I wasn’t really sure what we were in for in this film, and I made the mistake of going after I’d read the synopsis and discovered that one of the characters would reveal a Terrible Secret. That never ends well. In reading the description on the VIFF web site after having seen the film, I’m left with the feeling that the writer never did see the whole film before submitting their outline.

The chameleon like performance of Hélène Joy as Laurel offers a haunting portrayal of a women trapped by life’s circumstances and struggling to accept her true self. Leo Award-winning cinematographer Randal Platt captures the moody forested wilderness and dark watery depths of Desolation Sound to dramatic effect in this chilling thriller.

I’m assuming that the aspect of a chameleon that the writer was referring to was the ability to change colours, but that’s not the one I’d choose to highlight; cold, slow-moving, and predictable would be fully in line, but I’d apply it to the plot, not the acting.

The movie isn’t unenjoyable, and was in the top half of the films I saw this day (see So Much Rice just after this if you want this film to seem even better). The actors did about as well as could be expected with the material they were given to work with, but the characters simply have no motivation and nothing to compel any compassion. There’s a stereotypically strong and silent police officer, a wise beyond her years child, a neglected and long suffering wife, a crazy friend from The Big City and, of course, there’s that Terrible Secret.

The actors were fine, but they could have really used a script to work from that provided natural dialogue and a plot that wasn’t transparent.