matthew Derby seems to fully embrace cheating as a storytelling structure, relegating us to merely observing rather than guiding us as engaged participants. The film opens with a severely mismatched couple driving deep into the woods for a weekend getaway. We’ve all heard that “opposites attract”, but Kath (an excellent Winona Ryder) and Max (John Gallagher Jr) have been together for a year, and not only do they have opposite life goals, the two can barely hold a conversation. It’s not just awkward, it makes no sense that these two could have co-existed for so long.
Greetings again from the darkness. Finding one’s self can be a long and arduous life journey for some. Along the way, they may be influenced by parents, friends, co-workers, and even public figures. This phenomenon is explored by director Gracie Otto (sister of Miranda) with a terrific script from lead actor Krew Boylan. It’s a film that starts out light-hearted and comical and evolves into something much deeper … self-actualization.
Greetings again from the darkness. You need only know one thing to put this on your must-see movie list: beloved EGOT Rita Moreno plays a bad*** teacher in a horror-comedy. As a bonus, the film is loads of fun and is actually filled with comedy and suspense. Directed by Maureen Bharoocha and co-written by Rebecca Flynn-White and Zak White, the film allows the 90-year-old WEST SIDE STORY star to shift her pesona into Mrs. Wheeler, the demanding AP Physics teacher who thrives on intimidating her students to do better.
Greetings again from the darkness. For as far back as we can trace human existence, the older generation has grumped on the younger one. It’s unlikely Neanderthal parents used the term ‘slacker’, but they undoubtedly got their point across to the youngsters who were inept at hunting and never seemed to gather much. Gillian Jacobs is best known for her acting (the TV series “Community”), and in directing her first feature length documentary she serves up proof that the rising generation offers plenty of hope for the future.
Greetings again from the darkness. It’s difficult to know whether the biggest story here is the one of the cringiest movies you’ll see or the fact that writer-director-star James Morosini based it on the actual relationship and events with his own father. Morosini opens the film with this: “The following actually happened. My dad asked me to tell you it didn’t.” That sounds kinda funny and sets the stage for some father-son conflict. But it certainly doesn’t prepare us for what we are about to watch.
Greetings again from the darkness. We have all heard the stories of lottery winners who blow the entire pot and end up back where they started, or sometimes even worse off. There is also no shortage of stories where alcoholism ruins lives and relationships. Director Michael Morris’ first feature film combines the two elements in a script by Ryan Binaco, who based the lead character on his own mother. The two men have done their work well and, in a way, win their own lottery by having cast Andrea Riseborough in the lead. Ms. Riseborough has long been labeled underrated, but I believe the more accurate label is underappreciated.
Movie Reviews from the Dark 