Blackwater Lane
Summary
It take a tidy sum for me to watch a film and immediately think it ’s one of the best cinema I have ever see . It might be even more of a feat , however , for a film to simultaneously repulse and bore me so much that , within all the muck released every year , I am pushed to think that thismay indeed be one of the worst pieces of film that I have lay centre on . The latter was the case with Jeff Celentano ’s drab thrillerBlackwater Lane .
Cast
In the first ten min of what will be a slog of an time of day and 48 - minute runtime , Blackwater Laneintroduces us to uninteresting protagonistCass , who is soullessly played by Minka Kelly . Surrounding Cass are her good - for - nothing husband , Matthew ( Dermot Mulroney ) , and her seemingly supportive champion Rachel ( Maggie Grace ) , who continue to be as grating as they are in the early mo . The plot then kick off when the laissez - faire Cass witness a woman alone in a car on a stormy night and proceeds to ride home without helping her .
Blackwater LaneMain Cast
Character They represent
Minka Kelly
Cass
Maggie Grace
Rachel
Dermot Mulroney
Matthew
Natalie Simpson
DC Lawson
Edward Baker - Duly
Dr. Deakins
Kris Johnson
Alex Walters
Judah Cousin
Andrew
Minka Kelly Is Unwatchable
The actress offers a limited range of expression
Minka Kelly ’s performanceinBlackwater Laneis just about as confound as her character , who shows no vexation for the woman ( Jane Walters ) she examine at the side of the route , and who afterward call on out to have been mutilate . If I ’m being generous , she brings about three expressions to the tabular array : A generic scared nerve , a confused glimpse , and a indifferent stare . For the latter emotion , Celentano likely mean to create enticing ambiguity or an illuminating blankness , but reach neither . Instead , we ’re left with a vagueness that disconnect us from the confidential information .
Minka Kelly is live for playing Lyla Garrity on the strike serial Friday Night Lights , yet she initially try out for a very different role .
The way Cass is written does no favors for Kelly in the role . Less than 10 minutes in , Blackwater Lanelaunches us into the unstable psyche of a character we just metand have no penetration into . Though part of the plot involves the character being gaslit , a Brobdingnagian clump of the tenseness lies in the fact that Cass has a wicked retentiveness . And it ’s not in the interesting , treacherous teller character of direction . She just can not call back stuff , a trait the film come back to whenever it ’s convenient .
Blackwater Lane Doesn’t Trust Its Audience
The script spells out everything for us
Though our booster has a habitual issue with forgetting events , she does remember one affair — the night she drove by Jane Walters . Blackwater Laneintends to show Cass ’ psychic trauma by bringing viewers back to the case , but it does so eight time . I fuck this number because I started accept a reckoning after the motion-picture show flashed back to it a second time within the first 20 minutes . I was both irritated and amused each time the same shot would appear again , as the picture show idly made its means through its scenes .
Blackwater Laneconstantly dumbs things down for its audience .
The car scene is not the only wayBlackwater Laneconstantly dumbs things down for us . Every clip there might be a moment of ambiguity , mystery story , or machination — must - haves fora good thriller movie — the Elizabeth Fowler - penned script ( adapt from the book by B.A. Harris ) assures we understand by having the characters speak the plot out aloud . couple with expressionless delivery , these second of duologue are comically spoiled .
Blackwater Lane Subverts Nothing & Reverts To Every Trope Imaginable
The film is derivative of much better films and TV shows
If the lazy scripting and oversaturation of identical scenes were not enough , Blackwater Lanealso lacks any sense of novelty . The film borrows from the form of unseen threat inInvisible Manor the genial wellness and marital fractures display in the seriesBehind Her Eyes , but offer nothing new . alternatively , it presents a distilled version of these existing trope , build to a characteristically over - formulate conclusion . To make it even more unsubtle , Blackwater Lanereverts to the age - honest-to-god “ dark and tempestuous night ” opening as a major jump - off point , a harbinger of doom for the lineament and audience .
Blackwater Laneis now playing in theaters and is available on requirement and digital . The film is rated PG-13 for crimson content , thematic element involving suicide , gender and scourge .
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Minka Kelly , Dermot Mulroney and Maggie Grace star in Blackwater Lane , a supernatural thriller based on the wildly successful New York Times bestselling book by B.A. Paris . After witnessing a tragedy on a dangerous country road , Cass is gossip by a apparitional presence and commence to interrogate her saneness . As these nonnatural experience intensify , Cass is driven nearer to the verge until she begins to assemble the piece of a hideous patch against her .
