What a nifty little suspense thriller!
Our leading man, a sound recordist who is in the midst of a one way divorce heads out to the UK woods to record “ambience”. Using his microphoned high tech recording device, he begins to follow sounds that perplex him.
Nothing supernatural here, kids. He walks into humanity at it worst. Despite being a normal guy with normal problems, he does some greatness when confronted with a bitter slice of human nature, and an angry dose of mother nature.
And you will admire his will.
Brendan Cooney is terrific in a role that is all physical movement and emotional expression. The lack of dialogue is a feature not a bug. The woods does all the speaking here and the camera catches all its beauty, and its ugly ambivalence. A chilling, yet sparse score adds to the tautness already unspooling on screen. Which makes sense. The composer had to come up with something to augment a project that relies so heavily upon audio that the sound designer is mentioned in the opening credits.
Martin Cheney comes through in a major way.
A tight beautifully shot shocker, it will have you quietly hung on its lengthy imagery despite its compact 72 minute running time. Right up to its stumble down the steps of a final shot. If you like films that experiment with sound like Berberrian Sound Studio, the oft-harrowing Undertone, or Lorcan Finnegan's masterwork, Without Name, you'll like Within the Pines.
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