Review of Disappearances (2007) by Sam D — 20 Jun 2010

:fresh: Again at MIFF (Maine International Film Festival) I caught another great film, this time Disappearances. The film is brilliantly cast with some amazing performances throughout and beautiful scenery of the Canadian wilderness of the 1930's.

The film takes off with the desperate plight of Kris and his family as they have run out of hay to support their animals which have little chance of surviving the upcoming winter without hay. So Kris (Quebec Bill) decides to risk it all and go back to his old source of income, running alcohol across the border from Canada into the hands of prohibition suffering Americans.

The film has some problems early on as many scenes seem unneeded or unfinished as they cut off early and leave themselves unresolved. Yet towards the middle as the action begins to rise the filming gets better and the cinematography becomes breathtaking with the epic shots of the Canadian border and the forests therein.

The movie also keeps up the recurrence of characters and objects "disappearing" within the plot, sometimes subtely and sometimes blatentley obvious (especially when an entire train disappears).

The film has a disturbing quality of leaving things unexplained and totally up to the viewer's discretion, mostly when characters begin to unexpectedly drop out of the plot and/or into thin air. A disturbingly biting masterpiece, only held back slightly by its unpolished beginnings.