Cold Lake is a film from the program of the fourteenth Irish Films festival in Moscow.
I can talk for a long time about my attitude towards "elevated" (horror, thrillers). I will dwell on the fact that, in my opinion, after the subgenre entered fashion, its name began to hide not very talented filmmakers when releasing unsuccessful films. It seems to have reached Ireland as well. What does Phil Sheerin’s first full-length work offer us?
I will tell you right away, the features of the under-Eleveited will appear in the first minutes. A teenager of the age of sixteen or seventeen suffers (as promised in the abstract) from a psychological disorder. What it is, we will never be told. This is one of the key points without which there could not have been a movie. However, the creators did not deign to explain anything. Including the main storyline. There are no clues left, no matter how you look. "Ambiguous," they will say. "A lack of imagination," I say. As a result, it remains only to watch the unbearable nuisance.
It is not possible to catch the atmosphere either. We don't know anything about the disease. And the fact that the characters talk like some slowed down, strange accents, plus a gray filter ('Look how bad everything is!') - this is not the atmosphere.
Mysteries? What the creators still allow you to unravel is solved instantly, because with so few heroes, everything is too obvious. More? Even why the heroes moved to such a wilderness, will not be clear. Characters? Ha. The least son and mother in Cold Lake are like son and mother. More like office colleagues, nourishing each other restrained dislike. So let's look at the endless walk.
Actors. Charlie Murphy's obviously freaked out about where he's filming, though he's obviously trying. Anson Boone doesn't know who he's playing and he can't know. How Emma McKay got here and why she plays a teenager is a mystery.
To put it simply, in the four years I’ve been attending the Irish Film Festival, Cold Lake is the second film I didn’t really like. There is nothing to behold, but it is painful to watch.
3.5 out of 10