Lost Solace

I was at the Whistler Film Festival this weekend (December 2016) and I was quite keen on seeing a locally produced film called "Lost Solace". The film was billed as a SciFi thriller. The premise of the film was in short, very intriguing and fresh. The screenplay, however, was very disappointing as character development throughout the film proved to be slow, disjointed and difficult to follow. This may also have been attributed to the extremely slow pacing of the film. Writers Andrew Jenkins and Chris Scheuerman started out with a great idea but failed to develop that idea into a palatable script.

Andrew Jenkin's performance as the dashingly handsome but disturbed narcissist/psychopath, Spence, was remarkably dull, and uninteresting. He performed his lines as though he was reading a script "run through" for the very first time. Andrew Jenkins wasn't terrible and he was appropriately cast as he is just as handsome in person as he is on screen, but his performance lacked the energy needed to exemplify the true complexity of his character's personality and the inner self that was destroying him. However, I find it unfortunate when a film relies solely on an actor's good looks to carry the film through a script that was anything but exciting, let alone thrilling.

Charlie Kerr's character, Jory a mentally disturbed brother of Spence's next victim, Azaria (Melissa Roxburgh), was simply overplayed. Kerr's opening scene with his shrugged shoulders and distorted facial expressions were just creepy and failed to enhance the suspense the film had intended for this character.

Melissa Roxburgh's (Azaria) performance made her character believable. Her lines and character development, although scripturally challenging played the naïve love interest of Spence, with delicate softness and naivety which was not perceived as being disingenuous but real.

The real winner of this film was Thomas Billingsley, the director of cinematography. His shots were fluid and crisp, where camera angles, set lighting and special effects were strategically placed to successfully enhance the visuals of this film. Billingsley executed his expertise in filmmaking admirably which resulted in giving this film a sense of professionalism that you would normally only see with big budget projects.

In summary, the film was disappointing to watch. Unfortunately, great cinematography and beautiful actors aren't enough to keep me interested in watching this film to the end.

Absolutely loved the idea for 'Lost Solace'. It sounded very original and quite creative, while the advertising was eye-catching. So hopes of 'Lost Solace' living up to potential were very high, but having seen so many films with great ideas falling victim to bad execution part of me was nervous.

Seeing 'Lost Solace', found myself not needing to be nervous. It may not be a great film and could have explored its concept more, but 'Lost Solace' is far from bad execution of it. A waste of potential it is not and that's a relief for me considering how many films have fallen victim to that recently. Found myself liking 'Lost Solace' better than anticipated but am not going to be as gushing.

'Lost Solace' looks good, it's stylishly shot and atmospheric with nice use of colour and the editing is not bacon-slicer-like. The sound is not intrusive or too loud, neither is it too obvious. There is imagination here and many parts are thought-provoking and suitably challenging, it definitely is a mind-bender.

The story does attention grab much of the time and has enough to it to stop it from being too predictable. 'Lost Solace' is directed with a sure hand and the acting is well above average, quite good actually. Doing justice to quite likeable if underdeveloped characters that at least actually act like intelligent human beings on the most part.

Did think however that the dialogue was clunky, that parts could have been tighter paced and other parts could have had more clarity. There is the odd dull and vague spot.

Can understand the disjointed complaint, with it running out of ideas in some parts of the final act.

On the whole, better than expected though with a few drawbacks. 6/10 Bethany Cox

If you are working in the field of mental illnesses you will enjoy this piece,because it's entertaining and precise about this pathology. The interactions between different types of psychopaths and sociopaths and also it's victims is excellently pictured and the actors performed great .I didn't expect this movie to be any good after seeing the rating, but I was right to give a chance.

Film was much more then a 3/10... Good action and filming.. would recommend.

One of the better indies I've seen. It's too bad it didn't quite find its audience. For the deeper, thoughtful cinephile, there is a beautiful, mindful journey into consciousness. Like a microcosm of humanity caught in a bottle, the story of a psychopath who takes ecstasy and experiences his humanity is anything a fan of Tarkovsky or Kubrick will find engaging. Add to that great acting, writing and cinematography, and you've got what is a very satisfying experience. Not for the surface level viewer. It's a film you'll think about after you watch.