DESOLATION SOUND (2005)

Directed by Scott Weber. Starring Helene Joy, Jennifer Beals, Ed Begley, Jr., Luthaine Bluteau, Ian Tracey, Emily Hirst. Synopsis: A wife and mother who has moved with her husband to a beautiful, remote location when her old friend unexpectedly shows up and brings with her some secrets and opens old wounds, resulting in a potential tragedy. Drama/mystery.

Desolation Sound is an intense story that makes you think of a modern day film noir result. It is shot on location in British Columbia and the cinematography is beautiful to see, and the story is not bad, either, though the ending was disappointing for this watcher.

Laurel (Helene Joy) is a mother of a young child (Emily Hirst) who is happily married to her husband (Ian Tracey) and does not miss the hustle and bustle of the big city, living in relative isolation in the beautiful environment of the sound. The only thing that might be troublesome is her daughter, who has a penchant for doing things such as climbing out of her window to sleep on the roof.

Circumstances become a lot less ideal when Laurel's best friend, Elizabeth (Jennifer Beals The Book Of Eli) shows up unexpected and uninvited, basically inviting herself to stay with the family in the wake of her father's death. Its clear that Elizabeth is, shall we say, much more of a free spirit than Laurel. Even though the two are best friends they have not seen each other for a while and it is evident that there is some past tension between them.

Also evident is that there is some, as they say, history between Elizabeth and Laurel's husband, though Laurel is apparently unaware of this. With hubby conveniently gone for an extended period of time, Elizabeth's presence and behavior make her more and more unwelcome, resulting in Elizabeth's matter of fact revelation to Laurel that she had slept with Laurel's husband. This goes over about as well as you would expect and there is an immediate falling out between the two in public, with Laurel slapping Elizabeth and telling her to get out.

Somehow, the enigmatic Elizabeth talks her way back into Laurel's home, just for the night of course, and as Murphy's Law would have it, Laurel's daughter picks that night to have one of her sleeping on the roof episodes, which, of course, gives both women reason to be out on the roof.

They resume their disagreement and one of them is pushed off the roof to her death in an apparent accident.

From here, the story gets more interesting as the survivor quickly realizes that she has to cover up this death and enlists the help of Bennie (Luthaine Bluteau) a creepy, ex-con who lives near the house and works as a sort of handyman for Laurel, in addition to making creepy puppets.

Also thrown into the mix is the town constable (Ed Begley, Jr.) who has an eye for Laurel, which obviously affects his investigation into the "disappearance" of the other woman. The interesting psychological aspect of this story is how the surviving woman slowly but unmistakably takes on the characteristics and even the appearance of her dead friend.

Clearly, more plot details would make me a spoiler, but you've got enough now to decide whether you might be interested in this one or not.

For me, the film had a pervasive dark undertone, even before the accidental (or was it?) death that kind of hung heavy over the flick and made it a little of a downer for me. Its a small cast, with only five characters having any serious or important scenes and dialogue. They do well, especially Beals in her role as the "trouble waiting to happen" one, though Joy's character is portrayed with more depth, solely due to the script. I've never been a big Begley fan, and it was hard for me to buy him as a seasoned law enforcement officer here, but, in fairness, I think this is what the plot intended, making him come off as a weaker, non threatening version of a cop, who might just be willing to put justice behind his own feelings.

Desplation Sound is a decent movie, not one I would give a strong shout out for, but definitely a good artsy type film for those of you who might be interested in seeing something that tries to take on normal human feelings and emotions instead of looking at things blowing up or people being tortured by psychopaths for an hour and a half.

So, if you are looking for a relatively quiet, thought provoking flick, I can say that you could do worse than this one.