The Ascent

I don't know if the rumors that this movie had a $20,000 budget are correct or not, but I did just today see an indiegogo campaign page that had raised something like $2,500, suggesting that in fact it was made on a shoestring budget. I know that the digital video revolution and streaming home entertainment have changed everything in terms of accessibility for indie film makers, but this movie really drove that point home for me in a way that no other ever has. I have watched many, many movies that literally cost a thousand times as much and enjoyed them a thousand times less. I wish Roger Ebert had lived to see it.

Also, I wanted to politely take issue with mitchellchristopherlong's quibble about the music playing while the detectives investigate the "Olivia" crime scene. I would argue that the music here serves an important dramatic function, specifically to make us see this scene (which we have seen so many times before in so many different crime shows and movies, inevitably via detectives who are jaded and cynical) with fresh eyes, as the authentic human tragedy that it really is. What the score here says is, "This is a different kind of movie. These are real cops who really see the victim. It's an awful thing to see and it hurts them every time, and they care." In fact, the dialogue literally tells us as much before they go in. "It's not like in the movies," Cardenas says to the reporter. So they're making an effort here to establish a more realistic emotional tone, which is one of the reasons why the left turn into supernatural horror that comes later is so effective.