Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP [Fantasia Film Festival 2023 - Montreal, Canada - Remote]

The essence of a haunted forest rests in the idea of how it is works and the necessities of those creatures that inhabit it. In "Lovely, Dark And Deep" (Cheval Noir), the progression follows a national park ranger with dexterity but also a mysterious oath which leads her back into the wilderness. Georgina Campbell, most recently seen as the lead in "Barbarian", plays Lennon, a newly assigned ranger to a very specific national park where people have been known to disappear. Everyone seems to be aware of the secrets permeating the land but Lennon is nevertheless drawn to it. While the structure of the movie allows for her alone in the woods, the texture of why she is seeing what she is seeing or the correlation to the childhood she had or could have had is unclear.

Campbell is able to relay the essence of this kind of horror. The film was also produced by Molly Quinn (whom IR talked to for "Agnes" in the past year). This relates to this kind of story sense in that film. The concept is decent but not fully envisioned (and granted this is an independent film). What is interesting but maybe not taken as much advantage of (because maybe the reasoning is not known) is that the film was filmed in Portugal to stand in for a US National Park. NPS is usually very specific about their filming so it is understandable but it almost takes away from the film. It looks non-descript which might be part of the idea. The essence of trauma or fear also is not really felt (with the exception of one scene in the house with Lennon's maybe, would-be husband). However again, the correlation is not clear. The essence of what the presence wants, beyond manelaovence needs to be given clear direction. The lack of this prevents "Lovely, Dark And Deep" from having more impact than it does. B-

By Tim Wassberg