That Beautiful Somewhere

This is a film that could have been great.

It has an interesting premise and theoretically complicated characters; however, in execution it gets almost everything wrong.

The script is terrible. Character development is introduced with a heavy hand and a total lack of imagination, and dialog is clunky at best.

The acting is sub-par. The male lead is competent, and though the leading lady is quite pretty, she's only adept at acting sick and vomiting endlessly. Very little chemistry exists between the two.

The only redeeming factor of the film is its cinematography, which is absolutely breathtaking. It's as if the director found his setting first and decided it was so breathtakingly gorgeous he should track down a story that he could fit to it.

Probably the only reason to check this out is to see some really beautiful landscape shots, and even then, after the first fifteen minutes they seem few and far between.

"That Beautiful Somewhere" is a Canadian film from 2006, shot in North Bay and Temagami, Ontario. It's part mystery and part love story. I don't mean "mystery" in the conventional sense, but in the sense that the film has a mysterious ambiance and there's a mysterious death, albeit from the distant past. The plot revolves around some remains found in a marsh with supposed healing powers, the archaeologist and cop assigned to the case, and some Native Americans.

The reason I bought the DVD is because the cover makes it look like a film I'd like. I do like it, but not enough to give it anything more than a 6/10 rating. The locations, cinematography, acting and overall atmosphere of the film are top-rate, but certain factors in the story pull down my rating. The biggest being the ending and its sudden surprise; it destroys what was building up to that point.

I guess if you reflect on it, though, it all makes sense and there's some spiritual typology.

What I like most is the film's mysterious and beautiful aura. There's a palpable reverence. Plus I enjoy seeing this remote part of Canada. But the story -- while okay -- isn't all that compelling and the ending does it in.

Still, it's not bad. It's worthwhile if you like this type of fare.

GRADE: C+ or B-

World weary detective bogged down by guilt over taking care of mother on life support and psychological wounds from having to kill people while at war meets a beautiful anthropologist struggling with a mysterious illness. They both get involved in solving a mystery around a body discovered in a bog rumored to have curative powers.

In my opinion, there were a few editing problems with the movie and the actress, though she had good facial expressions, had some stilted line delivery. However, overall a good film especially with what was to me a surprising ending. I also learned a lot about Indian rituals. This movie was shot in Canada.

I am always worried when I see a movie that is going to depict what life is like for people with chronic migraine. Most of the time it is represented in a terrible and false way that does some harm to those of us that struggle with severe pain. This movie showed migraine in the most truthful way I have ever seen. It was hard for me to watch it at times, because it was so familiar. Besides being a beautiful looking movie, and having such good actors - I really want to applaud the honesty of the film - even though it was a supernatural story in some ways. It is a great movie. Thank you for making this, and for being so truthful about this condition.

This movie had a lot more to offer than I expected going in. There were a great deal of panoramic shots from North Bay and the surrounding area where the movie was filmed, there were well-developed characters, and there was a sense of intrigue. I saw this movie at a local screening with the author of the original book Loon there to answer questions at the end, so I can confirm that the native rituals described in the movie were fictional, so don't show this to your Native studies class.

The acting was well done and the plot moved quickly with a surprising ending, but the relationship between the main characters seemed rushed at times. Overall, an excellent movie well worth a watch.