Children of the Pines

Film: Children of the Pines

Year: 2023

Director: Joshua Morgan

Writer: Joshua Morgan

Starring: Danielle J. Bowman, Kelly Tappan and Vas Provatakis

Review:

This is a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Keir from Strike Media who sent over the screener. It was hitting festivals where it seemed to be doing well. I decided to give this a watch since I love to help spread the word about independent cinema when I can. After confirming that this was in genre, I came into this one knowing as little as possible except that it is eligible for my 2024 end of year list.

Synopsis: Riley (Kelly Tappan) is persuaded by her estranged parents to visit. Unbeknownst to her, they’ve developed an unsettling relationship with her high school ex, while also seeking a supernatural healing for their family’s deep-rooted issues.

We start this with seeing a mother and daughter hiding in what seems like a closet. There is a male voice that we’re assuming is the father. The two hiding are terrified. This ends with the door being opened. It is from here that we get voice-over narration and seeing landscapes. This takes place in a more isolated area near the mountains.

There is then a cabin where we see an older man giving himself a pep talk in the mirror. What we’ll learn is that he’s married to Lorelei (Donna Rae Allen). Together they run this retreat. They’re doing a form of therapy. Coming to see her is Kathy (Danielle J. Bowman). Lorelei challenges her to the point where we see her break down. A large book is then pushed over to her.

I believe that this old man was Leon (David Raizor). They’re working with a younger man, Marc (Joshua Morgan who is also the writer/director). There were these two young women that wanted to leave. One is standoffish while the other sister compiles. They are here for an interesting reason.

Then there is the story from the synopsis. Riley is coming home from college. Part of what we heard in the therapy session was that her father, John (Richard Cohn-Lee), worked long hours and drank heavily. This strained the relationship. He has bettered himself and Riley is coming home to see if that is the case. Kathy is frayed after years of putting up with things at home. She is devastated that she doesn’t see her daughter anymore. They’ve been able to convince her which is what we’re seeing.

Now Riley stops off at a local diner to learn that her ex-boyfriend, Gordon (Vas Provatakis), works there. They chat and we see things are awkward. As the tension breaks, things take a turn. Riley learns that Gordon is interning at her father’s law firm. He is also helping him put a garden in. She finds this odd, first that her parents didn’t tell her. She also thinks it's weird that they’ve been broken up for years and yet, her ex is still in her life. This causes friction between them.

I don’t want to spoil things, but I’ll say that this isn’t the last discovery that Riley makes. She learns that her parents have gotten certifications in a form of wiccan. There are also two children living here. When she presses her parents for a reason why or who they are, things get awkward. The truth of what is happening here forces Riley to decide, return to her life outside of her family or give into what they have planned. Either way, this shakes her to the core.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that you can tell early on that this is a low budget film. That isn’t a slight as it doesn’t look poorly made. We just have limited characters and sets to tell this story. It is presented in an interesting way that holds my attention. I will warn you though that this is a slow-burn still. The reveals didn’t necessarily work for me but let me delve deeper as to why.

I’ll give credit here that this does well in hooking in the viewer. Seeing this mother and child hiding in the closet while hearing the father outside is creepy. It is building that fear that something bad will happen to them. Then we get to see Kathy going to this retreat where it feels like therapy. It wasn’t until we learned more that this is a new wave healing idea. How things get developed here as the movie goes on was good. This is what kept my attention to see where we would go. When Riley gets home and then starts to see odd things around the house, that helps build tension. It also plays with expectations since we’ve set up characters and it is out of what we would normally set up. That is a good touch.

The other side to this is the daughter, Riley. She didn’t have a horrible childhood from what we see. There is still trauma that came from her father not being there and things that he said sticking with her. She needed to get away from this small area to heal. What confused me a bit though was that Gordon, her ex, seemed to get along well together. I get the idea that they broke up because she moved away. It didn’t seem to be bad blood. She does find it weird that her family is still keeping a relationship with him. He calls her father dad, but that stems from his upbringing not being as stable as hers. There is the feeling here that her parents want them to get back together, but she doesn’t see that happening.

Then to finish out my thoughts here with the story is the idea of fixing yourself from past trauma or decisions made. I won’t spoil what the reveal is, but things we’ve been seeing play into it. We know that this elderly couple has taught them something. It could be supernatural in nature from seeing that it is in line with the wiccan faith. When we see what the plan is and what is expected from Riley doesn’t carry the impact that I think they’re going for. It will ruin things, but ultimately, I thought it was an interesting idea to use. That’s where it ended for me. I will say that it involves these sisters we saw earlier as well as the children that are brought up.

That should be enough for the story so let’s move over to discuss the acting. I thought that Bowman and Cohn-Lee work as the parents. What I like is that we get a baseline, we see flashbacks to when they were struggling and then seeing where they are now. It seems that this ‘therapy’ has helped, but they’re not completely fixed yet either. They do well in conveying this. I also thought that Tappan was good as their estranged daughter. Provatakis also works as her ex who is still around. I’ll say that I noted that the acting was awkward at first. Having seen this to completion, I believe that it's by design. These people haven’t seen each other for an extended amount of time so they’re timid and awkward. That adds realism for sure. I’ll also credit Morgan, Raizor and Allen for their roles. Ryosuke Sekoguchi, Mateo Taylor, Sylvie Mohr and Vivian Hunter also work for what they were asked to do.

All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that this was well made. It does a great job with its establishing shots. The landscapes are beautiful, but there is also something rough about them. That adds something there. Cinematography was good along with the framing. It doesn’t necessarily do anything there to stand out. I did like how we get softer focus to signify flashbacks. This doesn’t have much in the way of effects. It is more about seeing the characters and how things affect them. Other than that, the soundtrack was fine without standing out.

In conclusion, this is one that has interesting ideas and explores the darker side of humanity, but in a subdued way. We get a character study of sorts how decisions affect the lives of those around us. I did appreciate that. The acting was good here to bring the characters to life. This was made well enough. How story elements are slowly introduced worked to build the story. Ultimately for me, this just fell short of having the impact that it feels like it wants. This won’t be for everyone. It is light on the horror elements so keep that in mind if you’re interested in checking this out.

My Rating: 5.5 out of 10