Review of C.O.G. (2013) by Katherine D — 30 Sep 2013

I did enjoy this movie. It was compelling, with beautiful scenery, smatterings of humor, and good performances, but when it ended....my first reaction was "Wait...that was the END? Really?!". Just, there's no sort of resolution, and you're left wondering what the point of the film even is. Sure, there is a faint underlying message echoing through the movie, but the ending was far too abrupt. It felt as though it just cut off midway though, and was utterly unsatisfying, almost feeling unfinished.

Despite that though, you have a pretty entertaining black-comedy/drama film, and up until the ending, I was definitely enjoying myself.

The score of this movie, however, is all completely bizarre. There's this odd, repeating clopping, drum-like sound that is in the background in a lot of scenes, and aside from just sounding odd, and not seeming to fit the film or the scenes it was used in, it was also rather distracting, and made it hard at times to focus on what was actually happening onscreen.

The first part of the film was probably the best, but it ended up being slightly disappointing, because throughout the entire film, it feels like it's leading up to some sort of grand finale, or a revelation, or something, but then it just....ends.

I admit, when I saw the film, and the way it was going, I was afraid it was going to be some sort of religious propaganda, as the character starts out a die-hard atheist, before being introduced to religion by a man he first meets on the street handing out flyers. However, one thing I really did like was that this film didn't really appear to go either way. It was neither overly pro-religion, nor was really pro-atheism either. I got that one of the main points the film was trying to make was that in the end, religion doesn't matter, because there's good and bad people who are both religious, and non-religious.

Anyways, I did enjoy this film, though it was hardly the best movie I'd ever seen or anything. The best thing about it was probably the beautiful scenery and cinematography.

I would definitely rate this film higher had it not been for some of the things I mentioned earlier. Also, it leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions. Like, you never do find out what David/Samuel's big issue with his family, (which is briefly mentioned throughout the movie), is, and you also are left a bit confused as to why he goes to and stays in Oregon anyways.

Overall, I'd give it a solid three stars. It was okay, I don't regret seeing it or anything, but the biggest disappointment is that this film had the potential, and was even building up to being so much more than it was.