Tags:
Film: Lovely, Dark, and Deep
Year: 2023
Director: Teresa Sutherland
Writer: Teresa Sutherland
Starring: Georgina Campbell, Nick Blood and Wai Ching Ho
Review:
This was a film that popped on to my radar when podcasts were talking highly about it. I knew this would be one that I’d see during the year. There wasn’t any new 2024 horror releases at the theater the week that I decided to make this a featured review. I did know ahead of time that Georgina Campbell starred, but that was it.
Synopsis: Lennon (Campbell), a new back-country ranger, travels alone through the dangerous wilderness, hoping to uncover the origins of a tragedy that has haunted her since she was a child.
This starts with a quote from John Muir – ‘And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul’. We then see an older park ranger, Ben Varney (Soren Hellerup). He leaves a note on the post that states ‘Ranger In’. The note he leaves says, “I owe this land a body”.
From there, we are given great establishing shots of where this takes place. It is a national park that is spacious with mountains, forests and lakes. The camera then flips upside and films the land this way. It is from there that we shift to Lennon driving at night. She is biting finger to the point that it bleeds. She stops her vehicle and sees her first ominous sign. A black deer is staring at her. She looks down and back up, it is gone.
Lennon then arrives at the headquarters where there are other rangers. It looks like they’re gathering to hear a talk from the one in charge, Zhang (Wai Ching Ho). They’re given their assignments and head out to their posts. Another ranger tries to befriend Lennon, Jackson (Nick Blood). She is standoffish though.
Lennon and Jackson are stationed deep in the park. They must go by helicopter. It looks to me that Lennon is assigned the same one that Varney was. Lennon does have another purpose for taking this job. Her little sister disappeared in this park. It has haunted her as the synopsis said. She has a map on the wall of her ‘cabin’. Daily she goes out on patrols, trying to find answers. A good touch here is that she listens to podcasts about cases of people disappearing from national parks. They point out things that are similar. One of which is that the shoes seem to be left behind. That is all that was found of Lennon’s sister.
It is soon after being out here that Sara Greenberg (Maria de Sá) goes missing. Jackson oversees finding her. Lennon is told to stay back and wait to see if she returns. She doesn’t listen and ends up finding the young woman. There’s something not quite right here. This is built on the nightmare that Lennon already experiences and it will lead to things she’ll never forget, as well as the truth about what is happening here.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start with is how much this is based in fact. I know there is a steady number of people who go into parks like this, don’t take the necessary precautions and get lost. That is terrifying. It’s a good touch to have Lennon listening to a podcast about people going missing. It seems like there are always granite stones nearby and it happens around lakes. When odd things happen to Lennon, it correlates to what she hears on this show. It’s also a good touch that during her nightmarish ordeal, it mirrors what happened to her sister when they were kids as well.
I think then I should delve into Lennon. She is determined to find any kind of answer as to what happened when she was a child. She feels guilty because she was supposed to be watching Jenny (Letícia Assunção), her sister. Lennon let her out of her sight and then she disappeared. She blames herself and it still haunts to this day. This isn’t a new concept, but I like going a different route than a mother/child. It is odd that she thinks she will find an answer though all these years later. That doesn’t ruin the concept for me as there is the idea of closure.
Then from there, I want to explore the conspiracy theory angle. Like I’ve already said, people disappearing in parks like this isn’t something new. It could be animal attacks, a person taking advantage and then hiding the body. Even though the world we live in continues to get smaller, that doesn’t mean that it still isn’t large. Lennon learns secrets and then soon finds that other rangers know this already. It is terrifying that there is something out in the wilderness, taking people. There is a supernatural feel to it. Personally, I wanted a bit more than what we got. That doesn’t change the atmosphere for me though.
I’ll then shift to this filmmaking. What this does best is build an eerie atmosphere. The cinematography and framing go along way here. Setting up how large this park is, was the first good thing they did. It is easy to get lost here. Then you go ahead and include the supernatural things that are happening. Like Lennon going from her area to a lake that wouldn’t be possible in the time. Now there is a logical explanation that a viewer could go with. Lennon hits her head so she could be dreaming or hallucinating due to a concussion. I don’t think this is the answer, but I like sowing the seeds of doubt. There is also nightmare logic that comes into play with Lennon being forced with things of her past and could be in the grips of whatever is behind this for interfering with Sara’s disappearance.
Let me then go over to acting. Campbell is good here as our lead. I like the fact that she is fixated when we meet her. You could even go as far to say that it is obsession. She plays this role well. Blood works as this ranger who’s been doing this awhile and is willing to befriend Lennon. Ho is fine as the leader of the rangers. I did like this elderly couple, Mick Greer and Celia Williams. They’re playing Mr. and Mrs. Finley. They knew Lennon before she became a ranger. Other than that, de Sá and the rangers that they met are fine. I also like Ana Sofia Martins, Ivory Lee Smith, Yamsin Pinto and Assunção. They helped fill in the backstory for Lennon and explain her obsession.
In conclusion, I thought this was a solid movie. I like the fact that we have a basis here where people disappear into the wilderness like we get. Then you couple that with a potential supernatural force being behind them is terrifying. I also like including a logical explanation as well to make us wonder. The acting is good across the board. Campbell leads the way with the rest of the cast pushing her to where she ends up. I loved that. This is made well enough from the cinematography, framing, the limited effects and the sound design. My biggest gripe is that I just wanted to know a bit more about what is going on out there. We have a runtime of under 90 minutes and I just think we’re missing one or two reveals to fully drive this home. I still think this is worth a watch.
My Rating: 7 out of 10