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The Tent
USA 2020
produced by Tim Kaiser, Nancy Lynette Parker (executive) for 1926 Pictures
directed by Kyle Couch
starring Tim Kaiser, Lulu Dahl, Shelby Bradley, Christine Marie, Jeannine Thompson, Jeff Kaiser, Timmy Kaiser, John Edward Jaissle, Shirley Moon Koebbe, Kyle Couch, Matthew Aaron, Thomas Butcher (voice)
written by Kyle Couch, music by Pierre Vaucher
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Some apocalyptic event or other has struck the world several years back,
wiping out most of humankind, and since then some lethal creatures roam
the night, apparently preying on those who haven't died yet. David (Tim
Kaiser), a man in his 70s, seems to have made a good job out of remaining
alive though, as he has a tent to keep the creatures at bay, and keeps a
fire running all through the night which helps as well. Also he's an
expert at setting traps - well, until he steps into one of his own traps
that is, and it's only pure luck that drifter Mary (Lulu Dahl) just
happens to be near and hear his screams of pain. She frees him from his
trap and walks him to his tent, but at first he doesn't even show basic
courtesy to ask her in - only when he notices his injuries are worse than
he anticipated does he accept her offers to nurse him. Other than that
though, David remains stubborn and insists on Mary leaving the next day,
and suspecting her of all kinds of treachery. And while much of what he
thinks sounds overly paranoid, he's not completely wrong, as Mary
eventually admits she has been watching David for a while, and has seen
that he has started to slip in his daily routine to lay out traps, and it
was no coincidence that she was near when his leg got caught in one of his
own traps. The two soon are at odds, and yet she somehow convinces him to
leave his tent behind to basically go looking for greener pastures - which
might lead to salvation but also sounds like a mighty dangerous idea ... As
far as post-apocalyptic thrillers go, this is a pretty unusual one, but
unusual in a good way as it takes well-known genre elements but (at first)
empties them of all backstory - which means, the apocalypse is never
explained, nor the nature of the creatures outside (which are also never
really shown) or their motives or the like. And when the audience finally
gets an explanation for everything, it's not what one might have expected,
but really puts the pieces of its cleverly laid out narrative puzzle
together. The whole thing is of course also helped by a direction that
finds a balance between genre savvy and subtlety, and strong performances
by the two leads. Cool genre entertainment really, and not what one would
expect.
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