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Back when they were in college, Jack (Chase Fein) and Andy (Hunter
Cross) were best friends, but that was quite some years ago. Now they
re-unite at Andy's beach cottage, and it looks even though Jack was always
the smarter of the two, it was Andy who has been more successful in
everything since: Not only has he made a fortune as a financial advisor,
he's also married to Liz (Chelsea Kurtz), a girl they both had designs on
back when, and despite of that, he still has all the charm to pick up
girls at pretty much the drop of a hat. Jack on the other hand has just
lost his job, lives in his run-down truck, and his perspectives for the
future are grim. The two still enjoy drinking together though, however
during one of their drinking sessions, the two throw a few too many truths
at each other's head, get into a fight, and by pure accident Jack kills
Andy in self defense. Now of course, he never meant to kill his friend,
but who's going to believe him, so he hides Andy's body, at first in the
cottage's well ... but then Liz shows up unannounced, and naturally has to
remove the body and bury it in the woods. Liz meanwhile seems less in love
with Andy as Jack has assumed, she knows he's cheating on her, and more
and more opens up to Jack about their loveless relationship. And in fact,
she takes Andy's absence for further proof that he's fooling around. As a
form of payback, she even gives in when Jack wants to have sex with her -
but then, overcome by guilt, Jack can't perform. And this is when Liz
starts to question what she thinks is going on, and the more she keeps
asking - herself, Jack and others - the closer she comes to the truth ... Now
this is anything but a spectacle movie, as there's little in terms of
on-screen action in it and its build-up is deliberately slowburn and more
interested in the psychological aspects of its story than the physical,
with guilt taking front and center of its narrative, but veiled in layers
of undercurrents - and in that way it's favourably comparable to some of
the lesser known but all the more memorable psychothrillers by Patricia
Highsmith, who quite often let the crime that's a catalyst of the story
ultimately take a backseat to its mental implications. And it's only
commendable that this movie sees that concept through up to the ambivalent
ending, and never resorts to just spoon-feeding its audience or
over-dramatizing things. And even if the film might seem a bit slow at
first, it grows immensely tense towards the end and will probably have
everyone on the edges of their seats by the finale. And of course, very
able actors help to bring this one to life, only adding to the film's
inherent quality. Now in a way, this is a very unusual thriller in times
where the genre has taken a turn for fast-paced action, but welcomely so.
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