Darkest of Lies

A story that only seems to come to life in the last few minutes, yet still remain unresolved.

A couple move from New York to Nevada for her job; he is an artist, so can work anywhere. He is an unconvincing military veteran; she an unconvincing lawyer. The new house is close to the home of her old friends, but his mental health degenerates and he becomes violently unstable.

The problem is that nothing is convincing. The script needs us to believe the couple love each other, despite what the obvious hatred in their actions. Intimate partner violence can make people do irrational things, but deliberately pressuring a mentally unstable person to drink wine still seems unlikely. A visitor to the house would have been able to announce his visit in advance, but turns up unexpectedly, excuses himself on the grounds he was told there would be someone home, then asks the male occupant to tell his partner of the visit, despite working in the same office as her.

I had the impression of incidents and dialogue being inserted to make the plot work, even when they jarred with other elements of story and characterisation. Themes - infidelity, 'bad energy', ghostly presence, PTSD - were picked up and dropped without going anywhere. The military history serves no purpose in the overall tale.

This kind of drama needs the audience to identify with, to root for, at least one character. With five to choose from, I could hardly care less about what happened to any of them. A mishit.

No pun intended - from the moment this starts ... you can feel the unease ... you can feel it through cinematography, the editing and the actors in the movie itself. There is never something where you feel that there is some solace and/or peace ... or at least not long enough to make an impact. But you can't really put your finger on it. Is it the house? Does it have a vibe, does it have something ... dark hidden within its walls as one of the characters suggests? Or is it whatever the man still has inside him from war times? Good questions and maybe you'll even find an answer to them.

No matter what the case will be: this is really well done. I do watch many movies and sometimes a gem like this crystalizes and makes its way through .. had to watch a couple of ... well bad movies too! But totally worth it .. it may be a slow burner ... but when the finale comes along ... well you will not be disappointed ... just be ... patient (no pun intended)