I kept rooting (pun intended) for this flick to find purchase and really earn its slow burn atmosphere creep factor. And, for awhile, it really does… it was never “fast paced” or “exciting” or particularly “coherent” but what it was doing with its environment, grief, and themes of letting go (both figuratively and literally) was good.

But, at some point, a movie has to find its pace and deliver something more… if not energetic, then at least intriguing enough to maintain its gloom.

The film stars Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark as landowners at Depression Acres… a land so misty and blighted you’d think the government paid them to move in. A tragedy occurs and the couple have to deal with it… and before you can debate rabbit vs. duck season, a portentous hare emerges. And portents and portents and portents. Plus some ill omens.

The real tragedy of this film is its glacial pacing. Not that it has it, but that it would never let it go. I kept waiting for something to pop off, to really earn its grief porn, but it just wallows in its own misery to the point I lost interest.

The flicks gives good atmosphere, but ultimately that’s all it gives. It does deliver it well though… and the acting is not stars and rainbows and that’s exactly what’s called for. It’s good if you want to wallow in a mire.

Score: 68