Hunting Lands

The film builds tension well, there's a lot of great camera work, but the story is weak and unbelievable. Aside from the main actor, all other acting was poor including the overly-animated antagonist. The ending is silly and leaves you feeling like you invested much and received very little.

This film had quite a promising start, but at the end of the first act, the story stiltifies to a glacial pace and becomes so crushingly dull the 83 minute runtime feels like 83 hours.

We watch our man (who's a little wooden in his hadful of speaking scenes, but otherwise quite credible) follow his target around in a pick-up for a dialogue-less eon to seemingly no end whatsoever. .. and the finale does absoluey nothing to resolve the plot. For such a simple story to not even be resolved is just a confounding finger in the eye to all those viewers who showed so much patience and determination slogging their way to the end.

I found this film to be very interesting. The cinematography was incredible but what really sets it apart is the lack of dialogue. Huge portions of the film have no dialogue at all yet still grip the viewer and tell a clear story. Its very clever. The ending was too abrupt for me. I'd have preferred more resolution. Perhaps though, that would have let the entire film down. Excellent performances from the two leads and great direction too. Well worth watching.

Very voyeuristic and quiet, Hunting Lands is a highly compelling watch steeped in film noir. The crisp and clean feeling of the cold snow is skillfully contrasted with damaged, lost characters and shabby dwellings like seedy motels, small used car lots and townie bars. One sequence plays out like a silent film as body language tells the story while quiet, foreboding strings play over the action. The Hunting Lands title doesn't just refer to the woods where main character Frank lives. A large part of the film takes place on the streets of a small town as Frank is trailing his suspect, Lance. Lance is played by Joe Raffa, who exudes a nervous energy and looks perfectly smarmy behind his thick mustache, working mans tie, and LL Bean scarf. Because he is watched from a distance for half the film, Raffa's performance is largely silent, relying on physicality to portray his character and he is absolutely superb in the role. Strikingly gloomy and beautifully shot, Hunting Lands comes highly recommended.

The first twenty minutes are exquisite, like 10 star worthy material. Impeccable sound work and editing, abnormal camera angles that makes the viewer immediately on edge, as well as an unrelenting atmosphere completely led by the stellar cinematography. Plus NO DIALOGUE! All rests upon the shoulders of the location.

Not to say that the rest of the movie doesn't have more of this cool stuff, but it definitely should've been a short not a full length joint as before the climax where it really picks up again you start feeling the time. Not to mention the dialogue isn't anything to write home about either, except for the physical performance from lead Marshall Cook. The mannerisms he gives his character is great, despite at the end where we don't get many resolutions with his awkward placed backstory. Though that isn't really the point of the movie anyway, it's all about isolation.

So on board with whatever Zachary Willcox will do next. According he has another movie in post-production called; Found Your Righteous, which from the plot synopsis alone is maybe my most anticipated flick for this year.