Body Gulch

I first saw this film six or seven months ago.

The quality of the cinematography is very evocative of late 1980s industrial music videos. It is at times grainy and claustrophobic but that only adds to the viewer's ability to empathize with the protagonist's plight - it's unclear whether his wife's affair is a product of his own paranoia or if she is indeed cheating on him. The surveillance quality of some of the scenes adds to the intrigue.

Director/producer Michael Lauter has a keen eye for locations and is a master of dark landscapes, both in physical reality and of the mind and soul. In Persistence, he also has the ability to turn up unusual insights in the mundane (see the scene in which a tabletop maze game plays out in a college library!).

The story of Mr. D's slip into madness is told well even with little dialogue and the film itself creates a seamless labyrinth that really makes one question their own perception of reality. The story is a poetic narrative of abandonment on two levels - emotional and physical.

If you want to see independent film-making in Colorado at its zenith, this film is high among them.