Steel Country

I found A Dark Place while looking to watch a short movie I had never heard of before. Its premise reeled me in; a dead child is found in a small town, and a loner with a hunch investigates. Andrew Scott plays Donny, a sanitation worker who lives with his mother and has a daughter with a woman who does not love him back. The film gives us clues that Donny likely has high functioning autism due to his need to organize things and his compulsory drive to get to the bottom of the child's death. We thus follow his path down avenues no one else would dare travel. I think of it like Taxi Driver set in rural Pennsylvania, but nowhere near as effective, as I felt myself questioning the intent and morality of Donny's actions more than I had liked. But since A Dark Place deals with very complicated topics such as the death of a child, mental health and personal privacy, perhaps that is the point. If you are intrigued by lesser-known films with challenging premises, A Dark Place is certainly an option. Andrew Scott is really good, too. The film is on his shoulders, and he stays the course. Lastly, if you want to see the influence classic films like Taxi Driver have over the film world, check this film out to see what you pick up on.

Obviously, the budget is an important thing to make a good movie, but, as we saw in this movie, it is not a crucial factor to make a good movie. We can see here a small budget movie, but, we can see also an overall good actor's performance, in fact, significant acting for the leading role Andrew Scott, a good direction, a good scenario, a meaningful story. And this is all that the good movie needs.

I thought this was going to be a run of the mill thriller but it turned out to be quite engrossing all the way to the end mostly due to the superb acting ability of Andrew Scott who deserves an Oscar for his performance and this elevated the movie beyond your average pot boiler thriller aided and abetted by the performance from Bronagh Waugh.

For such a slow moving small movie it pulls a big punch and keeps the viewer interested and on the edge of the seat right to the rather surprising end and tackles a sadly very common and terrifying thought for any parent which gives the movie even more gravitas. Good camerawork and directing adds to the mix - If you are looking for an interesting mystery thriller that will not disappoint you cannot go far wrong with this one!

Admittedly it is slow but this 'Donnie' keeps you interested. He's handicapped mentally but smart,intuitive and a loving father. I found the story to be good and slowly opened up for the viewer.

It is surprising to learn that this is a British made film. Made entirely with UK money, an English director and a couple of Irish actors in the two lead roles. Most impressive given that this passes pretty easily as an American product. It falls into a category of crime/thriller/mystery which there seems to be quite a few of, i.e. one set in a small town in the backwaters of the U.S. where an ordinary individual investigates or is hurled into a crime scenario. Many American independent films have been of this type in recent years and I guess this is one aspect which goes against Steel Country slightly, in that it is an overly familiar set-up. Nevertheless, it remains a good enough film with a very impressive central performance from Andrew Scott in the lead role of a bin man with an Asperger's type of condition, whose particular mind-set impels him to not accept a recent account of a young boy drowning. He suspects foul play and this leads him on a dangerous path with reveals dark secrets in the local town.

The film works more as a mystery than as a thriller; albeit, there are a couple of memorable scenes which fall under the latter bracket, including a surprising one near the finale. But mostly, this one focuses on an amateur sleuth seeking the truth and a town which seems reluctant to reveal all. Ultimately, this is a good, if relatively standard, bit of Americana (even if it is actually British!).