As of this writing, A Lonely Place To Die is available on Blu-ray at Amazon for the ridiculously amazing price of $6.27. Highly recommended at that price point, or any. You can also listen to the soundtrack on Spotify!
The second viewing of a film can be as formative as the first. That first viewing is enough to experience and form opinions on the work, but as often as not a second viewing can either alter or solidify one’s initial reactions. The passage of time, a change of setting, a few months or years of reflection: all of these factors can have an enormous impact on one’s take on the re-visiting of a film. On Second Thought is a regular Cinapse column that will explore the writer’s experience of a particular film, specifically upon their second viewing of it. How did their feelings change? What strengths and weaknesses were solidified or confirmed due to that second viewing? Read on to find out!
A LONELY PLACE TO DIE (2011)
Part of me wanted to kick off this On Second Thought column with a film that I had wildly different takes on from one viewing to the next. That can happen sometimes and it is that exact kind of swing that we think will make On Second Thought a really interesting and readable column. That said, there are also going to be just as many films that we are happy to report still hold up on a second viewing. Or even films that still blow chunks on round two.
First Viewing
I saw A Lonely Place To Die at Fantastic Fest 2011 and it ended up being one of my favorite films of the festival. And festival experiences can often be a perfect example of why a column like On Second Thought needs to exist. Critics will often admit to a certain amount of tunnel vision when reacting to movies in the festival environment. Sometimes movies play incredibly well to a room full of industry people and then simply don’t connect with wider audiences. Or vice versa. Another casualty of film festival judgment can come from film overload and lack of sleep. I know I’ve fallen asleep in otherwise awesome movies during a festival simply because it was my fifth movie of that day and I was exhausted. (Don’t worry, I refuse to review a movie I slept during.) Either way, I feel like any film seen at a film festival is ripe for a revisit in order to cement one’s opinion of it.
But I loved A Lonely Place To Die enough to buy myself the Blu-ray, which was in part due to what I assumed would be incredible photography on display for my high definition set up at home. It took me several months to finally get around to watching my new Blu of the film, but how did it measure up?
Second Viewing
The film is written by brothers Julian and William Gilby, and is directed by Julian. They also edited the film together. So this really is their baby. And it is a baby that anyone can love, not just it’s parents.
Anchoring this genre-morphing action/thriller is Melissa George in what I consider to be a real powerhouse of a physical performance. George plays Alison, an experienced mountain climber who is on vacation with a group of friends climbing in the remote highlands of Scotland. So right off the bat you’ve got a beautiful and tense setting. And when the group of climbers come across a breathing tube sticking up out of freshly dug earth, they are compelled to rescue the little girl they find trapped in the ground.
I won’t go into a lot more plot detail because the twists this movie takes are a big part of the fun. And what starts out as a mountain climbing thriller will morph into more of a crime film by the end, and some will love this while some will wish for a trip back onto the mountain.
Okay, so Melissa George is great in the lead and there is some mountain climbing going on mixed with a little crime. Are we talking about a Cliffhanger spiritual sequel here? Well, maybe a little bit, yeah. The big difference being that the Gilbeys accomplish an incredible amount of well-executed action and tension on what IMDB reports to have been a $4 million budget whereas Stallone’s right arm probably made that much on Cliffhanger.
The entire first act of A Lonely Place To Die is just packed to the gills with incredible photography. Shot in the actual highlands of Scotland, you’ll have your breath taken right out of your chest as you see the landscapes, and more importantly, as you marvel at just how this team managed to capture so much cliffside action, and capture it so well! Not everyone is going to survive this movie, so those of you with fears of heights will have a terrifying time watching this film. But you’ll also find yourself wondering how the crew didn’t suffer any losses with some of the shots they (led by Director of Photography Ali Asad) were able to capture.
As the mystery surrounding the little girl buried in the woods starts to play out, the film will veer into more of a kidnapping thriller, and it is here where I really wondered if my second viewing would hold up. The opening act was enough to make this blu-ray a “must buy” for me. But would I still love the follow through? After all, the tone of the film shifts pretty wildly.
As it turns out, yes. For me the whole movie is just filled with little flourishes of imagery, character beats, plot developments, and action direction to keep you thrilled throughout. A Lonely Place To Die has one of those “that guy” casts of UK actors. You’ve probably seen or recognize over half of this cast from other European-made films and you probably like them. But you may not know their names or follow their careers. In this sense, I think the brothers Gilbey really made the most of this opportunity. The cast of protagonists led by Melissa George feel real and sympathetic. And the criminals? They are ice cold and terrifying. Even the little girl manages to be not super annoying or do stupid things that piss you off. Much of that has to do with the quality of the casting, and the rest has to do with the quality of the script.
I’m trying to avoid any spoilers here and refuse to go into some of the details that really make the film great in the second and thirds acts. The less you know where the script is going to take you in A Lonely Place To Die, the better of a place you’ll be in to enjoy the movie. But in avoiding spoilers I’m just going to have to ask you to take my word for it that the movie will go to places you don’t expect. You’ll either love it or hate it, but you probably won’t guess how it’ll all play out.
That said, I often feel that thrillers twist and turn their way into nonsense in the quest to keep the audience off their toes. And often those twists and turns come at the expense of character development or internal logic. Here in A Lonely Place To Die, the plot twists are surprising and fresh without sacrificing character development or veering right over the edge of your suspension of disbelief.
A Lonely Place To Die has fallen largely under the radar since it’s festival run. The Blu-ray was distributed by IFC Midnight and it looks fantastic but has no special features beyond the trailer. But I don’t think it got a theatrical run here in the US at all, and for that reason I’m happy to recommend this title to you and bring whatever attention to it that I can.
Consensus
- First Viewing: Loved It
- Second Viewing: Still Loved It
And I’m Out