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Peaks and Valleys
USA 2019
produced by Michael Burns, Michael B. Dillon, Charles A. Baird (executive) for Burnhouse Pictures, Baird Media
directed by Michael Burns
starring Kevin T. Bennett, Kitty Mahoney, Ted Carney, Emmy Rozkydal, Greg Rowland, Steve Silba
written by Michael B. Dillon, music by Evan Evans, song by Gregory Alan Isakov
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) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Bailey (Kitty Mahoney) is tied up into a plastic bag and thrown into a
lake from a plane somewhere in nowhere, Alaska, USA, and that should be
the last anyone has ever heard of her - only it isn't, as Jack (Kevin T.
Bennett), a grouchy loner, saves her, and lacking any alternatives, he
drags her into his hut in the middle of the woods, where he has decided to
sit out the winter, against everyone's advice. When she comes to, Jack at
first scares the heck out of Bailey, while he's shocked by the scars and
injuries all over her body, suggesting she has been through a lot before
literally being thrown away. Slowly, the two come to trust one another,
which is not made any easier by both her mistrust and his grouchy
attitude. Also, she has obvious heroin withdrawal symptoms, which doesn't
rate high with him - so it takes a bit before she tells him her story, how
she got kidnapped, tortured, kept quiet by shooting her up with heroin,
and ultimately just tossed away. If Jack has any sympathy for her, he's
good at hiding it, but the two are so far from civilisation they're pretty
much forced to live with one another, as Jack can't really toss her out
into the cold and snow. As time goes by, he even teaches her to fish. And
when he injures his leg chopping wood, she pretty much saves his life by
sewing his wound shut. Plus she goes out hunting as he just needs the
rest. But when she returns home and tell him she's seen a moose, he
insists on going out himself to hunt same moose - and he doesn't return,
driving Bailey crazy with apprehension. And then of all people Jack's
brother (Ted Carney) shows up at the hut telling her some stories about
Jack that put a whole new light on him. Jack meanwhile has taken it upon
himself to go on one last mission to right a wrong ... Despite
being shot in the gorgeous and epic landscapes of Alaska, which are
captured to full effect, this movie actually plays more like a
claustrophobic chamber drama - which turns out to be not a contradiction
at all, as this is a character rather than action driven piece about two
people clung to one another out of necessity rather than anything else,
and a very stringent script, two strong leads, and a subtle enough
direction to give the actors the space they need to breathe ensure that
this one has turned out to be a very tense and compelling little film
that's definitely worth a watch.
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