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The Timber wanted very much to be something more, something meaningful, something timeless. The foundations are there, but it does not get to the heights it could or would like to.
The film is directed by Anthony O’Brien and has James Ransone, Elisa Lasowski, Mark Caven, William Gaunt, David Bailie, and Josh Peck in the cast. If the name William Gaunt rings a bell, it is because he is the same actor who was in The Champions TV show back in the 60s. He is very good, but like many things in the film, he is wasted in the role.
The summary revolves around two brothers, James Ransone and Josh Peck, who aim to find or kill their father who is now a rageful man after his luck turned sour during the Yukon Gold Rush. You’d be hard-pushed to know that until quite a bit into the film.
It turns out this is another retelling of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, but the way the film is crafted, it does not become so obvious immediately. Usually, this is a positive you expect a twist on the source material, but it is my impression that this was not a decision that was made on purpose.
I think it’s clear that I did not make much with this film, but as I have said before, the seeds are there. It appears to want to be nothing more than a Western Apocalypse Now but with quite a bit of work, it could have been much closer to obtaining that goal.
What we ended up getting were a bunch of scenes that seemed to be disconnected from one another. Each scene builds toward something and then cuts away at the worst possible moment. Then the next scene begins and we have absolutely nothing to tell us how it connects to what has happened previously. We are also at points where we do not even know whether it is the same time or we are seeing a flashback or just some hints of what could be a vague future. I do not know if it is the fault of the script, the director, or the editor but everything seems to work towards making it unnecessarily hard to follow.
It is another interpretation of Hearts of Darkness so it is not surprising that there is not much movement in the film. Nonetheless, a shootout or some type of battle does occur and for that time visual satisfaction is achieved. It is executed well, there is enough realistic blood and the tension rises. It becomes easy to forget that the time was different since these sequences could be from a different movie. What follows after is more unbearable scenes, which are like watching the protagonists walk through the forest deep in snow.
There is a voiceover, intended to add depth, but much like the monologues it feels meaningless and forced at times. It is hard to miss the scenes where some of the characters are saying something in a particular sequence and it is not clear what is being said. Be it the heavy accents being put on, or a mixing sound issue, who can tell?
It is unfortunate, for some reason, that all those people tried their hardest (Elisa Lasowski is good though). Maybe this is the problem. They did not need to try as hard, they all hoped, for some reason, that this was going to be a major landmark motion picture, but the entire production failed to meet even a minimal standard.
But the film does have some strong points. The landscape is beautiful, and, at certain points, the camera manages to capture the beauty, however, on the whole, the camera seems to be static and there is no motion in the cinematography. There are portions when it all comes together and clicks, but they are very brief and far in between.
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