Oh Where to begin, where to begin.
I've been generally interested in Native American/indigenous people's movies - there's so few of them and it seems to give us a glimpse of the American past, however grim it is. And therefore I set out on Black Spruce the first instance. The actors and actresses looked amazing, the scenery was great and the story seemed to have some meat to it - like a proper thriller!
The shock eventually sets in - it's slow moving. Really slow. One of the aspects that I noticed immediately and confirmed later was how slow the lead actress speaks, with gestures and facial expressions. At first, I chalked this up to the Cree custom and culture, but it gives an different impression on the lead character - that she is not particularly the smart one, and incapable of dealing with the things that are set out for her, namely solving the disappearance. This should have gone away once the story picked up, and gains steam leading us on a wild chase to the truth..that was my expectation. But, the feeling that the lead actress never matched the demands of the story line never leaves, and leaves us deflated and angry at the end.
I beg to ask, why did the makers of this movie demand I spend an hour and a half of my time? Is it because the Tanaya Beatty was a showcase? Did we get to know more about the Cree? Did we solve a crime? Yes, a seemingly bad guy was shot, and that justifies it? I'm sorry, it wasn't just enough!!
The feeling that I mentioned above - that she is incapable of solving never leaves and we end of goading and prodding her to do something? Nothing came. The night club scenes were a sham, her interrogation of Geeta, the former room mate reveals nothing, the photographer just ends up whining, the mother is distraught, the lead male is lost - and at the very end I really hoped Brandon Oakes's character would put the button on it after all. Maybe Suzanne came back? And he met her along the way, things went sideways for reasons that were not his fault..yet we see his anguish of losing his family, but nothing else. It could have been a springboard, to save the twins..but that was too much expectation.
Overall, great acting, awesome acting, but storyline has no meat in it. What a downer. Nothing to see here, unfortunately. Move on.
The shock eventually sets in - it's slow moving. Really slow. One of the aspects that I noticed immediately and confirmed later was how slow the lead actress speaks, with gestures and facial expressions. At first, I chalked this up to the Cree custom and culture, but it gives an different impression on the lead character - that she is not particularly the smart one, and incapable of dealing with the things that are set out for her, namely solving the disappearance. This should have gone away once the story picked up, and gains steam leading us on a wild chase to the truth..that was my expectation. But, the feeling that the lead actress never matched the demands of the story line never leaves, and leaves us deflated and angry at the end.
I beg to ask, why did the makers of this movie demand I spend an hour and a half of my time? Is it because the Tanaya Beatty was a showcase? Did we get to know more about the Cree? Did we solve a crime? Yes, a seemingly bad guy was shot, and that justifies it? I'm sorry, it wasn't just enough!!
The feeling that I mentioned above - that she is incapable of solving never leaves and we end of goading and prodding her to do something? Nothing came. The night club scenes were a sham, her interrogation of Geeta, the former room mate reveals nothing, the photographer just ends up whining, the mother is distraught, the lead male is lost - and at the very end I really hoped Brandon Oakes's character would put the button on it after all. Maybe Suzanne came back? And he met her along the way, things went sideways for reasons that were not his fault..yet we see his anguish of losing his family, but nothing else. It could have been a springboard, to save the twins..but that was too much expectation.
Overall, great acting, awesome acting, but storyline has no meat in it. What a downer. Nothing to see here, unfortunately. Move on.