Review of Garnet's Gold

Sometimes reviews like "Outstanding" and "One of the best documentaries ever made" can only lead to disappointment, and this is what happened to me here when I checked imdb before settling down to watch this on amazon prime. The outstanding thing about Garnet's Gold is how the film-maker got a feature length film out of....well.... not very much material. The cinematography of Scotland is I agree very moody and atmospheric, but the central story is as threadbare as Garnet's cardigan - treasure seeking oddball returns to Scotland 20 years after finding a stick in a rocky river bank which he concluded marked the location of a lost hoard of Jacobite treasure. (The lack of world headlines in regards to this in 2014 or since hints at the material success of the expedition). Yes, there is a subplot that some may find poignant, Garnet being the male equivalent of the spinster daughter who gives up her life to be the live in carer of an elderly parent. Also the woman-who-might-have-been-the-love-of-his-life-but-wasn't makes some appearances, but it's all pretty boring unless you search with the same zeal for the human interest angle as Garnet uses to prepare for his expedition. The one outstanding success of the endeavor was the tethered Heath Robinson helium balloon-drone-camera contraption which seems to have had no difficulty in locating the curious spindle-shaped drystone dyke feature that was the main location marker of the lost treasure stream- congratulations to Garnet for that. Once he was there however apart from some floundering about in the cold, brown cascades and a cursory peep under rocks with a waterproof selfie camera, that was it. He even sent the other expedition members away (I don't trust people either Garnet). He seems to have given up quite quickly, with no signs of the metal detector seen during his prep, or any picks to break open rocks, or even a tent to extend his stay on location. The mysterious staff seems to have been replaced for someone else to find and trigger their own fantasies in future- no explanation of why someone had attached a metal band round it, or anything beyond the vaguest details of Garnet's apparent escape from certain death 20 years earlier after getting lost here. (I'm not sure what would have killed him at this location anyway- it wouldn't have been lack of drinking water). Back home to round off the film with it should be said a pretty good poem musing on the sad possibility that Garnet may have failed to tap his potential and wasted his life. Well I'm sorry to say Gareth, but yes you have, and 75 minutes of mine.